CRANSLEY
Cransley, Cranesle (xi cent.); Cranesley (xvi cent.).
Cransley, 12 miles north from Northampton, lies on
the road from Northampton to Kettering, which skirts
it on the south-east. Kettering lies to the east of Cransley, and Walgrave to the west. It includes the hamlet
of Little Cransley, near its southern boundary. The
village lies along a branch road running north-west from
the Northampton road. There is an old tramway for
ironstone south of the village; and to the north of the
village the Cransley and Loddington tramway now
runs across the parish from west to east, the Cransley
Iron Works being situated at its eastern end.
St. Andrew's Church lies south of the village street
with the vicarage on the other side of the road, where
two roads meet. The vicarage house was enlarged in
1858. The school stands at a little distance from the
church, to the west of the Three Cranes Inn.
The manor-house, (fn. 1) now known as Cransley Hall,
stands in a pleasant situation to the north-east of the
church, with gardens on the south side above a small
brook, here expanded into two large fish-ponds. It is a
house of two stories, faced with wrought ironstone, with
barred sash windows, wooden cornice, and hipped roofs
covered with Colleyweston slates, much altered and
added to in the 18th century and subsequently, but still
retaining portions of a 16th-century building. The
main fronts face west and east, and over the west doorway are the arms of Sir Thomas Cecil, (fn. 2) who may have
rebuilt this part of the house before 1595, though the
character of the existing elevation is somewhat later.
The east and south fronts appear to belong to the
rebuilding and enlargement of 1708–9 referred to by
Justinian Isham in his Diary, (fn. 3) and over the east doorway, which is centrally placed with two windows on
each side, are the arms and crest of Sir Henry Robinson
(d. 1727). (fn. 4) A bay window has been added in the middle
of the south front, and a new two-story wing containing
housekeeper's room and servants' hall in character with
the 18th-century work was built on the north side by
William Somerset Rose (1845–84). (fn. 5) More recently
(1905) a further large one-story addition has been made
on the north side, on the site of various outbuildings.
At the western end of the village is Cransley Wood,
almost due west of which on the western boundary of
the parish is the windmill, with Ragsdale Spinney to
the south of it; and farther south still Cransley Lodge,
Squire Lodge, and Old Lodge.
Outlying farms are North Field Farm in the extreme
north, and about half a mile south-west of it Bottom
Lodge Homestead near the old ironstone pits, east of
which is Bottom Lodge Farm.
The population of Cransley, which was 217 in 1801
and 329 in 1871, was 296 in 1931. The parish has an
area of 2,094 acres of land and 19 acres of water. The
soil, which varies, is good red and black loam; subsoil
lime and ironstone; land arable and grass in equal
proportions.
Manors
Cransley appears in the hands of three
owners in the Domesday Survey. Two
hides and 1 virgate of land in Cransley were
a member of the king's manor of Rothwell; (fn. 6) 1½ hides
were included among the lands of Gunfred de Cioches
in Orlingbury Hundred, and were valued as before the
Conquest at 30s.: (fn. 7) and among the lands of the Countess
Judith, in Wilebrook Hundred, a hide is entered with
1½ hides of socland in Broughton and 3 virgates in
Hannington. (fn. 8) By the 12th century these lands were in
the hands of four owners and appear to have been
redistributed. (fn. 9) Hugh Kyde held 1½ hides and 1½
bovates in Cransley of the fee of Chokes; Ralf Meschin
held 5 small virgates of the fee of Geddington; John
le Bauld 1 great virgate; and Foliot (evidently the
Robert Foliot, owner of the Peverel fee) 2½ hides and
I small virgate of the fee of Huntingdon.
An inquiry held on 24 May 1247 as to homages and
knight services held by Robert, advocate of Bethune,
when he gave the land of Gayton to Robert de Gisnes
mentions a knight's fee in Cransley held by William de
Lisle, (fn. 10) to whom the services of William de Gorham, in
Cransley and Flore, had been conveyed by fine in 1233. (fn. 11)
In 1252 Baldwin de Betune sold Gayton (q.v.) to
Ingelram, lord of Fienes, with all the homages and
services of those who had held of Robert, advocate of
Arras, lord of Bethune, or of Baldwin, Count of Gisnes.
