The Saxon Church at Earls Barton
The Tower
The tower has a number of functions. At Earls Barton, the ground floor probably served as the main body of the church and would have been annexed by a chancel to the east, as with St. Peter, Barton-upon-Humber, built at a similar time. Above, possibly provided accommodation for the priest, or acted as a safe-haven to house treasures. A doorway on the south side of the tower, and originally another opening on the west face, allowed access to the outside. Finally, there is a belfry at the uppermost storey.
The tower is constructed of stone rubble and rendered on the outside, and is decorated with vertical limestone pilaster strips and strapwork. At the corners of the tower, the walls are strengthened with long vertical quoin stones bedded on horizontal slabs, and hence is termed long and short work. The way in which the tower is decorated is unique to Anglo-Saxon architecture, and the decorated Anglo-Saxon tower itself is a phenomenon that occurs locally, including Barnack near Peterborough and Stowe Nine Churches in Northamptonshire.
The storeys are divided by projecting stone string courses, and at each successive storey, the walls become slightly thinner, creating a step at each string course. The vertical pilaster strips continue up the tower, and are interspersed with stone strip arches at lower level and triangular decoration at upper level, in some instances resulting in a criss-cross pattern.
Architecture
The influence is very much Roman, and this can be seen by looking at the doors and windows of the tower. At the west doorway, pilaster strips run up the sides and continue over the head in an arch. Within this, there is an arched moulding springing from square imposts. These are decorated with vertical fluting. The jambs are of large flat stones, at right angles to the wall. The form of the jambs are Roman in origin, and an example of this can be seen in the Bath House of Chesters Fort, Hadrian's Wall. Windows at low level on the south are mullioned with baluster shafts and arched lintels, and the window apertures themselves are cross-shaped. At high level, the belfry has arched five-light windows with baluster shaft mullions.
The blind arcading is purely decorative, since the arches and triangles spring from string courses rather than supporting them. The position of openings in the tower makes use of this decoration by fitting within the triangles and pilaster strips.
The use of stone enabled sturdy towers to be built in this period, but the availability of stone that could be easily quarried and carved enabled towers as at Earls Barton to be decorated in such a way. The limestone at Barnack was quarried extensively from Anglo-Saxon times and throughout the Middle Ages to build churches and cathedrals including Peterborough and Ely. It is evident that Anglo-Saxon churches with long and short work and pilaster strips are distributed throughout England where this type of limestone was available, and in East Anglia where the stone was transported.
History
To the north of All Saints' Church, Earls Barton, exists a mound and ditch, which almost abuts the church. Following the Norman conquest, an Anglo-Saxon by the name of Waltheof had become the first Earl of Northampton. He married the niece of William I, Judith, and she was granted land at Buarton; later named Earls Barton. The mound may have been part of a manor. It is reasonable to suggest that All Saints was originally linked to a manor, rather than being linked to a monastery. Earthworks are also present adjacent to the church at Sulgrave in Northamptonshire, where the remains of an Anglo-Saxon hall has been discovered, and so churches linked to manors at the time of the building of All Saints were not uncommon.
All Saints Church
The church of ALL SAINTS stands conspicuously on a prominent spur of land that commands the road running up to the village from the ford and mill in the valley below, and occupies part of the site of a mote castle, or mound fortress, the ditch of which remains on the north side. The site has been already described. The building consists of chancel, 43 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 9 in.; clerestoried nave, 51 ft. by 22 ft.; north and south aisles, respectively 12 ft. 9 in. and 13 ft. wide; south porch, and west tower, 14 ft. 9 in. by 15 ft. 9 in., all these measurements being internal. The width across the nave and aisles is 53 ft. There is a small modern organchamber on the north side of the chancel.
Plan of Earls Barton Church
The church is of exceptional interest as possessing a late Saxon tower which is generally agreed to be both the finest existing specimen of pre-Conquest work and the most noteworthy architectural monument of its period in England, as well as features ranging from the 12th to the 15th centuries. The tower alone is earlier than the Conquest, but the quoins of an aisleless early 12th-century nave remain at the two eastern angles and less perfectly at the west end, while the south doorway is of c. 1180, but was rebuilt when the south aisle was made. The 12th-century chancel was lengthened and altered c. 1250, and about the same time aisles were added to the nave, the south aisle being the earlier. The north arcade is of c. 1290–1300, but both aisles were altered in the 14th century, when the arches of the nave arcades seem to have been reconstructed and a new chancel arch erected upon the 12th-century jambs; the outer walls of the north aisle were entirely rebuilt and new windows inserted in the chancel and south aisle. Other windows were made in the chancel in the 15th century and the clerestory was added. The building was restored in 1868–70, when the roofs were renewed, a west gallery removed, the porch rebuilt, and the organ-chamber added.
