THURNING
Terninge, Torninge (1086); Thirning, Thorning
(xii cent.); Thernynge (xiv cent.); Thurning (xv
cent.).
The parish of Thurning was formerly partly in
Northamptonshire and partly in Huntingdonshire
(Leightonstone Hundred), the church being in the
latter county. The boundary went north and south
through the main street. In 1888, however, the whole
was included in Northamptonshire. (fn. 1) The area is
1,016 acres, and the soil is clay, upon which wheat
and barley, beans and peas are grown. The land rises
gradually from north to south, from about 150 ft.
to 240 ft. above Ordnance datum, the village standing
at about 220 ft.
The village lies about 5½ miles south-east of Oundle
at the crossing of the roads from Barnwell St. Andrew
to Alconbury, and from Clapton to Luddington in the
Brook. The church stands to the south of the village.
The rectory house, which is to the east of the church,
is a two-story building of timber and plaster, with
reed-thatched roof, probably of the late 15th-century
date, but partly refaced in yellow brick with single-story
brick additions. The interior has been modernised,
but the original timber construction is everywhere
visible. It has been the rectory since the 17th century,
to which period the stone tithe-barn on the north side
of the house apparently belongs.
Sir William Thirning, a prominent lawyer and
judge of the Common Pleas in the time of Richard II
and Henry IV, is supposed to have belonged to this
place, but nothing is definitely known. He took a
prominent part in the deposition of Richard II in
1399, and died in 1413. (fn. 2)
Manor
In Domesday Book (1086) the greater
part of the land in THURNING is
recorded under Huntingdonshire. The
Abbot of Crowland held 1½ hide, with land for a
plough and a half; the soke was in the king's manor
of Alconbury. Eustace (the Sheriff) held it of the
abbot. In 1066 the value was 20s., and in 1086 the
same. Eustace held 5 hides in chief, there being land
for 5 ploughs; the soke, as in the last case, was in
Alconbury. The value alike in 1066 and 1086 was
60s. Alured and Gozelin held the land of Eustace,
and Robert the Dispenser claimed one virgate and
one hide. (fn. 3) In Northamptonshire there was only
half a hide, with land for half a plough; it belonged
to the Abbot of Peterborough, and was appurtenant to
Oundle. The value, 2s. in 1066, had increased by
1086, being then 3s. 4d. (fn. 4)
Clare. Or three cbeverons gules.
Stafford. Or a cheveron gules.
It is impossible to trace these various estates
clearly. The chief tenant in 1086 was Eustace the
Sheriff, whose fee passed to Roger de Lovetot and
followed the descent of Southoe (q.v.). On the partition of the Lovetot fees on the death of Nigel de
Lovetot in 1219, Thurning seems to have been allotted
to his eldest sister Amice, wife of Ralph de Amundeville. Their eldest son, Elias, died in 1231 and was
succeeded by his brother Nigel de Amundeville,
who conveyed three-quarters of a knight's fee in
Thurning, which probably represented the manor,
to Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. The earl
died seised in 1262, (fn. 5) and was succeeded by his son
Gilbert, who presented to the church in 1295. (fn. 6) The
overlordship of this holding continued, like Southoe,
with the heirs of the Clares, the Earls of Stafford. (fn. 7)
The tenant in demesne of this manor in the reign
of Henry II was apparently Reginald le Moyne,
who exchanged lands in Wood Walton for lands in
Thurning, Thorp and Grafham. (fn. 8) The manor passed
with Barnwell St. Andrew (Northants) to Berenger
le Moyne, who had a grant of a market on Wednesday and a fair on the vigil, feast and morrow of
St. Michael in his manor of Thurning, in 1263. (fn. 9) The
grant may not have become effective, for Thurning
does not seem later to have been reckoned as a market
town. In the following year it was found that he had
held three-quarters of a knight's fee in Thurning of
Richard, Earl of Gloucester (d. 1262). (fn. 10) He died before
1285, leaving two daughters Rose and Margaret. (fn. 11) Rose
inherited this property, and married Geoffrey de
Southorpe, who died in 1290, (fn. 12) when the Earl of
Gloucester entered upon the lands, and a dispute
arose between him and the Crown as to the overlordship. (fn. 13) It is not clear what happened, but the
manor seems to have passed
to Walter de Molesworth, a
prominent officer of the
Crown, (fn. 14) who had probably
married, as his first wife, Margaret the second daughter.
