EASTON MAUDIT
Estone, Eston (xi cent.); Eston Mauduyt (xiv cent.).
This small but delightful parish, bounded on the
east by Bozeat, north by Grendon, and
west by Yardley Hastings, lies on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire,
and west of the road between Wellingborough and Olney. The whole parish,
which contains an area of 1,800 acres, and
extends from north to south about 2 miles,
from east to west about 1, is owned, with
the exception of the rectorial lands, by the
Marquess of Northampton.
The population, which was only 192 in
1871, had in 1931 sunk to 129. But there
are indications that Easton Maudit once
housed a considerably larger number of
inhabitants. It is said that there were once
a number of weavers' shops here, (fn. 1) and
Bridges wrote that in his day the parish had
been considerably depopulated since it had
been inclosed by Sir Christopher Yelverton
in the time of Charles I. (fn. 2)
The village is about 2¾ miles south-east
from Castle Ashby and Earl's Barton station
on the Northampton and Peterborough
branch of the L. M.S. railway. At its northern extremity is the church of St. Peter
and St. Paul, with the vicarage south-west
and the school south-east of it.
Easton Maudit: The Church
A group of fine trees near the church
marks the spot where the handsome manorhouse which was at one time the seat
of the Earls of Sussex formerly stood.
Adjoining the house was a walled park,
and beyond it a larger inclosure surrounded by a stone
wall; of this inclosure the wood called Hornwood,
mentioned in various conveyances, formed part. Bridges
writes of a very large wood between Easton and Yardley,
in the west of the lordship, divided between the Earls
of Northampton and Sussex, and of a small coppice of
wood at Barmer's Hill. (fn. 3) At the close of last century
295 acres were woodland. (fn. 4)
The manor-house, or hall, was pulled down immediately after the sale of the estate in 1801, but a
drawing of the east front made in 1721 (fn. 5) shows a façade
of considerable extent, two stories high, with a return
south wing of three stories forming two sides of a court,
which appears to have been inclosed on the north by
a hedge and trees, and open to the east. (fn. 6) There was
already a house in existence when Christopher Yelverton purchased the estate, but the drawing of 1721
shows a rather widespreading manor-house of the
Jacobean period with central porch, subsidiary side
porches, stone gables and dormers, and mullioned windows, some of which had been replaced by sashes. The
general disposition was symmetrical, though the individual features were irregular. (fn. 7) Two doorways with
pointed arches may have belonged to an older house,
but it would appear that the house was rebuilt about
1600. The Rev. W. Cole, who accompanied Horace
Walpole when he visited Easton Maudit in 1763, mentions a 'fine large drawing-room', and notes 'two or
three old coats of alliances of the Yelverton family in
the staircase windows', as well as a shield of the family
arms in the chapel, but the only relics of the house
known to have been preserved are two 18th-century
carved chimney-pieces and two sets of stone gate
piers. (fn. 8) At the time of its demolition the house contained seventy rooms. (fn. 9)
'The Bishop's room' was the room occupied by the
venerable Bishop Morton, who had been successively
Bishop of Chester, Lichfield, and Durham. After the
abolition of episcopacy in 1646 he fell into extreme
poverty and lived for a time with Sir Christopher Yelverton at Easton Maudit as tutor of the younger members of the family until his death there in 1659 at the
age of 95, (fn. 10) when a floor-slab was placed to his memory
in the church.
The vicarage, considerably remodelled since his day,
was the home for twenty-nine years of Dr. Thomas
Percy (fn. 11) (1729–1811), who was presented to the living
in 1753 by the college of Christ Church, Oxford. It
was here that his most important work, including the
publication of the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, was accomplished. The church registers contain specimens of
his beautifully clear handwriting. (fn. 12) Among his visitors
were Shenstone and Garrick, Goldsmith, and the great
Doctor and his friend Miss Williams. Of Dr. Johnson's
visit in 1764 Mrs. Percy told Cradock (fn. 13) that 'her husband looked out all sorts of books to be ready for his
amusement after breakfast, and that Johnson was so attentive and polite to her that when her husband mentioned
the literature prepared in the study he said: "No, Sir, I
shall first wait upon Mrs. Percy to feed the ducks."'
