| THORPE ACHURCH &
THORPE WATERVILLEIf you drive along the A605 from Thrapston to Oundle and turn off to the left at the Fox Inn, you will encounter a bevy of the most beautiful and historic villages to be found anywhere in Northamptonshire, the names of which could have been conjured up in a fairy tale. Amongst these, situated close to the River Nene are Thorpe Waterville and Thorpe Achurch, known respectively as Thorpe and Achurch, and together with Lilford and Wigthorpe, these were once part of the Lilford Estate. If you examine a map of Northamptonshire, you will notice quite a few village names ending in 'Thorp' or 'By', both of which date back to the time of the Danish Invasions, and are typical Danish place name elements, denoting a village or hamlet. The latter part of the name 'Thorpe Waterville' was derived from the Waterville family, on eof whom, Ascelin de Waterville appears among the knights of Peterborough from 1125 to 1128. A person of that name was originally believed to have built a castle or fortified manor in the village during the 12th century, but no records of the castle exist from this early date. It is now widely believed that Walter de Langton, who was later Bishop of Litchfield, constructed the castle and lived there from 1300 to 1307. This is recorded at the latter date after the forfeiture of his lands, and is regularly referred to thereafter along with other manors until 1461 when it was held by the Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses.
It is presumed that it was destroyed at this time when the Yorkists ordered Sir John Wenlock to besiege it with cannons. All that remains today is a barn which is thought to have been a private chapel associated with the ancient castle, and until Victorian times was used for religious purposes. Built of stone with a thatched roof and a gable at each end, it is about 21 metres in length and 7 metres wide with walls a metre thick. Originally a two-storey stone building, it was converted into a barn with an unusual octagonal chimney corbelled out of the stonework at the north gable end, and flanked below by two circular windows. During the alterations, a large arched doorway was knocked into the side wall, and you will find this historic barn quite close to where the old railway station at Thorpe, now a private residence, once stood.
For such small places, Thorpe Waterville and Thorpe Achurch have produced several characters, the most outstanding being Robert Browne, the Nonconformist rector of Elizabethan times. Born in the middle of the 16th century, he was known as the father of Congregationalism, the founder of the Brownists, and frequently called the Apostle of Independence. His family came from Stafford in Lincolnshire where his grandfather had been an MP for the town in 1509. He was also a kinsman of William Cecil who was made Lord Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth in 1572, and given the title of Lord Burghley. After taking his BA degree at Cambridge, he began preaching the gospel in the precincts of the University without bothering about a preachers licence. Permission to preach and being ordained a minister by the Bishop was, to him, abominable, so with Robert Harrison, he formed a small group of people with the same religious faith and became their pastor.
In 1581, he was arrested in Bury St.Edmunds, taking great delight in disobeying authority, and with Lord Burghley intervening time and again on his behalf, he was eventually persuaded to conform in 1586, but it didn't last long and he continued preaching at unlawful gatherings. However, after another reconciliation with the bishop, he became rector of Thorpe Achurch on 2nd September 1591, where he lived peacefully for the next 25 years, mainly because he could do pretty well what he liked in the quiet and out of the way parish of Achurch, but in 1617 he was suspended again for being in trouble with the ecclesiastical authorities. His curate took over his duties as a rector, when once again he was thrown into jail, and it is believed that during this period he formed a congregation at Thorpe Waterville, preaching in a cottage that still exists today. By now he was no longer a young man, and his opponents were many, so strong in fact that after further incidents with the authority he was excommunicated in 1631, and the following year deprived of all duties concerning the church. In a fit of rage he struck the local constable for refusing to pay his taxes and the now and old feeble man was taken to jail at Northampton where he died shortly afterwards.
Gracing the village of Thorpe Achurch is its fine church, St.John the Baptist, with its beautifully proportioned tower and broach spire. It is also the mother church of all that remains of the parishes of Thorpe Waterville, Lilford and Wigthorpe, the sacred shrines of which disappeared long ago. Situated in an elevated position overlooking the rich pastures of the Nene Valley, it was built by Asceline de Waterville during the time of the Crusades to commemorate the safe return of the Christian military expeditions to the Holy Land. It is cruciform in shape, with two transepts forming the projecting arms. Access to the church is from a narrow lane via a lych-gate which was erected in memory of the fourth Lord Lilford who died in 1896. The Lilford (Powys) family were lords of the manor for many years. The interior was renewed by the Lilford family who installed new choir pews and a panelled pulpit alongside a very fine monument of Sir Thomas Powys which was removed for the demolished church of St.Peter in Lilford in 1778.
One result of Robert Browne's doctrine was the expedition of the Pilgrim Fathers, and the sailing of the Mayflower in 1620, with his own son, Edward, being one of the twenty founders of Maryland. Thirteen years later, Edmund and Judith Quincy also set out to America from this small village and settled in Massachusetts where they raised a family and founded the town of Quincy. Nearly two hundred years later, John Quincy Adams became the sixth President of the USA, being a Quincy through his maternal grandmother. Taken from the book 'Northamptonshire in a Nutshell'
by Ron Mears published by Orman Publishing
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