TWYWELL
Tuiwella (xi cent.); Twywelle, Twiwell (xii cent.).
The parish of Twywell is low-lying, nowhere rising
over 300 ft. above the Ordnance datum. The subsoil is Great and Inferior Oolite. One of the many
small streams of the district crosses the parish in the
south. Twywell station, on the Kettering and
Huntingdon branch of the London Midland and
Scottish Railway, lies to the south-east of the village.
The parish was inclosed by private Act of Parliament
in 1765, (fn. 1) and by a Local Government Order, dated
25 March, 1885, the detached portion of the parish,
called Curtley, was joined to the parish of Slipton.
In 1874, the ironstone deposits in the parish were
worked by the Newbridge Iron Ore Co. (fn. 2) A number
of flint weapons and a few relics of the Roman occupation have been found in the parish. The manor
house stands in the village and formerly the family
of Mulsho for several generations had a house of
some size. (fn. 3) There Mrs. Hester Chapone, the essayist
and writer of poems and pamphlets, and daughter of
Thomas Mulsho, was born in 1727. (fn. 4) The rectory
house, a large plain three-story stone building, erected
in 1760, stands to the south-west of the church.
Here lived Horace Waller, who was rector of Twywell
from 1874 to 1895, and is known as an explorer in
Africa. On his return to England he took a very
active part in the movement against the slave trade
in East Africa, and wrote many works on Africa. (fn. 5)
There are a few two-story 17th-century stone
houses in the village; one at the south end with a
mullioned bay window on the ground floor has a
panel in the gable inscribed T H A 1663, and the
cottage now used as the post office is dated 1660.
Another house with thatched roof has mullioned
windows and a good four-centered doorway, and west
of the church is a picturesque, but much modernised,
17th-century farmhouse with stone-slated roof and
wooden dormers; attached to it is a rectangular
dovecote with end gables and lantern. Another
dovecote of the same character stands in a field
farther north.
Thorney Abbey. Azure three croziers between as many crosslets or.
Manors
In 1086 the abbey of Thorney held
3 hides, less 1½ virgates, of land in
TWYWELL, (fn. 6) but a few years later their
holding was said to consist of 2 hides only. (fn. 7) The
abbey obtained various additional grants of land in
the following centuries, (fn. 8) and
held the manor of Twywell in
frankalmoin of the king in chief
until the Dissolution of the
Monasteries. (fn. 9) Abbot Gunter
(1085–1112) granted it for life
to Aubrey de Vere, the Chamberlain, and a similar grant
was made to his son Robert. (fn. 10)
In the 13th century, Abbot
Jakesley (1261–93) granted it
for life to Sir William Hay,
knt., in exchange for the manor
of Clapton; Sir William assigned the manor to John Hay, and Abbot Odo (1293–
1305) gave certain lands in it to the convent, for the
celebration of the anniversary of John Hay, at a rent
of 2s. 6d. a year. (fn. 11) Although leases of the site were
made, the manor seems usually to have been held in
demesne. (fn. 12) In 1544, Henry VIII granted it to
William, Lord Parr of Horton, but his lands escheated
to the Crown (fn. 13) and the manor was not alienated,
although various grants and leases were made and
certain tenements in the parish were granted out. (fn. 14)
After 1574, the manor seems to have been granted to
Sir William Cecil, (fn. 15) later Lord Burghley, but probably
he only obtained the site of the manor and the land
that had formerly been leased with it. In 1592, his
son Thomas sold the 'manor' to Robert Dallyson, (fn. 16)
who in 1595 sold the site with 200 acres of land besides
meadow, pasture, wood, etc., to Robert Ekins. (fn. 17) This
property was called the manor of Twywell and belonged
to the family of Ekins certainly until 1720. (fn. 18) It was
probably sold to the Duke of Montagu, since in 1765
Mary, Countess of Cardigan, was lady of the manor. (fn. 19)
Ekins. Argent a bend indented sable between two crosslets fitchy gules.
A second manor of TWYWELL can be traced back
to an entry in Domesday Book. In the reign of Edward
the Confessor, Earl Waltheof
held it, but in 1086 his widow
Countess Judith had 1½ hides
of land here. (fn. 20) In the following century David, Earl of
Huntingdon, owned it, (fn. 21) and
it was held of the Honour of
Huntingdon for half a knight's
fee. (fn. 22) Part of the land attached
to it seems to have been in
Slipton. (fn. 23)
Hastings. Argent a sleeve sable.
