Strixton Parish is bounded by Wollaston on the north, by Grendon and Bozeat on the south and west, and by Bedfordshire on the east. It contains 880 acres, of the rateable value of £1271, and the gross estimated rental is, £1520. The population in 1801 was 57; in 1831, 69; in 1841, 55; in 1851, 56; in 1861, 61; and in 1871, 48 souls. The soil is various; and the Earl Spencer is lord of the manor and owner of the whole.
ManorThis lordship was named after the Saxon proprietor Stric, and is not mentioned in the general survey. In the reign of Richard I, it was in the hands of William de Pratelis or Prayers, who in 1192 was taken prisoner by the Saracens in the Holy Land. With his posterity it continued till the reign of Henry V, when it passed in marriage to the Draytons. In the nineteenth of Edward IV (1479) upon the decease of Richard Drayton, it fell to Anne, the wife of Thomas Lovett, his sister and heir. In Queen Elizabeth's time, it passed from the Lovetts to the Shirleys, and through several intermediate possessors to the present noble earl.
The Village of Strixton, which is very small, is about 4½ miles S. by E. of Wellingborough.
The Church, dedicated to St John the Baptist, or St Romald, is in early style of English architecture, and consists of a nave, chancel, and south porch. Among the features of interest are the Early English stanchions of its windows, priest’s door, the rood-screen, hourglass-stand, traces of wood loft beams, and sedilia. At the west end is a plain-pointed door, and above it is a handsome sexfoil window, having the hood-mould carried entirely round it. There is a low doorway on the south side of the chancel, and near it is a small square-headed side-window. The south door is blocked up. On the south side of the west end is a stone coffin, which is now used as a receptacle for coal, &c. The church is now (1874) undergoing a thorough restoration from its foundation, at a cost of about £2000, towards which the Earl Spencer contributed £400; the rector, Messrs Thomas Walker, John S. Gibbard, £50 each, and Mr Thomas Wykes, £25. The living is a discharged rectory, annexed to the vicarage of Bozeat in the deanery of Higham Ferrers, rated in the king's books at £7. The patronage is vested in the Earl Spencer, and the Rev. John Frederick Pizey, M.A., is the incumbent.
Letters arrive through Wellingborough.
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