Brington

"BRINGTON, (or Brinton, popularly pronounced "Briton"), a parish in the hundred of Nobottle Grove, in the county of Northampton, 6 miles to the N.W. of Northampton. It contains the hamlets of Little Brington and Nobottle (or Newbottle), and the extra-parochial liberty of Althorp Park. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough, of the value of £434, in the patronage of Earl Spencer. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, contains a remarkably complete set of 15th century open benches, though the carved screen has disappeared. In the interior is a brass of a priest, and a series of fine monuments to the Spencer family from the reign of Henry VIII.; also the vault of the earls of Sunderland. It is a curious circumstance that there are no monuments to the earls of Sunderland, though all four of them lie buried in this vault, including the famous minister of James II. and William III., and his scarcely less celebrated son, minister to Queen Anne and George I. Of the first earl, we have good reason to believe that only the heart was brought back from the field of Newbury; but the vault contains the remains of the first countess, celebrated by Waller under the name of "Sacharissa." This church is also interesting as the burial-place of the last English ancestor of George. Washington, whose family armorial bearings, from which it is believed that the stripes and stars of the American banner were taken, are carved upon the ledger tombstone. The Baptists have a chapel at Little Brington. The parish has the benefit of a valuable charity called the "poor's estate," which produces about £225 per annum. There are some other small endowments. The rectory of Brington was once held by Archbishop Chicheley. Althorp Park is the seat of Earl Spencer, to whom it gives the title of viscount. The mansion, which was erected in 1688, stands on low ground, and is approached by fine avenues. It is celebrated for its large and valuable library, which occupies five apartments extending 300 feet in length, and for a good collection of pictures and family portraits. Among the pictures are a Raphael's Holy Family, and a portion of his cartoon for the Murder of the Innocents, and some portraits by Holbein, besides an antique encaustic painting." [Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]