GREAT ADDINGTON
Edintone (xi cent.); Haderingtona, Nordadington,
Borealis Adintona, Adington Major (xiii cent.).
The Addingtons lie on the left bank of the River
Nene and are very nearly equal in size; Great or
North Addington, as it was once called, is 1,260 acres
in extent, being but 127 acres larger than Little
Addington, which lies to the south of it. A little
to the east of the dividing line between them is Ringstead and Addington Station on the Northampton
and Peterborough branch of the London Midland
and Scottish Railway. The soil is partly light, and
partly stiff clay: the subsoil clay and ironstone. The
chief crops grown are wheat, barley, peas, and beans.
Ironstone quarries were opened in 1877, but are
now no longer worked. The population in 1921
was 285.
The little village of Great Addington lies on the
road from Irthlingborough to Lowick, which is here
crossed by a road from Ringstead to Cranford St. John.
It is about 1½ miles away from the station, and about
4 miles south-west of Thrapston. A stream flowing
into the Nene almost encircles it, its water driving
the mill on the south of the village. At Shooters
Hill burials with weapons and ornaments have been
found. (fn. 1)
At the northern end of the village is the church,
and grouped near it, on the eastern side of the road,
are the school (erected in 1873–4) and the smithy.
Opposite, and west of the road, is the Manor House,
a good example of simple Jacobean work, and the
residence of Lieut.-Col. Malcolm Romer, O.B.E.
The rectory, a little distance to the north-east, a
substantial building of stone, erected in 1678, and
repaired in 1870, is pleasantly situated. The hall
windows of the rectory house, as Bridges noted, contain
several escutcheons: arms of the Peterborough see,
Bacon, Isham, and Towers. Outlying properties are
Rectory Farm in the north-west of the parish, and in
the south-west Great Addington Lodge, to the west of
which are chalk pits and Patch Lodge. There were
riots here and at Rushton and 'Pightesley' in 1607
regarding the inclosure of lands. An agreement made
in 1232–3 between Baldwin de Vere and the Abbey of
Croyland confirming a grant to the church (q.v.) gives
various place names, such as Sleng near the fee of
Maurice de Audely; Wudefordebanlon', Grenewey, (fn. 2)
Ridgeway, Trendlade, Lidewellehil, Michelwelle,
Westfield on Scitershul (Shooters Hill), Brook furlong.
Manors
By a very doubtful charter of 833,
Witlaf, King of the Mercians, confirmed
to Croyland Abbey the gift of Wulnoth
his steward of 2 hides of land in Addington, with a
fishery, the advowson of the church of the vill, and a
virgate of land in another [Little] Addington. (fn. 3) This
grant was confirmed in other doubtful charters by
Behrtulf, King of Mercia in 851, (fn. 4) by Burgred of
Mercia in 868, (fn. 5) and by King Eadred in 948; (fn. 6) the
last confirmation refers to the gift as 3 hides, with
the advowson of the church of the vill.
Croyland Abbey. Quarterly: 1 & 4, Gules three knives with their points upwards set fessewise, with hafts or and blades argent; 2 & 3, Azure three scourges or also set fessewise and upright.
In the Domesday Survey,
the Abbot of Croyland was
entered as holding 2 hides in
Addington, and a mill rendering 13s. 4d. The value had
risen from 15s. to 40s. (fn. 7) The
abbey's tenant of these 2 hides
in the reign of Henry I was
William son of Guy [? de
Reinbuedcourt]. (fn. 8) The Abbot
of Croyland in 1284 held two
parts of the vill of 'Adington
Major' of the king in chief in
frankalmoin, (fn. 9) and in 1291
the value of his lands was
£6 8s. (fn. 10) Addington with its
members was in 1316 held
by the Abbot of Croyland,
the Abbot of Sulby, and Robert de Vere, (fn. 11) the two
latter each holding manors or lands in both Addingtons. In 1318 the Abbot of Croyland was engaged
in a suit against William Marmaduke, bailiff of Richard
Marmaduke of Raunds, and others, for damage done
to his mill pond at Addington. (fn. 12)
The abbey continued to hold the manor, rectory and
advowson until the Dissolution. (fn. 13)
The manor and advowson of the rectory and church
on 25 March, 1544, were granted as parcel of the
property of Croyland Abbey to Sir William Parr,
Lord Parr of Horton, in tail male. (fn. 14) After the death
of Lord Parr without male issue in 1546, a fresh grant
was made in 1558 to Sir Robert Lane, Kt., of Horton,
and Anthony Throckmorton, of Charleston (co.