Walter died in 1318, leaving
a widow Katherine and three
daughters, Margaret, Alice,
and Katherine. (fn. 15) Katherine
the widow married Richard
de Bayeux, (fn. 16) and in the year
after Walter's death lands in
Molesworth, Woldweston and
Thurning, with two-thirds of
the church of Thurning, were settled on Richard
and Katherine, for the life of Katherine, with remainder to the daughters Katherine and Margaret,
and further remainder to James Beufleur. (fn. 17) The
descent of the manor at this time is obscure. James
Beufleur was a collector of customs and was amoved
from his office in 1326, (fn. 18) and on his death two years
later the sheriff of Huntingdon was ordered to seize
his goods for debts owing to the Crown in respect
of his office of collector, (fn. 19) but
though he was brought into
the settlement, there is no
other evidence of his identity.
Richard de Bayeux presented
to the church in 1344. (fn. 20) The
later descent is not known,
but Sir Henry Colet of London purchased from Thomas
Molesworth (fn. 21) (Mullysworth),
probably about 1485, the
manor called 'Mullysworth's'
and the advowson of the
church of Thurning. This is
recorded in the inquisition
after his death in 1505; the
heir was his son, the famous John Colet, Dean of
St. Paul's, (fn. 22) who left it to Christopher Knyvet,
and the manor thus became part of the Knyvet
estate. (fn. 23)
Molesworth. Vair a border gules charged with eight crosslets or.
Colet. Sable a cbeveron between three hinds tripping argent with three rings sable on the cheveron.
Reginald de Beaumes was a tenant in Thurning (fn. 24)
in 1236, and in 1263 another Reginald, son and heir
of Robert de Beaumes, paid relief, his lands being in the
king's hands by reason of the custody of the heir
of Richard, Earl of Gloucester. (fn. 25) The Beaumes estate
appears to have descended to Thomas Beaumes,
who in 1373, in conjunction with Katherine his wife,
sold to Sir John Knyvet seven messuages 3½ virgates
of land, rents of 2s. 6d. and a pair of gloves, and five
villein tenants. Thomas and Katherine were, however, to retain it for life. (fn. 26)
In 1086 the Abbot of Peterborough held half a hide
in Thurning in demesne. (fn. 27) This was the part of
Thurning which was in Northamptonshire. In the
reign of Henry II this land had been subinfeudated to Roger Marmion, (fn. 28) and followed the descent
of the Marmion fee in Polebrook, Northants (fn. 29) (q.v.),
until the time of Abbot Richard of London (1274–
1295), when the Marmion mesne lordship seems
to have been released to the abbey. The Marmions
had subinfeudated it, their tenant during the first
half of the 13th century being Herlwin Grendon
of Polebrook. (fn. 30) He was succeeded by Ralph Grendon,
living 1253–72. John son of Ralph was living in
1315, and was succeeded by his son Ralph, who did
homage to the Abbot of Peterborough in 1318, and
left two sisters, (fn. 31) who held 100s. rent in Thurning
and answered for half a fee, and gave 2s. for ward
of Rockingham Castle. (fn. 32) In 1428 Ralph's descendant
William Carlyll was holding half a fee in Polebrook
(q.v.) and Thurning, formerly held by William Carlton
and others, of the Peterborough fee. (fn. 33)
Knyvet. Argent a bend within a border engrailed sable.
