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Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire

Historical Description

Grafton Regis, a village and a parish in Northamptonshire. The village stands on the verge of the county, near the river Tove and the Grand Junction Canal, 3½ miles S of Roade station on the L. & N.W.R., and 4 ESE of Towcester, had formerly a weekly market and two fairs, and gives the title of Duke to the Fitzroy family. It has a post office under Stony Stratford; money order and telegraph office, Potterspury. Acreage of the civil parish, 1415; population, 157; of the ecclesiastical, 280. The manor with most of the land belongs to the Duke of Grafton, and it once belonged to the Woodvilles or Widevilles, one of whom, Sir John Woodville, was created by Henry VI. Baron Rivers, Grafton, and De la Mote, and was father of the wife of Edward IV. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Alderton, in the diocese of Peterborough; joint gross value, £262 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church consists of nave, chancel, N aisle, and chapel, with western tower, was restored in 1889, and contains an altar-tomb of Sir Richard Wideville.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyNorthamptonshire 
Ecclesiastical parishGrafton-Regis St. Mary 
HundredCleley 
Poor Law unionPotterspury 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

The register dates from the year 1584.

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with the Northamptonshire Record Office, have images of the Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts for Northamptonshire online.


Churches

Church of England

St. Mary (parish church)

The church of St. Mary is an edifice of stone in mixed styles, consisting of chancel with north chapel, clerestoried nave, north aisle, south porch, and an embattled western tower containing 4 bells: the chapel, formerly the burial place of the Fitzroy family, dukes of Grafton, is now used as an organ chamber: at the west end of the north aisle is an altar tomb of fine freestone, on the upper slab of which is incised a recumbent figure of Sir Richard Wideville, father of Elizabeth Wideville, queen (1st May, 1464) of Edward IV.; the effigy is in full armour, and around the verge of the slab is an undated inscription; in the same aisle is a slab, under a low sepulchral arch, and another panelled altar-tomb, both of which are believed to have been erected to members of the Wideville family: against the south wall of the aisle is an elegant monument by Flaxman, with symbolical figures of Faith and Hope, to Charlotte Maria, Countess of Euston, d. February 8, 1808, and there are numerous mural monuments to the Fitzroy family: the stained east window is a memorial to the Rev. Barwick John Sams M.A. rector 1837-85, presented by his family, and there are three other windows in the north aisle: the church was repaired and repewed in 1840, and again repaired in 1889.


Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Grafton Regis from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Northamptonshire is available to browse.


Maps

Online maps of Grafton Regis are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Northamptonshire papers online:

DistrictSouth Northamptonshire
CountyNorthamptonshire
RegionEast Midlands
CountryEngland
Postal districtNN12
Post TownTowcester

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