LITTLE ADDINGTON
Edintone (xi cent.); Adington Watervill or Parva
(xiv. cent.).
Little Addington Church: West Tower Doorway
The smaller of the Addingtons differs little in its
main features from Great Addington (q.v.), which
lies to the north of it. The height varies from about
300 ft. to about 150 ft. above ordnance datum,
the ground near the River Nene being liable to floods.
The area is 1,134 acres of land and 9 of water. The
population was 280 in 1921.
The village, triangular in shape, is about 3¼
miles north of Higham Ferrers, and ¾ mile southwest from Ringstead and Addington Station. The
Church of St. Mary lies at its southern end, and is
noteworthy for the beauty of its tower.
To the east of the church is the Manor Farm, the
home, during many generations, of the Sanderson
family. South of it is St. Mary's vicarage, built in
1859, but the vicar resides now at Great Addington.
To the south-west of the church is a two-story thatched
house, now used as a Working Men's Institute,
dated 1712, and a pair of houses on the north side
of the village green, also of two stories, with thatched
roof, is dated 1715. In both cases the windows
have been modernised. Two farms have good stone
barns of late 17th or early 18th century date, with
thatched roofs and coped end gables, and there
is a rectangular dove-house west of the green,
with panel inscribed 'R. L. 1739,' and red
pantiled roof. Another dove-house, to the southeast of the church, with thatched roof and
lantern, is now in a state of dilapidation. The
public elementary school, built in 1873 for 66
children, also lies to the south of the church, and
near by is the smithy. A Wesleyan chapel was
built in 1844. Little Addington Lodge stands
by itself in the west of the parish.
We have a glimpse of 17th-century village life
in a dispute in 1620 over the inclosing, by
Richard and Edward Beeby, (fn. 1) of ways by which
access was obtained to the common well, the
washing block on the common ground, where it
was used by all the inhabitants, and the cattle
troughs there.
Manors
The history of the two Addingtons before the Conquest is given
under Great Addington (q.v.).
The abbot of Peterborough held 3 hides in
LITTLE ADDINGTON, which were held by
Hugh his tenant in 1086. (fn. 2) In the Northamptonshire Survey of the time of Henry I Hugh's fee
with another half hide had passed to Richard son
of Hugh. (fn. 3) They later went to the Lisurs, and
Richard son of Hugh may have been a Lisurs.
Possibly it was his grand-daughter, daughter of
William Lisurs, who married Viel de Engaine. (fn. 4)
Their son Fulk took his mother's name, and from
him this mesne lordship passed with Benefield
(q.v.) to the Lisurs and Bassingbournes.
According to Pytchley's Survey of Peterborough
Fees, there were four fees in Addington which were
held under Peterborough of the Lisurs and Bassingbournes, namely, those of Daundelyn, Waterville,
the abbot of Sulby, and the Earl of Gloucester. (fn. 5) These
fees were partly in Great and partly in Little Addington, but mostly in the latter, and so it is more convenient to take them here.
The Daundelyn fee passed with Cranford St.
Andrew (q.v.). A part of it went to the Barnacks, (fn. 6)
of Irthlingborough (q.v.), and from them to Sulby
Abbey.
The Waterville fee went with the Watervilles'
lands at Thorpe Achurch (q.v.). They were holding
in 1196, when Hugh de Waterville conveyed land
to Maud de Houghton, and in 1240 Richard de Waterville granted lands and a mill to William, abbot of
Sulby. (fn. 7) The remainder of their lands here was
apparently acquired from the heirs of Reginald de
Waterville, who died in 1287, by the Barnacks, (fn. 8)
and from them by the abbot of Sulby.