It was returned at an inquiry held in 1252, as to dues
from the lands of Ingelram de Fiennes, that there was
due from the fee of Chokes in Cransley 18d. for sheriff's
aid, watch, view of frankpledge, and aid for the Serjeant,
and for castle guard at Northampton 10s., (fn. 12) the payment
for which the service of one knight had been commuted.
The heirs of Ingelram de Fiennes were holding this fee
in Cransley in 1284; (fn. 13) under them Roger de L'Isle; (fn. 14)
under Roger, William de Gorham; and under William
de Gorham, Hugh son of Simon de Cransley. When
in 1316 Thomas Wake was returned as holding this
fee, (fn. 15) the intermediate Lisle and Gorham lordships
recorded in 1284 seem to have lapsed, as in 1343, at the
death of William de Ros of Hamlake, Thomas Wake
of Blisworth was returned as holding the fee of him in
right of his wife, (fn. 16) the daughter of Hugh de Cransley.
William de Ros of Hamlake married Margery, sister
and heir of Giles de Badlesmere, another of whose
sisters married William Earl of Northampton, a
descendant of Maud daughter of Ingelram de Fiennes, (fn. 17)
and it was probably to some connexion with the de
Fiennes family that William de Ros owed this overlordship. At the death of Margery in 1363, she was holding
this fee in dower as of Beauvoir
Castle, and it passed from her to
her son and heir Thomas de
Ros. (fn. 18)
Ros. Gules three water-bougets argent.
Members of the de Cransley
family whose heiress married
Thomas Wake had been undertenants of this fee at an early
date. Hugh de Cransley in 1166
was holding of Robert de Chokes
one knight's fee, then held in
dower by the wife of Walter
Disel (possibly Hugh's mother). (fn. 19) He had been succeeded before 1203 by Peter his son, between whom
and Henry de Gorham (his superior lord evidently)
a fine of the fee was levied in that year. (fn. 20) Hugh de
Cransley presented to the church in 1226. (fn. 21) A certain Stephen de Cransley made a grant of lands to St.
James's Abbey in Northampton, (fn. 22) and a Sir Thomas
de Cransley was reported in an inquiry as to rebels
in 1265 as believed to be dead, after being at the
battle of Evesham with Sir Simon de Montfort and
Sir Henry de Hastings. This Thomas had married
Maud de Hardwick, the widow of Sir Bartholomew
de Rakelinton, and had no land except of her dower. (fn. 23)
Simon, who presented to the church in 1277, (fn. 24) and
whose son Hugh was holding Cransley in 1284, (fn. 25) may
be assumed to have been lord of the manor. Either
Hugh himself or a successor of that name was lord in
1312, when a grant was made to Hugh, lord of Cransley,
and to Agnes his wife, and to Alice daughter of William
de Wyleby, of the reversion of a messuage and land in
Cransley which Stephen Elis and Stephen his son held. (fn. 26)
A fine was levied of the manor and advowson in 1312–
13 between Hugh,lord of Cransley, and Reynold, parson
of the church, (fn. 27) who, as Master Reynold son of Hugh
de Cransley, had received a grant of land from Lyna
daughter of Robert le Somenur of Cransley, in 1287. (fn. 28)
Next year Hugh and Agnes received a grant from
Geoffrey de Orlingbury of a croft called 'le Madecroft'
in Cransley, and tillages at Wolemeresmede and
Blyndyswyks by the rectory of the church, for their
lives. (fn. 29)
Cransley. Argent a cheveron gules between three cranes azure.
Wake. Or two bars gules with three roundels gules in the chief.