Oxon), together with grants of other monastic property.
Great Addington manor was held with Brinklow
(co. Warwick) for one fortieth of a knight's fee. (fn. 15) By
Sir Robert Lane and Anthony Throckmorton the
manor (but not the advowson) was sold in 1562
to Henry Clarke of Stanwick, (fn. 16) who, in his will dated
1574, refers to his farm at Stanwick where he dwelt,
to his wife Anne (who survived him), and to his sons
Gabriel and Christopher. He died in that year, his
heir being his son William, aged 28 years. (fn. 17) William
Clarke, as lord of the manor of Great Addington,
was with Richard Curteys (son of Richard Curteys,
late of Great Addington, husbandman), Richard
Bolney, and John Bolney, defendant in 1588 in an
action instituted by John Curteys of Great Addington,
another son of Richard Curteys, and others, as to the
admission to certain copyhold lands. (fn. 18)
William Clarke died in 1604, leaving a widow Eleanor,
who lived at Potterspury. (fn. 19) His heir was his brother
Gabriel, aged fifty, who in 1608 conveyed the Manor of
Great Addington and lands in Great and Little Addington to William Bedell and William Ward, and
the heirs of William Ward. (fn. 20)
The manor next appears in the hands of Christopher
Curteys and his wife Dorothy, by whom it was conveyed in 1618 to William Bletsoe and Robert Sanderson. (fn. 21) Thomas Bletsoe of Addington, who appears
in a list of 'friends' in 1655, (fn. 22) was presumably holding
the manor, which by 1668 was in the hands of three
generations of Thomas Bletsoes, grandfather, father,
and son, and by them with Thomas Gerrard, was
conveyed to Samuel Whitby of London, with the
chief messuage or manor house of Great Addington, (fn. 23)
and lands. The Bletsoes seem to have held under a
settlement or mortgage, for in 1664 the manor with a
water mill, a windmill, a dovecot, and lands in Great
and Little Addington and Woodford was held by
Thomas Andrews, who made a conveyance of it to
John Clarke and Henry Hemington, (fn. 24) and in 1678,
Thomas Andrew and his wife Ann conveyed the manors
of Great Harleston and Great Addington to John
Clendon and Thomas Bletsoe. (fn. 25) After this, the manor
remained in the Andrews family, by whom it was
held with the manor of Harleston (q.v.). Both manors
were entailed by John Andrews by will of 22 July,
1736, and in 1794 Robert Andrews the elder, son of
John Andrews, and Robert Andrews the younger,
conveyed them to James Kindersley and John Russel. (fn. 26)
No manorial rights are mentioned in the inclosure
Act of 1803, when Robert Andrews was one of the
owners and proprietors of the open and common
fields, (fn. 27) and no manorial rights are now in existence.
Addington Manor is occupied by Lt.-Col. Malcolm
Romer, O.B.E. Mr. S. E. R. Lane and Mr. G. H.
Capron, J.P., are the chief landowners.
A second manor in Great Addington originated in
1½ hides in Addington held in 1086 by William's
trusted minister Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances and
under him by Hugh. The land had risen in value
from 10s. in 1066 to 40s. at the date of the Domesday
Survey (1086), (fn. 28) a rapid recovery after the devastation
of the land at the Conquest or before. The Bishop
forfeited his lands on account of his rebellion
against William Rufus in 1088. Before the time of
the Northamptonshire Survey (c. 1125), the Bishop's
fee had passed to Aubrey de Vere or the Chamberlain,
but whether the grant had been made to him or his
father Aubrey is uncertain. (fn. 29) It was there entered
as '2 hides of the King's fee,' (fn. 30) the 2 hides being made
up of the Domesday 1½ hides and an additional half
hide of the Bishop's land at Drayton in Lowick,
which properties continued to be held together.
