GLASTON
Gladeston (xi cent.); Glaeston (xii cent.); Glaceton, Claston, Glaston (xiii cent.).
Glaston covers an area of 1,170 acres. The northern and southern boundaries are formed by streams,
from both of which the land rises to about 400 ft.
above Ordnance datum at the middle of the parish.
The soil is clay and loam with sand and gravel in
parts. Most of the land is under grass.
The village stands on high ground on the road from
Uppingham to Stamford about 2 miles from the
former town, and at the west end of the parish where the
road is crossed by a by-road from Seaton to Wing.
It was described in 1813 as a pleasant cheerful village. (fn. 1)
The chief part is on the north side of the main road to
Uppingham where, at the west end of the village,
stands the church with a pleasing background of trees.
To the south of the church is the Rectory, which was
rebuilt in brick in 1861–2, but incorporates a small
17th-century house built of ironstone which is comprised in the area now occupied by the dining-room
and hall. Additions made to this house in the 18th
century were pulled down when the house was
rebuilt. Glaston House stands in a small park at
the east end of the village. The old Manor House,
which stood on the east side of the church, (fn. 2) was
pulled down in 1891. It consisted of a main block
and two wings built of a white stone in the middle of
the 17th century. The garden walls, which were still
standing in 1880, are said to have been much older
than the house. (fn. 3)
There was a windmill belonging to the manor in
1326, and a wood called Brende. (fn. 4) In 1409 a road
called Postgate and a hedge at Verynge are mentioned. (fn. 5) Half an acre of land given for finding a lamp
in the church (fn. 6) was granted in 1550 to Thomas Reve,
John Johnson and Henry Harden. (fn. 7)
The nearest railway stations are at Uppingham and
Seaton, but the London Midland and Scottish Rail
way passes through the parish in a tunnel made in
1875–80.
Manor
At the time of the Domesday Survey
GLASTON was divided between two
lords. A hide and a half formed part of
the king's manor of Barrowden, (fn. 8) and 4 hides were
held by William of the Countess Judith. (fn. 9) The land
which formed part of Barrowden passed with that
manor to the Earls of Warwick, whose overlordship of
part of Glaston was recognised till the beginning of the
15th century. (fn. 10)
The overlordship of the Countess Judith passed to
her daughter Maud, and the fee at Glaston became
part of the Honour of Huntingdon. It went with the
earldom to the kings of Scotland, and probably was
included in the 20 fees which were in dispute in
1204 between David, Earl of Huntingdon, and Henry
de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. (fn. 11) These fees were adjudged to Henry, but in 1241 two fees in Glaston were
assigned to Henry de Hastings and Ada his wife,
sister and one of the heirs of John, late Earl of Chester, (fn. 12)
son of Earl David mentioned above. From this time,
though the fee at Glaston is usually returned as held
of the Earls of Hereford, of the Honour of Huntingdon,
the Hastings seem to have had a superior overlordship,
and in 1313 two fees in Glaston and Seyton are
returned as held by the Earl of Hereford of John de
Hastings, grandson of Henry and Ada. (fn. 13) In 1397 a
fee at Glaston was assigned as dower to Philippa, widow
of John de Hastings and of Richard, Earl of Arundel. (fn. 14)
The rights of Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, in
the overlordship of Glaston passed with that earldom
in the Bohun family till the death in 1373 of Humphrey
de Bohun. (fn. 15) The fee at Glaston was then assigned to
his widow Joan, (fn. 16) who held it till her death in 1419. (fn. 17)
The reversion had been assigned in 1380 to Eleanor,
daughter and co-heir of Humphrey, then wife of
Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham. (fn. 18) Eleanor
predeceased her mother, and on Joan's death the fee
passed to Eleanor's daughter Anne, who married first
Edmund, Earl of Stafford, and secondly Sir William
Bourchier, whose wife she was in 1419. (fn. 19) Anne died
in 1438, and her son, Humphrey Stafford, was created
Duke of Buckingham in 1444. He died in 1460, and
the knight's fee at Glaston seems then to have become
annexed to his castle of Oakham, (fn. 20) for it is returned as
being held of the castle in 1519 (fn. 21) and 1593. (fn. 22)
Bohun, Earl of Hereford. Azure a bendargent cotised or between six lions or.
Stafford. Or acheveron gules.
