ManorAt the general survey, William Peverel held 1 hide and 3 virgates of the soke of Higham, in Irencestre. These lands passed afterwards, as a member of Higham, to the family of Ferrers. In the ninth of Edward II (1315), the Earl of Lancaster and Margery Kriell were lords of Irchester. It subsequently passed through the family of Pabenham, and in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII it was possessed by the Cheynes. The manor of Irchester, as parcel of the duchy of Lancaster, is now in the hands of the Crown.

The Village of Irchester, which is rather long, is seated on rising ground, about 3 miles S.E. of Wellingborough, and the same distance south of Higham Ferrers. Agriculture and shoemaking are the principal pursuits of the inhabitants.

The Church, dedicated to St Catherine, is in the Perpendicular style of architecture; it stands on a gentle eminence, and consists of a nave with clerestory side-aisles, chancel, south porch, and western tower and spire. There is a peal of five bells in the tower; and the steeple, which is very handsome, forms a conspicuous object among the noble group of spires of which it is a member. The chancel is separated from the nave by a lofty arch; and an arch similar in design, but not so lofty, opens from the chancel into the north aisle.

The chancel floor appears to have been raised, as the sedilia and piscina are nearly on a level with the floor; and in the south wall were three arched windows and a door now blocked up. The chancel window, of five lights, is Perpendicular in style, and the pulpit, of carved oak, is of exquisite workmanship, and in good preservation. A few of the old oak seats still remain; they are beautifully carved, and in very fair condition. The font, which is very ancient, stands at the west end of the south aisle; it is octagonal, and on the sides are curiously sculptured figures. The organ stands on a small gallery at the west end, purchased in 1860 at a cost of about £140. In the chancel are monuments to members of the Jenyson family, formerly owners of Knuston Hall; there are also tablets to the memory of Sir Peter Payne, Bart., and his wife and son. The living is a discharged vicarage annexed to that of Wollaston, in the deanery of Higham Ferrers, and worth conjointly £500 a year. Rev. Joseph Monk is patron, and the Rev. Jacob Tomlin, B.A., incumbent. The tithes were commuted for land in 1769. The Vicarage House, an ancient plain, building, stands in the village. The register dates from 1622.

The Old Wesleyan Chapel has been superseded by a very neat building, which was opened at Easter 1870, at a cost of £800. The site was given by W. W. Asplin, Esq. It will accommodate about 400 persons.

National School, with masters house attached, was built in 1848 at a cost of about £450; and in 1873 it was enlarged, at a further cost of £400, to accommodate 188. The present average attendance is 120.

Early in the present year (1874) the men, when digging where the ironstone is now being worked, near Chester House, in the vicinity of the old Roman station, came upon what was undoubtedly a Roman burial-ground, and turned up some hundreds of skulls, some of them very perfect, and in not a few of them the teeth were in a very fine state of preservation. A coffin made of lead but having a. considerable per-centage of silver, was also met with close to the surface, the head being placed towards the east. There were also some golden cups discovered a short time since in the same locality.

CHESTER, so named from the adjoining Roman encampment or Castro, consists of one house and farm, which is a manor in itself, and the only one in this hundred that is not part of the duchy of Lancaster.

Chester House, an ancient building, formerly the seat of the Ekins family, and now the properly of G. F. Whidbourne, Esq., is in the occupation of the vicar, the Rev. Jacob Tomlin, and stands about one mile N.W. of Irchester. Here are the remains of an encampment or fortification, called the Burrow. It was in form a paralellogram, containing about 18 acres, situated upon a declivity, the longest diameter being parallel with the course of the river. Mr Morton thinks it was a Roman summer station, the winter one being probably Irchester; and this conjecture is borne out by the fact that among the ruins have been found two stone pillars resembling sepulchral altars, and fragments of Roman pavement and bricks have been thrown up by the plough. Coins of, Faustina, Adrianus, Gratianus, Antonius, and Constantinus, have been found in an orchard, an urn, containing 45 brass coins, with a ring and chain attached to it, have been also discovered.

KNUSTON is a hamlet, picturesquely disposed, about one mile N.E. of the village, and the same distance from Rushden.

Knuston Hall, the seat of Quintus Vivian, Esq., is a large square mansion of some beauty, standing on an elevated spot in the centre of a well-wooded park, overlooking a vast area of country. A new wing was added in 1865. Various improvements have also been made in the park. A fine stream of water, recently improved and enlarged, crosses the park, over which a bridge is thrown, and the stream in passing under forms a waterfall.

The Charities are the feoffees' estates, yielding an annual rent of £114. which, after keeping the premises in repair, is expended on the poor, and the reparation of two bridges; and an annuity of £5 4s. to provide for twelve poor people who should attend divine service in the parish church regularly. Mr Samuel Sharwood, whose father was born in this parish, gave, in 1858, the sum of £182 with directions to the minister and churchwardens to apply the interest as follows viz., £2 annually to the support of the National School; to distribute the remainder at Christmas, in sums of five or ten shillings, to the most deserving of the industrious poor.

Post-Office Daniel Ward, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive via Wellingborough at 7 A.M., and are despatched at 5.5 P.M.

FARNDISH PARISH

About 300 acres of this parish, and part of one house, are situate in this county, and the remainder of it is in Bedfordshire. It contains 647 acres, of the rateable value of £1032; the gross estimated rental is £1204; and the population in 1861 was 67, and in 1871, 75.