BARNWELL ALL SAINTS
Bernewelle (xi cent.); Bernwella (xii cent.);
Barnewell, Kyngesbernewelle (xiv cent.); King's
Barnwell (xvi cent.); Barnwell All Saints (xvii cent.).
The parish of Barnwell All Saints, which since 1821
has been united with the sister parish of Barnwell
St. Andrew (fn. 1) covers 1,781 acres on a subsoil of Cornbrash, surrounding Great Oolite in the north and
centre and Oxford Clay in the south-east. The land
is mostly under grass, but hay, wheat, barley and
beans are grown. There are over 200 acres of woodland. The average height above the ordnance
datum is 200 ft. In the west of the parish the main
road from Thrapston to Oundle leads northwards,
separating it from Lilford cum Wigsthorpe. The
village is watered by a stream flowing, also northwards,
into and through the neighbouring village of Barnwell
St. Andrew, which passes in its course the site of the
manor house, tenanted in the early years of the 18th
century by Mrs. Elizabeth Creed, philanthropist
and artist, a Montagu by birth, (fn. 2) and the remains of
the church of All Saints. A little distance to the
east are Friar's Close Farm, a moat, and Foot Hill
Spinney. There is a considerable amount of woodland in the south-east of Barnwell All Saints and
different parts of this are named Rough Wold,
Common Wold, Barnwell Wold, Gunwell's Wold,
Middle Coppice, and New Park Close. Earlier
place names are Newdegardun, which belonged to the
chief manor in the 14th century, (fn. 3) Tuthill and Breakhill situated east of the village, and Kilsey meadow,
all three known in the 18th century.
Barnwell All Saints is said to have been inclosed in
1683. (fn. 4) In 1921 its population numbered 79 persons.
Manors
Barnwell All Saints belonged to the
king in 1086, but in the following
century was alienated to Robert de
Ferrers. (fn. 5) Robert and his successors in the parish
held of the Crown in chief until 1608. (fn. 6)
From the first Robert de Ferrers, created Earl of
Derby in 1138, SPENSER or KINGS BARNWELL
descended to his son of the same name (fn. 7) who gave
10 librates of his fee here to his daughter Isold on her
marriage with Stephen de Beauchamp. Isold was a
widow in 1185, with a son aged four and five daughters. (fn. 8)
Her son, another Stephen de Beauchamp, was dead
without issue in 1216 (fn. 9) and his lands in Barnwell went
to John, son of his sister Isold de Suburie, (Sudborough), by her husband Richard de Suburie, and
Maud, another sister, widow of William de Wascough (fn. 10)
who conveyed their shares in
the manor to Sir Philip
Basset. (fn. 11) This conveyance was
confirmed by John de Suburie
and Ralph son of Maud de
Wascough, in 1248. (fn. 12)
Despenser. Argent quartered with gules fretty or with a baston sable over all.
Sir Philip Basset gave the
manor of Barnwell All Saints
to Hugh le Despenser in free
marriage with his daughter
Aline or Aveline, (fn. 13) who became the wife of Hugh Bigod,
Earl of Norfolk (fn. 14) after her
first husband's death at the
battle of Evesham. (fn. 15) She
died in 1281 and the manor descended to her son
and heir Hugh le Despenser (fn. 16) afterwards Earl of
Winchester. (fn. 17) In 1284 two-thirds of the manor was
held by Hugh and the remaining third by John de
Beaumont, on whom Godfrey de Beaumont and his
wife Cecily, two years before, had settled lands, the
inheritance of Cecily in Barnwell. (fn. 18)
Hugh leased the manor in 1297 (fn. 19) and before 1316
granted it for life to Walter de Langton, Bishop of
Coventry and Lichfield, who died seised of the manor
called Spenser in Barnwell. (fn. 20)
In 1326, the Earl and his son were executed and
their lands forfeited. (fn. 21)
After the death of Giles de Wachesham, another
life owner, (fn. 22) the king in 1337 granted the manor to
his yeoman, John de Ravensholme. (fn. 23) Later in the
same year Hugh le Despenser, the earl's grandson,
renounced his right in the manor in John's favour. (fn. 24)
John, in 1344, made a settlement of the manor in his
wife Margaret and his heirs. (fn. 25) He died in 1353, (fn. 26)
Margaret and their son Thomas, then aged four,
surviving him. (fn. 27) After Thomas's death without issue
in 1370, the manor was held by his mother until her
death in 1375. (fn. 28) The heirs of John de Ravensholme
were then found to be the descendants of Margery
and Cicely, the sisters of his father William de Ravensholme, namely, John Dyn, grandson of Margery,
and John Dounome, son of Cicely. (fn. 29) John Dyn had