Dr. Percy was succeeded in the living by his friend
and correspondent, the philologist Robert Nares, presented in 1782 to this living, which he held until 1805.
Robert Nares, who was Keeper of Manuscripts at the
British Museum, assisted in 1790 in completing
Bridges's History of Northamptonshire. (fn. 14)
The parish lies at a level of about 200 to 300 ft.
Its soil is various, but chiefly clayey; its subsoil clay.
The crops grown are the ordinary cereals.
Mauduit. Gules three piles wavy or.
Manor
Winemar [the Fleming, otherwise Winemar de Hamslape], who was returned in the
Survey as holding of the Countess Judith
1 virgate of land in Bozeat, was holding in chief at the
same time 2 hides and 3 virgates in a place unnamed
in the hundred of Higham. (fn. 15) This was presumably
EASTON, since his successor Michael de Hamslape
was entered in the Northampton Survey as holding
3½ hides and 1 great virgate in Easton and Strixton. (fn. 16)
The 2 hides and 3 virgates recorded in 1086 had been
held before the Conquest by six freemen, one of whom
was called Osgot, and his part of the land had been
claimed by the Countess Judith. The lands held in
Easton by Michael de Hamslape evidently passed to
William Mauduit, the King's Chamberlain, by his
marriage with Maud daughter of Michael, as in 1242
land in Easton was held in chief of the king by William
Mauduit, (fn. 17) of whom William de Nowers was holding
3 parts of a fee in Easton, while Robert Wolf, or
'Lupus', was holding of him half a fee in Esse [Ashby]
and Easton. Another account
gives a fee in Easton to William
de Nowers, and half a fee in
Ashby to Robert Wolf. (fn. 18) This fee
was held of the Mauduits until
at the death of William Mauduit,
s.p., in 1267, it passed with
the earldom to William de
Beauchamp, the younger, son of
William Mauduit's sister Isabel,
deceased, the wife of William de
Beauchamp, the elder. (fn. 19) It was
held by the Beauchamps, Earls of Warwick, until early
in the 15th century, as of their manor of Hanslope.
John Mauduit in 1206–7 granted land in Easton to
Gilbert son of Richard de Easton and Christiane his
mother; (fn. 20) and it was probably the same John Mauduit
who, as lord of Easton next Bozeat, made a grant to
the canons of St. James near Northampton of the wood
called Stonyway in Bozeat and of lands in Easton. (fn. 21) A
lawsuit in 1306 about the advowson (fn. 22) (held with the
manor) gives a very complete record of the early descent
of this manor of Easton, of which John Mauduit died
seised after having made the presentation in the reign
of King John. John Mauduit left three daughters as
his heirs, named Agnes, Flandrina, and Amice. The
manor and advowson of Easton were assigned to Agnes
and Flandrina as their purparty, and another tenement
to Amice. Agnes Mauduit had four daughters: Isabel,
Sibyl, Eleanor, and Loretta; of these Isabel married
William de Nowers. (fn. 23) After the death of William de
Nowers, Isabel granted to William de Fauconberg 10
acres of wood and her share of the advowson. (fn. 24) This
passed to Ralf son of Agnes, sister of Olive, mother of
William de Fauconberg, probably the Ralf de Fauconberg (fn. 25) who granted to Henry de Preyers, or Pratellis,
all his right in Easton, Grendon, Wollaston, and
Bozeat. (fn. 26) Sibyl married Roger de Haukeseye and with
her husband sold to the Master of the Knights Templars, Robert de Saunford, land, wood, and rent in
Easton in 1236, (fn. 27) and in 1239, (fn. 28) the master afterwards
enfeoffing of this share (which included part of the
mill) Ralf de Karun, the second husband of Flandrina.