Grey. Barry argent and azure with three roundels gules in the chief.
This manor seems to have
been a member of the manor
of Harrold (co. Beds), which
was held by the Morin family of that part of the
honour of Huntingdon which fell to Hastings,
Earl of Pembroke. (fn. 24) In the middle of the 13th
century Ralph Morin conveyed his interest to John
de Grey, and this mesne lordship continued with the
family of Grey de Ruthin. (fn. 25)
The tenants in demesne were the Veres. Aubrey
de Vere, the chamberlain (d. 1141), held lands here for
life, about which he made an agreement with the
abbot of Thorney. This agreement was confirmed to
Robert, his younger son. (fn. 26) Robert married, as his
second wife, Maud, daughter of Robert de Furnell
of Twywell, with whom he received an addition to
his property in Twywell. (fn. 27) This manor passed with
the Vere manor in Great Addington (q.v.). (fn. 28)
In Domesday Book, the Abbey of Peterborough held
no land in Twywell, but probably one virgate of its
holding in Slipton lay in Twywell, (fn. 29) and in the 12thcentury survey of the county one great virgate in
Twywell is assigned to Peterborough. (fn. 30) Its subsequent history is lost until the close of the 14th century, when it may possibly reappear as a manor of
TWYWELL held before 1384 by Sir Richard Waldegrave, knt. (fn. 31) He or a later Richard made a settlement
of the manor in 1437, (fn. 32) and two years later his trustees
granted it to his son Richard and his wife Alice and
their heirs. (fn. 33) The younger Richard died in 1453, (fn. 34)
but Alice held the manor until her death in 1473,
when it passed to Richard's
nephew William. (fn. 35) The latter
died in 1528, (fn. 36) but his son
and heir George only survived
him a few months, and the
manor passed to his grandson
William, (fn. 37) who dealt with it
in 1532. (fn. 38) No further mention of the manor apparently
occurs. In 1453 and 1473 the
manor was said to have been
held of the Abbot of Ramsey
for the service of paying one
rose yearly, (fn. 39) but in 1528 the overlord was stated to
be the Abbot of Peterborough. (fn. 40) It seems possible
that this may have been described as the manor of
Slipton, which in 1562 George Lane held and in 1564
conveyed to John Bedell, who in 1576 granted it to
Lewis Lord Mordaunt. (fn. 41)
Waldegrave. Party argent and gules.
Two mills are mentioned in Domesday Book on the
manor of the Abbey of Thorney, paying a rent of 7s. 4d.
a year, (fn. 42) but only one mill is mentioned in a bull
of Pope Alexander III. (fn. 43) In 1330, Hugh de Walmesford claimed that the Veres had held a view of frankpledge in their manor time out of mind; the royal
officials denied his right, but Hugh was able to
recover it on payment of a fine. He also successfully
claimed the right of toll of salt in his demesne lands. (fn. 44)
In 1720 Thomas Ekins had a court leet, court baron
and view of frankpledge in Twywell. (fn. 45)
Church
The church of ST. NICHOLAS consists of chancel 35 ft. by 14 ft. 10 in.,
with south vestry and organ chamber,
clearstoried nave of three bays 38 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 3 in.,
south aisle 13 ft. 9 in. wide, south porch, and west
tower 8 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being
internal.
The church is built throughout of rubble, and has
plain parapets and flat-pitched leaded roofs to nave
and aisle and a slated eaved roof to the chancel.
Internally the walls are plastered. The building was
re-roofed in 1811 and underwent an extensive restoration in 1867, which included the removal of a
west gallery and the rebuilding of the tower arch,
then in a ruinous condition.
The main part of the fabric, comprising the tower,
nave and the west portion of the chancel, is of the
middle of the 12th century, but there is some reason
for believing that the first church was of earlier date,
to which short north and south transeptal chapels
were added at the east end of the nave walls about
1140–50. To this cross church the aisle was added
about fifty years later, and towards the end of the
13th century the chancel was extended eastward and
windows inserted in the aisle. The porch and clearstory are of the 15th century. At some subsequent
period the western portion of the aisle was demolished, probably in order to save the cost of repair,
and was rebuilt only in 1867. (fn. 46)
The composition of the south arcade is unusual.