The manor passed to Robert, younger son of Aubrey
the Chamberlain, (fn. 31) who was holding Addington in
1166. He married twice, his first wife being Margaret
Wake, presumably daughter of Geoffrey Wake and
sister of Hugh Wake; with her he received a charter
from Baldwin Wake (Wac) (fn. 32) granting to him 'with
Margaret my aunt' (auita mea), (fn. 33) the vill of Thrapston.
The charter is undated, but must have been made
after 1168 when Hugh Wake, father of Baldwin the
grantor, was alive and would have been holding
Thrapston. By his first wife he had at least one son
William. His second wife was Maud, daughter of
Robert de Furnell. By an undated charter, Robert
de Furnell granted to 'Robert son of Aubrey de
Twiwell with Maud my daughter in free marriage'
certain lands in Cranford. (fn. 34) These lands were later
confirmed by John, son of Maud, daughter of Robert
de Furnell, 'to Robert de Ver' as lands which Robert
de Furnell gave 'to my mother in free marriage.' (fn. 35)
Evidently John was a son of Maud by a former husband. By his second marriage, Robert de Vere had
a son Henry, known as Henry son of Robert, who is
said to have been brought up by his kinsman William
de Mandeville, Earl of Essex and Albemarle, son of
Roesia de Vere, and to have commanded with reputation at Gysors. (fn. 36) He was probably the judge
of this name of the end of the 12th century. He is
said to have died about 1193–4, and was succeeded
by Walter, his son. This Walter, as Walter son of
Henry son of Robert, by an undated charter of the early
years of the 13th century, gave to William 'patrunculo
meo,' or uncle on his father's side, all his land in Twywell for the service of half a knight and in Addington
for the service of a quarter of a knight's fee which
Robert his grandfather held on the day he died,
to be held of Walter and his heirs. (fn. 37) Walter married
Lucy, daughter of Gilbert Basset of Weldon. He
had apparently two brothers, William and Geoffrey,
and died in 1210–11. This branch of the family,
which took the name of 'de
Drayton,' continued to be the
overlords of the Veres' holding
in Addington. Its descent
is given under Drayton in
Lowick (q.v.).
De Vere. Quarterly gules and or with a molet argent in the quarter.
William, the elder son of
Robert de Vere, lived on till
the early part of the 13th
century. Under the name of
William son of Robert son of
Aubrey, he endowed the Hospital of St. John Baptist of
Northampton with lands in
Slipton and Twywell. (fn. 38) His lands in Thrapston
passed to Thomas de Vere, perhaps his son,
who died in 1204 and was succeeded by his brother
Baldwin de Vere, who in 1233 was described as
constable of Clun Castle. (fn. 39) He obtained exemption
from suit at the hundred court for his lands and
men of Thrapston from Alexander, Abbot of Peterborough (1222–6) (fn. 40) and appears to have taken up his
residence and possibly built a house at Addingon.
In 1232 he received licence from the Abbot of Croyland
as patron, Walter, rector of the church of Addington,
and Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, to build a chapel,
without a baptistery or belfry, in his court at Addington, where he and his wife Hawise, their guests and
household, might hear divine service, but they were
to visit the parish church on certain feasts. Baldwin
and his heirs could present a chaplain who would be
admitted by the rector, and he and his wife granted
certain lands to the parish church. (fn. 41) At the same
time he exchanged certain lands with the abbot of
Croyland for other lands before his gate, evidently
with the object of improving the approach to his
house. (fn. 42) He was alive in 1242–3, (fn. 43) but in 1245,
Robert his son was holding his lands. (fn. 44) Robert
married Joan de Waterville, one of the heiresses of
Thorpe Waterville, with whom he received one third
of the manor of Ludborough and other lands. He
died before 1277 when Baldwin his son was under age.
