WHISTON
Hyctintune, Hyittintune (x cent.); Wicetone,
Wicentone (xi cent.); Wychintone, Huchentone (xii
cent.); Whiston (xii cent, onwards); Wichenton,
Whichestone (xiii cent.); Wystone (xiii–xvi cent.).
The area of the civil parish of Whiston is 833 acres
of land and water. The soil is red and heavy, the subsoil clay, ironstone, and limestone, the chief crops
cereals and roots. (fn. 1) The population was about 14
families in 1720, (fn. 2) which would about equal the 66
persons of 1921; it has since declined to 49. (fn. 3)
The small village, not far from the Nene, the
northern boundary of the parish, is pleasantly situated
at the foot of Combe Hill, on which stands the 16thcentury church. Place House, a detached farm-house
on the west side of the village, with remains of a moat,
incorporates some portions of a medieval building, two
buttresses of which are attached to one of the angles of
the present house, which is a plain rectangular building
of two stories with mullioned windows (fn. 4) and thatched
roof. There is a local 'tradition' that the original house
was a seat of King John. (fn. 5)
Manors
Brihtnoth, who became earldorman of
the East Saxons about 953 and died in
991, (fn. 6) gave WHISTON and all appurtenances to Ramsey Abbey, in perpetual alms. Edgar
the Peaceful, Edward the Confessor, and other kings
confirmed, as did Pope Alexander III in 1178. (fn. 7)
In 1086 the abbey held 3 hides in Whiston and
Denton and also a house and 5 acres of land in Brafield pertaining to Whiston. (fn. 8) Of half an acre of this
last estate Countess Judith had the soke, as well as 1
virgate attached to Yardley Hastings. (fn. 9) In the 12th
century the abbey fee was 1½ hides, the Huntingdon
fee of Countess Judith's successor, King David, 1
'great' virgate. (fn. 10) The vill was held of Ramsey Abbey in
1284; (fn. 11) and the manor was said to be held in chief in
1347 and 1392 (by the service of a rose at midsummer), (fn. 12) but after the Dissolution it was returned in 1554
as held of Henry Williams alias Cromwell as of the
manor of Ramsey by the service of 1/9 knight's fee. (fn. 13)
The under-tenant in the 13th century owed forinsec
service to the abbey, a knight for the king's army, two
suits yearly at the court of Broughton, Huntingdonshire, and, if the king's writ ran, suit at the three weeks'
court. (fn. 14)
William de Whiston, living 1120, (fn. 15) was undertenant of the abbey's 1½ virgates here. (fn. 16) His son Henry
had succeeded, by special grant of the abbot, by 1130; (fn. 17)
and other sons, Thomas and Ralph, are mentioned. (fn. 18)
Sir Henry de Whiston, knight of the abbey, was succeeded in about 1191 (fn. 19) by William, steward of the
abbey in 1219, (fn. 20) who held 1/9 fee of the abbey in Whiston and Denton in 1242 (fn. 21) and was elected knight of the
abbey for Wales in 1245. (fn. 22) Sir William de Whiston
was summoned to do homage at Broughton in 1253; (fn. 23)
orders were passed for distraint in default until 1260. (fn. 24)
Not long after this the manor was alienated to a Jew,
Moses, and he enfeoffed Gilbert de Clare, 'the Red',
Earl of Gloucester, (fn. 25) who in 1284 held the vill of Ramsey Abbey as a ¼ knight's fee. (fn. 26) His son and heir Gilbert,
the last Earl of Gloucester of the house of Clare, in
1313 granted the manor to Gilbert de St. Owen and
his wife Joan, (fn. 27) possibly in trust. (fn. 28) In 1316 the vill with
'the other half' of Denton was returned as in the possession of Margery de Meuse and John de Cave; (fn. 29) but
Margaret, one of the sisters and heirs of Earl Gilbert,
inherited Whiston manor from him. (fn. 30) She married
Hugh de Audley, created Earl of Gloucester in 1336. (fn. 31)
His manors, including Whiston, descended to the
Staffords, and Thomas, Earl of Stafford, in 1392 granted
the manor to his esquire Nicholas Bradeshawe for life. (fn. 32)
Nicholas died in 1415, (fn. 33) and the king as guardian of
Humphrey, son of Earl Edmund, granted the custody
of the manor to Sir William Bourghchier. (fn. 34) Humphrey
in 1437–8 exchanged this manor and Woodford with
Sir John Clinton for the castle and manor of Maxstoke,
Warwick. (fn. 35) Between 1454 and 1457 John, Lord Clinton, made conveyances of this manor, (fn. 36) evidently for
settlement on Joan his wife, who afterwards married
Sir Robert Wingfield. (fn. 37) In 1495–6 Elizabeth daughter
and heir of Robert Wingfield and wife of Sir Robert
Brandon, quitclaimed her rights in the manor to
Robert Wingfield, esq. (fn. 38) This was probably merely for
security of the title of the Catesbys, to whom the manor
had already passed.