The abbey of Sulby gradually bought up the lands
of the other holders in Little Addington from the
early part of the 13th century if not before. Edward II
confirmed the gifts of Arnold de Pavilly (Papilam)
of lands, the church and mill of Addington; of
Roger le Brabanhoun (? Brabazon); of John de
Hotot, of Bampton; of the manor of Sir Richard
son of Gervase de Barnack, and the lands of William
son of Richard de Barnack. (fn. 9) In 1300 a composition
was made between the abbot of Peterborough and
the abbot of Sulby whereby the abbot of Sulby
had licence to enter on the Barnack lands subject
to the continuance of the homage to the abbot of
Peterborough, as chief lord, of Humphrey de Bassingbourne, under whom the Barnacks had held, suit
at the court of Castor, and relief and fealty by the
abbot of Sulby to Peterborough. (fn. 10) The abbey of Sulby
had a grant of free warren here in 1316, (fn. 11) and continued to hold the whole manor until the Dissolution.
In 1543, Edward Humfrey, a younger son of Richard
Humfrey, of Barton Seagrave, received a grant of the
manor and rectory of Little Addington, formerly the
property of Sulby Abbey. (fn. 12) He settled the manor
on his younger brother John, and died without issue
in 1552. (fn. 13) John Humfrey died in 1592, when he
was succeeded by his son John, aged thirty, (fn. 14) who
died without issue in 1596, when his mother, Margaret,
survived him. John Humfrey, the son, was succeeded
by his brother Edward, (fn. 15) citizen and merchant tailor
of London, aged 27, who with Mary his wife in
1597 sold to John Weekly, of Little Addington,
for £500 the manor and manor house of Little
Addington, in the occupation of Thomas Selby,
late in the occupation of John Weekly, (fn. 16) the rent of
2s. from the mills called Cotton Mills, and two barns
known as the Tithe Barn and Church Barn. John,
father of Edward Humfrey, had settled the manor
and advowson on his wife Margaret, and had had a
daughter Elizabeth Burton, the mother of Rowse,
Thomas, and Israel Burton, and a daughter Marjory
Mallory, the mother of Thomas, Anthony, William,
and Katherine Mallory. Edward left a son Edward,
who died in 1599, aged five, leaving sisters, Eleanor
aged two, and Dorothy aged one, as his heirs. (fn. 17)
John Weekly, in 1606, settled certain lands in Little
Addington on his son Thomas on his marriage with
Anne, daughter of Richard Templer, and died in
1628. (fn. 18) A settlement was made in 1630 by Thomas
Weekly, with John Weekly, presumably his son,
and Anne Weekly, widow, evidently his mother, (fn. 19)
and in 1656 the manor was in the hands of John Weekly
(Weekeley) and Mary his wife, and Thomas Weekly,
presumably their son. (fn. 20) John Weekly and Thomas
Weekly, senior, and Susan his wife in 1682 conveyed
the manor to Robert Underwood, and Henry Weekly, (fn. 21)
the latter of whom was already holding the Gloucester
manor (q.v.) in Little Addington. This was probably
only a settlement, as in 1685 Thomas Weekly, senior,
and his wife Susan, with Thomas Weekly, junior,
conveyed it to Samuel Penn, apparently for the purpose of a mortgage. (fn. 22) Thomas Weekly, senior, and
Susan his wife were holding it in 1691. (fn. 23) It was
possibly the manor which William Murdin, clerk,
and his wife in 1737 conveyed to Robert Lambe. (fn. 24)
Sanderson. Paly argent and azure a bend sable with three rings or thereon.
When Bridges wrote, the lordship was divided
among several freeholders, but the manor belonged to
Henry Weekly. The most considerable estate, he
writes, was owned by the family of Sanderson, who
with it held the advowson.
At the Inclosure Act of 1803,
William Zouth Lucas Ward
was lord of the manor, and
one of the principal proprietors of lands and messuages
with Thomas Sanderson, clerk,
vicar and owner of the advowson, and George Capron.
There is now no lord of the
manor, but Mr. G. H. Capron,
lord of the manor of Stoke
Doyle, is one of the principal
landowners in the parish.
