STRIXTON
Trikeston, Struxton (xiii cent.); Stryxton (xv cent.);
Strykson (xvi cent.); Stroxton (xvii cent.).
Strixton is a small parish and village consisting of 3
farmhouses and 12 cottages. It is 1½ miles north of
Bozeat on the main road from Wellingborough to
Olney. Its area is 812 acres. Its population, which was
57 in 1801, and 48 in 1871, was 44 in 1931. When
Bridges wrote, there were only two families; the manor
house, which stood immediately east of the church and
is said to have been an Elizabethan building, had 'an
orchard of near 8 acres, well planted with different
kinds of fruit'. (fn. 1) The parish lies at a height of about
200 to 300 ft. Its soil is of a fertile, mixed character,
its subsoil limestone: the chief crops grown are wheat,
barley, oats, and beans.
The village lies at the north-east of the parish on a
road branching west from the main road. The children
attend school at Wollaston, 1 mile distant. The rector
resides at Bozeat, with the vicarage of which parish
Strixton, a discharged rectory, is consolidated.
Greenfield Lodge lies at the south-eastern angle of
the parish. In the extreme south-west there are old
gravel-pits, from which Strixton Plantation, a long
narrow strip of woodland, rune north. In the northwest is Hillmount Spinney.
The men of Wollaston and Strixton were in 1254
the subject of an inquiry for alleged trespasses against
the bailiffs of the forests of Rockingham and Salcey, (fn. 2)
but in 1263 as the result of this inquiry, which showed
that they had always been without the bounds of the
forest of Salcey, and that their dogs never were lawed,
they were granted freedom from such la wing of dogs. (fn. 3)
Manors
There is no mention of Strixton in the
Domesday Survey, but it was probably included, mainly, in the 2 hides and 3 virgates held by Winemar in Higham Hundred. (fn. 4) One
portion of the vill formed a part of the two fees of
Wollaston held in about 1236 by Robert son of Ralph
from Robert de Newburgh and descended with the
Chokes fee in Wollaston (q.v.). (fn. 5) Another portion,
which became the manor of STRIXTON and to which
the advowson was appurtenant, was in the 12th century
held with Easton Maudit by Michael de Hamslape, (fn. 6)
and was subsequently held of the fee of Mauduit. This
was presumably held by Sir Ralf Ridel, who presented
to the church in 1230, (fn. 7) and later by Thomas Golafre
who was returned in 1265 as an adherent of the rebel
Sir John Fitz John and as having lands in Strixton
worth £10, which the Earl of Warwick (overlord of the
Mauduit fee) had seized. (fn. 8) These lands he had recovered before 1274, when he presented to the church. (fn. 9)
Shortly after this date the manor must have passed,
as did one part of Easton Maudit (q.v.), to Ralf
Fauconberg, as he conveyed lands in Strixton to Henry
de Preyers, (fn. 10) who in 1284 was holding a quarter fee in
Strixton of the Earl of Warwick, (fn. 11) and subsequent
presentations to the church were made by him and
other members of the Preyers family.
Preyers. Gules three scallops or.
Lovett. Argent three wolves passant sable.
Henry de Preyers, with Thomas de Verdun, clerk,
granted a rent of 20s. per annum out of the manor of
Strixton to the priory of Spinney (co. Cambridge), in
1319, (fn. 12) but before 1324 he had been succeeded in the
manor by Thomas de Preyers of Strixton, who on 21
June 1324 (with John in the
Willows of Fynedon) owed £120
to the executors of Thomas de
Verdun, (fn. 13) and between whom
and the Bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield a fine was levied of the
manor in 1328–9. (fn. 14) The unrest
which culminated in the Peasants'
Rising is possibly reflected in the
issue, on 24 November 1380, of
a commission of oyer et terminer
on information that the bondmen
and bond tenants of Thomas de
Preyers in his manor of Strixton had withdrawn the services due to him and assembled and confederated together by oath to resist him. (fn. 15) Thomas had been followed
by Richard de Preyers, who died before 1402, when the
fees of which Thomas Earl of Warwick was seised at his
death included Strixton, held by the heir of Richard. (fn. 16)
This was his daughter Alice wife of Baldwin de
Drayton, (fn. 17) who with her husband had in 1391 granted
tenements in Strixton and Grendon to Elizabeth Beauchamp, (fn. 18) and next year conveyed the manor and advowson to John Billyng and others, (fn. 19) probably for the
marriage settlement of their son John and his wife
Margaret. Lady Margaret Trussel, probably the remarried widow of Baldwin de Drayton, was in 1428
holding three parts of a fee in Easton Maudit (q.v.)