Sir John Knyvet acquired much of the Peterborough property in Thurning, and his family seems
eventually to have obtained
all of it. (fn. 34) In 1380 Sir John
held the manor of Winwick
and also held a messuage and
land in Thurning of the
Abbot of Peterborough by
suit of court. (fn. 35) Joan Thyrning
in 1428 held the third part
of a fee in Thurning. (fn. 36) She
seems to have been the widow
of John Knyvet the elder, on
whom (in conjunction with
his wife) the estate had been
settled for life in 1411, should
Sir Robert Ty and Margaret,
his wife, die without issue, with remainders to
Catherine and Elizabeth, daughters of another John
Knyvet. Margaret Ty was no doubt a sister. (fn. 37) By
1456 it had come to Edmund Radcliffe, as son and
heir of Elizabeth, wife of Sir John Radcliffe of
Chadderton, in Lancashire, (fn. 38) but twenty years later
had reverted to the heir-at-law, Sir William Knyvet,
who mortgaged and sold various estates, including
his lands in Thurning, to Sir Henry Colet of London
in 1472–7. (fn. 39) The sale was confirmed by fine in
1478, the estate being described as the manor of
Thurning, etc., (fn. 40) though it was actually the Peterborough Fee. Sir Henry had married Christian
Knyvet, a kinswoman of the vendor, and he purchased other estates in Thurning, as will be seen
below.
On Sir Henry's death in 1505 the manors and
estates descended to his son and heir, Dean Colet,
who died in 1519, and by his will left his estate to his
mother for her life, for division after her death.
The manor of Thurning (Peterborough Fee), with
other manors and lands purchased from Sir William
Knyvet, was to pass to his mother's kinsman, Edmund Knyvet of Ashwellthorpe (Norf.), serjeant
porter to Henry VIII, while the manor of Thurning
called Molesworth's manor and the advowson of the
church, purchased from Thomas Molesworth, 2 messuages, etc., in Thurning, purchased by Sir Henry from
Thomas Henson, and another messuage purchased
from Thomas Newman, were to go to Christopher
Knyvet, brother of Edmund; another brother,
Anthony, being in the remainders. (fn. 41) Christopher's
estate seems to have reverted to his elder brother,
Edmund, whose son John and grandson Thomas
inherited Thurning. The last-named in 1577 sold the
manor of Thurning and lands appurtenant in Thurning, Hemington, and Luddington to four of the
tenants—Robert Byworth, Robert Smyth, Nicholas
Smyth, and Silvester Collyn, (fn. 42) who seem to have
divided it among themselves. Thus the manor seems
to have ceased.
From the inquisition after the death of Robert
Smyth in 1622 it appears that his estate in the three
places named had been parcel of the manor called
Molesworth's and afterwards Colet's manor, and
had been purchased by the deceased from Thomas
Knyvet. The heir was his son, Henry Smyth, aged 44.
The lands were held of the king by fealty only. (fn. 43)
Silvester Collyn, another purchaser, died in 1589
holding his lands in Thurning, etc., of the queen in
chief; the lands lay in Northamptonshire and
Huntingdonshire, but the capital messuage was in the
latter county. His heir was a son Silvester, only
4 years of age. (fn. 44) Margery Sturrapp, widow of Thomas
Sturrapp and daughter and heir of Robert Byworth
(another purchaser), died in 1624 holding her land of
the king. (fn. 45) Her son and heir Thomas, then 26 years
of age, died in 1631, leaving a son Thomas, aged 12.
The land was now stated to be held of the king by
knight's service. (fn. 46)
Various religious houses had estates in the parish.