In 1276 half a knight's fee at Glaston, held by the
Pauntons, was assigned to Milicent, wife of Eudo la
Zouche, as part of her share of the fees belonging to her
brother, George de Cantilupe. (fn. 23) In 1284 it was stated
that neither Philip de Paunton nor any of his ancestors
had held the manor of Glaston of Milicent, but that
they held it of the Earl of Hereford. (fn. 24) In 1376
Milicent's descendant, William la Zouche of Haringworth, had an exemplification of the partition of
George de Cantilupe's fees (fn. 25) and this appears to have
raised once more the question of the Zouche claim to
the overlordship of Glaston. On the death of
Margaret Wade in 1378 the manor was returned as held
of William la Zouche, (fn. 26) though on the death of her
husband, William Wade, it had been said to be held
of the Earl of Hereford. (fn. 27) This fee is included in the
property held by Sir William la Zouche in 1396. (fn. 28) In
1455 again the manor of Glaston is returned as held of
William, Lord Zouche and Seymour, as half a knight's
fee, (fn. 29) but after this time this claim seems to have
lapsed.
Under these lords the whole of Glaston was
held as one manor, for one knight's fee, (fn. 30) by the
Paunton or Panton family, who took their name from
a manor which they held in Lincolnshire. Philip de
Paunton was probably owner of Glaston manor in
1204. (fn. 31) He had been succeeded before 1241 by
Baldwin de Paunton, (fn. 32) who was sheriff of Nottingham and Derby in 1240, and of Warwick and Leicester
in 1248. (fn. 33) In 1252 the king gave him three does from
the Forest of Rutland. (fn. 34) He was a justice in eyre
for pleas of the forest. (fn. 35) He was alive in May 1254, (fn. 36)
but probably died later in that year, for towards the
close of the year James de Paunton sued the prior
of La Launde as to the advowson of Glaston. (fn. 37)
James leased a messuage and land in 1263 to Simon de
Glaston for a rent of 10s. and suit at James's court of
Glaston. (fn. 38) In 1258 he was one of the four knights of
Rutland appointed to inquire
touching excesses in that
county in pursuance of the
Provisions of Oxford, (fn. 39) and
was one of the Commissioners
for Rutland to survey the lands
of the rebels after the battle
of Evesham. (fn. 40) In 1267 he was
sheriff of Lincolnshire. (fn. 41) James
was dead by 1279, when his
widow Isabel held much of his
property. (fn. 42) Isabel was summoned in 1285 to show by
what right she claimed view of
frankpledge in Glaston. She stated that she held
three-quarters of the vill in dower, of the inheritance
of Philip de Paunton, without whom she could not
answer.
Paunton. Barruly argent and gules with a quarter gules.
Philip, who was said to have been son and heir of
Baldwin, stated that he claimed this liberty by
prescription. He did not claim pillory, tumbril or
any other judicialia. (fn. 43)
Isabel was still alive and holding dower in the manor
in 1306. (fn. 44) Philip was sheriff of Nottingham and
Derby in 1292, and in 1293 was in disgrace because he
had made return of a writ without affixing the sheriff's
seal. (fn. 45) In 1298 Philip de Paunton gave the reversion
of the manor of Glaston, after Isabel's death, to John
de Harington. (fn. 46) John settled it in 1306 on himself
and his second wife Margery and their issue. (fn. 47) John
de Harington died in 1326, leaving by Margery a son
Oliver then 24 and more. By his first wife Maud,
daughter of Philip de Paunton, John had two sons,
Richard and Baldwin. (fn. 48) John, son of Richard, was his
grandfather's heir to the property at Paunton. Baldwin, the second son, was John's heir according to the
custom of Stamford, where John had some property. (fn. 49)
Presumably Oliver succeeded at Glaston, but no
references have been found to him as lord of the manor.
Thomas de Harington, who afterwards held the
manor and was dead by 1344, (fn. 50) may have been Oliver's
son or brother. In 1350 John, son of Thomas, a
minor, held the manor, which was, however, claimed
by John, son of Richard de Harington, as grandson
of John de Harington and Maud, daughter of Philip
de Paunton.
