Moreton Pinkney

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Moreton Pinkney
Northamptonshire

Lodge and gateway to the manor house
Location
Grid reference: SP573491
Location: 52°8’17"N, 1°9’47"W
Data
Population: 371  (2011)
Post town: Daventry
Postcode: NN11
Dialling code: 01295
Local Government
Council: West Northamptonshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Daventry
Website: Moreton Pinkney

Moreton Pinkney is a village in Northamptonshire, about seven and a half miles north of Brackley. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 371.

The village's name means 'Moor farm/settlement'. It was held by the family of Pinchengi from 1199. In the 13th century, it was known as Geldenmortone.[1]

Parish church

The earliest evidence of Christianity in the parish is a fragment of an Anglo-Saxon stone cross in the churchyard of the parish church.

The Church of England parish church, St Mary The Virgin,[2] was built in the 12th century, which is the date of its Norman north door and three-bay northern arcade.[2] It is a Grade II* listed building.[3]

The piscina and west tower date from about 1300.

The Augustinians of Canons Ashby Priory had appropriated "the spirituality" of St Mary's by 1254.[4] John Dalderby, Bishop of Lincoln, sanctioned this retrospectively in 1309.[4]

The chancel was rebuilt in 1846 as a 'Gothic Revival' style imitating a 13th-century style.[2]

St Mary's has a ring of six bells. Hugh II Watts, who had foundries in Bedford and Leicester,[5] cast the tenor bell in 1629.[6] The Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the other five bells in 1996.[6]

St Mary's parish is a member of the Benefice of Culworth with Sulgrave and Thorpe Mandeville and Chipping Warden with Edgcote and Moreton Pinkney.

History

In the reign of Edward the Confessor one Leuric held the manor of Moreton "freely",[7] i.e. without a feudal overlord. He was dispossessed after the Norman Conquest of England and the Domesday Book of 1086 records that one Geoffrey held the manor of Gilo, brother of Ansculf de Picquigny.[7] In the 12th century Henry de Pinkeny (sic) held the manor.[8] In both surveys the manor was assessed at one and a half hides.[7][8]

The parish school was built in 1822 and enlarged in 1876.[2] Moreton Pinkney Manor was built in 1859 and altered in 1870.[2] The entrance arch designed by the architect E.F. Law of Northampton, built in 1859 and bears the arms of Lord Sempill.[2]

Public Houses

Moreton Pinkney once had three public houses: The Red Lion and The Dun Cow on Upper Green, and The Crown Inn on Brook Street.

The Four Candles was originally a pub called the Red Lion, dating back to 1604. It was later renamed England's Rose as a reference to Diana, Princess of Wales, but suddenly closed in 2004 due to serious structural failure. After remaining derelict for 12 years, it was fully and sympathetically restored as a pub and restaurant which was subsequently renamed The Four Candles by public vote.

The Four Candles which is set within a protected conservation area is now the only pub left in the village.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Moreton Pinkney)

References

  1. http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northamptonshire/Moreton%20Pinkney
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Pevsner & Cherry 1973, p. 307.
  3. National Heritage List 1293734: Church of St Mary (Grade II* listing)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Serjeantson & Adkins 1906, pp. 130–133
  5. Dovemaster (31 October 2012). "Bell Founders". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/founders.php. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Dawson, George (31 July 2007). "Moreton Pinkney S Mary V". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Moreton+Pinkney&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=MORETON+PI. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Adkins & Serjeantson 1902, p. 344.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Adkins & Serjeantson 1902, p. 372.