Napton-on-the-Hill (St. Lawrence)

NAPTON-on-the-Hill (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Southam, Southern division of the hundred of Knightlow, S. division of the county of Warwick, 3½ miles (E. by S.) from Southam; containing 951 inhabitants. The parish comprises by computation 3635 acres, of which 2947 are pasture, 668 arable, and 20 woodland. It is situated on the road from Warwick to Northampton, and within its bounds the Warwick and Napton and the Coventry and Oxford canals form a junction. The rateable annual value of canal property in the parish is returned at £2522. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 14., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £345, with a house. The impropriate tithes are said to have been granted by Queen Elizabeth to Robert, Earl of Leicester, by whom they were given as an endowment for the hospital founded by him at Warwick. On the inclosure of the parish in 1778, the commissioners awarded to the hospital 490 acres of land, and to the vicar 201 acres, in lieu of tithes. The church is an ancient structure; in the chancel is a stone said to represent a gridiron, alluding to the martyrdom of the patron saint. There is a place of worship for Primitive Methodists; and two national schools are supported by subscription. The astroites, or star stones, adopted by the Shuckburghs in their armorial bearings, are found at Napton, where the family have held lands from a period prior to the Conquest. Adjoining the parish of Leamington-Hastings, is a tumulus anciently called Tomblay, and now Tomlow, near which human bones are frequently dug up, and which is supposed to indicate the scene of some battle in early times.