A stay of the suit was obtained on account of the
minority of John, son of Thomas. (fn. 51) John son of
Thomas was evidently of age in 1354 when he granted
Glaston manor to William Wade of Stokefaston and
Margaret his wife for their lives. (fn. 52) In 1358 he granted
the reversion, after the deaths of William and Margaret, to Roland Daneys. (fn. 53) William Wade died in
1364, the heir in reversion being then John Daneys,
a minor, nephew of Roland Daneys. (fn. 54)
Five years later John, son of Richard de Harington,
renewed his claim to the manor, suing Margaret
Wade for two-thirds and Thomas de Wytnesham for
one-third. Margaret pleaded the minority of John
Daneys without whom she could not answer, and
Thomas said he held the third for the life of Maud,
wife of Edward de Wytnesham by grant of Edward,
the reversion being to John Daneys without whom he
could not answer, so the suit was postponed till John's
majority. (fn. 55)
Margaret Wade died in 1378, but the jurors to the
inquisition taken after her death did not know who was
heir to the manor. (fn. 56) A John de Harington was said
to be holding Glaston as well as Great and Little
Paunton in 1380. (fn. 57) John de Harington had a son
Robert (fn. 58) who obtained in 1381 a quitclaim of all
interest in the manor from John Daneys of Tickencote, cousin and heir of Sir Roland Daneys, knt. (fn. 59)
Robert was knighted and died in 1399, leaving a son
Robert, a minor, (fn. 60) who was holding the manor in
1407. (fn. 61) The younger Robert must have been dead
by 1428 when Margaret Harington, probably his
mother or widow, held Glaston. (fn. 62) She may have
married a Brus, as Margaret Brus presented to the
church in 1429. Robert's heir was his sister Margaret,
who married William Brauncepath before 1392. (fn. 63)
Margaret died before 1448, when her second son,
Sir John Brauncepath, granted the manor of Glaston
to his youngest brother Thomas (fn. 64) and others. Thomas
settled it on 23 October 1454 on himself and his wife
Elizabeth and their issue, but he died 5 days later
leaving no children, his heir being his sister Joan ap
Howell, then aged 40 and more. (fn. 65)
Coly of Glaston. Argent a cross throughout wavy sable.
After the death of Elizabeth Brauncepath several
claimants to the manor of Glaston arose. John ap
Howell, son of Joan, does not appear to have put in
any claim, although he presented to the church in
1473. William Fairfax put in a claim as heir of
Thomas Brauncepath 'as is openly known.' (fn. 66) He
was descended from John, son of Richard de Harington,
the claimant to Glaston manor, being great-grandson
of Isabel, daughter of John de Harington, who
married Hugh Fairfax and had a son John who had a
son William, father of the said William Fairfax, the
claimant. (fn. 67) He was then the only surviving representative of Sir John Harington, as William, son of
Amy, wife of John Carnelle, a second daughter of
Sir John Harington, died without issue before 1458. (fn. 68)
William Fairfax sued William Ashby, son of a certain
Thomas Ashby, who had acted as trustee for Thomas
Brauncepath in the settlement of 1454, for the manor.
Thomas Ashby having died seised of the manor,
William Ashby claimed it as his heir. (fn. 69) John Coly
also claimed as heir of Thomas Brauncepath, tracing
his descent from Jane, sister of Sir Robert Harington,
father of Margaret Brauncepath. According to the
pedigree which John Coly gave, he was great-grandson
of Jane, being son of Walter, son of John Coly, son of
Jane. (fn. 70) He also claimed the
manor against William Ashby,
who probably held it only as
a trustee till the conflicting
claims should be determined,
for he allowed Coly to enter
upon the manor, after having
given a bond, in the penal sum
of £100, to restore all profits
if by a certain day he had not
proved to William's satisfaction that he was the lawful heir.
Coly failed to prove his case
to the satisfaction of William,
and on William's suing him on the bond, Coly brought
the case into court, with the result that on 24 November 1481 judgment was given in Coly's favour and
Ashby was ordered to bring the bond into court for
cancellation. (fn. 71) By this means John Coly appears to
have established his claim to the manor, for in the
same year William Fairfax and William his son released
their claim to him. (fn. 72) John Coly presented to the
church in 1489, 1493, 1494, 1496 and 1510, and died
seised of the manor in 1519, leaving a son Anthony
aged 16 years. (fn. 73) Anthony was assessed for £50 towards
a loan in 1570, and represented himself as being unable
to pay this sum. (fn. 74) He presented to the church in
1526 and 1554 and was sheriff of Rutland in 1547,
1551, 1559 and 1568. (fn. 75) He died in 1574, when his son
Anthony succeeded. (fn. 76) In 1584 Anthony Coly, then
sheriff of Rutland, reported to Walsingham the arrest
of a Scottish priest called George Douglas at Glaston. (fn. 77) He died in 1592 leaving a son Anthony, then
two years of age. (fn. 78) Anthony had livery of his father's
lands in 1614, (fn. 79) and appears to have married Anne,
daughter of William Turpin, in that year. (fn. 80) He was
sheriff of Rutland in 1620 and 1632, and was knighted
in 1621. (fn. 81) He settled the manor in 1631, (fn. 82) but before
1639 he had been succeeded by his son William. (fn. 83)
In 1647, being deeply involved in debt, William sold
lands in Glaston, which seem to have comprised the
manor, to Richard Fancourt. (fn. 84)
Watson. Argent a cheveron engrailed azure between three martlets sable with three cres-cents or on the cheveron.
