GREAT HARROWDEN
Hargindone, Hargedone (xi cent.); Harudon (xii
cent.); Magna Harwedone, Harewedon (xiii cent.);
Much Harowdon, Harrodon (xvi cent.).
Great Harrowden: The Hall
Great Harrowden lies on the road from Kettering
to Wellingborough and is bounded on the north by
Little Harrowden, west by Hannington, and south by
Hardwick. On the east the Ise brook (fn. 1) divides it from
the Hundred of Huxloe, and the land near it is low
and liable to floods. But the parish has an undulating
surface, and the village stands at about 300 ft.
The L.M.S. railway has a
station at Finedon, a mile and
a half north-east of the village,
which lies mainly to the east of
the junction of the road from
Kettering to Wellingborough
with the road to Olney. The
church of All Saints lies south
of the Olney road. East of the
church is Harrowden Hall, a
spacious mansion in the simpler
fashion, with beautiful gardens.
Its predecessor, 'Mrs. Vawse's
house at Harrowden', was a
centre of the recusants during
the minority of her son Edward,
fourth Lord Vaux, and at the
time of the Gunpowder Plot.
In 1601 Henry Knowles wrote
to Sir Robert Cecil of a refugee
in this house, 'I am certainly informed that if I should see him
go in and presently see the house
there be such places for concealing him as except a
man pull down the house he shall never find him'. (fn. 2)
The present Hall appears to have been begun by
Nicholas Knolles about 1687, which date is carved
upon the stonework of the fireplace in the entrancehall, (fn. 3) but was probably renovated and perhaps enlarged by Thomas Watson alias Wentworth (fn. 4) after
his purchase of the property in 1695, his arms occurring
on the stone vases of the gate-piers and on metal shields
over the gates. (fn. 5) The date 1712 is on the spout-heads
of the house. In the grounds is a Roman Catholic
chapel, built by the last Lord Vaux. It is a copy
of Archbishop Chichele's School at Higham Ferrers.
A private cemetery adjoins the chapel.
Harrowden Hall was at one time occupied as
a boarding-school for young ladies by the wife of
Samuel Sharp, F.S.A., the well-known geologist and
antiquary (1814–82), the closing years of whose life
were spent there. (fn. 6) It remained a girls' school until
1898, shortly before which date Lord Vaux had
bought the Hall from George Fitzwilliam. On the
death of the last Lord Vaux in 1935 the Hall passed to
his grandson, John H. P. Gilbey, esq., second son of
Grace, eldest daughter and coheir of Lord Vaux. (fn. 7)
To the west of the church is the manor-house. It
stands on the road leading from the village to Orlingbury, and is a two-story ironstone building with projecting three-story porch taken up above the roof, in
the gable of which is a panel with the date 1648 and
initials R C A. Many of the mullioned windows have
been altered or removed, and the roofs are covered
with modern blue slates. It is in the occupation of
J. D. Groome, esq. Just beyond it is the vicarage,
a house of considerable charm. To the south of Great
Harrowden Hall are old stone-pits, and the Red Hill
Spinnies. Great Harrowden Mill lies at the northeastern end of the parish, on the Ise Brook.
The soil is of a good fertile mixed character; substratum loamy, Great Oolite, limestone, sand, and ironstone: the area of the parish is 1,476 acres of land and
5 acres of water; the land is chiefly pasturage.
The children attend school at Little Harrowden.
The school in Great Harrowden was closed about fifty
years ago, and is now used on Sundays only.
Manors
Lands in HARROWDEN were entered
in the Domesday Survey among those held
by the Bishop of Coutances: (fn. 8) 2 hides and
3 virgates there were held of him by Wakelin, and had
been held before the Conquest by Edwin, evidently the
son of Burred, the great English landowner and thegn,
who held lands in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire
as well as in this county. One and a half hides 'in
another Hargindone' [Little Harrowden], with land
for 3 ploughs, which Wakelin also held, were valued
with this property; and the soc of 1 virgate in Wellingborough pertained to the bishop's manor of Harrowden. On the forfeiture of the bishop's fief this Harrowden property passed to the fee or honor of
Huntingdon, and it was returned in the Northamptonshire Survey that Geoffrey held 2 hides less 1 bovate
in Harrowden of that fee. (fn. 9) Two manors of Great and
Little Harrowden, called LEWKNORS early in the
15th century, (fn. 10) probably originated in these estates,
which seem to have been held by the family of Muschamp before the end of the 12th century. (fn. 11) A manor of
Harrowden was granted in 1244 to Geoffrey de
Leuknor by Robert de Muschamp, (fn. 12) and was clearly
identical with the manor of Great Harrowden and its
members the manors of Little Harrowden and Isham,
returned as so granted in the Quo Warranto pleas of
1329–30. (fn. 13)
Leuknor. Azure three cheverons argent.