One and a half hides in Little Addington, held
before the Conquest by Azor, were entered in the
Domesday Survey among the lands of the Bishop of
Coutances, (fn. 25) whose tenant there was Osmund. (fn. 26)
After the forfeiture of the bishop's lands it was
bestowed on either the first Earl of Gloucester or his
father-in-law, and continued parcel of the Gloucester
fee. In the 12th century Northamptonshire Survey (fn. 27)
it is entered as a hide and one and a half virgates, held
by William de Huntingdon of the fee of Gloucester.
The Grimbalds seem to have succeeded William de
Huntingdon, as in 1198–9 Maud, widow of Robert
Grimbald, granted land in Addington and Slipton to
Ernald de Bosco, (fn. 28) and this property appears in 1284
as a quarter of a knight's fee in Little Addington
which John de Bosco was then holding of the Earl of
Gloucester. It was held of John de Bosco by Hugh
Daundelyn, under whom Warner de Garney and
Beatrice de Wolaston were sub-tenants. (fn. 29)
The Daundelyn descent followed that of Cranford
St. Andrew (q.v.). Maurice Daundelyn was returned
in the 12th century Northamptonshire Survey.
Plan of Little Addington Church
In 1357 John Daundelyn the elder, of Cranford, sold
to Adam Franceys, citizen of London, and Henry
Pyel, clerk, lands, rents, etc., in Cranford, (fn. 30) a yearly
rent of 6 barbed arrows, which he used to receive of
Walter Daundelyn, John Daundelyn, and Thomas
Daundelyn of Little Addington, of their lands in
Little Addington, of the fee of the Earl of Gloucester, and a rent of a pair of gloves from the lands of
John Pyel in Great and Little Addington. Walter,
John and Thomas Daundelyn, of Little Addington,
were witnesses to this grant. It was possibly this
John Daundelyn of Little Addington who was
assaulted and maimed at Higham Ferrars in 1354. (fn. 31)
When the Daundelyns ceased to hold in Addington
does not appear. But their property is evidently
represented by a manor of Little Addington, of which
Barnabas Wykyrley or Wykeley or Weekly made a
conveyance in 1553 to Giles Wykeley (fn. 32) (or Weekly),
who settled it in 1554 (fn. 33) on his wife Eleanor. According to Bridges, Eleanor was the daughter of Thomas
Sawyer of Raunds, and Giles died in 1558–9 seised of
the manor of Addington Parva, held of the Crown as
of the honour of Gloucester, leaving a son John as his
heir. (fn. 34) A Richard Weekly appears as a tenant in the
Sulby manor (q.v.) in 1597, and in 1627 Richard
Weekly died at Little Addington seised of a messuage
and lands held of Edward Lord Montagu as of his
hundred of Huxloe; of one and a half virgates of land
held of the king in chief by knight service; (fn. 35) and of a
cottage held of Edward Lord Montagu as of the
honour of Gloucester. By his will, dated 3 June 1626,
he bequeathed this cottage to his son Richard, but
his heir was his son Henry. (fn. 36)
Church
The church of ST. MARY stands
on high ground above the road, and
consists of chancel 20 ft. by 15 ft.,
with modern vestry and organ chamber on the
north side, clearstoried nave of three bays 41 ft.
by 14 ft. 3 in., north and south aisles each
about 11 ft. wide, (fn. 37) north and south porches, and
engaged west tower 11 ft. by 8 ft. 9 in., all these
measurements being internal. The tower is surmounted by a short spire. The church is built on
ground falling sharply from south to north, so that
while the level of the south porch is two steps above
that of the nave, the north porch is five steps below
it. There is also a westward slope.