In 1316 Thomas Wake had succeeded Hugh. Elizabeth Cransley, wife of Sir Thomas Wake, had been
first married to John son of Roger de Heigham, upon
whom, and his heirs by her, her father Hugh de Cransley
settled the manor and advowson in 1313–14. They
had a son John, who married the daughter of Robert
de Thorp, and a daughter Agnes; but this Agnes, and
the two children of her brother, being carried off by
the plague in 1348–9, together with their mother, at
that date remarried to John de Gayton, the manor
remained in the hands of Elizabeth, whose husband
Sir Thomas Wake had been holding it in her right. (fn. 30)
In 1330 Thomas Wake of Deeping claimed free
warren in his demesnes of Blisworth, Cransley, and
Helpston under a charter of 1330. (fn. 31)
Thomas Wake with his wife Elizabeth in 1340
settled the Cransley estate upon themselves for their
lives, with remainder to Agnes and Elizabeth (sic), the
daughters of Elizabeth by her first marriage, for their
lives, with remainder to their son Hugh. (fn. 32) Hugh Wake
died s.p., and Sir Thomas Wake, who on 20 February
1343 was returned as holding this knight's fee in
Cransley, in right of his wife, (fn. 33) died in 1347. (fn. 34) Thomas
son of Sir Thomas Wake released to John Pyel, citizen
and merchant of London, on 29 March 1350 all his
right in the manor and advowson of Cransley, with a
mill and a plot called 'le Newemanere' and other lands
in Cransley and Broughton which John had previously
held of the grant of Elizabeth the mother and of Hugh
the brother of Thomas. The witnesses included Walter
Turk, then Mayor of London, and Adam de Bury and
Ralf de Lenne, sheriffs. (fn. 35) In 1355 John Pyel of Irtlingborough, citizen of London, made a settlement of the
manor and advowson of Cransley, (fn. 36) which were still
held under Thomas Wake of Blisworth, who was
returned in 1363 as holding a fee in Cransley at the
death of Margery, widow of William de Ros of
Hamlake. (fn. 37) In 1377 the manor, and the advowson of the
church there, were apparently in the hands of Thomas
de Melburn, (fn. 38) but on 12 January 1380 they were
alienated in mortmain by Simon Symeon and Peter
Monslee, parson of Willoughby (co. Lincoln), to the
dean and chapter of the new collegiate church of St.
Mary's, Leicester, to celebrate divine service there daily
for the soul of Henry, late Duke of Lancaster, and for
the good estate of the said Simon and Peter while living,
and their souls after death. (fn. 39) In 1428 the New College
of St. Mary, Leicester, paid for half a fee in Cransley
formerly held by Thomas Wake, (fn. 40) who in the following
year quit-claimed lands in Cransley and the advowson
to the college. (fn. 41) These, which constituted the manor
later known as NEWARKS, were in their hands at the
Dissolution, the lands bringing them in £14 yearly. (fn. 42)
Barnwell. Party sable and azure a fesse dancetty between three crosslets fitchy or.
Certain mills and meadow land in Cransley were in
1528 granted by the College of St. Mary, Leicester
(the College of the New Work),
to Thomas Barnwell of Cransley
for 51 years at a rent of 34s.; (fn. 43)
and in 1545 Giles Poulton,
senior, Giles Poulton, junior,
and Elizabeth his wife conveyed
their interest in the manor to
Thomas Barnwell. (fn. 44) The latter
was still tenant of the manor in
1549 when it, with a water-mill,
a horse-mill, a messuage called
the Mellholme, view of frankpledge, &c, was granted to
John Hasylwood of Maid well. (fn. 45)
John Hasylwood died on 28 June 1550 leaving a wife
Catherine, and a son and heir John, aged 28. (fn. 46) John
Hasylwood and Catherine his mother, who had married
Thomas Claughton, alienated the manor, held in chief,
to Thomas Barnwell in 1556. (fn. 47)
This manor remained in the hands of the Barnwells
until 1586, in which year the manors of Cransley,
Newark, and Pultons were conveyed to William Cecil, (fn. 48)
esq., and Boniface Pickering, gent., by Edward Barnwell (probably the grandson of Thomas and son of
Edward) and by his wife Anne, by Stephen Barnwell,
William Allen, and Miles Barnwell, (fn. 49) a separate conveyance of the property being made later by Roger
Charnock and his wife Helen, (fn. 50) possibly the remarried
mother of Edward Barnwell. (fn. 51)
Robinson. Vert a cheveron between three harts or with three lozenges gules on the cheveron.
In 1595 Sir Thomas Cecil and his wife Dorothy with
their sons William and Edward were dealing with all
the four manors of Cransley, Newark, Marstons, and
Pultons, and the rectory and advowson, which they
conveyed to trustees (fn. 52) for sale to Alice Elkin, widow.