Baldwin died before 1287, when Robert his brother
did homage for part of the inheritance of Joan his
mother. (fn. 45) Robert de Vere, who was sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1301 and 1319, paid scutage for his
manor of Thrapston held of Thomas Wake in 1316. (fn. 46)
His wife's name was Maud. He died before 1330,
and was succeeded by Ralph his son. (fn. 47) Ralph died
in 1335, (fn. 48) and an extent of Addington Manor taken
after his death, showed there was then a capital messuage, a dovecot, a garden with a mill in it and
60 acres of demesne. (fn. 49) His son John de Vere, who
married Alice, was one of the 110 defendants in a suit
as to dower in Thrapston in 1345. (fn. 50) He was killed
at the Battle of Crecy (1346) (fn. 51) leaving a son John
who survived his father only a few years and died
under age.
In 1349 Simon de Drayton, the overlord of Addington, granted the wardship of John in respect of that
manor to Thomas Wake, lord of Liddell (fn. 52) who was
John's overlord at Thrapston. John was succeeded
by his uncle Robert, who is described as of Addington
He and his wife Elizabeth entailed the manor of
Addington in 1351, when Alice widow of John de Vere
had her dower in it. (fn. 53) Robert died about 1369, leaving three sons, Robert, Baldwin and John. Elizabeth
his widow had her dower in the lands, and she is
described in 1400 as lady of Great Addington, (fn. 54)
where no doubt she lived. Robert the eldest son, also
described as of Addington, (fn. 55) was still under age in
1400. (fn. 56) In 1408, by deed dated at Great Addington,
he, described as 'Robert Vere of Thrapston,' granted
the manors of Thrapston, with his lands in Little
Addington and Woodford, to Sir John Pilkington,
Ralph Grene of Drayton, Thomas Mulsho and John
de Welton of Bolde, probably for the purposes of a
settlement. (fn. 57) On 26 February 1420, Pilkington,
Mulsho and Welton reconveyed these lands, except the
site and demesnes of the manor of Thrapston and other
lands there, to Robert de Vere. (fn. 58) Robert died apparently in this year or the following, leaving a daughter
Margaret, married to Thomas Ashby. In 1421
Thomas Ashby, of Louseby in Leicestershire, and
Margaret his wife granted the manor of Thrapston to
Baldwin de Vere, uncle of Margaret. (fn. 59) Baldwin,
described as of Addington, by deed dated there in
1405, conveyed all his lands to William, parson of the
church of Islip, and William Seymour, apparently
for the purposes of a settlement. (fn. 60) He died in 1424,
leaving a son and heir Richard, (fn. 61) who married Isabella,
sister of Sir Henry Grene. Richard died in 1480 and
was succeeded by his son Henry de Vere (fn. 62) who died
in 1493, leaving four daughters and heirs by his wife
Isabella Tresham, all under age. (fn. 63) These ladies were
also co-heirs of their mother to the lands of Constance,
daughter of Sir Henry Grene, wife of John Stafford,
Earl of Wiltshire, on the death of their son Edward,
Earl of Wiltshire (fn. 64) in 1499. These de Vere co-heiresses
were (1) Elizabeth, who married John son of Sir John
Mordaunt, who was created a baron in 1522, and whose
descendants eventually obtained nearly the whole of
Henry de Vere's property; (2) Anne, who married, first,
Robert, another son of Sir John Mordaunt, by whom
she had no issue, and secondly, Humphrey Brown,
brother of Sir Wistan Brown, by whom she had a son
George who died without issue in 1558; after George's
death his share in the manor of Great Addington being
conveyed by the three daughters of Sir Humphrey
Brown by his second wife Anne, daughter of John,
Lord Hussey, (fn. 65) and their descendants, to the Mordaunts before the end of the century; (3) Constance,
the third daughter, who married John Parr and died
without issue in 1501, when her share fell to her three
sisters; (4) Audrey or Etheldreda, the fourth daughter,
who married John, son and heir of Sir Wistan Brown;