Sir John Catesby, Justice of the Common Pleas,
disposed in his will of his manor of Whiston. He died
in 1486 leaving an eldest son Humphrey (fn. 39) whose son
and heir Anthony, called 'of Whiston' and the builder
(1534) of the present church, (fn. 40) succeeded in 1503, (fn. 41)
and died seised of the manor in 1554, leaving a son
Thomas. (fn. 42) He was father of another Thomas (fn. 43) and of
many daughters. Thomas in 1591 settled the manor on
the marriage of his son George with Bridget Bedell,
and died in 1592. (fn. 44) Bridget made a conveyance in 1602
of the site of the manor; (fn. 45) and in 1627 she and George
granted about 200 acres in Whiston and Denton to
Clifton Catesby, son and heir of George. (fn. 46) Clifton's
son George in 1656 demised the manor for 50 years
to John Palmer of Ecton, clerk, and John Ekins of
Rushton; but they surrendered it in 1665 to Thomas,
brother and successor of George, for other property. (fn. 47)
Thomas, the last of the line, died in 1699, leaving his
wife Margaret, grand-daughter of Sir Richard Samwell of Upton, in possession; in 1720 she held the
manor and owned the whole parish. (fn. 48) All their children
died young except Mary, who married the Hon. Henry
Paget, afterwards Earl of Uxbridge, and Elizabeth,
who married Ralph Freeman of Aspeden, Hertfordshire. (fn. 49) The two daughters and Henry Paget, Mary's
husband, made a settlement in 1699 of manor and
advowson, (fn. 50) evidently on Mary and Henry, whose
daughter married Sir Edward
Irby, bart., of Boston, Lincolnshire. Sir Edward was succeeded
in 1718 by his son William,
created Baron Boston in 1761.
He was a 'King's Friend' and
ancestor of a line of Tory politicians. His wife was buried at
Whiston in 1769, he in 1775;
but he had purchased the estate
of Hedsor, Bucks., and there his
son Frederick built the present
family seat. He was succeeded
in 1825 by his son George and he in 1856 by his son
George Ives, the fourth baron. He died in 1869, and
his son Florance George Henry in 1877, when the
latter's son, George Florance, the present Lord Boston,
succeeded. (fn. 51)
Irby. Argent fretty sable a quarter gules charged with a wreath or.
Church
The church of ST. MARY THE
VIRGIN stands on Combe Hill, above
the village on its east side, and consists
of chancel, 16 ft. by 15 ft. 6 in.; nave, 61 ft. 6 in. by
15 ft. 6 in.; north and south aisles, each 10 ft. 9 in.
wide; small south porch, and west tower, 11 ft. square,
all these measurements being internal. There is no
structural division between the nave and chancel, the
length of which together is 77 ft. 6 in., and the total
internal length of the church 92 ft. 6 in. The width
across the nave and aisles is 41 ft. There is no clerestory.
Plan of Whiston Church
The church was built in 1534 by Anthony Catesby
and his wife, and their son John, and has remained
unaltered. It is a very interesting unspoilt example of
late medieval design, and has been described as 'a small
but perfect specimen of the Tudor style', (fn. 52) but its
details preserve all the character of the best work of the
15th century, and there is little structural evidence of
its late date. In Bridges' time, however, there still
existed in one of the windows the remains of an inscription which read 'Orate pro . . . Antonii Catesby Armigeri et Isabelle uxoris ejus Domini . . . Johannis
Junioris generosi ejusdem Antonii . . . qui quidem
Antonius, Isabella et Johannes hanc Ecclesiam condiderunt . . . quingentesimo tricesimo quarto. . . .', (fn. 53)
which if rightly recorded places the year of building
beyond doubt.