The church is built of rubble, plastered internally,
and the chancel has a low, modern slated roof. The
other roofs are leaded, with plain parapets to the
clearstory and north aisle; the lead overhangs on the
south aisle. The greater part of the building belongs
to the last quarter of the 13th century, covering perhaps the period c. 1280–1300, the north arcade and
two windows at the west end of the north aisle being
rather earlier in character than the rest of the work,
though the whole appears to have been more or less
continuous. The tower was
built towards the end of the
14th century, when the clearstory and south porch were
added and the chancel altered.
The east end of the north
aisle was rebuilt in the 15th
century, and the date 1705
on a stone below the parapet
apparently records some reconstruction of the north wall
at that time. The church was
restored and reseated in 1857,
and there was a more extensive restoration in 1882–3,
when the vestry was added.
The chancel has a small
14th century east window of
two trefoiled lights with
quatrefoil in the head, and a
diagonal buttress at the northeast angle. If the window is
in its original position it
seems likely that the north
and east walls were rebuilt at this period, and
possibly the chancel shortened. In the south wall is
a 13th century priest's doorway of a single chamfered
order, and west of it a low-side window, the lower
part of which (now blocked) is contemporary with the
doorway, the head being of 14th century date. There
are remains of a destroyed window east of the doorway.
The chancel is open its full width to the nave by a late
13th century arch of two chamfered orders, the innermost resting on moulded corbels supported by heads.
The nave arcades have excellently moulded arches
and piers composed of clusters of four shafts, with
arrised projections in the hollows between. In the
later south arcade these projections are enlarged
and treated as additional shafts, but have no capitals.
The responds correspond with the piers, except at the
east end on the south side, where the arch springs
from a moulded corbel carved on the underside with
foliage.
The south doorway is of two moulded orders on
angle shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and the
porch opening of two chamfered orders, the inner
springing from half-octagonal responds with much
restored moulded capitals. The plainer north doorway has a continuous round and hollow moulding,
without hood, and the porch, which is 10 ft. square
internally, is covered by a stone vault with chamfered
diagonal ribs. The roof space above was lighted by a
window in the gable, now blocked, but was never
properly a porch-chamber. The porch has stone
benches and an outer double chamfered arch of twocentred segment form.
There is a beautiful double piscina with two
trefoiled openings and quatrefoil over, together with
an aumbry in the south aisle, and a single piscina in
the east wall of the north aisle. Above the double
piscina is a plain stone image-bracket. The east
window of the south aisle consists of three uncusped
gradated lancets with pierced spandrels, and the
west window and one on either side of the doorway,
are of two lights with forked mullion. Another
window in this aisle is a 14th century insertion, of
three trefoiled lights with fully developed reticulated
tracery. In the north aisle the west window (fn. 38) and
another in the north wall adjoining it, are each of two
plain lights with a cusped circle in the head, c. 1280;
another has a forked mullion, and two at the east end
are four-centred 15th-century windows of three
cinquefoiled lights. The clearstory has four windows on the south side and three on the north, all
square headed and of two trefoiled lights.
Pyel. Argent a bend between two molets sable.
The tower is inserted at the west end of the nave,
cutting it short by a bay, the reason being perhaps the
westward slope on which the church stands. The
tower is of three stages with moulded plinth, coupled
buttresses, and battlemented parapet above a band
of quatrefoils. The beautiful western doorway, with
sculptured figures in the hollow mouldings, has a
crocketed hood with finial and flanking pinnacles,
and over it is a traceried window of two lights. The
deeply recessed bell-chamber windows are of two
trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head except on
the south side, where the upper part of the window is
older work re-used, with a
trefoiled circle in the head,
similar to the west windows
of the north aisle. The spire
has two sets of lights. The
arms of Pyel (a bend between
two molets) occur upon the
upper stage of the tower on
the north side, and ironstone
is freely used with picturesque
effect. Internally the tower
opens into the nave by a lofty
arch of four (fn. 39) continuous
chamfered orders, and into the aisles by similar but
less lofty arches. The vice is in the south-west angle.
