Southwick, Northamptonshire
Encyclopedia
Southwick is a small village and civil parish
in Northamptonshire
, England
. It is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the town of Oundle
and is set in a valley of the river Nene
. The village falls within the Non-Metropolitan District of East Northamptonshire
, which itself lies within the East Midlands
region
. At the time of the 2001 census
, the parish's population was 180 people.
stone hall dating from the mid-13th century, which may have been a manse owned by St Mary's Priory, Huntingdon
, was subsequently converted into a kitchen and brewhouse before being relegated to use as an outbuilding for the 16th century Vicarage Farm. In the north-west of Southwick parish there is a chalybeate
spring; during the 17th century its medicinal properties were recognised and bathing facilities were constructed.
, from 1324. The family built the medieval manor house which was then known as Knyvett's Place but is now known as Southwick Hall. Dating from this period are two towers, one at the front of the house and the other in the courtyard at the rear.
Richard Knyvett's son, Sir John Knyvet
, was Chief Justice of the King's Bench
and Lord Chancellor
between 1372 and 1377. Another family member was the Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire
and another was the Sheriff of Northamptonshire who was taken prisoner whilst fighting in the Hundred Years' War
: a ransom of a thousand pounds was demanded for his release.
The Knyvetts allowed Southwick to pass to the Lynn family after inheriting a better seat for themselves at Buckenham Castle
in Norfolk
. The first Lynn at Southwick was John Lynn, who married Joan Knyvett, who was herself the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of the John Knyvet established there in 1194.
The Lynn family held the manor of Southwick from 1442 until 1840, and it was during their tenure that most of Southwick Hall was built, although the oldest parts date from the 14th century. The family ended in an heiress, Martha Lynn, who married but died childless in 1796. Her heirs were the Johnson family, who took the name and arms of Lynn but sold Southwick to the Capron family in 1840.
The Caprons were already lords of the nearby manor of Stoke Doyle
, and the first Capron lord of the manor of Southwick, George Capron (1783-1872), had made a fortune as a lawyer at the time of the railway boom of the early 19th century, in which he acted for railway companies in acquisitions of land.
A connection is traced between the three families which have owned the manor of Southwick from the 12th to the 21st centuries: Knyvett, Lynn and Capron. One of George Capron's great-uncles was John Shuckburgh
, or Shukburgh. His mother, Judith Thynne, was descended through the Thynnes of Longleat
(now Marquesses of Bath) from the Lynn family. John Shukburgh's only son, Rev. John Shukburgh, left George Capron the residue of his estate when he died unmarried in 1818. George's uncle John was a co-heir, but in 1839 he also died unmarried, leaving the Caprons as sole heirs in residue. It was in the following year that the Caprons acquired the manor of Southwick. The pub in Southwick is called the Shuckburgh Arms because of this connection.
The Caprons rebuilt and enlarged the east wing of Southwick in 1870. According to the Return of Owners of Land in 1873, the Capron estates centred on Southwick Hall and Stoke Doyle comprised over 5,000 acres (20 km²), including woodland and generated an income of over £4,000 a year. These have now been much reduced, but the Capron family remain as lords of the manors and members of the family are in residence at Southwick Hall.
Inside the church is a monument to George Lynn by Louis-François Roubiliac
and which dates to 1758; it was commissioned by Ann Bellamy Lynn (at a cost of £500) and shows her looking up at a profile of her late husband. The modern cross and candlesticks used in the church were made from the wood of a tree which had grown in the churchyard and were a thanks offering from Edith Capron following recovery from a severe illness in 1931. The altar rails date from the 18th century; beneath them lie the tombs of John (died 1694) and Grace Lynn (died 1694) and her father, "That learned and pious Anthony Cade", who had been a tutor and chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham
.
Other features in the church include:
The churchyard was built on land that had earlier been used by the Romans
to extract the local ironstone
. Due to later settling of the infilled quarry, the church has required heavy buttressing on the tower and also the rebuilding of the nave and the chancel.
Southwick Wood is now a nature reserve
managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough
. It has an area of 56 acres (226,624.2 m²). Many suckering elms were lost to Dutch elm disease
in the late 1960s, and have been replaced by Wild Cherry. Other trees include Ash, Oak
and Field Maple, together with Wild Service Trees no longer producing viable seed, which is an indicator of antiquity of woodland. Greater Butterfly Orchid
has been recorded here in the past.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the town of Oundle
Oundle
Oundle is an ancient market town on the River Nene in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 5,345 or 5,674 . It lies some north of London and south-west of Peterborough...
and is set in a valley of the river Nene
River Nene
The River Nene is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in the county of Northamptonshire. The tidal river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk for about . It is the tenth longest river in the United Kingdom, and is navigable for from Northampton to The...
