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Rothwell (Holy Trinity)

ROTHWELL (Holy Trinity), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of Kettering, hundred of Rothwell, N. division of the county of Northampton, 4 miles (N. W. by W.) from Kettering; containing, with the chapelry of Orton, and hamlet of Thorpe-Underwood, 2939 inhabitants, of whom 2808 are in the town. This place, which is situated on the southern side of a rocky hill, is supposed to have been much more extensive in former days than it is at present, and to have been surrounded with a strong wall. According to tradition it was a favourite residence of William the Conqueror; and a small priory of nuns of the order of St. Augustine was founded here, probably by some of the Clare family, which at the Dissolution had a revenue estimated at £10. 10. 4. The market has fallen into disuse, except for earthenware, which is still exposed for sale on Monday: the ancient market-house, begun by Sir Thomas Tresham, but left in an unfinished state, is a curious ruin. One of the largest cattle-fairs in the county is held on Trinity-Monday and several following days. Considerable employment is afforded to the population by silk, velvet, and plush spinning and weaving, and the manufacture of shoes. The township is on the road from London to Leicester, through Bedford; and comprises by measurement 3460 acres, of which 1480 are meadow and pasture, 25 woodland, and the remainder arable.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 18. 11.; net income, £145; patrons, W. T. Smyth, Esq., and two others; impropriators, the family of Turville. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1812. The church, which appears to have been built about the reign of the Conqueror, has an embattled tower at the west end, and is enriched with a fine door in the early English style; underneath is a crypt, containing the bones of several thousand men. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. The free school was founded prior to the time of Edward VI., and was further endowed in the 36th of Charles II., when some commissioners of charitable uses applied St. Mary's chapel in Rothwell to that purpose, and directed that Queen Elizabeth's endowment to the chapel, of £3. 4. 11., received out of the crown rents, should be paid to the master. Jesus' Hospital was established, and endowed with the manor of Olde, its mansion-house and lands, and the tithes of Overton and Thorpe, by Owen Ragsdale, in the 33rd of Elizabeth; it affords accommodation to twentyfour almsmen and a principal, and the income is about £430 per annum. Six small tenements for widows were founded and endowed by T. Ponder, in 1714; and funds to the amount of £64 are yearly distributed among widows, arising from bequests by Agnes Hill, in 1728, and Edward Hunt. Here are two springs, one of which is of a strong petrifying quality.


Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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