already conveyed the reversion of his moiety to Sir
Richard Stury, (fn. 30) to whom John Dounome soon after
Margaret's death, sold his moiety. (fn. 31) In 1376 Sir
Richard received a life grant from the Crown of a
weekly cartload of firewood for his hearth at Barnwell
such as Sir John de Ravensholme had enjoyed before
him. (fn. 32) In 1385 he settled the manor in tail male, (fn. 33) and
on the death of his widow Alice in 1413 Barnwell All
Saints descended to Robert Stury, the third but first
surviving contingent heir. (fn. 34) Sir Robert settled it on
his son Richard, to whom Catherine Stury, his widow
and Richard's mother, released her right. (fn. 35) In 1436
Joan Pavy, widow, formerly relict of John Kent,
also renounced her right. (fn. 36) In 1438 Richard Stury,
then knight, sold Barnwell All Saints to John
Sturdys, citizen and goldsmith of London. (fn. 37) A
considerable part of the manor seems also to have
belonged to John Laurence of Wyboldston, Bedfordshire, and Elizabeth, wife of John Estwyk, who,
together with John Estwyk, sold their rights here to
John Sturdys in 1441. (fn. 38) John Sturdys sold the manor
in 1447 to Thomas Thorpe (fn. 39) in whose possession it
was in 1451. (fn. 40) Thomas, one of the Barons of the
Exchequer under Henry VI, was taken prisoner at the
Battle of Northampton and executed after a long
imprisonment. (fn. 41) His lands in Northamptonshire
were confiscated by Edward IV in 1461, (fn. 42) but were restored to his son Roger on the accession of Henry VII. (fn. 43)
Roger was lord of the manor of Barnwell All Saints
in 1496 when, with his wife Constance, he sold it to
David Phelip (fn. 44) afterwards knight of the body to
Henry VII. (fn. 45) Within a year of his death in 1506 (fn. 46)
Sir David sold the reversion to George Kirkham, who
sued his executors in Chancery for their refusal to
complete the bargain. (fn. 47) George, however, was seised
of the manor of Barnwell All Saints when he died in
1528. He had settled it on his son Robert and his
wife Sybil. (fn. 48) In 1548 Sir Robert Kirkham and Sybil,
together with John Banastre, whom Sir Robert had
enfeoffed of some part of his estates, (fn. 49) sold the manor
to Sir Edward Montagu (fn. 50) and within the next three
years George Middleton and George Lynne, sons and
heirs respectively of Margaret
Middleton and Agnes Lynne,
the daughters of George Kirkham, confirmed his title. (fn. 51)
From that time to the present
day Barnwell All Saints has
descended with Barnwell St.
Andrew (q.v.)
Montagu. Quarterly: 1 & 4 Argent a fesse indented of three points and a border sable; 2 & 3, Or an eagle vert.
Another so-called manor in
this parish was in the possession of William Dudley of
Clapton in 1521 and descended
with the manor of Clapton
(q.v.) until 1666, when it was
mortgaged by Sir William
Dudley (fn. 52) and acquired six years later by Edward
Lord Montagu. (fn. 53)
An estate in this parish called Barnes between
1518 and 1529 appears to be the so-called manor of
Barnes sold to Sir Edward Montagu in 1548 by
John Banastre who seems to have acquired it from
Sir Robert Kirkham. (fn. 54)
The manor of Barnwell All Saints had two dovecotes in the 14th century, (fn. 55) twelve in 1548. (fn. 56) A
fishery is mentioned amongst its appurtenances in
1281. (fn. 57) There were a capital messuage and a wind-
mill here in 1322. (fn. 58) The windmill was still standing
about thirty years later but only the site of the manor
remained. (fn. 59) John de Ravensholme received a grant
of a weekly market on Friday and a fair every year on
St. Luke's day, in 1349. (fn. 60)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS consisted
of chancel, nave, north and south aisles,
and tower with broach spire on the
south side forming a porch. The east end of the
south aisle was widened out to form the Montagu
chapel, the south wall of which was in line with the
tower. All the roofs were leaded. The whole of
the building, with the exception of the chancel, was
pulled down about 1825. From the evidence preserved (fn. 61) it seems to have been of 13th and 14th century
date, the tower and spire being of the latter period,
and very good examples of a well-known local type.
The chancel was left standing as the burial place of
the Montagus, Earls of Sandwich, and contains
many mural monuments to members of the family.
It was restored in 1894, but the vault had been closed
ten years earlier.