This lady, who, according to Bridges, quoting from
Robinson documents, had been
first married to Henry Robinson,
and in her second widowhood
married Thomas Owen, justice
of the Common Pleas, divided
the manor equally between her
five children by Henry Robinson,
two of whom, Alice Robinson
(married to John Washburne of
Knights Washburne) (fn. 53) and Margaret (married to Sir John Bretts)
retained their fifths, the remaining three-fifths being ultimately
held by her son Sir Henry
Robinson. In 1615 Sir John Bretts and his wife
Margaret conveyed their fifth to Robert Riche and
William Bretts, (fn. 54) and Sir Robert Riche, Margaret
Scott, widow, and Owen Scott conveyed it in 1627 to
Francis Downes, senr., Roger Downes, and Francis
Downes. (fn. 55) Alice Downes, widow (probably Alice
Robinson, remarried), and John Washburne in 1652
were dealing with the manor of Pultons, (fn. 56) probably
representing the Washburne, and possibly also the Brett,
share of the Cransley estate, but no more is heard of
this property. Sir Henry Robinson in 1629, in which
year he was sheriff of the county, settled his three-fifths
on Martha Sherington, widow of John Sherington,
merchant of London, whom he married at Cransley on
31 August following. He died on 9 December 1637,
leaving no issue by Martha, and was succeeded by his
son by his first wife (Mary, daughter of Sir William
Glover) Henry, aged 12. (fn. 57)
The young lord of the manor, who espoused the
Royalist cause, and suffered accordingly, died in 1665.
His son Sir Henry Robinson married Susanna, daughter
of the Rt. Hon. Sir John Ernie, Under-Treasurer of
the Exchequer, and in 1681 a settlement of the whole
of the manor and advowson in trust was made at their
marriage. (fn. 58) The manor was then valued at £900 yearly,
out of which an annuity of £20 for life was payable to
Charles Riche, £12 yearly to the vicarage of Cransley,
and £8 yearly to the king; but Sir Henry was burdened
with debt and, after various transactions for raising
money, the manor was in 1702 put in the custody of
his wife, Dame Susanna, after Sir Henry Robinson had
been found a lunatic on 8 December 1701. An Act of
Parliament was obtained in 1710 to vest the estate of
Sir Henry Robinson in Cransley in trustees to enable
them to make a settlement on the marriage of his son
John, (fn. 59) who, after his father's death, was holding the
manor, rectory, and advowson of Cransley in 1746. (fn. 60)
His son, another John Robinson, died in 1791, when
he was succeeded by John Capel Rose. He died in
1845 and his son William Somerset Rose in 1884. The
latter's son William Robinson Rose was succeeded in
1889 by his brother Walter Wollaston Rose who sold
the manor and advowson in 1905 to Major Arthur
Hugh Thurburn, the present owner. (fn. 61)
The lands in Cransley held of the royal manor of
Rothwell in 1086 seem to be represented in part by
PULTONS MANOR. In 1230 Thomas de Braybrook
granted to Philip de Kelmarsh land in Kelmarsh and
a mill and 2½ virgates in Cransley. (fn. 62) Philip's son Ralph
married Mabel, daughter of Hugh son of Peter de
Cransley, (fn. 63) and in 1266 was holding 2½ virgates and a
mill in Cransley with lands in Kelmarsh, Clipston, and
Oxenden, all held of the king in chief of the soke of
Geddington; (fn. 64) and this property in Cransley was so held
in 1284 by Simon de Kelmarsh, (fn. 65) his son, who in 1329
claimed view of frankpledge in Kelmarsh, Clipston,
and Cransley by prescription. (fn. 66) Simon son of Ralph de
Kelmarsh was returned at an inquisition held at Rothwell in 1337 (fn. 67) as having held at his death tenements in
Cransley held of the manor of Geddington as of the
ancient demesne of the king; in free marriage with
Mabel his wife lands in Cransley held of Thomas Wake
of Blisworth; and half a virgate of land, parcel of those
which John de Verdun, kt., held in Holcote, Walgrave,
and Cransley of the honor of Huntingdon as of the
manor of Yardley: his heir being his son Simon. The
third of the properties of which he then died seised
evidently corresponded to the lands in Cransley held
of the Countess Judith in 1086, and constituted the
Manor of WYLEBY or WILLOUGHBY in Cransley
which in 1329 was in the hands of Simon de
Cransley, (fn. 68) who then claimed freedom from tolls,
weyf, &c, from his tenants in Cransley, because these
liberties had always belonged to a fifth part of the vill
there known as Willoughby, which fifth part he held
of Lawrence de Preston, who held of Lawrence son of
John de Hastings, a minor and in ward to the King.