Monckton. Sable a cheveron between three martlets or with three molets sable on the cheveron.
Richard Fancourt, or probably a son of the same
name, in 1672 mortgaged the manor to Sir Mark
Guyon, and thereafter there were frequent dealings
by various mortgagees. Richard Fancourt was sheriff
of Rutland in 1674 and about the same year married
Anne, daughter of George Tresham and Anne his
wife, of Pilton (co. Northants). He married secondly
Elizabeth Dixon and died about 1693. By his first
wife he had a son Richard and two daughters, Elizabeth
who married Edward Boult of Westminster, and Anne
who married Henry Cecil of Oundle (co. Northants),
and by his second wife he had three children, Anne,
Frances and Barthony. In 1700 all parties, including
the mortgagees, combined in selling the manor of
Glaston to the Rev. Everard Smith of Ayston, who
died in 1704. Everard Smith bequeathed the manor
to his wife Elizabeth for life and then to their daughter
Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. John Yates, and to their
daughter Elizabeth Yates. He also left two grandchildren, Elizabeth and Mary Smith, (fn. 85) daughters of his
son Everard, who had predeceased him in 1701. Anne,
widow of Everard Smith, the son (who later married
one Bass), disputed the will on behalf of her daughters.
The will was, however, upheld and the manor passed
from Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. John Yates, to her
daughter Elizabeth, who married first the Rev.
Thomas White, and secondly, in 1739, the Rev.
George Fenwick. Elizabeth Fenwick died in 1751
leaving no issue. She bequeathed Glaston to John
Laughton, who already had an interest under the will
of Everard Smith, and on failure of his issue to
Dorothy, wife of Major-General John Johnson. Such
failure seems to have occurred, as Dorothy or Dorothea
Johnson and John, her son, settled the manor on
the marriage of the latter with Jane Hassel in 1765.
About 1785 John Johnson took the name of John
Kemeys Tynte, and in 1786 he and his wife Jane sold
the manor to John Cutler, merchant of London. In
1795 John Cutler sold the manor with the manor
house, or the toft where the same lately stood, for
£4,850 to John Stanger of Glaston, grazier, who died
in 1820 leaving it to Hon. George Watson, youngest
son of his 'much respected friend and patron the
late Lewis, Lord Sondes,' and his heirs male, failing
such heirs to his brother Hon. Henry Watson and his
heirs male, and failing them to Lewis Richard Watson,
Lord Sondes, his heirs and assigns for ever. The
Watsons, Lords Sondes, held the manor until the
middle of the 19th century, when it was acquired by
George Monckton, grandson of the first Viscount
Galway. On his death in 1858 the manor passed to
Edward H. C. Monckton, his nephew, son of Philip
Monckton of Fineshade Abbey (co. Northants), who
died in 1878. From him it went to his son Edward
Philip Monckton, sheriff of Rutland in 1883, who was
succeeded by his son, Mr. George Edward Monckton
of Bacton Manor (co. Heref.), the present owner. (fn. 86)
Church
The church of ST. ANDREW consists of chancel 31 ft. by 16 ft. 6 in.,
central tower 11 ft. 3 in. by 10 ft. 8 in.,
with short broach spire, clearstoried nave 43 ft. 6 in.
by 15 ft. 6 in., north aisle 8 ft. 3 in. wide, and south
porch 8 ft. 6 in. by 9 ft., all these measurements being
internal. Externally the tower is about 2 ft. longer
from north to south than from west to east, its north
and south walls being nearly 4 ft. thick. (fn. 87) The width
across nave and aisle is 26 ft. The east end of the
aisle, which covers the tower on its north side, is used
as a vestry.