The chancel now stands isolated in the middle of a
field. It is built of rubble and has plain parapets
and a low-pitched roof. Internally it measures 29 ft.
in length by 17 ft. 6 in. in width, and is of 13th-century
date. There are no buttresses, but some portion of
the walling north and south of the chancel arch has
been left standing, the arch itself, which is of two
chamfered orders on half-round responds with octagonal moulded capitals, being blocked by a modern
wall in which a doorway is inserted. At the west end
of the north wall is a small lancet low-side window,
now blocked and covered on the inside, and there is a
blocked square-headed two-light window of 14thcentury date at the west end of the south wall. The
five-light east window is a 15th-century insertion, as
are also a two-light transomed window on the north
and one of three lights on the south side. Internally
the walls are plastered, but the east end was panelled
in oak in the early part of the 18th century by the
Duke of Montagu, (fn. 62) the panelling covering the lower
part of the window.
The font is ancient and consists of a plain octagonalto-square bowl standing on four short pillars.
The most interesting of the monuments is that to
Henry Montagu, infant son of Sir Sidney Montagu,
who was drowned 28 April 1625 at the age of 3. He
is figured under a curious tapering alabaster canopy
and is described as 'a wittie and hopeful child tender
and deare in ye sight of his parents and much lamented
by his friends.' (fn. 63) There are also memorials to Dame
Lettice Montagu (d. 1611), Thomas Dillingham,
rector (d. 1704), Mrs. Dorothy Creed (d. 1714),
Rev. Matthew Hunt (d. 1729), William Dillingham,
gent. (d. 1753), and Ann, wife of William Ord (d.
1808). In the floor are armorial slabs, with brass
inscriptions, to the 4th and 5th Earls of Sandwich
(1792, 1814), and a brass plate on the wall records the
names of all the Montagus buried here from 1622 to
1862. (fn. 64)
High up on the south wall are two iron brackets,
one designed to support a flag staff, and the other a
long spike to hold a helmet. The helmet is hammered
out of sheet iron and has a wooden crest of Montagu
—a griffin's head couped and collared with a crown,
between two expanded wings; (fn. 65) the flagstaff is lost,
and a sword is now suspended from its bracket.
The four bells were sold when the church was taken
down; no record of them appears to have been
kept. (fn. 66)
The registers are now at Barnwell St. Andrew;
before 1812 they are as follows: (i) baptisms and
burials 1695–1812, marriages 1705–1753; (ii) marriages 1754–1812. A large number of briefs is recorded
1707–43.
Advowson
The church of ALL SAINTS,
which has been under this dedication since 1260, (fn. 67) belonged to the
king's fee until Henry I gave it, it is said, about the
year 1120, (fn. 68) to the Priory of St. Neots, upon Michael
its rector, son and successor of the Archdeacon Nigel,
rector under William II and Henry I, taking the habit
of a monk. (fn. 69) The priory was confirmed in its possession by Alexander Bishop of Lincoln in 1140, and
by Hugh Bishop of Lincoln about seventy years
later. (fn. 70) A pension of £3 a year, payable from this
church to the Prior of St. Neots, was disputed by
Robert the parson in 1232 (fn. 71) but was still due in 1291. (fn. 72)
During the 14th century the church was several times
in the king's gift, the temporalities of the alien Priory
of St. Neots being in his hands on account of the war
with France (fn. 73) and a grant of the advowson was
made by Edward III to John de Ravensholme in
1345. (fn. 74) In 1496 Roger Thorpe included the church
in his sale of the manor. (fn. 75) A later lord of the manor,
George Kirkham, was seised of the advowson of
Barnwell All Saints at his death in 1528, (fn. 76) holding
it by grant of next presentation from the prior,
who afterwards made similar grants to John Lord
Mordaunt and Sir Edward Montagu. (fn. 77) Lord Mordaunt presented to the church in 1554 (fn. 78) and the ad-
vowson remained in his family until 1600, when his
grandson, Lewis Lord Mordaunt, with his son and heir
Henry Mordaunt, sold it to Edward Haselrigg, (fn. 79) by
whom the reversion was granted to Robert Syers of
Isham, convicted of recusancy in 1603. Five years
later Edward Haselrigg obtained a grant of the advowson for forty-one years on payment of a fine to
Robert Syers. (fn. 80) The presentation of 1617, however,
was made by Sir Edward Montagu, (fn. 81) and although
the Crown reasserted its rights in 1620 by granting
the church to Sir Henry Spiller and others, (fn. 82) it seems
to have followed the descent of the manor until 1821 (fn. 83)
when it was united to the church of Barnwell St.
Andrew. (fn. 84)
Charities
This parish participates in the
benefits of Parson Latham's Hospital, an account of which is given
under the parish of Barnwell St. Andrew.
A sum of 6s. 8d. yearly, known as the Montagu
Dole, is due on St. Thomas' Day for the poor of
Barnwell All Saints out of Lord Montagu's Estate.
The origin of this charity is unknown.