Though the distinctive terms Great and Little
Harrowden were in use in the first half of the 13th
century, the same owners held lands in both, and
Harrowden must frequently be interpreted as covering
both or either of the Harrowdens. In 1236 2 knights'
fees in Harrowden were entered among the 9½ fees held
by Simon 'Major' of the fee of Huntingdon, (fn. 14) while in
1242 among the fees which Isabel de Brus held of the
honor of Huntingdon was a fee in Great Harrowden
which Geoffrey de Leuknor held
of her and 1½ fees which the same
Geoffrey was holding of her in
Little Harrowden and Clipston. (fn. 15)
Geoffrey de Leuknor and Sibyl his
wife granted a messuage in Great
Harrowden to Sulby Abbey on
condition of anniversary masses
being said for them both. (fn. 16) Geoffrey was succeeded by his son
Ralph, (fn. 17) who in 1284 was holding 2 knights' fees in Great and
Little Harrowden of Walter de Huntercumbe, who
had apparently married a daughter of Robert de Muschamp. (fn. 18) Ralph's son Geoffrey died s.p. (fn. 19) and had been
succeeded by his brother John de Leuknor in 1316,
when the said John was holding Harrowden. (fn. 20) In 1318
John de Leuknor and Elizabeth his wife were dealing
with the manors of Great and Little Harrowden. (fn. 21)
John de Leuknor was called upon in 1329–30 to prove
his right to view of frankpledge and other franchises
in Great Harrowden, Little Harrowden, and Isham.
He stated that Robert de Muschamp and his ancestors
had been seised of these liberties, and had granted
them with the manor to Geoffrey de Leuknor his
grandfather. His claim to view of frankpledge was
allowed, but he failed in his other claims. (fn. 22)
In 1341–2 Simon Simeon was dealing with messuages, land, rent, and a mill in Great and Little
Harrowden; (fn. 23) and the said Simon in 1356 was dealing
with the manor of Great Harrowden by fine, together
with the manors of Grafton, Finedon, and Nortoft. (fn. 24)
Three years later the two manors of Great and Little
Harrowden, with messuages, land, and rent in Clipston
and Lowick, were conveyed by him by fine to John
de Leuknor and his wife Elizabeth, and by them
reconveyed to himself. (fn. 25) John de Leuknor seems to
have been the last Leuknor tenant of these manors,
though a Robert Lewknor was still described in 1367
as of Harrowden. (fn. 26) Simon Simeon and his wife Eliza-
beth were dealing with both manors in 1377–8, (fn. 27) and
the fees held of Edward, Prince of Wales, at his death
in 1379 included fees in Great and Little Harrowden,
Clipston, Isham, &c, formerly held by Geoffrey
Lewknor, and at that date by Simon Simeon. (fn. 28)
On 8 August 1386 Simon and his wife Elizabeth
received a grant of free warren, (fn. 29) and on 18 December
1387 Simon died seised of the manors of Great and
Little Harrowden, both held of the honor of Huntingdon by knight service. (fn. 30) A year later Elizabeth granted
the manors to Peter Muslee and others, (fn. 31) by whom the
manors were conveyed to Sir John de la Warre and his
wife Elizabeth, (fn. 32) the widow of Simon Simeon. (fn. 33) Sir
John de la Warre in 1397–8 conveyed both manors to
Master Thomas de la Warre, Canon of Lincoln, and
others, to hold for life, (fn. 34) and on 27 July 1398 died
seised of them in reversion, the said Thomas, his
brother, being his heir. (fn. 35) In the following year, 1399,
the said Thomas de la Warre made a grant to Sir
William Thirnyng, Nicholas Bradshaw, John Welton,
and William Vaus (Vaux) of the reversion of lands, &c.,
in Great and Little Harrowden and Finedon after the
death of Maud, wife of Henry Burdon. (fn. 36)
In 1408 the manor was in the hands of Sir William
Thirnyng, as Sir John Lovell was returned in the
inquisition then taken after his death as holding
Ochecote manor of Sir William Thirnyng as of his
manor of Harrowden by knight service. (fn. 37) Next year
Sir Thomas de la Warre, clerk, made a conveyance of
the manors of Great and Little Harrowden called
Lewkenores to Sir William Thirnyng and others. (fn. 38) In
1413 Sir William Thirnyng was dead, and his widow
Joan in possession of these manors, which she granted
in that year to Sir Gerard Braybrook and others in a
deed witnessed, among others, by Sir Thomas Green. (fn. 39)
This must have been followed by a grant of the manor
to Sir Thomas Green of Green's Norton, as at his
death on 14 December 1417 his son Sir Thomas Green
was seised of a manor of Harrowden which had been
granted to him and his wife Philippa by his father. (fn. 40)
The Thirnyngs apparently retained the lordship, as in
1428 Alice Thirnyng, presumably a daughter of Sir
William, was taxed 16s. 8d. for 2½ fees in Great and
Little Harrowden which John de Lewknor had formerly
held. (fn. 41) It would seem that her rights passed in some way
to Sir William Vaux, who as a zealous Lancastrian
was attainted in 1461, when his manor of Great
Harrowden and its members in Little Harrowden,
Isham, Orlingbury, &c., were among the lands forfeited
by his attainder. (fn. 42) The manor was then granted to
Ralph Hastings, Esquire of the Body, on 1 May 1462. (fn. 43)
Sir Ralph Hastings of Harrowden, who, among other
offices, was lieutenant of the castle of Guisnes in Picardy
and constable of Rockingham, (fn. 44) received a fresh grant
in 1483 to him and his wife Anne from Richard III. (fn. 45)
Sir William Vaux had been slain at Tewkesbury, and
on the accession of Henry VII in 1485 his son Nicholas
immediately secured the reversal of his father's attainder and restoration to his lands. Sir Thomas Green, of
Green's Norton, the fifth in succession of that name,
died in 1506 leaving two daughters and co-heirs, the
elder of whom, Anne, married, as his second wife, Sir
Nicholas Vaux, (fn. 46) to whom she brought vast wealth and
the Greens' interest in the manor of Harrowden; the
younger daughter, Maud, married Sir Thomas Parr,
of Kirkby in Kendal.