Ralf de Karun's share went to his daughters Isabel and
Amice; of whom Amice died s.p., and her share descended to her sister. (fn. 29) Isabel probably married the
William le Lou of Easton who with other persons was
indicted in 1237 by the king's foresters for forest
offences, (fn. 30) since the Karun share is stated in the lawsuit
to have descended to Robert le Lou, or Wolf, (fn. 31) son and
heir of Isabel Karun. Robert enfeoffed of this share
Alice Barry, who then re-enfeoffed of the same Robert
le Lou and his wife Isabel, by whom the share of Sibyl
was also claimed, Eleanor and Loretta, her sisters,
apparently having either died s.p. or possessing no
interest in this manor. It was from Robert le Lou and
his wife Isabel, and from the Master of the Knights
Templars that the advowson was claimed in 1306 by
Henry de la Leghe, Lee, or Lye, who descended from
Flandrina Mauduit, daughter of John Mauduit, by her
first husband. Flandrina had married (1) Robert de
Leghe or Lye, by whom she had a son Henry, the
father of Robert de la Leye, whose son Henry in 1306
claimed the advowson; and (2) Ralf de Karun, through
whose daughter, Isabel, Robert Wolf and his wife
claimed. (fn. 32) The manor remained the property of the
families of Wolf (of whom the de Preyers probably
held) and Leye, Robert Wolf in 1316 being returned
at the death of Guy de Beauchamp Earl of Warwick
as holding a fee of him in Easton (fn. 33) which, valued at
100s. yearly, was assigned to his widow Alice in dower, (fn. 34)
and Henry de la Leye of Easton being assessed for
feudal aids in Bozeat with Easton and Strixton in the
same year. (fn. 35)
Le Lou. Argent two bars with three wolves' heads gules in the chief.
De la Leye. Argent a cross checky azure and or.
The two parts of the manor held respectively by the
representatives of Agnes and Flandrina Mauduit were
distinguished as Upper and Lower, or Over bury Leysplace and Netherbury Wolvesplace in Easton Maudit,
both shares being ultimately acquired by the Wolf
family. Sir Henry de la Leye in 1330 settled the reversion of the manor of Easton Maudit on his grandson
Robert, on his marriage with Alice daughter of Sir
Walter Pateshall. (fn. 36) In 1361 Sir John de la Leye and
Joan his wife, and Sir Robert de Geddyng and Elizabeth his wife, conveyed the manor to William Wolf. (fn. 37)
William Wolf in 1369 conveyed the two shares of the
manor, or the two manors of Easton called Netherbury
Wolvesplace and Overbury Leysplace, to Sir William
Latimer, (fn. 38) at that date lord of Bozeat and of Danby in
Yorkshire and other manors. Sir William Latimer on
29 August 1377 granted the manor to Edward Earl of
March, and others, (fn. 39) and Elizabeth, his widow, at her
death in 1389 was holding with the manor of Bozeat
(q.v.) a third of the manor of Easton by Bozeat held
of Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, as of his
manor of Hanslope by service of 2s. or one sparrowhawk. (fn. 40) The transfer of the manor to the Trussell
family seems then to have followed, as Easton Maudit
was in the hands of the heir of Laurence Trussell in
1402. (fn. 41)
Lady Margaret Trussell was in 1428 holding three
parts of a fee in Easton and Strixton which had formerly
belonged to John Wolf and Henry de Preyers, (fn. 42) and
a fourth part of a fee in Easton and Ashby formerly the
property of John Wolf, (fn. 43) both being of the fee of
Mauduit. On 23 January 1481 Sir William Trussell
died seised of the manor of Easton Maudit, one part of
which, called the West Side of the Over Bury, was held
of the queen as of her manor of Higham Ferrers, and
the rest of Richard Duke of Gloucester, as of his castle
of Thorpe, Bucks. (fn. 44) Sir William's son Edward, aged 2
at his father's death, died while still a minor, leaving
a year-old son John, on 16 June 1499. (fn. 45) This baby died
on 20 December following, (fn. 46) and the manor passed to
Edward Trussell's daughter Elizabeth, aged 4, and
later to John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, by her marriage