they and their son George conveyed their share in
Great Addington to Sir John Mordaunt in 1548. (fn. 66)
Thus by the end of the 16th century all the shares in
Great Addington and Thrapston had come into the
possession of Lewis, third Lord Mordaunt, son of John
son of John first Lord Mordaunt and Elizabeth de
Vere. Lewis leased the manor house of Great Addington to Arthur Darcy with the chief messuage in the
tenure of John Cootes. In 1610, a term of six years
still remaining of this lease was granted to George
Chambers on the conviction for recusancy of Arthur
Darcy and his son Henry. (fn. 67) In 1609 Henry, fourth
Lord Mordaunt, son of Lewis, died seised of the
manors of Great Addington, Thrapston, Lowick, Islip
and Slipton, and of the chantry of Great Addington. (fn. 68)
The manor of Great Addington passed with the barony
of Mordaunt and earldom of Peterborough until 1814,
when the last Earl of Peterborough died without issue. (fn. 69)
Lands in Great and Little Addington held by John
Pyel by the rent of a pair of gloves, were granted in
1357 by John Daundelyn the elder of Cranford, to
Adam Franceys, citizen of London, and Henry Pyel,
clerk. (fn. 70) In 1386 a grant for life of 50 marks rent from
the manors of Irthlingborough, Sudborough, Great and
Little Addington was made by Simon Symeon and
John Curtys of Wennyngton (co. Hunts), who had
these manors from Henry Pyel, Archdeacon of
Northampton, and William Braybrook, by release from
John Pyel to Joan, the widow of John Pyel, citizen of
London. (fn. 71) Land in Addington held by Nicholas
Pyel was included among the fees held of Edmund
Earl of Stafford at his death in 1403. (fn. 72) The manors
held by the Pyels descended to the Cheyneys of
Irthlingborough, and after the death without issue of
Elizabeth Pyel were inherited, as her kinsman and
heir, by Sir Thomas Cheyney, Kt., son of Sir John
Cheyney, who settled them on his wife Anne. He
died in 1514, leaving a daughter Elizabeth, then aged
nine and married to Thomas son and heir of Sir
Nicholas Vaux of Harrowden.
Margaret Vere, widow of Sir
George Vere, Kt., unsuccessfully claimed the manor (fn. 73)
which passed with Irthlingborough (q.v.) to the Vaux
family, Lord, Vaux of Harrowden.
Vaux. Checky argent and gules a cheveron azure with three roses argent thereon.
The abbot of Peterborough
held land in Great Addington
in the 12th century. (fn. 74) This
may have been the manor of
Great Addington which, with
the advowson of the rectory,
parcel of the possessions of the Abbey, was granted
to William, Lord Parr of Horton, in 1544. (fn. 75) It
seems to have passed to Lewis Mordaunt, who with
William le Hunt conveyed it in 1646 to Richard
Raymond and Thomas Watts. (fn. 76) In 1649 Richard
Raynsford and Katherine his wife conveyed it to
Richard Andrew and Henry Paynter, (fn. 77) in 1760 Robert
Lambe conveyed it to John Woodford, clerk. (fn. 78)
Early in the reign of Henry II (1154–89) Arnold de
Pavilly (Papilio) granted a mill in Addington to Sulby
Abbey which was confirmed to the Abbey in the time
of Henry II. (fn. 79)
Church
The Church of ALL SAINTS consists
of chancel 28 ft. by 14 ft. 4 in., with north
chapel 15 ft. 3 in. by 10 ft., clearstoried
nave of three bays 39 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in., north and south
aisles each 9 ft. 6 in wide, south porch, and west
tower 11 ft. 4 in. by 12 ft., all these measurements being
internal. The width across nave and aisles is 38 ft. 6 in.
The chapel (the chantry of Our Lady) is a continuation of the north aisle and covers the chancel about
half its length: it is now used as an organ chamber.
Further east is a modern vestry.
The church is built of rubble and has plain parapets
and low-pitched leaded roofs, except to the porch,
which is covered with grey slates. The interior is
plastered. The chancel was restored in 1891, and the
nave roof renewed.