. The village falls within the Non-Metropolitan District of East Northamptonshire
East Northamptonshire
East Northamptonshire is a local government district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council is based in Thrapston and Rushden, which is the largest town in the area...
, which itself lies within the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...
region
Regions of England
In England, the region is the highest tier of sub-national division used by central Government. Between 1994 and 2011, the nine regions had an administrative role in the implementation of UK Government policy, and as the areas covered by elected bodies...
. At the time of the 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, the parish's population was 180 people.
History
Excavations were carried out at Southwick in 1996 and the results were published in a paper in Northamptonshire Archaeology. Excavations of two closely connected sites produced evidence of thriving iron-smelting industry in the village in the 10th century. A medievalMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
stone hall dating from the mid-13th century, which may have been a manse owned by St Mary's Priory, Huntingdon
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.-History:Huntingdon...
, was subsequently converted into a kitchen and brewhouse before being relegated to use as an outbuilding for the 16th century Vicarage Farm. In the north-west of Southwick parish there is a chalybeate
Chalybeate
Chalybeate waters, also known as ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron.-Name:The word "chalybeate" is derived from the Latin word for steel, "chalybs", which follows from the Greek word "khalups"...
spring; during the 17th century its medicinal properties were recognised and bathing facilities were constructed.
The manor of Southwick, and Southwick Hall
The first mention of a Knyvett at Southwick is in 1194. The Knyvetts were in the village for at least a century before they built the present house. Richard Knyvett, a prominent wool merchant, was the keeper of the forest of Clive (or Cliffe) which is now part of Rockingham ForestRockingham Forest
Rockingham Forest is a former Mediæval royal hunting forest in the East Midlands region of England; most of which was in the county of Northamptonshire but also extended slightly into the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire .The forest originally stretched from Stamford down...
, from 1324. The family built the medieval manor house which was then known as Knyvett's Place but is now known as Southwick Hall. Dating from this period are two towers, one at the front of the house and the other in the courtyard at the rear.
Richard Knyvett's son, Sir John Knyvet
John Knyvet
Sir John Knyvet was an English lawyer and administrator. He was Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1365 to 1372, and Lord Chancellor of England from 1372 to 1377.-Life:...
, was Chief Justice of the King's Bench
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
and Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
between 1372 and 1377. Another family member was the Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Huntingdonshire was a Parliamentary constituency covering the county of Huntingdonshire in England. It was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and then in the House of Commons the Parliament of the United...
and another was the Sheriff of Northamptonshire who was taken prisoner whilst fighting in the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
: a ransom of a thousand pounds was demanded for his release.
The Knyvetts allowed Southwick to pass to the Lynn family after inheriting a better seat for themselves at Buckenham Castle
Buckenham Castle
At Buckenham, Norfolk there are the remains of two castles: .-Old castle:All that remains today of what was a Norman castle are the remnants of the earthworks and some traces of a stone curtain wall...
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. The first Lynn at Southwick was John Lynn, who married Joan Knyvett, who was herself the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of the John Knyvet established there in 1194.
The Lynn family held the manor of Southwick from 1442 until 1840, and it was during their tenure that most of Southwick Hall was built, although the oldest parts date from the 14th century. The family ended in an heiress, Martha Lynn, who married but died childless in 1796. Her heirs were the Johnson family, who took the name and arms of Lynn but sold Southwick to the Capron family in 1840.
The Caprons were already lords of the nearby manor of Stoke Doyle
Stoke Doyle
Stoke Doyle is a village and civil parish in East Northamptonshire in England, two miles south-west of Oundle.-Governance:It is represented on the parish council of Pilton, Stoke Doyle and Wadenhoe, on East Northamptonshire District Council and Northamptonshire County Council...
, and the first Capron lord of the manor of Southwick, George Capron (1783-1872), had made a fortune as a lawyer at the time of the railway boom of the early 19th century, in which he acted for railway companies in acquisitions of land.
A connection is traced between the three families which have owned the manor of Southwick from the 12th to the 21st centuries: Knyvett, Lynn and Capron. One of George Capron's great-uncles was John Shuckburgh
Shuckburgh Baronets
The Shuckburgh Baronetcy, of Shuckburgh in the County of Warwick, is a title in the Baronetage of England.The Shuckburgh family take their name from the Warwickshire village in which they settled in the 12th century...