The broad semicircular eastern arch, which probably
marked the entrance to the former transept, is of two
plain chamfered orders and springs at the east end,
at a height of 5 ft., from a flat respond with scalloped
impost and chamfered abacus. The two western
arches are also semicircular and appear to have been
cut through the nave wall about 1190, beginning
from the west end. The western arch springs from
a half-octagonal respond set against the old wall, and
was made narrower but much higher than the older
existing arch at the east end, the new middle arch
filling the space between. The arches are of two
chamfered orders springing at a height of about
7 ft. from octagonal piers with moulded capitals and
bases. To allow of its meeting the older eastern arch
the middle arch had to be stilted on that side, its
outer order being made to spring from the new pier,
while the inner order springs from a corbel above
the capital; the corbel is decorated with nail-head
ornament.
The chancel has a late 13th-century east window
of three lights with intersecting tracery, and in the
south wall are two windows of the same period with
forked mullions and a trefoiled piscina with fluted
bowl. North of the altar in the east wall is an
image-bracket. In the north wall, about 15 ft. from
the west, is a round-headed 12th century window
with wide inner splay, and further west again a
rectangular low-side window with external chamfered
opening and flat sill inside, perhaps a 14th-century
insertion. (fn. 47) There was originally a sacristy on the
north side of the chancel at its east end, the blocked
pointed doorway of which remains, together with a
piscina and rectangular aumbry now on the outside
of the building. The blank wall space on the inside
is filled by a curious and highly interesting stone
structure of late 13th-century date consisting in the
lower stage of a broad segmental tomb-recess, the
arch springing from short attached shafts, above
which is a double aumbry, probably used also as an
Easter sepulchre, and above this again a sloping stone
desk with a book-rest for the reader of the Gospel. (fn. 48)
The south wall of the chancel is pierced at its west
end by a wide two-centred segment arch of two
chamfered orders, the inner order on moulded corbels
supported by heads. The arch is of late 13th-century
character and apparently opened originally to a chapel
afterwards destroyed; before the erection of the
organ chamber and vestry in 1895 it had long been
blocked. The chancel arch is apparently of the same
period and consists of two chamfered orders, the
inner springing from half-octagonal responds with
moulded capitals and bases.
Plan of Twywell Church
The north wall of the nave retains near its west end
a widely splayed round-headed 12th-century window
and a contemporary doorway, now blocked, which
externally has a shouldered head with cabled lintel
and roundel cusps, hatched tympanum, and sunkstar hood mould. The round arch to the northern
transeptal chapel has long been blocked, and now
contains a two-light window
with forked mullion, the
tracery of which, however,
is modern. (fn. 49) When the arch
was made there was an earlier
round-headed window high
in the wall, part of the head
of which is still visible with
a course of herring-bone
work to the east of it.
At the west end of the
aisle is a small restored
12th-century window with
modern round head, and in
the south wall two late
13th-century windows with
forked mullions. A threelight window with intersecting tracery in the east wall
now opens on to the vestry,
to which a doorway has been
cut through the middle light.
The 12th-century south doorway has a semi-circular
arch of two orders, the inner with a continuous
round moulding, the outer with cheverons on nookshafts with capitals of very conventional foliage and
moulded bases. The middle cheveron, or keystone, is
carved with a head on the upper part, and the hood
has a billet and indented moulding. On the east
side of the doorway inside is a stoup with projecting
moulded bowl.
The porch is of local type, with stone bench tables,
diagonal buttresses and outer doorway of two moulded
orders, the inner on half-round responds with moulded
capitals and high bases: the roof is covered with red
tiles. The 15th-century clearstory windows are
square-headed and of two lights.
The tower is of three slightly receding stages, and
seems to be of 12th-century date to the corbel table,
though the large two-light bell-chamber windows are
probably c. 1190, and contemporary with the nave
arcade. The west window is a single round-headed
opening, but the north and south sides are blank in
the lower stage. In the middle stage the head of a
14th century window is inserted on the south side,
and the string between this and the upper story
has a species of large nail-head moulding. The bellchamber windows are of two lights under semicircular arches, but their heads have been either
blocked, or, as on the north side, opened out with early
Perpendicular tracery. Above the windows is a
corbel table of grotesque masks and notch heads, and
over this again a band of quatrefoils and 15th-century
battlemented parapet with angle pinnacles. The tower
is without buttresses and there is no vice.
