Warkworth, Northamptonshire

Warkworth
St Mary the Virgin parish church
Warkworth is located in Northamptonshire
Warkworth
Warkworth
Location within Northamptonshire
Population31 (2001 census)
OS grid referenceSP4840
• London74 miles (119 km)
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBanbury
Postcode districtOX17
Dialling code01295
PoliceNorthamptonshire
FireNorthamptonshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament

Warkworth is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, about 2 miles (3 km) east of Banbury in Oxfordshire and 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of junction 11 of the M40 motorway. The 2001 census recorded the parish's population as 31.[1]

History

The village's name means 'We(o)rca's enclosure' or 'We(o)rce's enclosure', a female individual name. Bede makes reference to an abbess called Verce in Tynemouth in the seventh century. On the other hand, the individual name may be 'Waeferce'.[2]

Warkworth was historically a chapelry which formed a detached part of the ancient parish of Marston St Lawrence.[3] For the purposes of administering parish responsibilities under the poor laws, the chapelry of Warkworth was jointly administered with the part of Banbury parish which was in Northamptonshire, comprising the hamlets of Grimsbury and Nethercote.[4][5] In 1866 the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Warkworth became a civil parish which included Grimsbury and Nethercote.[6] Grimsbury and Nethercote formed part of municipal borough of Banbury from 1889,[7] and were removed from the civil parish of Warkworth in 1894, after which the civil parish corresponded to the old chapelry of Warkworth.[8]

Warkworth Inclosure Act 1764
Act of Parliament
coat of arms
Parliament of Great Britain
Long titleAn Act for dividing and enclosing the Open and Common Field, Common Meadows, Common Pastures, Common Grounds, and Commonable Lands, lying within the Township, Hamlets, and Liberties, of Warkworth, in the County of Northampton.
Citation4 Geo. 3. c. 67 Pr.
Territorial extent Great Britain
Dates
Royal assent19 April 1764
Commencement15 November 1763[a]
Status: Current legislation

An open field system of farming prevailed in Warkworth until the 18th century. A single inclosure act, the Warkworth Inclosure Act 1764 (4 Geo. 3. c. 67 Pr.) was used to enclose the formerly separate open field systems of Warkworth, Grimsbury, Nethercote and Overthorpe (the latter being a hamlet in Middleton Cheney parish).[9]

Lyons family

Nicholas de Lyons, who with his son Sir John de Lyons[10] emigrated from Normandy to England in 1080, was granted lands at Warkworth by William the Conqueror.[11] Nicholas was the son of Ingelram de Lyons The Elder, who had arrived in England in 1066, with the Norman Conquest, to fight at the Battle of Hastings.[12]

Nicholas de Lyons's descendants subsequently bought Warkworth Castle, Northamptonshire, which was the English seat of the Lyons family until 1412. It was a castellated mansion that consisted of a body with two wings, forming three sides of a quadrangle, with a large gatehouse and semi-circular towers.[13][10] It was converted into a spectacular house by subsequent owners, during the Jacobean period, but was demolished c.1805.[14][13]

Several members of the de Lyons family are buried at the Church of St Mary at Warkworth, including two in tombs with effigies (see below).[13][15]

Church of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is 14th-century Decorated Gothic. The Church was partly rebuilt in 1840–41 and 1869, and on the latter occasion under the direction of Charles Driver. The three-bay north arcade, the arch and east window of the south transept, and the windows in the south aisle are 14th-century. The south arcade, north aisle windows, chancel and top of the west tower are 19th-century Gothic Revival.[13] The south aisle has a squint to the chancel.[16] The Church is Grade II* listed.[16]

St Mary's parish is a member of the Chenderit Benefice, which includes the parishes of Chacombe, Greatworth, Marston St. Lawrence, Middleton Cheney and Thenford.[17]

Monuments to de Lyons and Chetwode families

Inside the church are several English church monuments.[18]