and Strixton which John Wolf and Henry de Preyers
had formerly held of the fee of William Mauduit. (fn. 20)
This property descended in the Drayton family, (fn. 21) and in
1465 William Drayton died seised of a chief messuage
in Strixton and the advowson of the parish church of
St. Romwald of Strixton to the same belonging which
he held of Richard Earl of Warwick. (fn. 22) His son Richard
died seised of the same on 20 July 1479, holding under
Richard Duke of Gloucester (the
husband of Anne of Warwick),
and his heir was his sister Anne,
wife of Thomas Lovett. (fn. 23) By
this marriage the manor was conveyed to the Lovetts of Astwell,
and on 14 December 1543
Thomas Lovett died seised of
the manor, which he had settled
on Joan Bury, widow, afterwards his wife, who survived
him. (fn. 24) He was succeeded by his
grandson Thomas (son of his son
Thomas) who was holding this manor in 1563. (fn. 25) Jane,
the only child of Thomas Lovett, married John Shirley,
and as Jane Shirley, widow, was dealing with the manor
and advowson in 1572, (fn. 26) in which year a moiety of the
manor was conveyed to Paul Stretely by Griffin Birckmere and others. (fn. 27) The manor and advowson were in
1581 conveyed by George Shirley, son and heir of Jane,
then remarried to William Grey, to Paul Stretely,
who granted to George Shirley a rent of £13 6s. 8d.
from the same to begin after the deaths of Thomas
Lovett, esq. and Jane Grey, wife of William Grey, the
mother of George. (fn. 28) Thomas Lovett died in 1586 and
was succeeded by his grandson George Shirley (fn. 29) (created
a baronet in 1611) who was dealing with the manor in
1588, (fn. 30) shortly after which the manor and advowson
were conveyed to Sir Horace Pallavicini by Paul and
Christopher Stretely and Philip Smyth and his wife
Martha, (fn. 31) with the manor of TIRRELLS. This last
was evidently the manor of Strixton which George
Tirrell conveyed in 1559 to Paul Darell. (fn. 32) The transaction recorded in 1336, when William de Brampton
and Reynold de Eston, vicars of Wollaston and Easton,
recovered seisin from William de Newenham of a
free tenement in Wollaston and Strixton held of the
manor of Strixton, may have referred to this property. (fn. 33)
Richard Newenham, chaplain, was holding a manor of
Strixton in 1395–6, (fn. 34) and this does not appear to have
been the de Preyers manor. It was possibly also the
manor of Strixton of which Sir Henry Broomflete, Lord
Vessy, was seised at his death on 16 January 1469,
when his daughter and heir Margaret, wife of Sir
Lancelot Threlkeld, succeeded him. (fn. 35)
Plan of Strixton Church
Strixton manor and other lands in Strixton and
Wollaston and elsewhere had before 1590 been granted
to Sir Thomas Cecil. Robert Earl of Essex, with Sir
Thomas Cecil and Thomas Crompton, exchanged this
and other property for lands in Oxfordshire which on
24 January 1590 were by Queen Elizabeth granted at
the request of the Earl of Essex to Thomas Crompton
and others. (fn. 36) The manor of Strixton having thus reverted to the Crown again was, on 17 September 1604,
as 'lately parcel of the possessions of Sir Thomas
Cecill, kt., now Lord Burghley', granted to Sir James
Hay and Honor Denny, daughter and heir of Edward
Denny of Waltham, co. Essex, and their heirs. (fn. 37) The
favourite upon whom King James bestowed Strixton,
with other lands and honours showered upon him, did
not marry the bride his sovereign was so anxious to
secure for him until 6 January 1607. (fn. 38) Lord Hay, afterwards created Earl of Carlisle, is said to have been a
spendthrift 'who left not a house or acre of land to be
remembered by'. In 1610 he conveyed the manor and
advowson to Peter Bland, (fn. 39) with whom and Susan, wife
of the said Peter, he conveyed them to Richard Smyth
in 1613. (fn. 40) In 1619 Robert Parkhurst, citizen and goldsmith of London, received licence to inclose 260 acres
of arable land in Strixton and turn them into pasture. (fn. 41)