The building throughout is of rubble, and the walls
internally are stripped of plaster. There is a plain
parapet to the aisle, but elsewhere the roofs are eaved
and of low pitch. The chancel is covered with
modern slates; the nave is leaded, and the porch has
stone slates.
The earliest church on the site appears to have
been a 12th-century building consisting of a small
square-ended chancel and aisleless nave with intermediate axial tower, from which the plan of the existing
church has developed. Of this early building the walls
of the tower remain approximately to the height of
the bell-chamber, together with the south-east angle
of the nave, into which the walling of the tower is
bonded. The nave was about 33 ft. long and the
same width as at present, its extent westward being
indicated by the existing masonry pier of the arcade,
but few, if any, distinctly 12th-century features have
survived the many subsequent alterations of the
building, the architectural history of which seems to
be as follows. (fn. 88)
About 1200 a north aisle was added to the nave, the
wall of which was pierced by the existing arcade of
two bays, and at the same time, or very shortly after,
a new chancel was probably built round the old one.
The new chancel was of the same external width as
the tower, the east (fn. 89) and west arches of which were
replaced by larger pointed ones, but of these only
the west arch remains unaltered. About 1220 the
upper stage of the tower and the spire were added,
but no other work of importance appears to have been
undertaken until the 14th century, when the church
was in a great measure rebuilt and assumed more or
less its present appearance. This rebuilding, or remodelling, was begun about 1340–45 by the widening
and extension eastward of the aisle, which was made
to overlap the tower on its north side, the intention
being also to lengthen the nave westward by a bay.
The work was started at the east end of the aisle and
set out in four bays, (fn. 90) but when the north-west corner
was reached and the westward extension thus begun
the work was suddenly stopped. (fn. 91) The new aisle was
then probably roofed and the old west wall temporarily built up to the north wall, the rest of the work
being left unfinished. At the east end the northeast corner of the nave had to be rebuilt and a new
arch was cut through the north wall of the tower at
its west end to give access to the extended aisle. (fn. 92) If,
as is not unlikely, the stoppage of work was due to the
Black Death (1349) its beginning cannot have been
very long before the middle
of the century, and it was
probably about 1370 before
it was resumed. The original intention may have been
to rebuild the arcade to
correspond with the bays of
the aisle, but this was not
done, though the arches appear to have been altered to
a pointed shape at this time.
The north-west angle of the
nave was left standing and
the western extension made
by building a plain narrow
arch against it in continuation of the arcade, the old
west wall being taken down after the completion of
the new one, and the western portion of the south
wall of the nave rebuilt. Very shortly after the remainder of the south wall also was rebuilt, a buttress
having first been set out near to its east end, where
probably the old wall was becoming insecure, and the
porch and clearstory erected.
The chancel was also rebuilt and enlarged in the
latter half of the 14th century, possibly at the same
time as the nave, or shortly after. It was widened
by building the new south wall outside the old one,
covering the south-east angle of the tower, but the
west wall was rebuilt on the old foundations. Of the
former chancel nothing remains.
No structural changes of importance were made in
the 15th century, though a new window appears to
have been inserted in the aisle, and a rood-loft, of
which traces remain, (fn. 93) was probably first erected. In
the 16th or early 17th century, (fn. 94) new windows were
inserted in the bell-chamber and in the lower stage of
the tower, and the east tower arch was remodelled.
The porch is said to have been rebuilt in 1622, and in
1699 a singing gallery was erected at the west end of
the nave. (fn. 95) The chancel was restored in 1863, and
the nave in 1864. At a later restoration, in 1880, the
porch was again rebuilt. (fn. 96)
Plan of Glaston Church
The chancel has a modern pointed east window of
three lights with reticulated tracery, but the lateral
windows, two on each side, are of the 14th century
and square-headed. They are of three trefoiled lights,
placed high in the walls (fn. 97) and without hood-moulds,
those on the south side having geometrical quatrefoil
tracery, the other with curved, or flowing trefoils.
