Maidwell (St. Mary)

MAIDWELL (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Brixworth, hundred of Rothwell, N. division of the county of Northampton, 10 miles (N.) from Northampton; containing 258 inhabitants, and comprehending Maidwell St. Peter's, formerly distinct. It is intersected by the road between Northampton and Harborough, and comprises 1763 acres, in nearly equal portions of arable and pasture, with 60 acres of wood: the surface is agreeably undulated, and the soil in some parts clayey, and in others suited to the growth of good corn. Limestone is quarried for building purposes and for burning into lime. Water is in great abundance, from excellent springs. The village is very pleasant. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 8. 1½.; net income, £218; patron, H. H. Hungerford, Esq., who is sole proprietor of the parish. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1696; the glebe altogether comprises 92 acres, with a glebe-house, built by the present rector in 1813. The church, a small handsome edifice, very neatly arranged, contains some monuments to the Hazlewood family, one of which is to the memory of Lady Gorges, who died in 1634; and in the church wall is a monument to Sir John Seyton, Knt., who died at Jerusalem in 1396, and was buried here. St. Peter's church having become dilapidated, was taken down in 1543. A rent-charge of £20 has been appropriated by Lady Trott to the foundation of a scholarship at Clare Hall, Cambridge. In a place called the Dales is a petrifying spring, and there is a chalybeate spring near Scotland wood.