He, with Margaret Smyth, widow, was holding the
manor and advowson in 1637–8, when they conveyed
them to William Streete and John Bourne. (fn. 42) It seems
probable that Margaret Smyth was the widow of
Richard, that he was a connexion of Philip Smyth,
mentioned in 1588, and that this conveyance was in
preparation for a transaction with the Wisemans, who
held a lease of Strixton property. Sir John Lambe,
Chancellor of the diocese of Peterborough and Dean of
the Arches (a persecutor of recusants and nonconformists, against whom petitions in parliament were
presented in 1621 and 1624), had prosecuted John
Wiseman and his wife Frances in 1615 for profanation
and dilapidation of the church of Strixton, and for
marriage within the prohibited degrees. Wiseman
stated he was not bound by his lease to repair the church
but had done so several times, and the court found the
charges groundless, Lambe prosecuting merely for the
sake of molestation. (fn. 43) In 1642–3 Elizabeth Wiseman
was dealing with a moiety of the manor and advowson
of Strixton, which she conveyed to William Wiseman. (fn. 44) In 1647 a conveyance of the whole manor and
advowson was made to her by Sir Andrew Jenour, bart.,
and Margaret his wife, John Gage and Elizabeth his
wife, and Richard Binglye and Frances his wife, with
warranty against the heirs of Margaret, Elizabeth,
and Frances, (fn. 45) apparently Wiseman ladies. Ten years
later it appears as held by the Alston family, and a fine
was levied of the manor and advowson, by Edward
Alston, esq., and Hester his wife, John Alston, esq., and
Dorothy his wife, Edward Alston, M.D., and John
Wayne, gent., who conveyed them to Sir Thomas
Alston in 1656. (fn. 46) According to Bridges Sir Edward
Alston of East Barnet on his death in 1682
bequeathed the manor and advowson to his
eldest son William Alston, (fn. 47) who presented
in 1681 and 1688; and William, dying s.p.
in 1690, bequeathed them to his third
brother Charles Alston, D.D., Vicar of
Northall and Archdeacon of Essex, by
whom they were sold to his sister Catherine
widow of John Wiseman (who presented
in 1707), passing from her to her daughters
Hester and Elizabeth Wiseman, (fn. 48) who presented to the church in 1721 and 1723. (fn. 49)
Before 1753 the presentations show that
the advowson, and presumably the manor,
was in the hands of John Spencer of Althorp, and since that date the Earls Spencer
have been lords of the manor and sole landowners. (fn. 50)
Church
The church of ST. JOHN BAPTIST
consists of chancel, 27 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft.
8 in.; nave, 40 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft. 10 in.;
and south porch, 7 ft. 6 in. by 6 ft. 10 in., all these
measurements being internal: there is a saddle-back
bell-turret over the west gable. With the exception of
the west wall the whole of the fabric was taken down
and rebuilt in 1873, (fn. 51) the old materials being re-used
where possible and all its architectural features retained.
The building (fn. 52) was of early-13th-century date (c.
1220) throughout and may be still so described though
much new masonry has necessarily been introduced.
As rebuilt it is faced with dressed stone, but the original
walling at the west end is of rubble. The chancel and
nave are under separate high-pitched modern tiled roofs
with eaved gutters. Internally the walls are of bare
stone.
The chancel has double angle-buttresses of two
stages, a string-course at sill level, and east window consisting of a triplet of lancets, with a quatrefoil opening
within a circle in the gable above. Externally the
lancets have individual hood-moulds, but within the
whole of the four lights are contained within an arch of
two chamfered orders. On either side of and above the
upper light externally are sunk circular quatrefoiled
panels filling the gable, and the lower panels are
repeated inside on either side of the containing arch.