The 15th-century rood screen, with its doors,
remains; it has two bays on each side of the middle
opening, but has been badly painted in brown pigment,
and the top is new. The oak pulpit is contemporary
with the screen, and has carved panels; it stands on a
modern stone base. Outside the east wall of the south
aisle are indications of a blocked outer doorway, but
there is no sign of any remains of an internal stair to
the rood loft. The font is modern, with octagonal
panelled bowl. The seating dates from 1857.
At the restoration of 1883 most of the monumental
slabs in the chancel floor, with the Sanderson arms
and inscriptions, were sunk, and tiles placed over
them. Some brass plates, including one to John
Sanderson, 1672, are in the vestry.
There are three bells, all by Hugh Watts II, of
Leicester. The treble is an alphabet bell dated 1610,
and the second and third, dated respectively 1620 and
1629, are inscribed 'IHS Nazarenus Rex Judeorum
Fili Dei miserere mei.' (fn. 40)
The plate consists of a paten of 1853 and a cup of
1857, both London make. (fn. 41)
The registers begin in 1588.
Advowson
The advowson belonged to Arnold
de Pavilly (Papilam) in the middle of
the 12th century, who gave it to
Sulby Abbey. (fn. 42) The lords of the manor seem to have
regained possession, and in 1234 it was regranted to
William Abbot of Sulby by Richard de Waterville, who
was received into all benefits of the Abbey. (fn. 43) It was
held by the abbey until the Dissolution, when in 1543
it was granted with the manor and rectory to Edward
Humfrey. (fn. 44) It was not included in the sale of the
manor to John Weekly, but in 1608 was in the hands
of Rowse Burton, John Humfrey's grandson, who
conveyed it to Dorothy and Eleanor Humfrey, the
daughters and co-heirs of John Humfrey's son
Edward. (fn. 45) It was conveyed in 1621 by Richard Pickes
and Eleanor his wife, and Henry Calthorpe and Dorothy
his wife, evidently Edward Humfrey's daughters, to
John Sanderson, (fn. 46) of Little Addington. In 1634 John
Sanderson, and his wife Cecily, and Thomas Sanderson were dealing with the rectory and advowson, (fn. 47) as
were John Sanderson and his wife Margaret and
Theophilus Sanderson (their son and heir) in 1662, (fn. 48)
and Theophilus alone in 1669. (fn. 49) John Sanderson
died in 1672, and the death in 1683 of his son Theophilus was followed by that of John Sanderson, son
and heir of Theophilus, in 1687, at the age of twentythree. (fn. 50) The rectory and advowson must then have
been held by Sanderson co-heiresses, the daughters
of Theophilus, one of whom, Martha wife of Thomas
Pemberton, was with her husband dealing with onethird in 1695, (fn. 51) and in 1697. (fn. 52) Elizabeth Sanderson,
the daughter of Theophilus, married her cousin,
Anthony Sanderson, of Serlby Hall, Co. Nottingham,
and died in 1694. (fn. 53) The rectory and advowson ultimately passed to her husband with Little Addington
mansion. He became vicar in 1720, (fn. 54) and died in
1737. Harvey Sparkes and William Sanderson presented in 1737, William Sanderson in 1770, and
Thomas Sanderson in 1813. (fn. 55)
The last Sanderson to hold the rectory and advow-
son was Thomas Sanderson, who was also vicar, and
died unmarried in 1855. (fn. 56) Mrs. Benton Keane now
holds the advowson.
A vicarage is referred to c. 1214–15, and was endowed
with a moiety of the church, the abbey and convent of
Sulby retaining the other half. (fn. 57) The endowment now
includes 275 acres of glebe, a part of which was a
thank-offering for the Restoration, given by John
Sanderson, 'Counsellor at law,' who had been 'a great
sufferer for King Charles I.' (fn. 58) An allotment was made
for tithes at the passing of the Inclosure Act. (fn. 59)
There are no charities in the parish.