The earliest reference to Thurning is in a charter by
Burgred, king of Mercia (852–74), confirming a grant
of a hide and a half in Thurning made by Grimketel
to Crowland. The grant was again confirmed by
King Eadred in 948. (fn. 47) The estate is recorded in
Domesday Book, the land being held by Eustace in
1086. In 1303 only one hide was reckoned; the
services were unknown. (fn. 48) The abbey had a rent of
56s. 8d. from it in 1535; (fn. 49) the pittancier used it. (fn. 50) In
1546 it was leased to John Streme. (fn. 51)
Eugenius III in 1147 confirmed lands in Thurning
and Winwick to St. Mary's Priory, Huntingdon. (fn. 52)
The Hospitallers had some estate in Thurning, (fn. 53)
held as of the preceptory of Temple Bruer. In 1540
they had a free rent of 13d. from Thomas Henston
for a cottage and lands called Sessikke. (fn. 54) This
tenement was, with others, sold in 1546 to William
Ramsden and Richard Vavasor, (fn. 55) who quickly resold
it to George Smyth of Sibston. (fn. 56) According to the
Parliamentary Survey of 1650, the Crown then had
rents of 7s. from the freeholders of Thurning, in lease
to the Earl of Manchester. (fn. 57)
Church
The church of ST. JAMES (fn. 58) consists
of a chancel (25¾ ft. by 14¾ ft.), north
chapel, formerly the vestry (10½ ft. by
9 ft.), north vestry, formerly a chapel at the end of the
aisle (7¾ ft. by 9 ft.), nave (33¼ ft. by 16 ft.), north
aisle (7½ ft. wide), south aisle (9 ft. wide), west turret
and south porch. The walls are of coursed rubble
with stone dressings, and the roofs are covered with
lead.
The church is not mentioned in the Domesday
Survey (1086), but by the middle of the 12th century
there was a stone church consisting of a chancel with
an aisleless nave, the latter about the same size as at
present. About 1190 a north aisle was added, and
somewhat early in the 13th century the nave and aisle
were lengthened one bay to the west. About the year
1300 the south aisle was added—probably the arcade
and the aisle walls are all of the same date, although
there is a strange mixture of details perhaps due to
the employment of an aged mason. Possibly the north
aisle was rebuilt a little later, and later still, c. 1340,
the chancel was rebuilt. Considerable alterations
were made in the 15th century; the western bay of
the nave was taken down and a new west wall with a
bell-turret and spirelet above it was built, a clearstory
was added to the nave, a north vestry with room
above it, and a south porch were built. Some
extensive alterations took place in 1850. (fn. 59) In 1880–81
the north aisle and vestry, the clearstory, the west
wall of the nave, and the west wall of the south aisle
were taken down and rebuilt with the old materials,
and the rest of the church was restored. The chancel
was restored in 1902, when the vestry and chapel were
altered and rearranged.
The mid 14th-century chancel has a four-light east
window with flowing tracery in a two-centred head;
to the south of it is a plain aumbry, and to the north
a bracket. The north wall has a three-light window
generally similar to the east window, but with modern
tracery (the original tracery lies in the churchyard);
an original doorway to the vestry (now the chapel);
an arched recess with the opening now pierced right
through the wall; an original opening to the present
vestry; a small opening to light the stair turret; a
plain aumbry; two squints, one from the chapel at
the end of the aisle (now the vestry) and the other
from the upper chamber; and a stone bracket to hold
three candles. The south wall has a three-light and
a two-light window, both generally similar to the
others, the inner sill of the former being carried
down to form two graduated seats; a single-light lowside window with tracery in a two-centred head; a
priest's doorway with a two-centred head and continuous chamfered jambs; a piscina with a trefoiled
head and a quatrefoiled basin; and a stone bracket
for three candles. The mid 12th-century chancel
arch is semicircular, of two square orders carried on
bold semicircular respond shafts with scalloped
capitals and chamfered bases; on the south side
of it a modern opening has been pierced through the
wall. The roof is modern.
The modern north chapel apparently occupies the
site of an earlier vestry with a chamber above it.
The north wall has a modern two-light window;
and the modern west wall has an archway to the
vestry. In the south-west angle the upper part
of the rood staircase, continuing as an external
circular turret to the roof, still remains. On the
eastern jamb of the squint from the former upper
chamber is an incised cross.