The walls are of rubble, plastered internally, with plain ashlar parapets; the chancel has a high-pitched roof, and the nave and aisles roofs of low pitch, all leaded.
The tower is of four unequal stages and is 68 ft. 8 in. in height to the top of the modern battlemented parapet, with an external width on the west face of 24 ft. The walls are about 4 ft. thick above a simple square plinth, but decrease as they ascend to 2 ft. 6 in. at the bell-chamber stage by a series of set-offs. The stages, or horizontal divisions, are marked by string-courses, of which the first has a hollow chamfer, the other two being square in section, and the quoins show pronounced long-and-short work. The faces of the walling are enriched by pilaster strips about 4 in. in width, between which the rubble is plastered, the strips being joined by round arches at the bottom of the second stage, and by diagonal bands of strip work forming straight-sided arches in the third stage. The eastern quoins are as marked as the western and are completed down to the ground, the 12th-century nave being built up against them. It is therefore possible that the ground story of the tower formed the body, or main interior division, of the original church, and had a narrower, square-ended chancel on the eastern side, but there is no indication of a western adjunct as at Barton-onHumber. Unfortunately, at Earls Barton the eastern arch opening to the nave was altered and widened later, and its original form lost. Whatever the nature of the eastern limb, however, its roof was of high pitch, the apex of the gable reaching to the lower part of the third stage of the tower, where its marks still remain.
The west doorway has a semicircular moulded head, which on the exterior is cut out of two stones, but internally the whole head is formed of a single block. The doorway, which is 3 ft. 3 in. wide and 7 ft. 7 in. high to the crown of the arch, is cut straight through the wall, and the door was suspended on the inner face by iron hooks. The jambs are formed by large slabs set upright, alternating with flat stones, but they differ in construction, on the north side a single slab 4 ft. 6 in. high, 6 in. thick, and 3 ft. 7 in. deep forming almost the whole height of the jamb. The doorway is enriched with an outer order of upright pilaster strips bent round above in the shape of the arch, and upon the outer and inner faces of the square imposts is an incised arcading, which may have been added in the 12th century. The plinths are square blocks.
Immediately above the doorway is a round-headed, internally splayed 12th-century window, taking the place of an original double window, like that in the south wall of the tower. This is double splayed with cross-shaped piercings in the mid-wall slabs, whereas those on the western side were circular. Externally the openings are ornamented with three projecting baluster shafts set on square corbels, and above each is an enrichment of narrow roll-mouldings disposed about a central cross carved in relief. The openings occupy the upper part of the two middle vertical spaces between the pilaster strips, immediately below the string course, the south face of the tower being divided into six such spaces; on the north side there are only five, and both of the lower stages are quite plain.
In the second stage, except on the north, are roundheaded upper doorways. That on the east side, which is placed higher than the others, now gives access to the roof of the nave, but originally opened into a space between an upper and an under roof. On the south and west sides the doorways, which are 2 ft. 6 in. wide by 7 ft. in height, provide egress from near the floor of the ringing chamber, but the external apertures are at too great a height from the ground to admit of access by a ladder from the outside, nor is there any sign of a gallery or platform. In the third stage, one on each of the four sides, are small triangular-headed openings which, like the doorways in the stage below, are cut straight through the thickness of the wall without any splay.
The short upper, or bell-chamber stage has on each face a group of five round-headed openings so arranged that the main part of the wall is carried by simple square stone pillars, while the baluster shafts, which are intended to be seen, are thrust forward to the external edge of the opening. The shafts differ from those generally in use, being mostly oblong in plan instead of round, and only equipped with mouldings on their outer faces.
The present opening from the tower to the nave is of the late 13 th century, with re-use of 12th-century material, and is 12 ft. 6 in. wide. The arch is a pointed one of three chamfered orders dying out above plain jambs with scalloped and moulded imposts, and the outer order facing east has a double row of billet moulding. The ground floor of the tower is now a vestry and has a modern floor at the height of the crown of the arch.
