St Peter's Church, Lowick
Encyclopedia
St. Peter's Church, Lowick, is a parish church in the Church of England
in Lowick, Northamptonshire
, England.
. A large heraldic shield dominates the nave, and the chancel bears the arms of the Greene family, and also that of John Heton, rector from 1406 to 1415. The list of clergy (see below) shows the appointments from Nicholas de Nevil in 1217, so the current building must have been a replacement for an earlier one.
The tower is topped with an octagonal lantern, flying buttresses and 12 pinnacles with golden weathervanes. Simon Jenkins noted that "the tower with its octagonal top is visible for miles around, a forest of pinnacles topped by golden weathervanes. From a distance they seem to flutter in the sun, like pennants summoning us to some forgotten Tudor tournament".
An entry in the churchwardens' accounts records taking down the rood-loft and filling the holes in May 1644. In July 1645 payment was made for the "glazing of the windows when the crucifixion and scandalous pictures were taken down".
There were restoration
s in 1868–72 by Richard Herbert Carpenter
and William Slater which consisted of repairs to roof and walls and re-seating, and further work in 1887. The reredos was made between 1930-31 as a memorial to Sackville George Stopford-Sackville
, who died in 1926, to the design of the architect William Randoll Blacking. More repairs were carried out by the architect Eric Arthur Roberts in 1973–75.
from around 1330-40 depicting 16 figures. Some medieval glass also survives in the south chancel windows. There are six windows with nineteenth-century stained glass in the north and south aisles and also in the chancel.
In the chancel floor is the gravestone for John Heton, rector of Lowick from 1406 to 1415. The slab has a border inscription
Sir Ralfe Greene who died in 1417. He was Knight of the Shire for Northamptonshire, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire
and Sheriff of Wiltshire. The memorial is by Thomas Prentys and Robert Sutton at a cost of £40. It comprises a pair of alabaster effigies on chest tomb in north chapel, with angels under canopies around the sides. A vaulted canopy is above the head of each figure, base of shafts to support canopy over whole.
In the south transept, a chest tomb memorial to Henry Green who died 22 February 1467-8 and his wife. He wears an elaborate suit of armour, with spurs, and his wife has a head-dress with horns. The shield of arms bears a chequered coat quartering an engrailed cross: small brass scrolls repeat the motto 'Da gloriam Deo.'
In the South Chapel on the south side is the memorial to Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire
, died 1499, who refounded the chantry and had the chapel rebuilt. His memorial is an alabaster effigy on chest tomb with lozenge panels inside cusped squared panels in south transept. The inscription is formed by letters knotted in allusion to the badge of the house of Stafford.
A plain tablet in the north chapel remembers William, infant son of John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough
who died in 1625.
Inscribed tablets in the chancel floor commemorate Roger Lane who died in 1690 and John Halford who also died in 1690.
In front of the east window is the memorial for Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
who died in 1705. She was the daughter of the Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
and first wife of Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet
(d. 1718). The memorial comprises a semi-reclining white marble figure on chest tomb with bolection-moulded pilasters.
On the north wall is the tomb of Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet
who died in 1718, set as a semi-reclining marble figure in armour on a chest tomb.
There is an inscribed brass tablet to Lady Elizabeth Germain
who died in 1760.
In the South Chapel in front of the east window is the memorial of Charles Sackville-Germain, 5th Duke of Dorset
who died in 1843. It comprises a white marble chest-tomb by Richard Westmacott
and has draped mantle, shield and coronet with lifesize angel seated alongside.
installed in 1861. A specification of the organ can be found on the British Institute of Organ Studies
National Pipe Organ Register at K00608. This organ has since been transferred to Warmington Methodist Church, and then St. Mark's Church, Whitehills.