Vaux. Checky or and gules.
Sir Nicholas, who saw much service in France, was
a prominent figure of the time, and on 27 July 1511
Henry VIII was his guest at Harrowden. (fn. 47) Both Sir
Nicholas and his father-in-law, Sir Thomas Green,
before him had been active in inclosing lands on their
Harrowden property, and for his violations of the acts
against inclosures he was repeatedly summoned before
the Court of Exchequer, (fn. 48) but escaped penalties and was
pardoned after his death, (fn. 49) which happened on 14 May
1523, less than a month after he had been created
Baron Vaux of Harrowden. His
wife Anne had predeceased him,
and his heir, their son Thomas,
who had reached the age of fourteen on the preceding 25 April,
had married Elizabeth, then aged
sixteen, the daughter of Anne
Cheyne and of Sir Thomas Cheyne
of Irtlingborough, whose heir she
was, the manor of Harrowden
being settled on the young pair
at their marriage. (fn. 50) By his will (fn. 51)
Sir Nicholas Vaux made provision for his unmarried
daughters by his wife Anne, Margaret, Bridget, and
Maud. His son Thomas, second Baron Vaux, succeeded him. 'The boke of the accompte of the household of Thomas Vaus, Kt., Lord Harowdon, kept
at his manor of Harowdon from 2 August 27 Hen.
VIII to 28 October following (1535): by Robert
Downall, Steward of the household' gives the family
and household as consisting of 46 persons. (fn. 52)
Lord Vaux, who has left specimens of his skill in
verse-making and belonged to the more cultured circles
of Henry VIII's court, lived until October 1556, when
he was succeeded by his son William, who married as
his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Beaumont,
Master of the Rolls, and as his second Mary, daughter
of John Tresham of Rushton. (fn. 53) In 1557 William, Lord
Vaux, conveyed the manors and advowsons of Great
and Little Harrowden to his wife's grandfather, Sir
Thomas Tresham, evidently by way of a settlement. (fn. 54)
Sir Thomas Tresham died in 1559, and was succeeded
by his grandson, another Thomas, knighted in 1577.