The hollow moulding below the eaves is enriched with
ball-flower. The eastern angles have diagonal buttresses to about half the height of the walls, and along
the east end is a sill string chamfered on both edges. (fn. 98)
There is a plain pointed doorway in the south wall,
and in the usual position internally an ogee-headed
piscina with fluted bowl and triple sedilia with plain
continuous chamfered arches. The modern open
timber roof is of four bays. At the south-west angle
of the chancel outside is cut the date 1707, recording
some repairs done in that year. (fn. 99)
The pointed east arch of the tower opening into
the chancel is of two orders, the outer square and the
inner chamfered, but remains as altered in postReformation times, with moulded imposts. The 13thcentury west arch of the tower is of the same character
with original chamfered imposts, and the chamfers of
the inner order ending in broach stops on the east
side. (fn. 100) Both arches are without hood-moulds. The
later arch between the tower and the vestry is of three
chamfered orders dying into the wall. Externally the
tower consists of a lofty lower stage and a bell-chamber,
the windows of which, as already stated, are later insertions and of two rounded lights; the lower window
in the south wall is of the same character. On the
north side the 12th-century walling remains up to the
bell-chamber string, but on the south it reaches not
quite so far; (fn. 101) the quoins of the north-east angle
stand free, (fn. 102) while those of the south-east, though
covered at the angle, are seen from the chancel. The
tower is without buttresses or a vice, access to the
bell-chamber being by a doorway high in the north
wall, reached by a ladder from the vestry. The spire
is only about 20 ft. high and rises directly from a
simple moulding without the intervention of a corbeltable or cornice, and has plain angles and a roundheaded gabled light in each of the cardinal faces; it
terminates in a stone finial and cock vane.
The late 12th-century nave arcade is of ironstone
and consists of two wide arches of two moulded
orders, (fn. 103) with hood-moulds towards the nave, springing
from canted responds and a dividing octagonal pillar,
all with moulded bases and water-leaf capitals. (fn. 104) The
outer order has a keel-shaped edge-roll and the inner
order a deep soffit hollow between two bold keelshaped mouldings. (fn. 105) The narrower (fn. 106) 14th-century
western arch is of two orders, without hood-mould,
the outer square and the inner chamfered, on chamfered imposts.
With the exception of a re-used lancet window, (fn. 107)
now blocked, at the west end of the aisle, the nave and
aisle externally are almost wholly of the 14th century.
The south doorway (fn. 108) has a pointed arch of two orders,
the inner hollow chamfered and the outer moulded,
the moulding being carried down the jambs in the
form of attached filleted shafts with impost capitals;
the hood-mould has head-stops. On either side the
doorway in the south wall is a square-headed window
of three lights similar in character to the north-east
window of the chancel, (fn. 109) with flowing trefoil tracery,
but the large three-light pointed west window is
modern. In the upper part of the south wall are two
widely spaced (fn. 110) square-headed two-light clearstory
windows, and the hollow moulding below the eaves is
enriched with ball-flower. On the north side the
same disposition of clearstory windows obtains, but
the eaves moulding is plain. The low-pitched nave
roof is of four bays, the two western bays, except for
the tie-beam, (fn. 111) being old, with curved wind-braces.
The aisle has a keel-shaped string at sill level, and
in each of the three eastern bays is a pointed window
of three trefoiled lights, the first having reticulated
tracery, the second, the 15th-century window already
mentioned, with vertical tracery, and the third a
modern copy of the first. In the westernmost bay is
a restored pointed two-light window with quatrefoil
in the head. The hollow moulding below the parapet
is enriched by widely spaced carved heads.
The font is modern and in the style of the 14th
century. (fn. 112) The pulpit and reading desk are also
modern, but they embody portions of a 15th-century
oak screen with trefoiled openings. An alabaster
grave slab, (fn. 113) taken from the chancel floor during the
last restoration, now forms the altar slab.
In the chancel is a large 14th-century coffin lid with
matrices of a cross and the head of a priest, bearing
the inscription in Lombardic characters: '. . . erd
de Wileby gist ici Deu d. sa alme eyt mercy.' There is
also a fragment of a second coffin lid with stem of a
cross.
A mural monument in the nave records the burials
in the church of a number of lords of the manor and
their descendants from 1650 to 1761. There are also
monuments to William Roberts (d. 1726), Edward
Roberts, sometime rector of Thistleton (d. 1739), and
other members of the Roberts family, and to three
men of the parish who fell in the war of 1914–18.