The current 2 manual pipe organ is by Wordsworth & Maskell and dates from around 1900. A specification of the organ can be found on the British Institute of Organ Studies
National Pipe Organ Register at D02178.
since the late 18th century.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
in Lowick, Northamptonshire
Lowick, Northamptonshire
Lowick is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It appears in the Domesday Book as Luhwik, and later as Lofwyk and in 1167 as Luffewich. The name derives from Old English "Luhha's or Luffa's dwelling place", wic being cognate to vicus in Latin...
, England.
Description and history
Although the church has early fourteenth century origins, it is mainly late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, being built for the Greene family of Drayton HouseDrayton House
-History: Aubrey de Vere I give distinguished service at the Battle of Hastings, and was awarded land near Northampton to build a manor house. In the early thirteenth century, Sir Walter de Vere dropped the “de Vere” family name, and assume the surname “Drayton”....
. A large heraldic shield dominates the nave, and the chancel bears the arms of the Greene family, and also that of John Heton, rector from 1406 to 1415. The list of clergy (see below) shows the appointments from Nicholas de Nevil in 1217, so the current building must have been a replacement for an earlier one.
The tower is topped with an octagonal lantern, flying buttresses and 12 pinnacles with golden weathervanes. Simon Jenkins noted that "the tower with its octagonal top is visible for miles around, a forest of pinnacles topped by golden weathervanes. From a distance they seem to flutter in the sun, like pennants summoning us to some forgotten Tudor tournament".
An entry in the churchwardens' accounts records taking down the rood-loft and filling the holes in May 1644. In July 1645 payment was made for the "glazing of the windows when the crucifixion and scandalous pictures were taken down".
There were restoration
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
s in 1868–72 by Richard Herbert Carpenter
Richard Carpenter (architect)
Richard Herbert Carpenter was an eminent Victorian architect from England.Richard was born 1841 in St. Pancras, London, Middlesex, England and died in 1893...
and William Slater which consisted of repairs to roof and walls and re-seating, and further work in 1887. The reredos was made between 1930-31 as a memorial to Sackville George Stopford-Sackville
Sackville Stopford-Sackville
Sackville George Stopford-Sackville DL, JP , known as Sackville Stopford until 1870, was a British Conservative politician.-Background and education:...
, who died in 1926, to the design of the architect William Randoll Blacking. More repairs were carried out by the architect Eric Arthur Roberts in 1973–75.
Stained glass and memorials
The north aisle windows have reset panels of a Jesse windowTree of Jesse
The Tree of Jesse is a depiction in art of the Ancestors of Christ, shown in a tree which rises from Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David; the original use of the family tree as a schematic representation of a genealogy...
from around 1330-40 depicting 16 figures. Some medieval glass also survives in the south chancel windows. There are six windows with nineteenth-century stained glass in the north and south aisles and also in the chancel.
In the chancel floor is the gravestone for John Heton, rector of Lowick from 1406 to 1415. The slab has a border inscription
'Hic jacet Dominus Johannes de Heton quondam rector ecclesie de benyfelde et nuper de Lufwyck cujus anime propicietur Deus Amen. Credo quod Redemptor meus vivit et in novissimo die de terra surrectus sum et in carne mea videbo deum salvatorem.
Sir Ralfe Greene who died in 1417. He was Knight of the Shire for Northamptonshire, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire
High Sheriff of Northamptonshire
This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Northamptonshire.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been...
and Sheriff of Wiltshire. The memorial is by Thomas Prentys and Robert Sutton at a cost of £40. It comprises a pair of alabaster effigies on chest tomb in north chapel, with angels under canopies around the sides. A vaulted canopy is above the head of each figure, base of shafts to support canopy over whole.
In the south transept, a chest tomb memorial to Henry Green who died 22 February 1467-8 and his wife. He wears an elaborate suit of armour, with spurs, and his wife has a head-dress with horns. The shield of arms bears a chequered coat quartering an engrailed cross: small brass scrolls repeat the motto 'Da gloriam Deo.'