Except in the tower, where limestone and local ironstone are used in decorative contrast, the walls are
wholly faced with dressed limestone, with chamfered
plinths, moulded bases, strings at sill level, and battlemented parapets. The roofs are of low pitch and leaded:
the aisles are under separate ridged roofs, but with
raking parapets at the ends. The building is planned
symmetrically, and though in the main the detail is rich
it is distributed judiciously and is not overcharged. Internally, except in the tower, all the walls are plastered
and the floors flagged.
The chancel has large clasping angle buttresses
and a four-centred east window of five lights, with
moulded jambs and mullions, Perpendicular tracery,
and hood-mould. The battlemented parapet is continued along the east gable, with a cross at the apex:
the north and south walls of the chancel are blank.
The nave arcades (fn. 54) are of four bays, with four-centred
moulded arches on pillars composed of four attached
columns disposed around a cylindrical core, with
moulded bases and capitals, and from responds of
similar character. The spandrels are richly ornamented
with blind tracery below a moulded string, and over
the pillars are scroll-bearing angel corbels supporting
slender roof shafts with moulded capitals and bases.
The aisles overlap the chancel about 5 ft., the easternmost bay of each being therefore longer than the others.
The external setting out of the bays follows that of the
arcades, with two-stage buttresses opposite the pillars,
the end buttresses being placed a foot from the angles.
The aisle windows are all four-centred, with moulded
jambs and mullions, those in the north and south walls
being of four lights and the east and west windows of
three. The hood-moulds have plain stops and the trefoiled lights have feather cusping: the sills are about 8 ft.
from the ground. The south doorway is below the
window of the second bay from the west; it has a continuous-moulded four-centred arch and is covered by
the porch, which measures internally only 6 ft. by 2 ft.
The porch has a battlemented parapet and panelled
stone roof: its outer moulded arch rests on slender jambshafts with moulded capitals and is within a square
frame, the spandrels of which contain blank shields.
At the east end of the south aisle, in the position usually
occupied by the piscina, is a plain pointed chamfered
recess, but without indication of a basin. There is no
piscina in either the chancel or north aisle, but there is
a doorway in the north wall of the aisle near its east end.
The oak roofs of the nave and aisles are excellent
examples of the work of the period, with moulded and
carved principals, and moulded ridges, purlins, and
rafters. The roof of nave and chancel is continuous,
of five subdivided bays, the main principals placed, as
already described, over the pillars of the arcades, and
the intermediate ones supported by shields carved with
various devices.
The tower is the most highly ornamented part of the
fabric, full use having been made of the contrast in
colour between the deep yellow of the ironstone and
the silver grey of the oolite. It is of four main stages,
with clasping buttresses terminating at the top of the
second stage in elaborate traceried and crocketed
gables, over which they are continued in different
form, first square and then diagonal, ending above the
parapet in lofty pinnacles. The bottom stage is in
alternate courses of yellow and grey stone, with a string
at mid-height going round the buttresses, at the angles
of which are small carved figures. There is a band of
quatrefoils above the moulded base and on the west side
a four-centred elaborately moulded doorway, the
original square frame or hood-mould of which has
been cut away. Over the doorway is a four-centred
window of three lights, but on the north and south
sides the bottom stage is blank. The second stage is
wholly faced with ironstone except for a single course
near the bottom, and has a cusped lozenge-shaped opening on all three sides, that facing west having in the
middle a shield with the arms of Catesby quarterly.
The bell-chamber windows in the upper limestone
stage are wide four-centred openings of four trefoiled
lights under a square hood-mould with unpierced
spandrels, and the merlons of the elaborate battlemented parapet are panelled, the string below having
four carved bosses and a gargoyle on each side. Beneath
is a band of quatrefoils and trefoils set diagonally.
There is a vice in the south-west angle. The tower
arch to the nave is rather sharply pointed and is of three
chamfered orders without a hood, the two outer orders
continuous and the inner one on half-round responds
with moulded capitals and bases. The tower floor is
one step below that of the nave.
The east ends of both aisles are screened off: on the
north side for a vestry, on the south for the organ. The
screens are modern.