The vestry is an extension at the east end of
the north aisle, from which it is only separated
by a wooden screen; it has a 15th-century twolight window in the north wall. It was, obviously,
the site of a small chapel. There is a squint from
it into the chancel.
The early-to-mid 12th-century nave has a north
arcade, c. 1190, of two semicircular arches of one
moulded and one chamfered order, resting upon a
circular column with moulded capital and base,
and similar half-columns as responds. Attached
to the western respond is a small piece of wall,
westward of which is an early 13th-century semicircular respond column having a moulded capital
with nail-head ornament, and a moulded base,
being the respond of a destroyed western bay. The
south arcade, c. 1300, is of two bays having segmentalpointed arches of two hollow chamfered orders, resting upon a column composed of four filleted shafts with
hollows between and with moulded capitals and bases.
The eastern respond is a similar half-column, but at
the western end the arcade rests upon an octagonal
column (probably of the same date as the other) with
moulded capital and base, being the column of a
destroyed western bay. The west wall has a tall and
narrow arch carrying the east wall of the turret above;
on the outside of the wall two buttresses carry the
side walls of the turret, and an arch corresponding
to that in the nave carries the west wall of the turret.
Below this arch the opening is filled in with a thin
wall containing a 15th-century transomed two-light
window.
The rebuilt clearstory has four 15th-century twolight windows on each side, each having a quatrefoil
in a segmental-pointed head, but the tracery is all
modern. The roof is modern.
The rebuilt north aisle has a square-headed threelight window of c. 1330; a 15th-century doorway
with a two-centred head and continuous moulded
jambs; and a plain aumbry.
The south aisle, c. 1300, has an east window of two
coupled lights with rather curious tracery under a
continuous label. The south wall has a squareheaded three-light window; a doorway with a twocentred head and continuous moulded jambs; and a
piscina with a cinquefoiled head and a quatrefoiled
basin.
The rebuilt western turret, carried upon the buttresses and arches already described, has a double
opening in the west wall in which hang the two bells;
the east and side walls have each a transomed cinquefoiled single-light. Above the openings is a band of
quatrefoils in circles; and the whole is surmounted
by an octagonal broach spirelet having one tier of
spire lights on the cardinal faces.
The 15th-century porch has a four-centred outer
archway of two moulded orders, the lower order
resting on semicircular attached shafts with moulded
capitals and bases. The side walls have each a singlelight window. In the north-east corner is an octagonal stoup.
Plan of Thurning Church
The 13th-century font has an octagonal bowl on a
circular central and four octagonal angle shafts, the
latter with moulded bases, one of them being an
inverted carved capital.
There are two bells, inscribed: (1) 'Dei genitrix
Virgo Maria ora pro' [the final word is omitted]:
(2) 'g f. a b. e d. c b.' The first, one of the earliest
bells remaining in the county, was cracked, and, after
lying loose in the church for about seventeen years,
was recast by John Taylor and Co. of Loughborough
in 1899; the ring with the inscription was cut out
and still remains in the church. The second bell is
probably by Newcombe of Leicester. In 1553 the
King's Commissioners assigned to the church two
great bells and a sanctus bell. (fn. 60)
The chancel screen is modern, but the former
presence of a rood-loft is attested by the will of
Nicholas Beterige, 1536, who left a cow for the
'upholding and maintaining of the five tapers before
the rood.' (fn. 61)
The 16th-century oak pulpit, lectern, the carved
panels of the litany-desk and a seat, all came from the
destroyed church at Barnwell All Saints.
In the nave is a brass plate to Susanna Welles
[d. 1658]. (fn. 62) There are the following other monuments: in the chancel, glass windows to G. B. H.
Whall (son of the rector), d. 1869; and to the Rev.