Of the 12th-century aisleless church there are
traces in the large plinths beneath the piers of the
nave, embodying fragments of the former walls;
and the south doorway of this building, with a round
arch carved with a row of chevron, and jamb-shafts
with foliated capitals, is now the outer doorway of the
south porch. The usual process of enlarging the
chancel and adding aisles to the nave was begun in
the later part of the 13th century, and further alterations were made in the two following centuries, including the addition of the south porch and of the tower.
The work of rebuilding appears to have started with
the nave. The chancel and north chapel were built
about 1300, and the string-course beneath the windows
is of this approximate date. At present the east
window and the three two-light windows in the
south wall are 15th-century insertions, much restored
in modern times. The eastern window on the south
side, however, is the original opening with inserted
tracery: the sill is lowered to form a sedile, and from
the east jamb of the window, within the opening,
there projects the bowl of a piscina with a cinquefoilheaded niche behind. On the north side of the chancel
there is a small oblong squint from an old vestry, the
place of which has been taken by the modern building.
The chancel communicates with the north chapel
by an arch of c. 1300, which is filled with early 15thcentury screen-work. Another screen, later and more
formal in design, separates the chapel from the north
aisle. Immediately to the east of the arch from the
chancel, in the south wall of the chapel, is a projecting
half-octagon piscina with roses on the bowl, resting
upon a cluster of attached shafts, and having a small
ogee-headed hollow behind. There are two windows
in the north wall of this chapel. One, a two-light
14th-century opening, contains glass with shields of
arms. The other, set low in the wall, contains fragments of 15th-century glass, and lights a recess in
which is the alabaster effigy of Sir Henry Vere
(d. 1493), founder of the chantry. The effigy has
already been described. (fn. 80)
The arch between nave and chancel, with semicircular responds, is contemporary with the nave
arcades. South of the arch, in the angle between the
south respond and the east respond of the south
arcade, a doorway, inserted in the 15th century, leads
to a steep stair by which the rood-loft was approached.
The stair is corbelled out towards the south aisle,
and infringes upon an earlier bracket in the east wall:
it is lighted on this side by a small double opening.
The upper doorway remains, but the screen is
gone.
The nave arcades are plain late 13th-century work.
The piers are octagonal, with slender half-octagon
responds; but the eastern arch of the north arcade
springs from a corbel; and the pier on its west side
is formed by a cluster of four shafts. The arches are
very wide, and much ironstone is used in them.
Both aisles underwent some alteration after their
original construction, and the outer wall of the north
aisle, which is now continuous with that of the north
chapel, has been practically rebuilt. There is a plain
round-headed north doorway. The windows of the
north aisle are 14th-century two-light openings with
flat heads: the west window is rather later. In each
case, the tracery has been considerably renewed.
The south aisle was partly rebuilt in the 14th
century and was probably repaired in the 15th century,
to which date belong the east and west windows, both
of three lights. The two windows in the south
wall are each of two lights: the western, with a
round quatrefoil in the head, is contemporary with
the arcades: the other has ogee lights and a pointed
quatrefoil, and is of the early 14th century. Between
this window and the east wall of the aisle is a very large
tomb-recess, practically rebuilt.
The south doorway is of the 14th century, with
mouldings on the chamfer-plane. It is covered by
a porch which is partly of 13th-century date. The
stone benches on either side stop short of the outer
doorway, which, as already noted, is a fine late 12thcentury arch. It is clear that this arch was at first
rebuilt in the south wall of the aisle and was covered
by the porch, and that, when a new doorway was made
in the 14th century, the porch was slightly lengthened
and the old arch added to its outer face. This work
formed part of the repair which included the east
part of the aisle, but was apparently not continued
west of the porch, where the older window was left
undisturbed. The porch has a plastered barrel-roof,
apparently of the 18th-century.
The clearstory, consisting of two-light windows,
three on each side, was added in the 15th century,
below the high pitch of the older roof, which appears
above it externally.
The tower was built towards the middle of the
14th century, and has diagonal buttresses and a
finely moulded west doorway, with filleted rolls in
the outer, and a sunk chamfer and wave in the inner
orders, and with a scroll hood-moulding. Above this
is a vaulted niche. In the second stage there is a
lozenge-shaped opening with reticulated tracery.