with that earl. (fn. 47)
The manor was held by the Earls of Oxford until
1578 when it was sold by Edward Earl of Oxford to
Christopher Yelverton, esq., (fn. 48) of Yelverton in Rougham,
co. Norfolk. Sir Christopher Yelverton died, seised
of the manor, in London, on 31 October 1612, (fn. 49) and
was buried in Easton Maudit Church, with an inscription that he was Sergeant-at-Law 1589, Sergeant
to the Queen 1598, Judge of the King's Bench 1601–2
until his death, and Speaker of the House of Commons
1597. (fn. 50) He represented the county in Parliament. His
son Henry who succeeded him at the age of 47, and
who started the collection of the famous library at the
Easton Maudit manor-house, which contained many
state papers of his father-in-law, the diplomatist and
antiquary, Robert Beale, is said to have incurred the
royal displeasure while AttorneyGeneral for the position he took
up at the trial of Carr Earl of
Somerset, by whose influence he
had been made Solicitor-General,
and was tried before the Star
Chamber and House of Lords,
and imprisoned. But in 1625 he
was made Judge of Common
Pleas. After his death, on 24
January 1630, in London, he was
buried at Easton Maudit, where
he was succeeded in the manor by
his son Sir Christopher Yelverton. (fn. 51) In 1639 Sir Christopher, whose home at Easton Maudit had been visited
by King Charles in 1636, (fn. 52) received a grant disafforesting the manor of Easton Maudit and certain lands
(about 170 acres) in Bozeat, with free warren and
licence to impark 500 acres. (fn. 53) In this grant the manor
lands and woods of Easton Maudit were estimated at
1,830 acres, and were described as within the bounds
of the forest of Salcey (Salceto). Thewood called Hornwood, previously included in grants of lands in Bozeat
(q.v.), was also now included in it. Sir Christopher was
made a baronet on 30 June 1641, in consideration of
his having maintained 30 foot soldiers in Ireland for
three years, (fn. 54) and lived until 1654. His son and heir
Henry, who then succeeded him, had married Susan,
daughter and heir to Charles Longueville, Lord Grey
de Ruthyn (Baroness Grey of Ruthyn after her father
fell fighting for the king at Oxford in 1643), by whom
he had three sons, Charles, Henry, and Christopher, (fn. 55)
and died in 1670, when he was succeeded by his son
Charles. At the death s.p. of Charles, who had succeeded to the peerage as Lord Grey of Ruthyn, his
brother Henry Yelverton succeeded to the title. (fn. 56) In
1688 Henry Lord Grey of Ruthyn, whose ownership
of the manor is notable for his completion of the library
of the manor-house, suffered a recovery of the manor of
Easton Maudit, including 2 mills and 70 messuages. (fn. 57) He was made Viscount Longueville in 1690,
and died in 1703. His eldest son Talbot, Viscount
Longueville, was created Earl of Sussex in 1717. Lord
of the Bedchamber 1722–7, and the holder of many
public appointments and honours, he carried the
golden spurs in 1727 at the coronation of George II. (fn. 58)
He died at his seat, Eaton Maudit, on 27 October
1731, and was succeeded by his son George Augustus,
Lord of the Bedchamber to Frederick Prince of Wales
in 1749, and to George Prince of Wales in 1751, who
died unmarried on 8 January 1758, when he was buried
at Easton Maudit. He was succeeded in the earldom
and manor by his brother Henry, bearer of the golden
spurs at the coronation of George III in 1761, whose
first wife, Hester daughter of John Hull of Mansfield
Woodhouse, with her daughter, Lady Barbara Yelverton, was painted by Gainsborough, and whose only son
Talbot died while still an infant in 1757. He himself
died s.p.m. in London on 22 April 1799, when the
earldom of Sussex and the viscounty became extinct.
Yelverton. Argent three lions and a chief gules.
The manor then passed by purchase in 1801 from
the trustees of the late earl to the Earl of Northampton,
with whose descendants it has since that date remained.
