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Winwick: Culture and History under Threat
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"Winwick, a village in an inclosed Lordship, hath Guilsborough and Thurnby on the east. Eltington on the north, on the west Creke, and West-Haddon on the south. In the town are fourteen houses, and four in the grounds. Lady Craven who owns the Manor hath an old seat here, the place of her residence. The greatest extent of the Lordship from east to west is computed to be two large miles. From the Hill-field, which commands a very extensive prospect, may be seen objects at the distance of near forty miles. In the warren, destroyed about fifty years ago, is a rock which supplies good building stone, little inferior to that of Harleston. In the town is a mineral water, named Kilworth's-spring. A brook rising in West-haddon field passeth through the town, drives an over-shot mill, and directs its course to the Avon." Bridges History of Northamptonshire written in the early 18th century (see Bibliography below) |
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Think Winwick is tiny and of no merit in the grander scheme of things? Think again. The present village lying to the east of an earlier deserted settlement with moated remains, demonstrates well the typical feudal pattern of manor house and church on higher ground at one end with the 'business end' represented by the watermill at the other, with cottages and gardens strung out along the length of the brook in between. This relation of the manor and church within the landscape is clearly visible in the photo of a 1997 aerial view (source unknown) above. The rectangle comprising two cereal fields, left LongburrowlLangborough and right Barn Longburrow/Langborough, divided by a hedge, and the cereal fields beyond are the southern end, with the greatest acreage, of the proposed wind farm. Domesday Even before Domesday Winwick was gifted to the Priory of Coventry, on its foundation, by Leofric and his lady, Godiva, along with 21 other lordships.The Domesday book of 1086 recorded a population of 31, of whom 22 were within Coventry Abbey's holding. Records of the watermill appear by the 12th century and continue regularly thereafter. Later there was a windmill, not the old West Haddon site but our very own Winwick windmill across the lane from Heygates, which was still standing in the 17th century (NRO Fermor Hesketh Baker 3). Winwick Warren "all that inclosure of park and ploughed land commonly called the Warren with a Lodge House standing on it consisting of three low rooms with the game of conies containing 115 acres..." Sequestration survey 1652 (NRO 45) Rabbits were introduced to England from France only after the Norman conquest and farmed both for meat and fur. Medieval warrens were built of stone, earthed over and rabbits highly valued. By the 16th century the price of rabbits had declined considerably and the meat was a luxury no more. Bridges, writing in the early years of the 18th century, noted that Winwick Warren had been destroyed some time before; the stone is quite likely to have been reclaimed for building. However a Winwick Warren 'farmhouse' was already in existence in 1652 and it's likely the warren was still standing then as the rights to the rabbits went with the land. Not many intact medieval warrens are extant but still an archeological study of Winwick warren could reveal much. Judging by the field names dating back several hundred years, Upper Warren, Lower Warren, Warren Meadow, the warren could have been quite extensive. Warren Meadow, behind Barn Longburrow/Langborough in the photo above is within E.ON's proposed site. Winwick Mill "The tenant has been at very considerable expenses in erecting and supporting buildings" 1778 The Grade II listed (see English Heritage details) watermill, much of the structure of which dates from the 18th century when considerable improvements were recorded, was declared in the 2001-2002 Watermills Survey for Northamptonshire County Council to be "one of the best (in the county) watermill sites for showing the relationship between the mill, its water supply and its surroundings, something which has been lost elsewhere. The Winwick site should be considered of county significance." Mills were of vital importance to the community; in Winwick "rye, barley and wheat" (NRO ZA 3631) were grown and leases stipulated that tenants must only grind corn the estate's own mills. During the medieval period most of the land was cultivated, resulting in the ridge and furrow which can be seen today under the remaining permanent pasture, which itself is a relic of the later period when wool was the mainstay of the English economy. Some ridge and furrow has been destroyed by ploughing, most notably the ancient meadows constituting part of the proposed wind farm site, put to the plough after the current landowner acquired the land in the early 1990s. Best viewed in a slanting evening light or when snow is thawing, these ridges and furrows surrounding the village are an enduring reminder of an ever-present past. Sir Thomas Malory and the Morte d'Arthur By the 13th century the monks and laybrothers of Pipewell Abbey ran a grange (abbey farm) at Winwick while the the Malory family had long-term control (since c1100) of the Coventry estates under their feudal lord the Prior of Coventry. Passing down the centuries through the family the Winwick estates descended to Sir Thomas Malory, a major figure in the history of English literature. Noted for a colourful life, he wrote the Morte d'Arthur, the first literary rendition of the old Arthurian legends in English, although the legends had been a very popular theme in German and French secular writings from the 12th century, and of course had been well recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Published by Caxton in 1471 fourteen years after his death, as Le Morte d'Arthur, it also represents one of our earliest English printed books. Although Sir Thomas Malory's main estates were in Warwickshire, documentary evidence suggests that he spent some time in Winwick; his widow Elizabeth certainly did - she died in Winwick. The typical English Midlands landcapes will have figured in his mind while writing as he embellished from the original French. Every piece of Arthurian writing since has been based on the Morte d'Arthur, down to the T H White's Sword in the Stone and Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot.