He claimed view of frankpledge because this had
always been held with this fifth part called Willoughby,
when William de Willoughby or Wyleby and Margery
his wife, being seised thereof in right of Margery, had
enfeoffed of the same Ivo Fitzwaryn. Ivo Fitzwaryn
had granted it to Peter his brother, who had then
enfeoffed in it Simon de Hanington, from whom it
descended to his son and heir Ralph, by whose enfeoffment Simon de Cransley was then holding.
These properties descended with the manor of Kelmarsh, with which they were in 1498 held by William
Pulton at his death, as lands and tenements with a
water-mill in Cransley, held of the manor of Geddington in burgage and worth £6 11s. 4d.; another messuage in Cransley held of the New College, Leicester, by
knight service and worth 20s.; and a third part of a
pasture with a grange called Sundurlond held of
Maurice Osborn by knight service, and worth 20s.
William Pulton's heir was his son Giles, upon whom
and his wife Katharine settlement had been made in
1493 by William and his wife Emma. (fn. 69)
A manor of MARSTONS, later known as DALISONS, occurs in the 15th century. In 1474 Robert
Tanfield of Gayton granted the manor of Merston
or Marston in Cransley, held of the Duke of Buckingham, to William Tanfield, who bequeathed it to his
wife Anne for life, and died on 26 November 1487,
his heir being his kinsman Robert son of Robert Tanfield, late of Everton (Hunts.). (fn. 70) In 1489 Anthony
Tanfield, son of Robert, released to Edward Goldesborough, baron of the Exchequer, and others, all his
right in the lands in Cransley which he lately had by
bequest from William Tanfield, his uncle, for life. (fn. 71)
This manor next appears in the hands of George Dalison,
who in 1514 settled it on his son Edward and his wife
Elizabeth, and died on 28 June 1524, seised of the
manor, which then passed to his grandson Thomas,
Edward and Elizabeth being already dead. (fn. 72) Thomas
Dalison and Joan his wife in 1540 conveyed it to John
Lane and William Hypwell, (fn. 73) but in 1585 it was still
in the hands of the Dalison family, and was conveyed
to Sir Thomas Cecil by Edward Dalison and his wife
Anne, and Robert Dalison, brother and heir of Edward
Dalison. (fn. 74) After this date it descended with the other
Cransley manors.
Tenements in Cransley held of the queen in chief by
knight service and in the occupation of John Dexter
and afterwards of Edward Longton, were held by
Richard Warner at his death in 1570. (fn. 75)
Church
The church of ST. ANDREW consists
of chancel, 31 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 6 in.;
clerestoried nave, 52 ft. by 16 ft.; north
aisle, 11 ft. wide; south aisle, 15 ft. wide; south porch,
and west tower and spire, 10 ft. 6 in. square, all these
measurements being internal. There was formerly a
porch on the north side also. (fn. 76) The west end of the
north aisle is screened off as a vestry and the organ is at
the east end.
The first church on the site seems to have been a
12th-century aisleless building of which only the northwest angle remains on the north side of the tower, but
this early structure was entirely rebuilt towards the end
of the 13th century, beginning with the chancel c. 1290.
The work was probably continued over a period of
some years, but completed early in the 14th century.
In the first half of the 15th century (fn. 77) the tower and
clerestory were added, the chancel walls heightened,
and new windows inserted. The greater width of the
south aisle suggests that it may have been rebuilt at the
same time, but if so the old masonry, doorway, and
the windows on either side were re-used and the porch
re-erected. (fn. 78) The building was restored in 1870 and
refloored with wood blocks on concrete in 1908.