In the Domesday Survey a virgate of land in Easton
was entered among the lands of the Countess Judith as
held of her by Dodin. (fn. 59) This was probably the land
returned in the Northampton Survey as one great virgate in Easton and Strixton held by Payn. (fn. 60) The virgate
in Bozeat previously mentioned as held by Winemar
may possibly have become united with the above great
virgate as part of the honor of Huntingdon, since a
quarter of a fee in Easton and Bozeat was subsequently
held of that honor. After the death of John de Hastings,
Lord of Bergavenny, in 1325, a quarter of a fee in
Easton and Bozeat was returned as held of him by
Roger de Grey, (fn. 61) who was the husband of the earl's
sister Elizabeth and in 1329 was called upon to show
by what warrant he claimed view of frankpledge and
assize of bread and ale there. (fn. 62) He replied that he
claimed these rights from his tenants in Bozeat, clearly
the property in question, as belonging to his manor of
Harrold in co. Bedford, (fn. 63) that his Bozeat tenants attended at the view there, and that that manor had been
purchased of one Ralph Morin by John de Grey, who
had enfeoffed himself, Roger, of the same. After the
death of Lawrence de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, this
quarter-fee in Easton and Bozeat was assigned to his
widow Agnes in dower on 12 January 1349, and was
still held by Roger de Grey, being then extended at
10s. yearly. (fn. 64) Roger de Grey died in 1353, holding in
his demesne as of fee 15d. rent from 80 acres of land
in Bozeat by knight service as parcel of the manor of
Harrold, (fn. 65) and the escheator was ordered to deliver the
same to Reynold his heir. (fn. 66) By the succession of Reynold's son, Reynold de Grey, Lord of Ruthyn, to the
Hastings estates, after the death s.p. in 1389 of John
de Hastings Earl of Pembroke, the interest of tenant
was merged in that of overlord.
One and a half virgates in Easton, which were waste,
were returned in the Domesday Survey as belonging to
the manor of Higham, held of the king by William
Peverel. (fn. 67) View of frankpledge was claimed by Henry
Earl of Lancaster in Easton as part of his manor of
Higham Ferrers (which had descended to him from
William Peverel) in 1329, the king's sheriff only
making entry at the sheriff's tourn held twice yearly in
the hundred. (fn. 68) The wood called Hornwood, situated
in Easton, was held of the manor of Higham Ferrers
in 1544, when it was granted to Edmund Peckham,
cofferer of the household, by Henry VIII. (fn. 69) It was
subsequently held with the manor (q.v.).
View of frankpledge in Strixton from his tenants at
Easton and elsewhere was also claimed in 1329 by the
Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. (fn. 70) A court
roll of 1550–1 for Easton Maudit, late of Dingley Preceptory, is in the Public Record Office. (fn. 71)
Church
The church of ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL
consists of chancel, 29 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 6 in., with north
chapel; clerestoried nave of four bays, 47 ft. 9 in. by
14 ft. 6 in.; north and south aisles, 12 ft.
3 in. wide; south porch, and west tower,
12 ft. 6 in. square, surmounted by a spire:
the width across nave and aisles is 43 ft. 2 in., and the
length of the chapel, which is a continuation of the
north aisle, is 18 ft. 6 in. All these measurements are
internal.
Plan of Easton Maudit Church
The church was rebuilt in its present form in the
14th century, and though much restored retains most
of its original features. The chancel, the nave arcades,
and the lower part of the tower are c. 1320, but the
aisles do not appear to have been completed till rather
later (c. 1340–50), though no doubt set out when the
arcades were rebuilt. The extension of the north aisle
into a chapel took place about the same time, or perhaps
a little later, after the completion of the chancel, a north
window of which it blocked, and the clerestory cannot
be much later than c. 1350. The tower was not completed until after the addition of the clerestory into
which it is bonded at the third stage; the bell-chamber,
or upper story, appears to be as late as c. 1380–1400.
