A History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton.
By the Rev. S. Charles Cox and Rev. R. M. Serjeantson. (W. Mark, Northampton.)—St. Sepulchre's, Northampton, is one of the four round churches which still exist in England (three have disappeared out, of the eight which are known to have been built, and one is in ruins). Not unnaturally, a tradition attributing the foundation of the Northampton church to the Order of the Temple has arisen. But the authors of this volume give good reasons for supposing that this is not true, and that the church was built, probably on a site occupied by an earlier edifice, by Simon de St. Liz. Simon married Maud, elder daughter of Earl Waltheof, receiving with her the earldom of Northampton and Huntingdon. He fortified Northampton, and refounded the Cluniac Priory of St. Andrew in that town. He served in the first Crusade, and probably built this church on his return. (He went on a pilgrimage in 1115, and died on his way back.) The architecture, so far as it belongs to the original building, may be undoubtedly referred to this date. This part of the volume is peculiarly interesting,'and excellently illustrated by drawings by Mr. Thomas Garrett. These and kindred matters occupy the first three chapters ; the fourth deals with the melancholy subject of "Destruction and Decay " ; the fifth describes the "Restoration and Enlargement." (We thankfully acknowledge the good work of the "Catholic Revival," but it was not coextensive, inclusively and exclusively, with "a revival of true religion.". Wesley, Whitefield, and Simeon ought not to be absolutely ignored ; and even the days of whitewash and high- backed pews were not wholly dark.) The chapters that follow describe in detail the monuments, bells, registers, accounts, &c., and give an account of the vicars, patrons, and others. The list of vicars is not complete, but there were twenty-eight from John de Enisham, 1226, to Richard Grace, who was instituted in 1530, and survived the Reformation. Since that time there have been thirty, including the present incumbent. William Butlin, who held the living from 1841 till his death in 1878, will be re- membered by some Oxford men. As usual, one of the most interesting chapters is that which gives various wills, all of them of the pre-Reformation period. The wealthiest testator gives about £250 to his widow and various relatives ; £14 to the poor; .£6 to the repair of churches ; £2 10s, to the repair of roads ; and £65, with the residue of his estate, to spiritual persons and others for the benefit of his soul.
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