, or Shukburgh. His mother, Judith Thynne, was descended through the Thynnes of Longleat
Longleat
Longleat is an English stately home, currently the seat of the Marquesses of Bath, adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of Warminster in Wiltshire and Frome in Somerset. It is noted for its Elizabethan country house, maze, landscaped parkland and safari park. The house is set...
(now Marquesses of Bath) from the Lynn family. John Shukburgh's only son, Rev. John Shukburgh, left George Capron the residue of his estate when he died unmarried in 1818. George's uncle John was a co-heir, but in 1839 he also died unmarried, leaving the Caprons as sole heirs in residue. It was in the following year that the Caprons acquired the manor of Southwick. The pub in Southwick is called the Shuckburgh Arms because of this connection.
The Caprons rebuilt and enlarged the east wing of Southwick in 1870. According to the Return of Owners of Land in 1873, the Capron estates centred on Southwick Hall and Stoke Doyle comprised over 5,000 acres (20 km²), including woodland and generated an income of over £4,000 a year. These have now been much reduced, but the Capron family remain as lords of the manors and members of the family are in residence at Southwick Hall.
Parish church
The village church, which is adjacent to the Hall, is dedicated to St Mary. The church was built by the Knyvett family in around 1230 and has a 14th-century west tower. Parts of the church were modernised in Victorian times. The church had a cup dating to around 1570, a 17th-century cover platen and a flagon dating to circa 1667.Inside the church is a monument to George Lynn by Louis-François Roubiliac
Louis-François Roubiliac
Louis-François Roubiliac was a French sculptor who worked in England, one of the four most prominent sculptors in London working in the rococo style, "probably the most accomplished sculptor ever to work in England", according to Margaret Whinney.-Works:Roubiliac was largely employed for portrait...
and which dates to 1758; it was commissioned by Ann Bellamy Lynn (at a cost of £500) and shows her looking up at a profile of her late husband. The modern cross and candlesticks used in the church were made from the wood of a tree which had grown in the churchyard and were a thanks offering from Edith Capron following recovery from a severe illness in 1931. The altar rails date from the 18th century; beneath them lie the tombs of John (died 1694) and Grace Lynn (died 1694) and her father, "That learned and pious Anthony Cade", who had been a tutor and chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham
Duke of Buckingham
The titles Marquess and Duke of Buckingham, referring to Buckingham, have been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been Earls of Buckingham.-1444 creation:...
.
Other features in the church include:
- The wooden panelling now found in the sanctuary was originally from Southwick Hall.
- The pulpit is of panelled oak and is possibly a part of a three-decker pulpit installed in the church in 1905.
- A discoid of a 13th- or 14th-century grave marker.
- The old oak headstock of the church's medieval tenor bell which was cast and hung by Thomas Newcombe of LeicesterLeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
. Before its replacement in 1967, it had given the church 400 years of use.
The churchyard was built on land that had earlier been used by the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
to extract the local ironstone
Ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical repacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely...
. Due to later settling of the infilled quarry, the church has required heavy buttressing on the tower and also the rebuilding of the nave and the chancel.
Southwick Wood
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough
Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough
The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and the City of Peterborough in England....
. It has an area of 56 acres (226,624.2 m²). Many suckering elms were lost to Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...
in the late 1960s, and have been replaced by Wild Cherry. Other trees include Ash, Oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and Field Maple, together with Wild Service Trees no longer producing viable seed, which is an indicator of antiquity of woodland. Greater Butterfly Orchid
Platanthera chlorantha
Platanthera chlorantha, commonly known as the Greater Butterfly-orchid, is a species of orchid in the genus Platanthera. It can be found throughout Europe and Morocco. The name Platanthera is derived from Greek, meaning "broad anthers", while the species name, chlorantha, means "greenflowered".The...
has been recorded here in the past.
Amenities
The village pub is the Shuckburgh Arms and is thought to date from the 16th century. The pub was brought into the estate by the owner George Capron in about 1839. He named it after his cousin the Rev. J. Shuckburgh.Sources
- The Buildings of England — Northamptonshire, Nicklaus Pevsner. ISBN 0-300-09632-1.
- Northamptonshire villages (WI). ISBN 1-85306-764-4.
- Burke's Landed Gentry (1965 edn), "Capron of Southwick Hall", pp 119–120.
- The Genealogist, vol. I, pp 345–354 (1877), "Pedigree of the Family of Lynne of Southwick co. Northampton, and of Bassingbourn co. Cambridge".
- Northamptonshire Record Office Capron and Lynn papers.
- Southwick Church, village leaflet.