In the South Chapel on the south side is the memorial to Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire
Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire
Sir Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire was an English nobleman.He was the only child of John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and succeeded his father as earl in 1473 when he was 3 years old....
, died 1499, who refounded the chantry and had the chapel rebuilt. His memorial is an alabaster effigy on chest tomb with lozenge panels inside cusped squared panels in south transept. The inscription is formed by letters knotted in allusion to the badge of the house of Stafford.
A plain tablet in the north chapel remembers William, infant son of John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough
John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough
-Life:He was the eldest son of Henry Mordaunt, 4th Baron Mordaunt, a Roman Catholic kept for a year in the Tower of London on suspicion of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot, who died in 1608. The widow, Lady Margaret, daughter of Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton, also a Catholic, was deprived by...
who died in 1625.
Inscribed tablets in the chancel floor commemorate Roger Lane who died in 1690 and John Halford who also died in 1690.
In front of the east window is the memorial for Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk and 7th Baroness Mordaunt was a British peeress.Born Lady Mary Mordaunt, she was the only child and heiress of Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough. On 8 August 1677, she married Henry Howard, Earl of Arundel, who later succeeded his father as Duke of Norfolk in...
who died in 1705. She was the daughter of the Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough, KG, PC, FRS was an English soldier, peer and courtier.-Early life:Styled Lord Mordaunt from 1628, he was the eldest son of John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough...
and first wife of Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet
Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet
Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and politician.Of Dutch descent, Germain was thought to be an illegitimate half-brother of William III of England. He was created a Baronet, of Westminster, in the Baronetage of England on 25 March 1698...
(d. 1718). The memorial comprises a semi-reclining white marble figure on chest tomb with bolection-moulded pilasters.
On the north wall is the tomb of Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet
Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet
Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and politician.Of Dutch descent, Germain was thought to be an illegitimate half-brother of William III of England. He was created a Baronet, of Westminster, in the Baronetage of England on 25 March 1698...
who died in 1718, set as a semi-reclining marble figure in armour on a chest tomb.
There is an inscribed brass tablet to Lady Elizabeth Germain
Elizabeth Germain
Lady Elizabeth "Betty" Germain was a wealthy English aristocrat and courtier, a philanthropist and collector of antiquities, who corresponded with literary and political figures.-Life:...
who died in 1760.
In the South Chapel in front of the east window is the memorial of Charles Sackville-Germain, 5th Duke of Dorset
Charles Sackville-Germain, 5th Duke of Dorset
Charles Sackville-Germain, 5th Duke of Dorset KG, PC , known briefly as Charles Sackville before 1770, as Charles Germain between 1770 and 1785, and as The Viscount Sackville between 1785 and 1815, was a British peer, courtier and Tory politician...
who died in 1843. It comprises a white marble chest-tomb by Richard Westmacott
Richard Westmacott
Sir Richard Westmacott, Jr., RA was a British sculptor.-Life and career:He studied under his father, Richard Westmacott the Elder, before going to Rome in 1793 to study under Antonio Canova...
and has draped mantle, shield and coronet with lifesize angel seated alongside.
Bells
The tower has a ring of six bells:- Treble J Taylor of Loughborough 1896. The treble was an addition to a former ring of five.
- 2nd Hugh Watts II of Leicester 1615-43
- 3rd Hugh Watts II of Leicester 1615-43
- 4th recast by John Taylor & Co 1884
- 5th Newcombe of Leicester, inscribed 'Richard Wood made me' c.1540 The fifth bell has the stamp and cross of the early Leicester founders as used by Robert Newcombe. Richard Wood may have been a foreman in the Newcombe foundry.
- 6th Hugh Watts 1619
Organ
The church had a pipe organ by Forster and AndrewsForster and Andrews
Forster and Andrews was formed by James Alderson Forster and Joseph King Andrews , who had been employees of the London organ builder J. C. Bishop.They opened the business that bore their name in Hull in 1843...
installed in 1861. A specification of the organ can be found on the British Institute of Organ Studies
British Institute of Organ Studies
-Aims:The aims of BIOS are* To promote objective, scholarly research into the history of the organ and its music in all its aspects, and, in particular, into the organ and its music in Britain....