The spire was added in the 15th century, and a west
doorway inserted in the tower. In 1832 the spire was
partly rebuilt, and there was an extensive restoration
of the fabric in 1859–60.
The building throughout is faced with rubble, and,
with the exception of the tower, all the walls are
plastered internally. The chancel has a modern highpitched stone-slated roof without parapets, and the
porch is also covered with stone slates. Elsewhere the
roofs are leaded (fn. 72) and of low pitch behind plain parapets.
The chancel has diagonal buttresses of two stages and
an east window of three trefoiled lights with moulded
jambs and modern reticulated tracery. In the south
wall, at the east end, is a pointed window of two cinquefoiled lights and quatrefoil in the head, and at the west
end a tall square-headed window, the sill of which is
about 3 ft. above the chamfered plinth and forms a seat
inside: the head is modern. The piscina and triple
sedilia, which form a single composition of four trefoiled arches, are wholly restored, as is also the priest's
doorway. The blocked window in the north wall is
a single-light pointed opening with inner trefoiled ogee
head, and east of it is a rectangular double aumbry.
The chancel is open to the chapel at its west end by
a pointed arch of two orders, the outer with a recessed
chamfer carried down the jambs, the inner wavemoulded order dying out. The early-14th-century
chancel arch is of two sunk chamfered orders, with
hood-mould towards the nave, the inner order springing
from half-round responds with moulded capitals and
bases.
The responds of the nave arcades agree with those
of the chancel arch, and the piers consist of four
clustered shafts, quatrefoil in plan, with moulded capitals and bases. The arches are of two orders, the inner
wave-moulded, the outer with a sunk quarter-round.
There are three square-headed clerestory windows of
two trefoiled lights on each side. The aisle windows
also are all square-headed and of two lights, except at
the east end where they are of three, but are very much
restored; the tracery is c. 1340. In the usual position
at the east end of the south aisle is a cinquefoiled piscina
with fluted bowl. The north aisle has a good moulded
17th-century lean-to roof: that of the south aisle, which
is apparently contemporary, but plainer, has been restored. The roofs of the chancel and nave are modern.
Externally the aisles have diagonal angle buttresses
and a string at sill level all round, but within there is
a string only in the south aisle. The 14th-century south
doorway retains its ancient oak door, with excellent
ironwork: the north doorway is of two continuous recessed chamfered orders and hood-mould. The porch,
which is of equal date with the aisle, has a plain-coped
gable and square-headed windows of two lights, but is
without buttresses; the aisle string is continued round
it. Its outer doorway is of two chamfered orders, the
inner resting on rough corbels, and in the gable is a
much-weathered later tablet, which may have been
a sundial.
The chapel has a square-headed east window of three
lights and one of two lights on the north side, similar
to the others in the aisles, together with a narrow doorway of two continuous hollow-chamfered orders. In
order to resist the thrust of the chancel arch after the
removal of the original end wall of the aisle, a reversed
strainer arch, of a type similar to those at Finedon and
Rushden, was inserted at the west end of the chapel,
probably early in the 15th century, with a buttress
against the outer wall. The arch is of a single moulded
order with traceried spandrels.
The tower is of four stages divided by strings and has
a chamfered plinth and diagonal buttresses the height
of the two lower stories. The vice is in the south-west
corner. On the north and south sides the two lower
stages are blank, but in the third stage is a cusped circular opening. The inserted west doorway has a fourcentred arch in a rectangular frame, with trefoiled
spandrels, but the detail is coarse. Above, in the second
stage, is a pointed window of two trefoiled lights and
quatrefoil in the head. The tower arch is of three
chamfered orders, the innermost on half-round responds
with moulded capitals and bases, and hood-mould terminating in notch-heads. The bell-chamber windows
are of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head,
and the tower terminates in a moulded string and
pierced parapet, with tall angle pinnacles from which
flying buttresses are thrown to the spire. The spire has
plain angles and three sets of gabled openings on its
cardinal faces, the lowest of three trefoiled lights with
quatrefoil tracery and transom.