William Whall, rector, d. 1874, and Mary Elizabeth
his wife, d. 1891; in the north chapel, floor slabs
to the Rev. Samuel Bjrd [Bird], rector, d. 1703; the
Rev. Thomas Master, rector, d. 1738; Ann, wife
of the Rev. Tho. Master, d. —; in the north aisle
to Robert Negus, d. 1657.
The registers are as follows: (i) baptisms, marriages
and burials 1 November 1560 to 26 March 1808,
marriages end 13 December 1753; (ii) baptisms and
burials 2 July 1809 to 18 February 1812; (iii) the
official marriage book 28 September 1754 to 25 May
1812.
The church plate consists of (fn. 63) a silver Elizabethan
cup, inscribed 'for the towne of thorneiig,'
no date-letter, but with the mark of a Norwich maker;
a silver cover paten for the same, inscribed '1569,'
no marks; a silver paten, a mere disc, with no marks;
a silver-gilt ciborium, hall-marked for 1899–1900;
a silver ciborium, inscribed 'Eternal Father we offer
Thee the Holy Sacrament in satisfaction for our sins,
for the wants of Holy Church and on behalf of the
Souls in Purgatory,' hall-marked for 1908–9; a
plated plate; a plated flagon, inscribed 'Hunc oenophorum in usum fidelium apud Thurning Deo Gratias
ogentes D.D. Guls. et Maria Elizabetha Whall xiii.
Cal. Feb. mdccclxxii'; a pewter flagon, inscribed
'r.b. ts.'
Advowson
Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester,
presented to the church in 1295. (fn. 64)
In 1312 there was some dispute as
to the patronage, and the Earl of Gloucester, John
de Southorp and Walter de Molesworth all presented
clerks, but Walter's presentation held good, and the
advowson was still held with the Molesworth manor
in 1318, for in that year the king presented to the
church, because he had the custody of the heirs of
Walter de Molesworth. (fn. 65) In 1403 Thomas Hethe,
clerk, transferred to his brother Henry all the estate
he and another brother Richard had in half an acre
in Thurning (John Mabbot had been tenant), with
the advowson of the church. (fn. 66) As shown above, Sir
Henry Colet purchased the advowson from Thomas
Molesworth about 1485, and it came to Christopher
Knyvet after the death of Dr. John Colet in 1519. (fn. 67)
One Richard Routhall acquired it with certain
tenements in Thurning, and these passed to his
widow Agnes and her second husband, Robert
Charnock. (fn. 68) Her son, Thomas Routhall, made a
feoffment in 1529, a few months before his mother's
death, in which the advowson was included. (fn. 69) The
advowson, however, came back to Thomas Knyvet,
for it was excepted when he sold the manor in 1577; (fn. 70)
he transferred a moiety to trustees in 1580. (fn. 71) In
1617 the advowson was acquired by Thomas Wells,
clerk, (fn. 72) from John Bingham (Bignett) and Susan
his wife, and John Wells, rector of Thurning from
1627, and probably son of Thomas, bequeathed it
in 1656 to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. (fn. 73) The
master and fellows have since presented to the
rectory.
In 1291 and 1428 the church of Thurning was taxed
at £8. (fn. 74) By 1535 the value had increased to £12, (fn. 75)
but in the time of Elizabeth the rector leased the
rectory for £20. (fn. 76) A scheme was arranged whereby
Thurning in the diocese of Ely, and Clapton in that
of Peterborough, were to be united; the rectory
house at Thurning to become the house of residence
for the united benefice, and that at Clapton to be sold.
The scheme was to come into operation when the
then incumbents should have vacated their benefices,
and it eventually took effect from 1 October 1929,
when Thurning passed from the diocese of Ely to
that of Peterborough.
Charity
The Rev. John Wells, by his will in
1640, gave a rentcharge of £1 to the
poor, vested in the minister and
overseers. In respect of this an annual sum of £1
was paid out of lands in the parish and distributed
equally among 20 poor families.