Saint Peter And Saint Paul

A late C12 doorway is reset in the present S wall, but it is unclear if the former S aisle was also late C12

The chancel was lengthened in the C13, by which time the church also had aisles

Further work was done in the C15, probably including rebuilding the aisles and work on the chancel

The church was refurnished in the late C17 or very early C18, and retains several pieces from that date

The aisles were removed and the nave roofed in a single span, but the former widths of the aisles are preserved in the chancel chapels EXTERIOR: The embattled, unbuttressed W tower of 4 stages, with 2 light windows in the bell stage and blocked C12 lancets in the stage below

INTERIOR: Wide, hollow-chamfered C15 chancel arch on moulded capitals and polygonal responds

The S chancel chapel is dominated by the large monument to Judge William Thursby (d.1700), which occupies almost the entire E wall

C15 octagonal font, the bowl carved with roses, leaves, shields and quatrefoils on an octagonal stem with blind tracery

Royal arms of c.1660 over the tower arch

Fine Gibbons style pulpit of c.1700 with a very large tester

Hexagonal pulpit has fielded panels and cherubs with swags of fruit, flowers and corn

Elaborate timber Gothic Revival lectern of 1916

Stained glass includes the E window of 1862 by Heaton, Butler and Bayne

Numerous monuments

In the chancel the remains of a brass to William Mayle d.1536 and Margaret his wife d.1567, which formerly had figures of husband and wife, ten sons, and three daughters

The SE chapel is filled with monuments to the Thursbys, including two large, white marble wall monuments, both by Samuel Cox, that commemorate Richard Thursby and his father Downhall, d. 1733, the latter with a tablet with an open pediment and a bust

The largest and most ambitious is to Judge William Thursby, d. 1730, by Samuel Cox I. A standing figure in barrister's robes is flanked by Ionic pilasters with a baldicchino and drapery swags

The church at Abington is first mentioned in the C13, but the tower and S door are C12, and the double-square plan of the former nave suggests that the core of the church dates to the Norman period

The church now stands in isolation next to Abington Museum (formerly the manor house), but this does not reflect its medieval history as the medieval village was depopulated and enclosed in the C17 to create a better setting for the house

SOURCES: Pevsner, N and Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire (2nd ed, 1973), 343-4. Salzman, L F, ed, The Victoria County History of Northamptonshire, vol 4 (1937), 65-9. Jo Cox advice notes and photos REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Peter and St Paul, Abington Park, should be designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * The church combines good fabric of c.1200 with an interesting and unusual rebuilding of the 1820s. * Excellent fittings, including the C15 font and sedilia and the superb pulpit of c.1700. * Very good monuments, which also reflect the close link between the church and the adjacent manor house. * The wooden tracery in the nave windows is an exceptional survival of 'churchwardens' gothic' that was often replaced elsewhere