The Tresham Papers discovered at Rushton, (fn. 55) which
show how much Lord Vaux leaned on his brother-inlaw in the management of his affairs, contain an account
of the family disputes which resulted from a settlement
of the manors of Great and Little Harrowden made by
Lord Vaux in 1571, under which Sir Thomas stood
security for the payment of £500 each to Eleanor,
Elizabeth, and Anne, the three daughters of Lord Vaux
by his first wife. (fn. 56) In 1581 Lord Vaux and Sir Thomas
Tresham, both zealous Catholics, were summoned
before the Star Chamber and committed to the Fleet
Prison. After trial in November they were recommitted to prison. But though Lord Vaux suffered much
for his religion, he and his friends were reported on by
a Government spy, who declared them to be 'the most
markable Catholics', as 'very good subjects and great
adversaries of the Spanish practices'. (fn. 57) Henry Vaux,
the eldest son of Lord Vaux by his first wife, intending to enter religion, resigned his birthright to his halfbrother George, to the great indignation of his sisters. (fn. 58)
George married, without the approval of his father,
Elizabeth daughter of Sir John Roper and she seems to
have obtained entire ascendancy over her husband, and
even over his brother Ambrose, the third son of Lord
Vaux, to whom the heirship had been forfeited by
George's marriage without his father's consent. (fn. 59) Ambrose was dealing with the manors in 1589 by fine, (fn. 60) and
again in 1590. (fn. 61) George Vaux died on 13 July 1594 at
Harrowden. His brother Henry was already dead, and
the death of Lord Vaux followed on 20 August 1595. (fn. 62)
His heir, his grandson Edward, son of George, (fn. 63) was
brought up as a strict Catholic by his mother, who, as
'the widow Vaux', appears in the Tresham Papers to
have been a cause of much trouble in the family. (fn. 64) She
was under suspicion on account of the Jesuit company
which, as in the case of her sister-in-law Anne Vaux,
frequented her house at Harrowden for some years (fn. 65)
both before and after she was put under examination
there with her son, the young lord, on the discovery of
the Gunpowder Plot. Their house, especially his closet,
was narrowly searched, but no papers were found. (fn. 66)
Edward Vaux, 4th Lord Harrowden, is stated in
these examinations to have been then starting to ride
to London on 6 November to treat for his marriage
with the daughter of Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk,
when news of 'broils in London' caused him to postpone his journey. (fn. 67) He did not escape the consequences
of being related to every one implicated in the Gunpowder conspiracy and was attainted. But in 1612 his
lands were restored to him, (fn. 68) including the manors of
Great and Little Harrowden, and in 1616 Lord Vaux
received a grant of free warren here. (fn. 69) The lady for
whose hand he was an aspirant in the memorable
month of November 1605 had married before that
year was out, she being then a girl of nineteen, and he
nearly sixty, William Knollys, Earl of Banbury, (fn. 70) the
marriage taking place less than two months after the
death of the earl's first wife. On 10 April 1627 she
gave birth to a son, Edward, at her husband's house,
and on 3 January 1630–1 to another son, Nicholas, in
the home of Lord Vaux at Harrowden. The earl, then
aged 85, died at the house of his physician, Dr. Grant,
in Paternoster Row, on 25 May 1632, having bequeathed all his possessions to his wife by a will which
mentioned no children. Five weeks later she married
Lord Vaux. The question of the paternity of his wife's
sons, which was to remain in dispute for generations,
the House of Lords refusing to acknowledge their right
to the earldom of Banbury which the Law Courts
declared they possessed, was raised in 1641, when a
chancery suit instituted to recover for them the property of the late Earl of Banbury procured on 14 April
1641 the decision that Edward, the elder of the two,
was son and heir of the late earl. In June 1645 Edward,
returning from a tour in Italy, was slain in a quarrel on
the road between Calais and Gravelines, and his
brother Nicholas, who had journeyed to France with
his mother in 1644, assumed the title of Earl of Banbury. In 1646 Lord Vaux with his wife Elizabeth
settled the manors of Great and Little Harrowden, the
rectories, advowsons, free warren, &c., to the exclusion
of his own heirs, on his step-son Nicholas, Earl of Banbury, (fn. 71) heretofore, apparently, called Nicholas Vaux. (fn. 72)
Nicholas, as Earl of Banbury, in 1651 made a conveyance of these manors by fine, (fn. 73) and on 27 February 1655
with his wife Isabella, daughter of Mountjoy Blount,
Earl of Newport, his mother, and Lord Vaux, petitioned Cromwell to remove the sequestration on Lord
Vaux's estate, (fn. 74) and allow them to compound or sell, the
earl being then confined in the Upper Bench prison for
debt. The Countess Isabella soon after died, and on
4 October 1655 Nicholas married Anne, daughter of
William, Lord Sherard of Leitrim. His mother died
on 17 April 1658, and her husband Lord Vaux on
8 April 1661, both being buried at Dorking. The
barony of Vaux of Harrowden then descended to Lord
Vaux's only surviving brother, Henry, on whose death
s.p. in 1662 it fell into abeyance (to be revived on
12 March 1838 in the person of George Charles
Mostyn (fn. 75) of Kiddington, who traced his descent to
Mary Vaux, sister of Edward, 4th Lord Vaux, wife of
Sir George Symeon of Britwell). The manors of Great
and Little Harrowden passed into the hands of
Nicholas, Earl of Banbury, who, as no writ of summons
was issued to him for the new Parliament of 8 May
1661, petitioned the king for issue of the same. Though
a committee of privileges reported on 1 July 1661 that
Nicholas, Earl of Banbury, was legitimate, the House of
Lords declined to accept the report, and he died on
14 March 1673–4 without having been summoned.
His son Charles assumed the title and succeeded to the
manors of Great and Little Harrowden. (fn. 76) He petitioned
the House of Lords for a writ of summons on 10 June
1685 with no result; but his arraignment in Hilary
term of 1693 as Charles Knollys, consequent upon his
having killed his brother-in-law, Captain Philip Lawson,
in a duel, resulted in his indictment being quashed on
the ground that he was wrongly entered, he being Earl
of Banbury. It was, however, as Charles Knollys, esq.