A similar lozenge is pierced in the lower stage of the
south wall, which is lighted in the second stage by a
two-light window like those of the belfry above. The
second stage in the north wall has a plain single light.
The bell-chamber windows are of two lights with
rather formal reticulated tracery. The carved band
and high parapet with cross-loops above seem to have
been added in the 15th century. The tower communicates with the nave by a chamfered arch of three
orders. The vice is in the south-west angle.
The font is of the 13th century, with a circular
bowl upon a circular stem furnished with four attached
shafts, the capitals of which are joined to the bowl
by grotesque head-shaped projections. There is a
good early 17th-century pulpit, and there is some old
glass in the heads of the north aisle windows, in addition to that already mentioned.
In the chancel, upon a marble slab placed upon a
low stone table north of the altar, is the brass of a
priest in mass vestments, carrying the chalice and
wafer, with a scroll inscribed 'Ih[es]u fili dei miserere
mei.' In medallions at the corners are the emblems
of the four evangelists. The inscription reads:
'Orate pro a[nim]a magistri Joh[an]is Bloxham primi Capellani
istius Cantarie beate marie qui obiit quinto die
mensis decembris Anno xp[ist]i mill[es]imo quingentesimo
xix° cuius anime propicietur deus amen. Henricus
Veer erat fundator istius cantarie.' This brass evidently was originally in the north chapel, where the
effigy of the founder, as already mentioned, still
remains.
There are mural tablets in the chancel to William
Lambe (d. 1762) and two of his sons, one of whom
of the same name was rector (d. 1767), and to William
Lambe (d. 1780).
There is a ring of six bells, by J. Taylor and Co.,
of Loughborough, 1899. They take the place of four
bells (fn. 81) which were then recast, to which a treble and
tenor were added.
The plate consists of a cup of 1835 and paten
of 1845, both London make, and an almsdish
made in Birmingham in 1832, the gift of Mary
Tyley, wife of the Rev. James Tyley, rector, in
1846. There are also two plated almsdishes given
in 1863. (fn. 82)
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (1)
baptisms, 1694–1767; marriages, 1692–1754; burials,
1692–1767; (ii) baptisms, 1768–1812; burials,
1767–1812; (iii) marriages, 1754–1812.
Advowson
The church is referred to in a
doubtful charter of 833 to Croyland
Abbey, and the advowson was held
by that abbey until the Dissolution, (fn. 83) after which it
was granted with the Croyland manor to Lord Parr
of Horton in 1544, and in 1558 to Sir Robert Lane,
Kt., of Horton, and Anthony Throckmorton, of
Charleston. Before 1562 the manor and advowson
had been separated, and in 1586 the advowson was
conveyed by Thomas Birte and Cresida his wife
to William Goodfellow and Mary his wife, (fn. 84) ; since
then it has been held by a succession of owners, sometimes incumbents.
Henry Vere at his death on 22 May, 1493, left
directions for the endowment of a chantry of one
chaplain in the parish church of Great Addington,
to be called the Henry Vere chantry, for the souls of
King Henry VII and his consort Queen Elizabeth,
Prince Arthur and Henry, Duke of York, the said
Henry Vere, his parents and benefactors. On 18 October, 1500, licence was obtained for the alienation
in mortmain to the priory of St. Andrews, Northampton, of lands to the yearly value of 9 marks, or to
charge the lands of the priory in Sywell with the payment of 9 marks yearly to the chaplain, and to alienate
to him a messuage, garden, and 3 acres of land in
Great Addington. (fn. 85) At the Dissolution the profits
from the chantry, of which Robert Aleyn was incumbent, were £6. (fn. 86) The manor of Sywell, belonging
to St. Andrew's Priory, exclusive of the payment
to this chantry, was granted to John Mershe in 1543. (fn. 87)
The chantry and its endowment were granted
to John, Lord Mordaunt, by George Brown in
1547, (fn. 88) and continued to be held by the Mordaunts, (fn. 89) as the manor of the chantry of Great
Addington.
There are no charities in this parish.