Ashton, a parish of 748 hectares on the E. bank of
the R. Nene, was created in 1885 by uniting
Elmington and Ashton, two former townships in
Oundle parish. Elmington was never large, and
was reduced to a single house by the Abbots of
Crowland in the late 15th century when they
created sheep pastures on their land. It is now only
represented by a 19th-century farm-house at
Ashton itself contained 32 households in 1673
and only 22 families in 1801. A chapel is recorded
in 1189 but it went out of use shortly before 1548
(Cal. Chart. IV, 274; Cal. Pat. (1550–3), 23). Its
site is unknown but fragments of a large masonry
building reused in the present chapel may have
belonged to it. The chapel was built in 1706 and
incorporated a school. The entire parish was
bought in 1860 by Baron Rothschild, and in c. 1900
his son Charles transformed the village into a
notable essay in the picturesque. Ashton Wold
Farm, an early 19th-century house in the E. of the
parish, was rebuilt as a model farm, and a large
house, Ashton Wold, was built nearby. The village
was replanned, a rectangular green created and the
cottages rebuilt. These cottages are generally of one
storey and attics, with local stone walls and
thatched roofs; of the few early houses which were
retained most were remodelled. The architect is
said to be Hackvale (Pevsner).
Fig. 27 Ashton Village Map
(1) The Chapel, School and Schoolhouse (Fig. 28;
Plates 57, 73) was built in 1706 under the aegis of the
Creed family of Oundle. Nothing remains standing of
the former chapel, first recorded in 1189 (Cal. Chart.
(1327–41), 274); the chapel and cemetery were sold in
1548 by the crown to Francis Samwell (Cal. Pat. (1547–
8). 311). In 1678 John Creed of Oundle (d. 1701) bought
a 20 acre (8.3 hectare) meadow called Laws Holm in
Ashton parish which he bequeathed for some charitable
use. The meadow passed first to his son Richard, who
was killed at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, and then to
Richard's sister Jemima. In February 1705/6 Jemina
bequeathed it to her mother Elizabeth as an endowment
preferably 'for bringing up and instructing the poor of
Ashton, to read and write, and for a school master to
read prayers and some good books to the poor children
when the badness of the weather would not permit them
to go to Oundle church' (NRO, YZ1407). The chapel
and school were built on a plot of land called Play Close
which was given by John Creed, another brother of
Jemima; in 1709 Elizabeth released the land and buildings
Fig. 28 Ashton Chapel
The building was originally arranged with a chapel on
the W. and a schoolroom on the E. as described in 1719
(Bridges, II, 412). The schoolhouse was above the
schoolroom. Benefactors' tables show that by the early
18th century the chapel was equipped with prayer books,
catechisms for the children, and other suitable works.
Elizabeth Creed painted the altarpiece for the chapel; in
1727 she bequeathed land and stock to the school,
suggesting kneeling mats as one use for the money
(NRO, YZ1417). It is not clear what services were
performed in the chapel; in 1829 it was alleged that
divine service was not said and that the building was not
consecrated (Creed Charity Papers, Oundle Vicarage).
The chapel was licensed for divine service in 1840 in
terms which suggest that it had gone out of use. In 1853
the trustees proposed adding a schoolroom for which
purpose a small plot of ground behind the existing
building was offered by G. P. Smith; this probably refers
to the two-storey annexe on the N., although an
insurance valuation in 1830, speaking of an adjoining
lean-to worth £30, suggests that it was a replacement. It
was later extended.
The building has a Gothic appearance which results
from the use of diagonal buttresses and traceried
windows. The re-use of medieval piers as a square
surround for the doorway is a curiosity.
Fig. 29 Ashton Chapel
Reredos, timber mouldings, 1706
Architectural Description – The building is rectangular
and in four bays. The uniformity of the windows on the
S. does not reflect the internal arrangement: three
windows relate to the full-height chapel and one to the
school with schoolhouse above. The gables have
parapets, shaped in two shallow curves. The W. bell-cote
and the E. finial are modern, and the Welsh-slated roof
has plain eaves. A large timber bell-cote was formerly
over the dividing wall between the chapel and school
(Clarke, Churches; Plate 73). At the corners are two-stage diagonal buttresses. The Chapel has tall side
windows with round heads and round-headed lights. In
the W. wall is a round-headed doorway in a square
surround composed of half sections of quatrefoil piers
with fillets, and roll-moulded bases, of c. 1300. These
fragments may have come from the former chapel at
Ashton, some being reused here and others at the Manor
House (2). Above the surround is a coved cornice and a
three-light window with tracery in character with that of
the side windows. It has a classical architrave and scroll
decoration at the sides (Plate 57). Inside, the ceiling is a
barrel vault. Incorporated in the reredos are two
doorways, one leading to the schoolroom, the other to
the schoolhouse stair.