alias Charles, Earl of Banbury, that with his wife Elizabeth in 1695 he conveyed the manor of Great Harrowden by fine to Thomas Watson, esq., and George
Watson. (fn. 77) Thomas Watson was the third son of Edward
Watson, second Lord Rockingham, by Anne, eldest
daughter of Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford,
and took the name of Wentworth in 1695 on inheriting
the vast estates of his mother. In 1696 with his wife
Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Proby, bart., he was
dealing with the manor of Great Harrowden, and
advowsons of Great and Little Harrowden as Thomas
Wentworth alias Watson, esq. (fn. 78)
Watson. Argent a cheveron engrailed azure between three martlets sable with three crescents or on the cheveron.
Fitzwilliam. Lozengy argent and gules.
His son Thomas was on 28 May 1728 created
Baron Wentworth of Malton in Yorkshire, and on
19 November 1734 Baron of Harrowden and Viscount
Higham of Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire, and
Baron of Wath and Earl of Malton in Yorkshire. In
1744 he with his mother, Alice Wentworth, widow,
made a conveyance of the manor of Great Harrowden
to Henry Finch, esq. (fn. 79) After the death of his cousin
Thomas Watson, third Earl of Rockingham, unmarried,
in 1745, he succeeded to the barony of Rockingham,
and, the earldom and associated honours becoming
extinct, was created Marquess of Rockingham on 14
April 1746. He married Mary, daughter of Daniel
Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and 6th Earl of Winchilsea, and at his death in 1756 was succeeded by their
fifth but only surviving son, Charles Watson Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, the eminent Whig
statesman. The second marquess was returned as lord
of the manor of Great Harrowden in the Inclosure
Act passed for Little Harrowden (q.v.) in 1781, and
died s.p. in 1782, when he was buried in York Minster.
His nephew William Wentworth, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam, son of his eldest sister Lady Anne Watson
Wentworth and of William, 1st Earl Fitzwilliam,
created Viscount Milton and Earl Fitzwilliam (in
England) in 1746, then succeeded him here and in
estates valued at £40,000 a year, and kept up a princely
establishment at Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire.
He married Lady Charlotte Ponsonby, youngest daughter of William, Earl of Bessborough. Their son Charles
William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, commonly called
Viscount Milton, was dealing with the manors of Great
and Little Harrowden and Withmail Park, with the
rectories, tithes, advowsons, free fishing, and free
warren, courts leet and baron, mills and dovecots
belonging to the same, by recovery in 1807, (fn. 80) and
succeeded his father in 1833 in the earldom as 3rd Earl
Fitzwilliam. He had then for the last two years represented Northamptonshire in Parliament, and was lordlieutenant of the county in 1853. He received the
royal authorization to adopt the surname of Wentworth
before that of Fitzwilliam in 1856, and died at Wentworth Woodhouse in 1857, when he was succeeded in
the earldom by his second son, William Thomas Spencer, Viscount Milton. His third son, the Hon. George
Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, M.P., of Milton Park, was
the lord of the manor and sole landowner of Great
Harrowden until his death in 1874, when the manor
was held by his trustees until his son George Charles
Wentworth-Fitzwilliam of Milton Park (q.v.) succeeded him as lord of the manor and sole landowner in
Great Harrowden. In 1895 he sold the Hall to Lord
Vaux but retained the manorial rights, which are now
in the hands of his grandson William Thomas George
Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, esq. (fn. 81)
One hide in Harrowden which Algar had held freely
before the Conquest was returned in the Domesday
Survey among the lands of Guy de Reinbuedcurt as
held of him by Norgiot (fn. 82) (who also held a virgate in
Wellingborough of the Bishop of Coutances, of which
the soc pertained to the bishop's manor of Harrowden).
The chief seat of the Reinbuedcurts was the manor of
Wardon (q.v.), and the garrison of the castle of Rockingham was provided by making it a charge on that
barony. (fn. 83) This service of castle guard was soon commuted for a payment of 5s. from each knight's fee, and
a return of such payments, attributed to c. 1176, or
considerably later, enters 5s. from Harrowden, presumably from this hide. (fn. 84) Margaret, the daughter and heir
of Guy's son Richard, married Robert Foliot, whose son
Richard Foliot left an only daughter and heir Margaret.