The font is contemporary with the church, and consists of an octagonal panelled bowl and pedestal on two
square steps. It has an interesting Jacobean oak cover
with twisted balusters supporting a small canopy.
There are good oak Jacobean baluster altar rails,
and the altar table is of approximately the same period,
with curved legs. In the nave are a number of plain
open fixed seats with good mouldings and ornamented
at the ends with small buttresses: though in part much
restored they appear to be contemporary with the
building. The pulpit dates from 1855.
There is a scratch dial under the window west of
the porch. (fn. 55)
On the north wall of the chancel is a marble monument to Thomas Catesby (d. 1699) with busts of himself and wife, and in memory of Sir John Catesby (d.
1485) and his succeeding heirs, (fn. 56) and there are inscribed
floor-slabs to the same Thomas Catesby and to George
Catesby (d. 1658), and Margaret widow of Clifton
Catesby (d. 1662). There are also memorials in the
chancel to George Irby, 1st Baron Boston (d. 1775 and
here buried), and his wife (fn. 57) (d. 1769), and to the Hon.
Edward Methuen Irby, killed at Talavera 1809; and
in the aisles to members of the Irby family and others
ranging from 1792 (fn. 58) to 1883, including Frederick, 2nd
Baron Boston (d. 1825), Paul Anthony Irby, rector (d.
1865), Florance George Henry, 5th Baron Boston (d.
1877), and Charlotte Isabella, Countess of Orkney, and
daughter of the 3rd Lord Boston (d. 1883). (fn. 59)
On the south wall of the chancel outside is a stone
panel in memory of Edward Martyn (d. 1620) and
his wife Winifrid Say, who 'lived together 54 years
as patterns of religious and vertuous life', and had issue
six sons and four daughters. (fn. 60)
In the north aisle, on a painted board, are the royal
arms of one of the Hanoverian sovereigns before
1801.
There is a ring of five bells, the first by Thomas
Russell, of Wootton, Bedfordshire, 1729, the second
an alphabet bell by Hugh Watts of Leicester 1611,
the third inscribed 'S. Anna' and bearing the mark of
Thomas Newcombe of Leicester (c. 1567–8), and the
fourth and fifth by Hugh Watts II of Leicester dated
respectively 1635 and 1638. (fn. 61)
The plate consists of a cup of 1570 and a 17thcentury paten inscribed 'Whishton'. There is also a
pewter plate. (fn. 62)
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all
entries Dec. 1700 to Sept. 1731; (ii) baptisms and
burials 1740–1812, marriages 1740–54; (iii) marriages
1755–1812.
Advowson
Pope Alexander III in 1178 confirmed the church to Ramsey Abbey, (fn. 63)
which had probably already granted
it to William de Whiston with the manor. His successor Sir William de Whiston was patron in 1231,
when he presented William de Whiston, sub-deacon,
to the church. (fn. 64) He presented Roger de Whiston, subdeacon, ten years later and was patron in 1248; (fn. 65) but
the advowson would not have been alienated with the
manor to Moses and so to the Earl of Gloucester.
Agnes de Byfield apparently owned it in 1277, when
she was sued by the earl; she did not appear, (fn. 66) and he
presented, therefore, in 1278; (fn. 67) but Alice daughter of
Michael de Muncore of Whiston in 1301 (fn. 68) presented
and afterwards, 1304–5, granted the advowson with
half a virgate of land to Robert de Byfield and Alice his
wife and his heirs. (fn. 69) Hugh, Earl of Gloucester, revived
the claim to the advowson against Robert's son John de
Byfield, but John recovered seisin, (fn. 70) and presented in
1346. (fn. 71) Nicholas Hobbeson [sic] of Moulsoe and Joan
his wife presented in 1421, William Castell of Glatton
and Isabel his wife in 1430; (fn. 72) perhaps the wives were
co-heiresses. In 1459 Richard Hobbes of Moulsoe
conveyed half the 'manor' of Whiston with the advowson to trustees; (fn. 73) but his son and heir Master Thomas
Hobbes, S.T.P., presented in 1506. (fn. 74) This manor and
advowson were granted by Thomas Rowthall in conveyances 1529–32 to Anthony Catesby (fn. 75) the builder of
the present church. The advowson has since descended
with the main manor (fn. 76) and is now in the gift of Lord
Boston. The living is a rectory.