Several members of the de Lyons family are buried in the Church.[13] In the arcade are the tombs with effigies of Sir John de Lyons (c. 1268-1312) and his wife Margaret Chetwode, who was the daughter of Sir John Chetwode.[18] Lyons is shown in armour but with his head comfortably resting on two pillows and with a lion on his feet.[18] Margaret also has a similar number of pillows that are held in place by two patient angels.[18] They both lie staring upwards.[18]

Nearby is the grander tomb and effigy of their son Sir John de Lyons (c. 1289-1371),[13][15] who was Lord of Warkworth in 1322, in armour such as that which he would have worn at the Battle of Crecy and the Battle of Poitiers.[18] He is depicted in his military costume of a helmet, a cyclas (a loose garment worn over armour), a dagger-belt decorated with roses, and a sword in a ornamented scabbard.[18] There is another lion at his feet.[18] In the arcades beneath are figures and coats-of-arms and at the tomb's head there is a praying knight.[18] His daughter and heir married Sir John Chetwode,[19] to whom the Lyons estate at Warkworth passed when she died without male siblings, after which Chetwode adopted the older Lyons coat-of-arms and the title 'Lord of Warkworth'.[20]

Therefore, the Chetwode family also are buried and commemorated in the Church. There are five 15th-century monumental brasses: to Sir John Chetwode (died 1412), a second John Chetwode (died 1420), Margaret Brounyng (died 1420), Lady Chetwode (died 1430) and William Ludsthorp (died 1454). There is also an 18th-century monument to William Holman (died 1740).[13]

Amenities

The Jurassic Way long-distance footpath passes through Warkworth village.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Start of session.

References

  1. ↑ "Parish Headcounts. Area selected: South Northamptonshire (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Warkworth map". Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Youngs, Frederic (1991). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume 2. London: Royal Historical Society. p. 311. ISBN 0861931270.
  4. ↑ Lewis, Samuel (1835). A Topographical Dictionary of England: Volume 1. p. 135. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  5. ↑ Crossley, Alan, ed. (1972). "Banbury: Introduction". A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 10. London: Victoria County History. pp. 5–18. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  6. ↑ Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England. London: Royal Historical Society. p. xvi. ISBN 0901050679.
  7. ↑ "Local Government Board's Provisional Orders Confirmation (No. 15) Act 1889". The National Archives. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  8. ↑ Annual Report of the Local Government Board. 1895. p. 271. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  9. ↑ RCHME 1982, pp. 101–102.
  10. 1 2 Hewitt, Michael (2014). A Most Remarkable Family: A History of the Lyon Family from 1066 to 2014. AuthorHouse.
  11. ↑ Charles Manners, Duke of Rutland, John James Robert Manners, Duke of Rutland, Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, Richard Ward, Esq. Robert Campbell, John Horace Round (1894). The Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Rutland. H.M. Stationery Office. pp. 174–175.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Powlett, Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina (1889). The Battle Abbey Roll: With Some Account of the Norman Lineages. J. Murray. p. 216.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pevsner, Nikolaus. The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire (2nd Edition, Revised by Cherry, Bridget. Yale University Press. p. 444.
  14. ↑ Miller, Robert, ed. (1907). The Lyon Memorial: New York Families Descended from the Immigrant, Thomas Lyon of Rye. Press William Graham Printing Co.
  15. 1 2 Rutherford-Edge, Shana. "The Ancient and Noble Seat: The History of the Villages of Overthorpe and Warkworth in Northamptonshire" (PDF). pp. 11–23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  16. 1 2 Historic England. "Church of St Mary (Grade II*) (1226297)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  17. ↑ Archbishops' Council (2015). "Benefice of Chenderit". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Church of St. Mary, Warkworth, Northamptonshire
  19. ↑ Kimberley, E.; Johnson, R. (1771). The Baronetage of England, Vol. 2. G. Woodhall. p. 536.
  20. ↑ "History of Parliament Online: Sir John Chetwode".

Sources

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