The font consists of a plain unmounted octagonal
bowl of late 12th or early 13th century date, on
a circular moulded plinth, and has a good flat
Jacobean wood cover with central post and curved
side pieces.
The pulpit and fittings are modern. The present
chancel roof dates from 1867, and the stalls were
erected in 1898 to commemorate the work of the Rev.
Horace Waller (rector 1874–95), one of the original
members of the Universities' Mission to Central
Africa: they are characteristically carved to represent
his labours in that region. Set within the reredos are
three small stones from Calvary given to Mr. Waller
by General Gordon in 1880.
In the chancel floor are the grave slabs of Thomas
Ekins, gent. (d. 1713), and of Dorothy Ekins (d. 1720),
daughter of Arthur Brooke of Great Oakley.
In the top light of one of the aisle windows is the
shield of England (1 and 4 France, 2 and 3 England)
with a label of five points.
On the jambs of the south doorway, now within
the porch, are eight scratch dials—four on each
side.
There are five bells, the first and second by J.
Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1907, and the
third a recasting by Taylor in 1867. The fourth
and fifth are 15th-century bells cast in London, the
former inscribed 'In multis annis resonet Campana
Johannis,' and the tenor 'Vox Augustini sonet in aure
Deo.' (fn. 50)
The plate consists of a cup of c. 1570, a flagon
of 1887, and a modern plated cup, paten and
bread-holder. There are also a pewter flagon and
plate. (fn. 51)
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i)
baptisms 1586–1667, marriages and burials 1577–1667;
(ii) baptisms, marriages and burials 1668–1754;
(iii) baptisms and burials 1755–1812; (iv) marriages
1755–1812.
Advowson
The advowson of the church of
Twywell was held by the Abbey of
Thorney (fn. 52) and afterwards passed
with the manor to Robert Dallyson, (fn. 53) who sold it to
John Richardson, clerk, in 1592. (fn. 54) In 1628, (fn. 55) the
archdeacon of Northampton and John Gage presented,
and in 1637 (fn. 56) William Gardner, the vicar of Slipton,
possibly as trustee, as the advowson seems in the
same year to have passed to Nicholas Richardson. (fn. 57)
In 1660 it was in the possession of Agnes Webb,
widow, who seems to have sold it in 1664. (fn. 58) Presentations were made in 1665 by Edward Trott, clerk, in
1668 by the Earl of Exeter, in 1705 by Thomas
Ekins, and in 1737 by William Smith, who presented
William Scriven, who was patron and rector in 1765. (fn. 59)
In 1769 John Scriven was patron and incumbent, (fn. 60)
and in 1793 Elizabeth Scriven, spinster, probably
his daughter, presented to the benefice. (fn. 61) In 1794
Henry Leete and William York appear, (fn. 62) but in 1795
Elizabeth Scriven, together with Benjamin Whitehouse and his wife Ann, sold it to John Williamson. (fn. 63)
In 1799 the latter presented the Rev. William Alington, (fn. 64) who had married his daughter Sarah. The
advowson passed to Rev. John Alington, son of
William and Sarah, who died in 1863. His son William
died in 1874 (fn. 65) and was succeeded by his brother
Julius, whose son, Mr. Charles Alington, is the present
owner. (fn. 66) A pension of 20s. was payable from the
rectory to the Abbey of Thorney in 1291 (fn. 67) and was
recorded among its possessions at the Dissolution. (fn. 68)
It was granted by Henry VIII to Lord Parr (fn. 69) and
was sold with the advowson by Robert Dallyson in
1592. (fn. 70)
Charities
Thomas Ekins by will dated
26 May 1709 gave 20s. yearly to
trustees out of his house and close
in Twywell to the poor. This rent-charge is now paid
by the Islip Iron Co., Ltd.
John Harris in 1753 gave £10 to the poor. A piece
of land in Ringstead now let for £1 4s. yearly was
purchased with this gift.
The Charity of Thomas Archer founded by will
dated 1 Dec. 1829 is now represented by a sum of
£36 14s. 1d. Consols producing 18s. 4d. yearly in
dividends.
The income from these three charities is distributed
by the rector and churchwardens in bread to about
12 recipients.
The Bell Rope Charity. A sum of 8s. is payable to
the churchwardens by an Inclosure Award out of a
piece of land in Twywell. The payment was awarded
in lieu of land formerly appropriated to the use of the
church, and the money is carried to church expenses
account.