The gable has a plain coping. In both north and south
walls are two windows of two coupled lancets, with
segmental rear arches, and in the usual position in the
south wall a double piscina with plain chamfered arches
on moulded jambs with dog-tooth ornament and detached shaft with moulded capital and base. The
bowls are fluted and the hood-mould is a continuation
of the internal string-course. The sill of the easternmost
window on each side is lowered to form a seat, and there
is a stone wall-bench on the north side between the
windows. In the south wall is a shouldered priest's
doorway plainly chamfered, and at the west end two
narrow oblong low-side windows opposite each other,
that on the south being the larger. (fn. 53) Each window is
now glazed and has a modern oak shutter within. The
chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner
springing from moulded corbels.
The nave is lighted on the south by two sets of
coupled lancets, one on each side of the porch, and on
the north by a similar window near the west end and a
single lancet towards the east, all with segmental rear
arches and jambs continued to the floor. Above the
windows externally, at the level of the apex of the
hoods, is a string-course or corbel table of notch-heads,
and at sill level a string differing in section from that of
the chancel. The nave has also a moulded plinth,
which in the chancel is wanting. Both stringcourses
and plinth are returned along the west wall for a distance of about 4 ft. 6 in. The pointed west doorway is
of three chamfered orders with hood-mould, the two
outer on shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and
above it is a large unrestored sexfoil window with continuous label of the same form. (fn. 54) In the gable above is a
modern semicircular opening. The bell-cote, or turret,
which measures internally 7 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft. 6 in., is
carried by a plain recessed pointed arch of a single unmoulded order at the west end of the nave, within
which is the arch of the widely splayed west doorway.
Access to the turret is by a circular stair south of the
supporting arch and by a passage stair in the thickness
of the west wall. The turret is of rubble with slated
roof, and has a plain rectangular louvred opening on
the west, with loops to north and south: it contains a
single bell, cast by Henry Bagley of Chacombe, in 1671, (fn. 55)
The much-restored south doorway has an arch of two
hollow-chamfered orders, the outer on shafts with
moulded capitals and bases, (fn. 56) and the outer doorway of
the porch is of two continuous chamfered orders. The
north doorway is of a single hollow-chamfered order
and hood-mould. The western portion of the nave floor
is raised a step.
There is a 15th-century chancel screen, bearing
traces of colour, with moulded uprights and top rail,
plain sill, and five traceried openings on each side of the
doorway. The solid lower portion is new.
The font and pulpit are modern: a wrought-iron
hour-glass stand is now set on the top of the screen.
The 18th-century communion table, with turned legs,
is in the nave.
The plate consists of a silver cup and paten of 1628,
and a pewter flagon without marks. (fn. 57)
The earlier registers were destroyed in the fire at
Bozeat vicarage in September 1729: the earliest existing
volume contains entries of baptisms, marriages, and
burials from 1730 to 1812.
Advowson
The first recorded presentation was
made in 1230, but no record of the
living was made in 1291, and in 1428
it was not taxed because there were only seven householders in the parish. (fn. 58) The advowson descended with
the manor (q.v.) and was long held with the vicarage
of Bozeat, with which it was transferred by Earl
Spencer to the Bishop of Peterborough in 1922. It was
united with Wollaston in 1929. (fn. 59)
The profits of the rectory, then leased to Thomas
Lovett, were returned in 1535 as £7 1s. 6d. (fn. 60) In 1562
a grant of all tithes, grain, &c., belonging to the late
monastery of Delapré was made to Richard Pype,
citizen and leather seller, and Francis Bowyer, grocer,
both of London, and included all tithes, great and small,
extending to 33s. 4d. yearly, in the parish of Strixton,
now or late in the occupation of John Spencer. (fn. 61) A
lease of these tithes was in 1565 the subject of Chancery
proceedings instituted by William Spencer of Mears
Ashby and Robert Spencer of Lincoln's Inn against
Paul Stretely and George Packe of Strixton, (fn. 62) and they
were in 1582 conveyed by William Spencer and his
wife Isabel to George Carleton, (fn. 63) who with his wife
Elizabeth granted them, as formerly belonging to the
rectory of Wollaston, to Paul Stretely in 1583. (fn. 64)