With the exception of the tower the building is of
rubble, plastered internally, and has plain parapets to
chancel, clerestory, and aisles, with low-pitched leaded
roofs. (fn. 79) The tower is faced with ashlar: the porch has
a slated eaved roof.
The chancel has a pointed east window of four
trefoiled lights with modern reticulated tracery and is
divided into two bays, in each of which, north and
south, is a 15th-century four-centred window of three
cinquefoiled lights. In the north wall is a 13th-century
continuous-moulded priest's doorway, (fn. 80) and on the south
side, below the easternmost window, a rectangular
aumbry, restored piscina with fluted bowl, and triple
sedilia: the seats are on the same level below pointed
arches on moulded shafts with capitals and bases. At
the west end of each wall is a blocked low-side window,
that on the north side having a segmental rear arch, the
other a flat lintel. (fn. 81) Below the easternmost window in
the north wall is a low moulded tomb recess, which
probably was used also as the Easter Sepulchre: (fn. 82) the
wall here seems to have suffered some disturbance as
though the tomb had blocked an earlier doorway, and
the scroll string-course which runs round the chancel at
sill level is here omitted. This string is continued on the
east wall of the north aisle, round the diagonal angle
buttress and along the north wall of the aisle as far as
the north doorway. The well-proportioned chancel
arch is of two chamfered orders, with hood-mould on
each side, springing from triple attached shafts with
moulded capitals and bases.
The nave arcades are of four bays with pointed arches
of two chamfered orders and hood-moulds with headstops, springing from octagonal piers with moulded
capitals and bases and from responds of like character.
On the north side the capitals have a species of early
ball-flower ornament in the hollow, and both arcades
have been a good deal restored. The almost continuous
clerestory of six two-light cinquefoiled windows on
each side and the absence of coloured glass make the
interior of the building exceedingly light, and its pleasing regularity and excellent proportions give it eminence amongst the smaller churches of its type.
The late-13th-century window of the south aisle is
of three trefoiled lights with a trefoiled circle in the
head and a pointed trefoil over each of the side lights,
and on each side of the south doorway is a contemporary
two-light window with forked mullion. All the other
windows of the aisles are 15th-century insertions similar
to those in the chancel, except that at the west end of
the north aisle which is of two lights. In the usual position at the east end of the south aisle is a plain 13thcentury piscina with fluted bowl, and farther west a
low tomb recess with roll-edge moulding. The south
doorway is of two continuous orders, the outer wavemoulded, and the hood-mould has notch ends. The
outer doorway of the porch is of two hollow-chamfered
orders on the outer face, the inner on half-octagonal
responds with moulded capitals and bases. The porch
has a coped gable with cusped apex-stone and modern
cross, and circular quatrefoiled openings in the side
walls. Built into the walls are a 13th-century coffin-lid,
a bit of 14th-century canopy work, and two other
fragments.
The north doorway was blocked when the porch
was removed, and externally all traces of it have been
effaced. The north-east diagonal buttress of the aisle
has a traceried gabled head, above which it weathers
back in a short second stage. (fn. 83)
The nave has a good 15th-century oak roof of six
bays, with moulded principals and wall-pieces, embattled wall-plates, and angel corbels. The aisle roofs
are of the same type with angel corbels against the outer
walls only, but with carved bosses in addition. (fn. 84) A
spout-head on the north clerestory is dated 1702, and
one on the south side 'W. O., 1713'.
The tower is of four stages with clasping angle
buttresses carried up as pinnacles, moulded plinth, and
battlemented parapets. Its axis has a slight deviation to
the south, and the lofty arch to the nave is of three
continuous chamfered orders, stopped about 4 ft. above
the floor. There is a vice in the south-west angle, and
recesses in the north and south walls inside. The
buttresses have an additional string below the pinnacles
and on the north and south sides there is a band of
quatrefoils beneath the parapet. The west doorway has
a rectangular hood-mould and spandrels and over it in
the second stage is a pointed window of three cinquefoiled lights and vertical tracery. On the north and
south the walls are blank in the lower stages. The
double bell-chamber windows are of two transomed
lights with quatrefoil in the head, and the spire has
plain angles and two tiers of lights in the cardinal faces.