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". . . at the Mansion House of the said Thomas Andrew in Wynwyke aforesaid in the haull there betwixt the houres of nine and twelve of the clock in the forenoon of the said feastdaie. And the other hundred marks at the feast of the Nativitie of our Lord God the next following at the said place and betwixt the like hours..." 30th April 1564 (NRO KII 36) |
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The oldest inhabited brick house in the Northamptonshire (the honour of the oldest brick house, unlived in for over 300 years, goes to the Dower House at Fawsley built by Sir Thomas' cousin: a touch of family rivalry here?) Winwick Manor House, Listed Grade II*( see English Heritage details) was certainly lived in at the time of Sir Thomas' death in 1564, and passed to his 22 year old son, Thomas Andrew. Were the 120 large trees sold to Sir Thomas in 1550 by an ancestor of the present owner used in its construction? The triumphal arch (Grade II* see English Heritage details) opening onto the original entrance court, a common feature in Northamptonshire, is described by Pevsner (see Bibliography) as "a very fine piece of Elizabethan display" and by Timothy Mowl (see Bibliography) as "the earliest and most overtly classical archway in the county". The spandrels of the arch bear the moors' heads - complete with hoop earrings - the Andrewes family crest. Not all the original house still stands but what remains of it corresponds with the survey carried out on sequestration in 1652: |
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". . . All that capital messuage or mansion house situate and being in Winwick commonly called Winwick Hall built with stone and brick and covered with slate consisting of a fair hall, a parlour, a withdrawing room, a kitching, a washhouse, a pantry, a larder, a cellar and over them a fair dining room, two lodging chambers, a withdrawing room, three closetts and over them four chambers three closetts with a courtyard walled about with brick, a stable with other outhouses, an outyard woith a dayrie and bakehouse with two chambers over them, a bowling green, a garden, an orchard . . . |
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Sir Thomas's son, Thomas Andrew, also served as Sheriff and in this capacity was present at the execution of Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay on 8th February 1587. This Thomas Andrew was buried at Winwick and his burial is one of the very first entries, the ink much faded, entered in the parish register. Before and to the left of the triumphal arch stands another grand building of brick and stone, contemporaneous with the Manor House, the original stables, now known as the Tithe Barn, Listed Grade II (see English Heritage details). All together the visual combination and relationship between, church, manor, arch and barn is immensely pleasing, from wherever it is viewed, and is one of the hidden gems of Northamptonshire. |
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The Lordship of Winwick pased in the early 17th Century to Lady Elizabeth Craven, rumoured to have been the wealthiest widow in the country at the time, and then via her son John, who preferred living at Althorpe with his wife Elizabeth Spencer, to her other son William, Lord, later Earl Craven, a great supporter of Elizabeth of Bohemia (the Winter Queen) sister of Charles I, and of Charles I himself. Thus in 1652 the Winwick estates were sequestrated by Parliament, only to be returned after the Restoration. The Winwick estates was leased as a weding gift to his cousin Sir William Craven - who had accompanied him while he was at the court in exile of Elizabeth at the Hague - and his wife Mary Clerke of Watford. Magnificent monuments to both remain in Winwick Church along with the black marble ledger stones under which they are buried.
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Sir William and his wife being childless, the estates reverted back to the Earls Craven and their immense property holdings across the country. A very lengthy legal battle followed, relating to provision of an income for younger Craven heirs. Winwick passed to another wealthy widow and the Langham estates in the late 18th century, at which time the first couple of freeholds were sold. The manor house dwindled to a tenanted farmhouse until restored and considerably enlarged first by Captain Geoffrey Stewart (died Givenchy 22 Dec 1914) and then by Captain Eric Brand Butler-Henderson in the 1920s, reputedly by architect Percy Morley-Horder, the latter wing now forming a separate dwelling. Winwick Manor gardens were were laid out in the inter-war years, possibly designed by Percy Cane. Fortunately Eric Butler-Henderson's über-grandiose scheme whose plans are in the Northampton Record Office never took shape. Part of the series of present garden enclosures possibly represents the 17th century "bowling green, a garden, an orchard" (NRO RH45). Recent works have included a much admired knot garden (1992) in the former entrance court, the design taken from the geometrical strapwork designs on the entrance archway. |
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Proposed Wind Farm site in relation to the Historic Landscape See below the planned site in relation to the 1778 field plan (NRO 4448a). Field boundaries change little over the years, and the current OS map with E.ON's location plan is little different, though the route of the West haddon - Cold Ashby road has changed and bisects fields 50 and 54. The site is outlined in red, but goes north off this plan, forming a narrow 'panhandle' stretching up to Cold Ashby. Compare also with aerial view showing possible location of turbines. Click here |
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1778 Key (NRO RH44) 49 Lower Warren
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Saint Michael and All Angels With the earliest parts dating from the 13th century St Michael and All Angels (Grade II* see English Heritage details) stands on a mound. The tower houses 3 bells. Some of the roof trusses in the transepts date from the 14th century. The chancel was rebuilt by the Rev Bromhead in the 19th century. Rev Bromhead was also reponsible for the 'enlargement' of the school house (now the Old School House) and a new vicarage (now Winwick Hall). The north transept houses the memorials to Sir William and Lady Craven, mentioned previously; Sir William's is unusual in that it bears an inscription in both Latin and English. As it has been for centuries, and never a pub, shop or other public facility in the village, the church is still the focus of village life. Services may have small congregations other than for the high points of the year but the community spirit engendered is second to none. Winwick residents raise far more at their biennial village fete through integrated mutual effort than does the much larger neighbouring village of West Haddon. In celebration of the millennium the village raised over £14,000 for a new stained glass window. At the west end of the church, designed by Jane Campbell AMGP it represents the light and love of God shining down on the village. The countryside beyond the church is etched into the design, reflecting the integral correlation between the village, the community, their surroundings and the wider natural world . . . Jennifer Temple
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Bibliography Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England, Northamptonshire, 2nd Edition 2002, Yale University Press Documents references: NRO = Northamptonshire Records Office
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Sir William Craven of Winwick |
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