She married Wyschard Ledet, son of Christiane Ledet,
and Christiane their only daughter married, as her first
husband, Henry de Braybrook, as'her second, Gerard
de Furnival. Under the barony of Wardon, Gerard
in 1235 was paying for one fee in Cogenho and Harrowden, &c. (fn. 85) The latter fee was presumably that which
Nicholas de Cogenho held in 1242 of Christiane Ledet; (fn. 86)
and the Harrowden portion of it probably corresponded
to the hide in Harrowden which Nicholas de Cogenho
held in the 12th century of the king's fee. (fn. 87) This fee
appears next to have been held by the de Cogenhos
with their manor of Cogenho (q.v.) as of the fee of
Haversham: for in 1284 William de Cogenho, son
and heir of Nicholas, (fn. 88) was holding one fourth part of
a fee in Great Harrowden of John de Haversham, who
held of the king. (fn. 89) In 1349 Giles de Cogenho died
holding land, rent, and a water-mill at Harrowden,
with his manor of Cogenho, (fn. 90) and his son John, who
succeeded him, died in 1361 seised of the reversion of
a manor in Harrowden held of Fulk de Birmingham as
of the fee of Haversham. (fn. 91) His grandson William died
without issue and his sister Agnes carried the property
by marriage to John Cheyney, (fn. 92) and after this the
Harrowden manor appears to have been absorbed into
that of Cogenho (q.v.).
Knightley. Quarterly ermine and paly or and gules.
Another manor in Harrowden called HARROWDENS MANOR, held in 1486 of Nicholas Vaux, (fn. 93)
originated in property which the Harrowden family
were holding at an early date in both Harrowdens. In
1226–7 a fine was levied between Simon de Harrowden and Richard, parson of the church of Harrowden,
of land in that parish. (fn. 94) This Simon was probably the
Simon son of Adam of Harrowden who quitclaimed to
the convent of Sulby the church of Great Harrowden. (fn. 95)
In 1298 Adam son of Simon de Harrowden and his
wife Alice received a grant of a messuage and virgate
of land in Great Harrowden (fn. 96) from Sir Ralph de
Leuknor. The Harrowdens, who frequently appear
in public employment in Northamptonshire and elsewhere in the 14th century, (fn. 97) held manors in Great and
apparently in Little Harrowden. A canopied brass in
Great Harrowden church records the death in 1423
of William de Harrowden, who married Margaret
(d. 1441), daughter and heir of Sir Giles St. John of
Plumpton. Their son William married Margaret,
daughter of William Vaux and aunt of Sir Nicholas
Vaux, by whom he had two sons, Richard and Thomas. (fn. 98)
By his will, dated 28 May 1447, he directed that his
body should be buried in the south part of Great Harrowden church at the feet of William and Margaret
Harrowden, his father and mother. He bequeathed to
his wife Margaret all his lands and tenements called
Horneres Key in London towards the maintenance of
his son Thomas, with remainder to Richard Harrowden, his son and heir. (fn. 99) Both brothers must have died
s.p. before their mother, who, on 2 October 1486, as
Margaret Harrowden, widow, died seised of a manor
of Great Harrowden called Harrowdens Manor, held of
Nicholas Vaux. (fn. 100) Margaret, who also held the manors
of Plumpton and Wold, was
succeeded by her daughter Margaret Garnon, aged 60, (fn. 101) who
had married as her first husband
Henry Skenard, or Skinnerton,
by whom she had a daughter
Jane. (fn. 102) This daughter Jane married Sir Richard Knightley, and
carried to her husband the manor
or manors of Great and Little
Harrowden, which she settled on
her second son Edmund with
the manors of Morton Pynkney
and Plumpton. (fn. 103) Sir Edmund
Knightley died on 12 September 1542, seised of these
manors. At the death of his brother and heir male,
Sir Valentine Knightley, in 1566 this Harrowden
property descended to his son Richard, and was then
returned as held of Sir Thomas Griffin, (fn. 104) by service
unknown, as of his manor of Wardon. (fn. 105) Apparently the
Knightley manors had been formed out of lands
belonging to the Cogenhos and Harrowdens held partly
of the barony of Wardon and partly of the honor of
Huntingdon, and the Wardon overlordship had come
to be regarded as applying to the whole. After this date
the manor appears to have lost its identity and been
absorbed into the Knightley property.