The top of the spire was rebuilt in 1927. (fn. 85)
The font in use dates from 1887, but there is an
18th-century baluster font (fn. 86) with spiral flutings and
stone cover in the south aisle. The pulpit and seating
are modern.
At the east end of the south aisle, against the wall, is
a blue stone slab with brasses of Edward Dalyson
(d. 1515) and Elizabeth his wife, with inscription and
shields of arms in three of the corners: the fourth shield
and the figure of a child are missing. Above this on the
wall is a small marble monument with kneeling brass
figures of Edward Dallison (d. 1589) and Ann Snagge,
his wife, and in the recess of the east window a brass
plate in memory of Edward Barnwell (d. 1602), 'sometyme Lord of ye manners of Newarks mannor and
Pultons mannor here in Cranesley', and his two wives
Eleanor Brooke and Ann Spencer: his arms are on a
separate plate. A floor-slab close by bears the figure of a
skeleton and border inscription to Edward Barnwell
(d. 1557) and Helen his wife.
There is a little painted glass in the south-east
window of the aisle: (i) arms of Ros; (fn. 87) (ii) four cranes
separately leaded, no doubt from a shield of the arms
of De Cransley; (iii) a piece of yellow glass with three
fishes in pale.
There is a mutilated stone coffin in the south aisle,
and also a late-17th-century parish chest with three
locks. At the east end of the south aisle is an 18thcentury communion table with turned legs.
There is a ring of six bells by Matthew and Henry
Bagley of Chacomb, 1683. (fn. 88)
The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten of
1618, a flagon by John Fawdrey 1707, a bread-holder
by Nat Gullion 1723, a chalice and paten of 1884, and
a spoon of 1875. (fn. 89)
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all
entries 1561–1714, but irregular after 1683; (fn. 90) (ii)
baptisms 1715–96, marriages 1715–64, burials 1715–
97; (iii) marriages 1759–1800; (iv) baptisms and
burials 1797–1812; (v) marriages 1801–12.
Advowson
The church was valued at £8 in
1291. (fn. 91) The Cransleys and afterwards
the Wakes held the advowson with their
manor (q.v.) until the appropriation of the advowson
with this manor to St. Mary's College, Leicester,
in 1381. (fn. 92) The rectory in 1535 was returned as worth
£18, the vicarage as £8 yearly. (fn. 93) After the Dissolution
the rectory and advowson were annexed to the Duchy
of Lancaster, and on 26 May 1579 granted to Edward
Dalison for 21 years. (fn. 94) On 12 August 1591 they were
granted by the Queen to Edward Downing and Roger
Rante, (fn. 95) and had been acquired by Sir Thomas Cecil
before 1595, being conveyed with Dalison's manor by
the Cecils to Thomas Pagett, John Brett, and John
Dyxson. (fn. 96) Since that date the advowson has continued
to be held with the manor.
A petition was presented in 1642 for settlement of
a competent allowance on the vicarage, which the
inhabitants represented had only a yearly stipend of
£8 from the lords of the manor; and it was stated that
the executors having neglected to repair the vicarage
house, though a legacy for the purpose had been left
by Sir Henry Robinson about four years before, and
certain of the holders of the manor, which was held in
five parts, refusing to contribute their shares for the
allowance of the vicarage, the inhabitants had been left
without a vicar. (fn. 97)
Charities
Mr. Holled in 1650 gave £10, the
interest to be distributed monthly in
2d. loaves.
John Warner in 1729 gave a rent-charge of 10s. to be
distributed in bread.
In respect of these two charities a rent-charge of
£1 0s. 2d. is paid out of two cottages on the Cransley
Estate belonging to Major Thurburn. The charge is
distributed monthly in 2d. loaves to 11 poor widows or
widowers for 11 months in the year.
The school was founded in 1824 by the Rev. G.
Anderson, the vicar, who endowed it with a rent-charge
of £26 yearly. The site for new buildings was given in
1872 by the lord of the manor, W. Somerset Rose, esq.,
and these were erected by contributions from himself
and others, the rent-charge being transferred to the new
school and the old school-house being retained as a
residence for the schoolmistress. The new buildings
were enlarged in 1905 for 67 children.