The School, occupying the E. bay of the building, has
a floor cutting across the S. window; there appears to
have been no N. window. In the E. wall is a two-light
window serving the first floor and attic; it has a pointed
head, round-headed lights, continuous mullion and cusped
spandrels. The doorway has a round head with solid
tympanum and the adjacent window has a hollow-chamfered mullion and jambs. Inside, the moulded
ceiling beams have stops indicating that the stair position
is original but the upper flight has been altered. The
chimney stack in the N.E. corner may have been square.
The attic floor is of plaster.
West of the building a breach in the enclosure wall
forms a clairvoyée. This is filled with four bays of
square and twisted iron rods with three scroll-work
standards and scroll finials; partly repaired, early 18th-century.
Fittings – Bell: one in bell-cote. Benefactors' tables: two
on W. wall, shaped at top and bottom, (1), recording
gift of chapel, school and meadow by Mrs Jemima Creed
(d. Feb. 1705/6), with portrait in roundel; (2), recording
gift by Major John Creed of ground on which the
building stands, ground and a cottage by Viscountess
Hatton, and a variety of books by several donors, with
Royal Arms of George I at top. Paintings: (1),
incorporated in reredos, on canvas, two tables of
Commandments with an open Bible, cloud background
and red curtains; painted by Elizabeth Creed as recorded
by Bridges in 1719 (Bridges II, 412); (2), on canvas,
portrait of Jemima Creed, and in separate frame
inscription on paper giving account of her virtuous life,
with backing board inscribed 'Ashton Chapell, 1706'.
Reredos (Fig. 29; Plate 57): panelling in three bays with
side doors beneath cornices and oval panels, with central
pediment, fluted pilasters and bolection-moulded frame
of painting (1); c. 1706. Seating: three benches, early
18th-century. Weather-vane: set on bell-cote, wrought iron,
silhouette of cock, with date 1706.
(2) The Manor House (Fig. 5) of two storeys, consists
of a main range of the 17th century and an earlier cross
wing. The date of the latter is not clear although it
incorporates several reset medieval fragments. The main
range conforms to class 3a. The cross wing was formerly
lower, the scars of gable-lines being visible on both the
present parapeted gables. In the N. gable is the head of a
13th-century two-light window reset over later jambs.
Inside, there is a 17th-century ceiling beam. The central
room of the main range, separated from the E. room by
a timber-framed partition, has a stop-chamfered mantel
beam and an ogee-stopped cross beam.
(3) The Cottage, a two-storey, three-room house,
apparently of 17th or 18th-century origin, extensively
modernized in c. 1900. Some early reused features
include a moulded and cambered mantel beam, a
doorway with a four-centred head, double-ogee
moulded, perhaps 15th-century and an ovolo-moulded
mullioned window, early 17th-century. An internal stack
was probably replaced by a smaller one in c. 1900.
(4) Ashton Estate Office, formerly Chapel Farm
House, two storeys, parapeted gables, long main range
with wing at rear, has a datestone inscribed '1627' but a
mullioned window is the only visible feature of this date.
No early fittings survive.
(5) Vine Cottage and Thatchers Cottage, one storey
and attics, thatched, parapeted gables, originally one
house, perhaps class 1a, 17th-century but altered to
match other estate cottages in c. 1900. A rear wing was
added behind Vine Cottage in the early 19th-century.
Inside, axial beams have ogee or bar stops. Reset in the
front wall of Vine Cottage are datestones inscribed '1659'
and 'S G 1730', and a fire insurance plaque.
(6) Green Farm, two-storeys and attics, parapeted
gables, red brick stacks, class 6b with a lower, probably
slightly later, extension at the N. end, was built in c.
1800. Inside, the cross partitions are timber-framed.
Barn, three bays, thatched, early 19th-century
incorporating two reused cruck trusses with saddles at
the apex, and modern tie beams and collars.
(7) Oundle Railway Station (TL 046890; Plate 122), of
one storey with attics and a roof covered with lozenge-shaped Welsh slates, was designed by W. Livock and
built in 1845 (Pevsner). The appearance is of a hall-and-cross wings house in the revivalist Tudor style with
parapeted gables and dominating chimney stacks with
octagonal flues. The station master's house occupied one
cross wing and the main entrance the central section.
(Not entered; disused)
(8) The Riverside (TL 046889), formerly the Railway
Hotel, one storey and attics, two parallel ranges with
parapeted gables approximating to class 8, built between
1845 and 1851 (Census Enumerator's Books). The design
in the Tudor style complements that of the station