National Pipe Organ Register at K00608. This organ has since been transferred to Warmington Methodist Church, and then St. Mark's Church, Whitehills.
The current 2 manual pipe organ is by Wordsworth & Maskell and dates from around 1900. A specification of the organ can be found on the British Institute of Organ Studies
British Institute of Organ Studies
-Aims:The aims of BIOS are* To promote objective, scholarly research into the history of the organ and its music in all its aspects, and, in particular, into the organ and its music in Britain....
National Pipe Organ Register at D02178.
Churchyard
The gravestones in the churchyard are mostly of the 18th and 19th centuries. A decorative coffin lid that dates from the 15th century survives by the wall of the South Chapel. At the east end of the church are a series of memorial graves of the Stopford Sackville family, who have lived in Drayton HouseDrayton House
-History: Aubrey de Vere I give distinguished service at the Battle of Hastings, and was awarded land near Northampton to build a manor house. In the early thirteenth century, Sir Walter de Vere dropped the “de Vere” family name, and assume the surname “Drayton”....
since the late 18th century.
List of rectors
- Nicholas de Nevil 1217
- Almaric de Nowers 1247
- Radulphus de Nowers 1303
- Radulphus de Drayton 1303 - 1314
- Adam de Waltham 1314 - 1320
- Johannes de Clypston 1320 - 1349
- Johannes de Irthlynburgh 1349 - 1357
- Johannes de Ryngestede 1357 - 1379
- Henry Bolymere 1379 - 1382
- Robert Normanton 1382 - 1394
- Walter de St Germain 1394 - 1406
- John Heton 1406–1415 (buried in the church)
- John Boys 1415 - 1417
- John Glapthorn 1417 - 1422
- John Boys (again) 1422 - 1455
- John Martyn 1455 - 1479
- Henry Smyth 1479 - 1483
- William Peryn 1483 - 1509
- William Hamswayte 1509 - 1535
- Edmund Mordante 1535 - 1545
- Henry Quyk 1545 - 1566
- Thomas Buckoke 1566 - 1603
- Robert Lingard 1603 - 1647
- Joseph Bentham 1648 - ????
- Michael Poulton 1693 - 1720
- Robert Welborne 1720 - 1744
- Richard Etough 1744 - 1779
- Henry Etough 1779 - 1795
- Thomas Fancourt 1795 - 1797
- Joseph Jackson 1797 - 1815
- Robert Morgan Vane 1815 - 1842
- John Stoddart 1842 - 1855
- Henry George Middleton Pretyman 1855 - 1870
- Main Swete Alexander Walrond 1870 - 1873
- William Lucas CollinsWilliam Lucas CollinsRev William Lucas Collins was a Church of England clergyman and author.-Life and career:Collins was born in Oxwich, Glamorgan, Wales, and educated at Rugby School and Jesus College, Oxford...
1873 - 1887 - John Sykes Watson 1887 - 1906
- Alfred Cecil DickerAlfred DickerAlfred Cecil Dicker was an English clergyman and rower who won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta three times and the Wingfield Sculls twice....
1906 - 1925 - Arthur Sidney Hazel 1926 - 1935
- Percival William Worster 1935 - 1952
- Richard Clough 1952 - 1959
- Wilfred Pakenham Pakenham-Walsh 1959 - 1965
- Leslie Ronald Frank Buttle 1965 - 1974
- Harry Bertram Davies 1974 - 1981
- Cheslyn Peter Montague Jones 1981 - 1987
- Michael James Thompson 1987 - 1994
- Ronald Douglas Howe 1994 - 2000
- Hartley Roger Watson 2000 - 2011