In 1286–7 Ralph de Leuknor granted a messuage
and land in Great Harrowden to John son of Walter
de Boketon (fn. 106) (Boughton), who in 1291 made a grant of
a rent in Great Harrowden to Richard le Den and
Joan his wife. (fn. 107) This was probably the property granted
by Thomas de Boketon in 1324 to Sir John de Harrowden, parson of Stoke Bruerne, as a yearly rent of 8 marks
from a messuage in Great Harrowden with the fourth
part of a knight's fee. (fn. 108) It may possibly have been
included in the messuages, lands, mill, and rent in
Great and Little Harrowden, which together with the
manor of Finedon were in 1339–40 granted to the
same parson and to William de Thorp by Robert
Everard of Lubenham, chaplain, and William de la
Bruere of Finedon, (fn. 109) and in 1341–2 by William de
Thorp to Simon Simeon. (fn. 110)
Licence was obtained in 1331 for John, parson of
the church of Stoke Bruerne, to enfeoff Thomas Wake
of Liddell of land and rent of the yearly value of £20
in Great and Little Harrowden, held in chief, for
regrant to a house of religious men of any order he
pleased, to be founded by him in the town of Great
Harrowden; but it was cancelled on 20 June 1336. (fn. 111)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS consists
of chancel, 36 ft. 9 in. by 17 ft. 9 in., with
vestry on the north side; clerestoried nave,
45 ft. by 19 ft. 4 in.; north aisle, 12 ft. 6 in. wide;
north porch, and west tower, 12 ft. by 11 ft. 4 in., all
these measurements being internal. The building had
formerly a south aisle, which being very ruinous was
taken down early in the 18th century. (fn. 112) The tower
was originally surmounted by a spire. (fn. 113) The chancel
was very extensively restored in 1845, the north wall
and the upper part of the east and south walls being
then rebuilt and a new roof erected, and the church
was further restored in 1896. When the south aisle was
taken down the new outer wall of the nave was erected
on the line of the arcade, which was left standing, the
old windows and doorway being inserted between the
arches. These windows, which are of three lights with
tracery formed by the forking and intersection of the
mullions, and the arcade appear to be of late-13th-century date. (fn. 114) This indicates a 13th-century church with
nave and south aisle the same size as at present, but
evidence of a north aisle is wanting. The chancel was
rebuilt on its present lines in the 14th century, and a
north aisle was then added or rebuilt. The vestry, at
the east end of the north wall of the chancel, is coeval
with the chancel itself and was not rebuilt at the time
of the restoration. The tower and clerestory are additions of about 1400. The parapets of the chancel are
plain, but elsewhere they are battlemented, and the
roofs are of low pitch leaded.
Plan of Great Harrowden Church
The east and south walls of the chancel are of grey
rubble about two-thirds of their height, above which,
like the north wall, they are faced with coursed ironstone. The east window is of five trefoiled lights with
reticulated tracery and has a moulded arch and shafted
jambs. In the south wall are three 14th-century ogeeheaded windows and two in the north wall, all of two
trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil above, and the window
of the vestry is of the same type. At the west end of the
south wall is a blocked low-side window with pointed
head breaking the string which runs round the chancel
externally at sill level. Between the windows on the
north side is a modern priest's doorway. The piscina
and triple sedilia are original and form a single composition of four moulded trefoliated arches on triple shafts
with moulded capitals and bases. The three seats are
on the same level, and the arches are set below the
moulded string which runs at sill level along the south
and north walls. The pointed doorway to the vestry,
or priest's chamber, has continuous moulded jambs and
head, with bases to the middle round member. The
14th-century chancel arch is of two hollow-chamfered
orders, the innermost on half-octagon responds with
moulded capitals. In the north respond, facing east, is
a narrow pointed recess, or niche, about 4 ft. 8 in.
above the floor.
The oak rood screen remains, with wide middle
opening and three upper traceried panels on either side
and solid panels below. The screen is of late-14thcentury date, a very good example of the period, and
has an original moulded rood-loft beam and modern
oak vaulting carrying a vine pattern cornice.
The 14th-century north arcade consists of four
pointed arches of two moulded orders springing from
pillars and responds composed of four rounded shafts
with hollows between, and with moulded capitals and
bases. The north aisle windows are all of three cinquefoiled lights with four-centred heads, that at the west
end being partly renewed, and the doorway has a continuous moulding. At the east end of the aisle is a
mutilated 15th-century pillar piscina. The porch appears to be a 15th-century addition with flat-pitched
gable and pointed arch of two rounded orders. There
are four clerestory windows on each side, of two cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head, those on the
south, since the removal of the aisle, being high above
the windows of the nave.
The tower is of four stages with battlemented parapet
and angle pinnacles, and is faced with closely jointed
grey ashlar. On the west side is a pointed doorway and
a two-light window in the third stage, but on the north
and south the three lower stages are blank. The bellchamber windows are of two cinquefoiled lights with
a small quatrefoil in the head, and the arch to the nave
is of two chamfered orders. Above it is a blocked
round-headed opening.
There are extensive remains of a painted Doom over
the chancel arch, and fragments of wall painting with
architectural and floral detail in the north aisle.
In the chancel are the mutilated remains of the
splendid brass of William Harrowden, 1423, and Margaret his wife, daughter of Sir Giles St. John. The figures
still remain in position, but the pilasters, canopy work,
two shields, part of the inscription, and the labels above
the figures have been removed. The man is in a complete suit of plate armour, his feet resting on a dog, and
the lady wears a hooded veiled head-dress and cloak, or
mantle open in front. (fn. 115)
In the north aisle is a grave-slab inscribed round the
edge in lombardic characters 'Ici git une femme Luce
de Asheby Deu de sa alme eit verroy merci', and another
at the east end of the aisle retains part of an inscription
of the same period. In the nave is a stone dated 1588
and in the chancel two large blue slabs the inscriptions
of which are indecipherable, and one to Roger Charnock (d. 1651). (fn. 116) There is an oak chest in the vestry
dated 1684.