Of the 12th-century nave only the angles with their ashlar quoin-stones and the jambs of the chancel arch remain in position, the south doorway having been moved outward. It has an enriched semicircular arch of three orders, the innermost continuous with chevron ornament and plain soffit, the two outer on nook-shafts with sculptured capitals and moulded imposts and bases. The chevron is also used on the outer order, and the middle order has beak-heads on an angle roll, the soffits in each case being plain; the hood-mould has a circular arched ornament. The circular inner shafts are enriched with spiral decoration, but the others are octagonal in section with studded and plain chevrons. The west capital of the middle order has a bird with wings displayed at the angle.
The opening of the chancel arch is the full width of the 12th-century chancel, with two shafts on each side towards the nave, all with cushion capitals. Upon these is a 14th-century arch of three orders facing west and two on the east side, the latter chamfered, the former with wave-moulding.
The side walls of the Norman chancel still form the western part of the present structure for a distance of about 24 ft. At this point on either side the walling is reduced in thickness where the 13th-century work begins, thus increasing the width of the chancel at the east end by 18 in. Externally a flat, shallow buttress remains on each side 12 ft. from the west end, but no original windows have survived, and the internal wallarcading, which seems to have been carried all round the 12th-century chancel, was reconstructed and some of the spare arches from the east end were inserted as sedilia in the new part of the south wall, while pieces of chevron ornament, probably from the jambs of earlier windows, were built up at the interior angles of the old walls at their junction with the thinner walls of the added portion. On the south side the wall arcade now consists of six semicircular arches with chevron moulding, on shafts with scalloped capitals, on a continuous bench-table, the easternmost arch being occupied by a rectangular aumbry. On the north side are five similar arches, with the springing of a sixth at the junction of the old and new work, but the capitals of the shafts vary, one being cushioned, another scalloped, one with volutes, and two sculptured. Over each arcade, at sill level, is a string-course with double billet moulding. The arcading now begins about 5 ft. from the entrance to the chancel, two low-side windows having been introduced at the west end opposite to each other. That on the south is pointed, with chamfered arch and hood-mould terminating in corbels, whilst the other is a plain rectangular opening. Both have flat sills forming seats and on the north side the hooks for the shutter remain. The moulded, roundheaded priest's doorway apparently belongs to the 13th-century work; it has a keel-shaped hood-mould and roll-moulded jambs.
The added portion of the chancel, about 20 ft. in length, has coupled angle buttresses, moulded plinth, and keel-shaped string-course at sill level, the latter continued westward on the south side. The east window is of three grouped lancets with shafted mullions, moulded jambs, and separate hood-moulds, and in the gable above is a sexfoil opening with continuous label. At the east end of the north wall is a single widely splayed lancet, but all the other windows in the chancel are insertions of 14th- and 15th-century date, each of two lights, that at the east end of the south wall being four-centred, the others square-headed. Below the modern parapet is a hollow string-course, apparently contemporary with the 14th-century windows. Internally, the keel-shaped string is repeated all round the 13th-century extension, but the wall below has modern panelling at the east end with a return on each side. The trefoiled piscina has a fluted projecting bowl and stone shelf and the triple stepped sedilia, as already stated, are made up from the displaced Norman wall arcade, with round chevron arches and shafts with cushion capitals.
The 13th-century south arcade of the nave consists of three pointed arches of two chamfered orders, with hood-mould on one side, springing from octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases, and from keel-shaped responds. The bases stand on square plinths of masonry probably portions of the 12th-century wall through which the arcade was cut. There is a keel-shaped string all round the aisle inside and out, and the shallow buttresses are contemporary with the walling, but all the windows are 14th-century insertions, with ogee heads and, except at the east end, of two trefoiled lights with elongated quatrefoil in the head; the east window is of three lights with reticulated tracery, and its sill is dropped inside as a reredos for the aisle altar. To the north of it is a rectangular aumbry, and in the south wall a trefoiled moulded piscina with plain circular bowl.