There are five bells in the tower, two trebles, by
Taylor of Loughborough, having been added in 1931
to a former ring of three. Of the old bells the first
and second (now third and fourth) are by Tobie
Norris I of Stamford, and are dated respectively 1622
and 1616. The tenor is from the Leicester foundry,
1598, and is inscribed 'Coelorum Christe placeat tibi
Rex sonus iste.' There is also a hemispherical clock
bell, hung externally from one of the spire lights. (fn. 114)
The clock dial, on the south side of the tower, is supported on corbels dated 1739. (fn. 115)
The plate consists of a cup and cover paten of
1572–3, a paten of 1637–8, a flagon of 1735–6, and a
dish, with the maker's initials T.F., of about 1670. (fn. 116)
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1558–1684, marriages 1557–1677, burials 1556–
1678; (ii) marriages 1686–1753, burials 1678–1812;
(iii) baptisms 1684–1812; (iv) marriages 1754–1812.
The first volume was rebound in 1884. The entries
before 1599 are copies.
There is a modern lychgate at the south-east
entrance to the churchyard.
Advowson
The advowson of Glaston was
confirmed to the priory of Launde
(co. Leic.) by Henry II. The original
donor is not known, but as in the charter Henry II (fn. 117)
confirmed the gift of the church of Glaston and the
mill of Panton, it is probable that the church was
given by some early member of the Paunton family.
The priors presented in 1225 and 1236, (fn. 118) but in
1254 the advowson was in dispute between the prior
of La Launde and James de Paunton. (fn. 119) Apparently
the prior made good his claim, for the advowson was
not subsequently held by the lords of the manor until
1409, when Robert Harington presented to the church.
In 1448 it was included with the manor in a settlement
on Thomas Brauncepath. (fn. 120) The advowson was released with the manor in 1480 by William Fairfax to
John Coly, (fn. 121) and subsequently descended with the
manor (fn. 122) until 1640, when Sir Anthony and William
Coly conveyed it with certain land in Glaston to
Edward Andrews. (fn. 123) The Bishop of Peterborough
collated in 1660, probably by lapse. (fn. 124) In May 1661
Thomas and Tobias Holder sold the advowson to
Bernard Hale, Dr. in Divinity and Master of
Peterhouse College (co. Cambs.), (fn. 125) for £220. From
Hale it passed to the College, in whose possession
it was before 1680, and has so remained till the
present day.
Charities
Michael Bingham in 1636 bequeathed £100 for the use of the
poor. The money was laid out in
the purchase of land, and the endowment consists of
lands in Morcott, South Luffenham and Barrowden
containing approximately 9½ acres, a house at Morcott,
and a sum of £525 7s. 4d. 2½ per cent. Consols, the
whole producing £32 10s. 8d. per annum. The net
income is distributed by the trustees, together with
Watson's and Richardson's charities, in coal, bread
and money to the poor.
Poor's Money.—The sum of £35 was let out at
interest, which was distributed among the poor. In
1819 the principal sum was applied towards building
a tenement for parish paupers and has now been lost.
Thomas Richardson, D.D., by his will dated 20 December 1729, gave to the poor of the parish a sum of
£50 to be laid out by Thomas Roberts and his heirs
in the purchase of land. Thomas Roberts, by his will
dated 7 November 1737, charged Harecroft Close at
Glaston with a rent charge of 50s. per annum. The
rent charge has since been redeemed, and the endowment consists of a sum of £100 2½ per cent. Consols
producing in dividends £2 10s. per annum.
Richardson's Bread Charity, comprised in indentures
of lease and release, the release dated 10 August 1722,
which, reciting that a sum of £60 had been given by
Thomas Richardson, D.D., rector of Glaston, for the
poor, conveyed several pieces of land situate at Alford
and Bainton upon trust to employ the rents in purchasing bread to be distributed among the poor every
Sunday after morning service in the parish church.
The land, containing approximately 7 acres, is let at
an annual rental of £16.
Francis Chesilden, by will dated 14 November 1745,
bequeathed £40 upon trust to apply the interest
amongst the poor inhabitants of Glaston. The fund
was lent to a person who became insolvent, and the
money was lost in consequence. It is understood that
the money has since been repaid and is now merged
in Bingham's Charity.
The Hon. George Watson, by his will dated in 1824,
bequeathed a sum of money for the benefit of the poor.
The endowment now consists of a sum of £105 13s. 7d.
2½ per cent. Consols producing in dividends £2 12s. 8d.
per annum.
The several sums of stock are with the Official
Trustees.