There are three bells: the first an alphabet-bell, with
a stamp used by Thomas Newcombe (1562–80), the
second by Hugh Watts 1629, and the tenor by Thomas
Clay 1715, (fn. 117) all cast at Leicester.
The plate consists of a silver cup of 1635, and a
paten of 1695, the latter given by the Hon. Mrs.
Wentworth. (fn. 118)
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms
and burials 1672–1782, marriages 1672–1754; (ii)
baptisms and burials 1782–1812; (iii) marriages 1754–
1812. There are churchwardens' accounts from 1683
to 1796.
Advowson
The rectory and advowson were
granted to Sulby Abbey early in the
13th century by Mary de Muschamp
and confirmed by Robert de Muschamp in 1227, (fn. 119)
Simon son of Adam de Harrowden having also renounced his claims in favour of the abbey. (fn. 120) In 1227
Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, with the consent of the
dean and chapter granted a pension of two marks yearly
from the church of Great Harrowden and chapel of
Little Harrowden to Sulby Abbey as patrons of the
advowson, the grant to take effect after the decease of
the rector, Richard de Cantia. (fn. 121) In 1291 the church
was taxed at £10. (fn. 122) The rectory was returned in 1535
as appropriated to the monastery of Sulby and the
annual value of the vicarage as £13 6s. 8d. (fn. 123) On 13 July
1547 the rectory, church, and advowson of the vicarage of Harrowden were granted under the will of
Henry VIII to the College of St. Mary the Virgin and
All Saints of Fotheringhay. (fn. 124) After the dissolution of
that college they were granted in 1549 to Edward
Bury of Estwode, co. Essex, (fn. 125) but shortly after had
passed into the hands of Wilgeford Tanfield, (fn. 126) widow,
who in 1564 conveyed the rectories and advowsons of
Great and Little Harrowden with all tithes of grain
and hay to Sir Humphrey Stafford and Miles Orchard. (fn. 127)
Her sale to Sir Humphrey of the same for £500
resulted in Chancery proceedings being instituted
against her in 1569 by her brother-in-law Simon
Harcourt of Staunton Harcourt, co. Oxon. (fn. 128) By Sir
Humphrey Stafford the parsonage was leased to Roger
Jarnock or Charnock, probably the same Roger Charnock of Great Harrowden who in 1588 contributed
£25 to the defence of the country at the time of the
Spanish invasion, (fn. 129) and this lease was also the subject of
Chancery proceedings. (fn. 130) George Charnock, gent., made
the presentation in 1622, (fn. 131) and in 1648 Nicholas Bacon
of Gray's Inn, esq., brought a suit against Roger
Charnock, younger brother of John Charnock of
Islington, in connexion with a mortgage of the rectory. (fn. 132)
Charnock of Harrowden appears in a list of delinquents of that year, (fn. 133) and in 1661 Francis Gray presented to the church. (fn. 134)
In 1665 John Heron and his wife Alice were holding
the rectories and advowsons of Great and Little Harrowden, (fn. 135) of which in 1672 John Heron with his wife
Susan made a conveyance to Francis Sherrard and
John Hall. (fn. 136) The rectory next appears in the hands of
Nicholas Bacon, and of William, Thomas, and Richard
Bacon, who conveyed it to Robert Underwood and
John Makernesse in 1680. (fn. 137) It was held with the manors
of Great and Little Harrowden in 1683 by Charles
called Earl of Banbury, (fn. 138) and since then has been held
with the manor of Great Harrowden. The value of
the vicarage was augmented in 1719 by a grant of
tithes from the Hon. Thomas Wentworth and his son
Thomas. (fn. 139)
Sir Nicholas Vaux, who died in 1523, directed by
his will that a chantry of one priest should be established in Great Harrowden Church; (fn. 140) but there is no
evidence of his wishes having been carried out.
Charities
The Wentworth Charity. A customary payment of 6s. a week is made
by Earl Fitzwilliam out of his estate
in this parish. Half the money is given to two poor
widows and the other moiety to other poor of
Great Harrowden and Higham Ferrers. This payment is ascribed by tradition to a gift by Mr. Thomas
Wentworth. A sum of £1 1s. yearly is also paid on
Lord Fitzwilliam's account in lieu of a treat or
entertainment at Christmas. This sum is distributed
among the other poor who participate in the weekly
payment.
There are four almshouses in the parish occupied by
poor widows and the buildings have been occasionally
repaired at Lord Fitzwilliam's expense and occasionally at that of the parish.