There is a scratch dial on the middle buttress of the
south aisle.
The 18th-century font consists of a very handsome
circular vase-shaped bowl of highly polished fossil stone
on a square base.
The wooden pulpit is modern. The sculptured reredos and marble altar-rail date from the restoration of
1860. A good 17th-century communion table with
bulbous legs is now at the east end of the south aisle.
A few plain oak benches of the same period remain at
the west end of the nave. Below the tower is an oak
chest with three locks. The painted arms of George III
are over the chancel arch.
The north chapel was the burial-place (fn. 73) of the Yelverton family from the beginning of the 17th to the
end of the 18th century, and contains monuments to
Sir Christopher Yelverton (1612) and his wife Mary
Catesby (fn. 74) (1611), and to his son Henry (Jan. 1629–30)
and his wife Margaret Beale (1625). The former is
a large canopied tomb of alabaster standing in the
middle of the chapel, with effigies of Sir Christopher
and his wife, and on the base the figures of eight
daughters and four sons in panels upon the sides, and
shields of arms at the ends. The posts support a canopy
of two semicircular arches with coffered soffits, urn
ornaments at the angles, and shields of arms. The inscription is at the west end. The monument to Henry
and his lady stands against the north wall and is an
elaborate canopied structure of alabaster, the effigies one
above the other, with the figures of four sons and five
daughters below. The canopy is supported by bedesmen
in black gowns, and is surmounted by figures of Faith,
Hope, and Charity. The effigies on both tombs have
already been described. (fn. 75)
In the floor are commemorated Sir Christopher Yelverton, 1st baronet (1654), and his wife Ann Twysden;
Sir Henry Yelverton, 2nd baronet (1670), and his wife
Susanna, Baroness Grey de Ruthin; Charles Lord Grey
de Ruthin (1679); and Henry Viscount Longueville
(1704) and his wife Barbara Talbot.
A blue floor-slab at the west end of the chapel marks
the burial-place of Thomas Morton, successively Bishop
of Chester, Lichfield, and Durham, who died at Easton
Maudit 'on the morrow of St. Matthew and was buried
on the feast of St. Michael 1659', aged 95. The stone
bears a long Latin inscription, in which the bishop is
designated 'senex et coelebs'. On the south wall adjoining, below the strainer arch, are Morton's arms as
Bishop of Durham, and separate shields of arms of the
sees of Chester and Lichfield, all modern.
In the chancel, over the priest's doorway, is an
achievement of the arms of Sir Charles Yelverton, Lord
Grey of Ruthin (d. 1679).
At the east end of the north aisle hangs a funeral
achievement probably erected for Talbot Yelverton,
1st Earl of Sussex, in 1731, consisting of helmet, gauntlets, shield and sword, sustained by an angle iron and
cross-bar. The shield is elliptical and appears to have
borne the Yelverton arms. Over the achievement is
a large square banner, now in a very dilapidated condition, but apparently Yelverton impaling Talbot, and
farther west four smaller oblong banners, two of which
have the Yelverton arms per pale, and the others the
same singly. (fn. 76) There are also four Yelverton hatchments.
The floor of the church was elaborately tiled in 1860.
Into the tiles in front of the chancel is worked a modern
memorial to three (fn. 77) of the six children of Bishop Percy,
preserving the record of a former slab, and two others
commemorating William Elwyn, gent. (1619), and
Catharine wife of Thomas Remington (1720).
There are five bells, the first, second, and tenor by
John Hodson of London 1663, the third dated 1619,
and the fourth a recasting by Taylor & Co. in 1893 of
a medieval bell inscribed 'Dulcis sisto melis campana
vocor Gabrielis'. (fn. 78)
The plate now in use consists of a silver cup and
paten of 1868. Five pieces of silver-gilt plate, consisting of a cup and paten of 1630, an alms dish of
1661, a flagon of 1672, and an alms dish of 1676, have
been on permanent loan at the Victoria and Albert
Museum, South Kensington, since July 1927. The cup
and paten were the gift of Bishop Morton and bear his
initials. (fn. 79)
The registers begin in 1539 for baptisms and marriages and in 1561 for burials. The first four volumes,
extending to 1812 for baptisms and burials and to 1757
for marriages, are now bound up in one. From 1653
to 1700 the register was very carelessly kept, and there
are many gaps. Several perambulations of boundaries
are set out. There is a volume of marriages from 1757
to 1812.