The later north arcade is also of three bays, with arches of two sunk-chamfered orders divided by a casement, springing from clustered piers consisting of four half-round shafts with small intervening rolls, and four responds of similar section, all with moulded capitals and bases. The north aisle walls were wholly rebuilt in the 14th century and have angle buttresses of two stages and a moulded string-course at sill level inside and out. The windows are of similar type to those in the south aisle, with moulded rear arches, and the doorway has a continuous moulding of three members. On the south side of the east window is an image-bracket with carved head and on the north another formed from a 13th-century capital, but no ritual arrangements have survived. In the north wall is a locker for a processional cross.
There are four square-headed clerestory windows of two trefoiled lights on each side. The porch has been rebuilt on the old lines, much of the old masonry being re-used; the outer arch is of two orders on clustered shafts with moulded capitals and bases which are 14thcentury work much restored. The side windows are modern.
The 15th-century traceried rood-screen has been much restored and painted; it has two subdivided openings on each side of the doorway and plain lower panels with traceried heads, carved rail and cornice, and vaulted cover. There is a modern rood with three figures.
The hexagonal dark oak Jacobean pulpit has five of its sides elaborately panelled in two tiers, the lower arched, the upper oblong; it stands on a modern stone base. The font dates from 1877 and is in the 13th-century style. There is a plain oak chest with the marks of three locks, and the royal arms of one of the Hanoverian Georges are over the tower arch. The seating and fittings are all modern.
The brass of John Muscote (d. 1512) and Alice his wife, formerly in the floor of the nave, is now on the south jamb of the tower arch. The figures of the man and wife and one of the evangelists' symbols remain, but the other symbols, the inscription, and the figures of four sons and twelve daughters are gone.
In the church are preserved two quarries of glass from the old vicarage, with scratched inscriptions recording the marriage of Thomas Gery Bennet, 13 June 1745, and the birth of his son Thomas, 25 March 1748.
There are mural tablets, from 1790, to members of the Whitworth family, and on the outside of the south wall of the chancel is a memorial to James Harris, who died in 1605 aged 93, inscribed 'The loss of friends is much, the losse of time is more. The losse of Christ is much more worse, which no man can restore.'
There is a ring of eight bells, the treble, second, and fourth dated 1720, the third by Edward Arnold of St. Neots 1775, and the tenor by Thomas Eayre of Kettering 1761. The former fifth was recast and increased in weight, becoming the seventh, in 1935, when two new bells were given by the Barron Bell Trust, inscribed 'In the year of the King's Silver Jubilee'. All the bells were then rehung in a new oak frame.
The plate is all modern and comprises a silver cup, paten, flagon, bread-holder, and alms dish of 1814, the first four given by Elizabeth Whitworth, spinster, in that year. There is also a pewter flagon. The alms dish was made from 'a silver cup with cover of silver' which is mentioned in 1647, and may have been Elizabethan.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1558–1686, 1691–2, 1705–28, marriages 1559–68, 1579–87, 1591–1678, 1705–25, burials 1558–1678, 1682–85, 1705–28; (ii) baptisms 1730–69, 1770–5, 1777–83, marriages 1730–53, burials 1730–67,1770– 2, 1777–83; (iii) baptisms 1784–1812, burials 1789– 1812; (iv) marriages 1754–93. There is also a clerk's book containing entries of baptisms 1695–1705, marriages 1697–1702, and burials 1695–1704.
Advowson
The advowson of the church of Earls Barton was part of the gift of Simon de St. Liz, Earl of Northampton, to the abbey of Delapré. With the abbey the advowson continued until the reign of Henry VIII; but on several occasions different persons were patrons by permission of the abbess. In 1535 the profits issuing from the church were valued at £10. After the Dissolution the advowson was retained by the Crown until 1867. In 1868 it was held by Edward Thornton, and is now in the gift of the Martyrs Memorial Trust.
The rectory of Earl's Barton was let out to various tenants by the abbey, the annual rent in 1535 being £14. After the Dissolution the rectory was the subject of various grants by the Crown. In 1543 Sir William Parre obtained a life grant. In 1550 the king granted it to Ralph Sherman for a term of 21 years after the expiration of the grant to Parre. Elizabeth in 1567 granted the rectory for a term of 21 years to Christopher Lewis, from whom it descended to Clement Lewis and his heirs; it remained in this family until 1623. In 1656 the rectory was under sequestration and after that date the tithes from small parts of land were held by various tenants.
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