The church of Easton in the deanery of Higham was
valued in 1291 at £9 6s. 8d. (fn. 80) In 1535 the rectory
was returned as appropriated to the abbey of Launds,
and the vicarage was valued at £6 10s. 7d. (fn. 81)
Advowson
The advowson was with the manor (q.v.) in the hands
of John Mauduit in the reign of King John, when John
Mauduit made the presentation. (fn. 82) The manor being
next held in shares by the daughters of John Mauduit
and their descendants, the presentation seems to have been made at
first by these co-parceners presenting
together, and later on by them in turn. The presentation was made in 1219 by Sir Robert Morin and Sir
Robert de Legh, and by Thomas Sauvage, each being
patron of one-third of the church. (fn. 83) Sir Robert de Legh
was first husband of Flandrina daughter of John Mauduit (see above, p. 13); presumably Morin and
Sauvage were husbands of her sisters Agnes and Amice.
After this the presentation seems to have been made
alternately by the different owners. Agnes the elder
sister presented in the reign of Henry III. Ralf de
Karun, second husband of Flandrina, next presented
John de Karun, after whose death William de Holecote, clerk, was presented by Ralf, cousin and heir of
William de Fauconberg, to whom Isabel de Nowers,
daughter of Agnes, had sold her part of the advowson.
Henry de la Leghe, son of Flandrina by her first husband, made the next presentation, (fn. 84) and the advowson
appears to have remained in the hands of the Legh and
Wolf representatives of Flandrina, sharing apparently
with representatives of the descendants of Agnes, or
possibly of the de Preyers to whom Ralf de Fauconberg
granted messuages, &c., in Easton Maudit. A grant
of an acre of land and of the advowson which John
Marreis and his wife Elizabeth made by fine of 24 June
1360 to Sir John de la Lee and his wife Joan (fn. 85) may have
related to the latter owners, through a female heir, since
it conveyed a warranty against the heirs of Elizabeth.
On the same day William Wolf made a similar grant
to Sir John de la Lee and Joan his wife, (fn. 86) who with
Sir Robert de Geddings and his wife Elizabeth (possibly another descendant of Agnes Mauduit) granted
to Master William de la Lee and Richard de Ravenser,
provost of the church of St. John of Beverley, (fn. 87) an acre
of land and the advowson of the church in Michaelmas
term of the same year. On 16 November 1363 the
advowson and acre of land were conveyed by Richard
de Ravenser, provost of Beverley, to trustees, (fn. 88) by whom
they were in 1367 granted in frank almoign to the
abbey of Launds, Robert Wolf of Easton being a witness to the grant. (fn. 89) Until the Dissolution the advowson
and rectory were held by the abbey of Launds. They
next appear as the property of the Dean and Chapter
of Christ Church, Oxford, by whom the presentation
was made in 1562, and until last century were in their
hands. The advowson is now held with the manor by
the Marquess of Northampton.
Charities
It appears from the parish register
that six cow commons were given by
the family or the ancestors of the Earl
of Sussex, formerly the proprietors of the estate now
belonging to the Marquess of Northampton, for the
benefit of six poor widows, and that on an inclosure of
the parish the grass of the Green Lanes was assigned
in lieu of the cow commons. A sum of £2 10s. is paid
annually by the Marquess of Northampton in respect of
this charity and is distributed equally among five poor
widows.
Distributions of bread to poor women were formerly
made from the issues of £1 given by James Preston and
a similar sum given in 1736 by Francis Toleson, vicar
of Easton Maudit; but these distributions had already
ceased by 1830. (fn. 90)