CLAY COTON LITHORLANDS
The former St Andrews Church, Clay Coton (©David Richards)
My earliest Leatherland ancestors came from several villages in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire clustered around Rugby. The story begins in the 1650s in the small village of Clay Coton in north-west Northamptonshire.
My earliest ancestors, Edward and Elizabeth seem to have lived in Clay Coton for most of their adult lives. Neither their baptisms nor their marriage has been traced, but they had eight children all baptised in Clay Coton between 1652 and 1668, so it is likely that they were born around the late 1620s.
The baptisms suggest that they probably married around 1651/52 but no marriage has been found in Clay Coton or elsewhere. It is possible that the marriage was unrecorded due to the disruption to parish registers during the Commonwealth period (1649-1653) - the "Commonwealth gap" - even though Clay Coton seems unaffected by this. (I have searched the scanned parish register images on Ancestry).
Edward's surname is recorded at the baptisms of his children with various spellings mostly Lithorland or Leithorland.
The only other record I have found for Edward is an index to the the Hearth Tax Returns for 1674 which records him as Edward Litherland, Clay Coton, one hearth, exempt. This exemption suggests that he was relatively poor. There were thirty four Hearth Tax entries for Clay Coton in 1674.
I did find a record for Elizabeth when searching Constable's Accounts for Clay Coton in the Northants Record Office. The accounts for 1682 have this entry
"It[em] Laid out for a warant [amount ?] for Elezabearth Letherland 0-1-0
I think the word was warrant, the surname was quite clear. A warrant would be issued by a Justice of the Peace. One of a constable's duties was to serve warrants so perhaps Elizabeth she had broken the law in some way ? In 1682 Elizabeth was probably in her early 50s.
A glimpse into the family's circumstance following Edward's death in 1686 can be found in the parish register which described Elizabeth as a "poor widow" when she was buried in 1699. Moreover, three of their children died in infancy and another son possibly died in his late 20s.
Edward's Parents
No baptism has been found for Edward Lithorland in Northamptonshire, but there are several possibilities all outside Northants :
- Edward Litherland baptised in 1628 in Appleby Magna, Leicestershire to parents Humphrey and Marie Litherland
- Edward Litherland baptised in 1634 also in Appleby Magna with the same parents as above (strongly suggesting indicating that the Edward baptised 1628 died
- Edward Litherland baptised 1635 in Wallasey, Cheshire
- Eadmund Lytherland son of John Lytherland of Newton baptised in Clifton upon Dunsmore, Warwickshire, in 1624
Clay Coton Village
Clay Coton is dominated by the former medieval church of St. Andrews which was built in the 14th century but fell into disuse in the 1950s. It remained empty and derelict for many years but fortunately it was later renovated as a private house The graveyard still has public access. The church - now known as St Andrews House - is in a nice setting with a small stream running nearby. There are a handful of buildings in the village, which is surrounded by fields and farmland.
The tower of the former St Andrews Church (©David Richards)
St Andrew's
I discovered the story of the decline and preservation of St Andrews Church from a Daily Telegraph article "Prayers answered as a home rises from the ruins" (Sept. 2001). The article explained that the church had been disused for 35 years and was threatened with demolition several times. The first demolition threat came in the 1970s when the Church Commissioners obtained permission to demolish it. But eight local objectors intervened and they became trustees taking over responsibility for the building, and the demolition order was revoked. But then in 1990 Daventry District Council issued a Dangerous Building Notice which required the church to be knocked down unless the trustees carried out £250,000 worth of repairs, although they had already paid for re-roofing and stabilising the building.
In 1991 Derek Hartwell, an historic building specialist, stepped in to restore the church. It took him eleven years to bring the project to fruition, which involved negotiations with seventeen public bodies, including the Church Commissioners, the Charity Commissioners and English Heritage.
www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3293401/Prayers-answered-as-a-home-rises-from-the-ruins
Although converted to a modern four bedroom house inside, Hartwell was able to preserve the ecclesiastical past. The three bells, dating from 1615, 1619 and 1810, remained although the bellropes were removed for safety reasons. The graveyard remains the property of the Church of England and is apparently still open for burials.
The British History Online website has an entry for Clay Coton. It says that the parish is one of the smallest in the county at only four hundred hectares. A medieval coin hoard was found near the village several years before 1865. This was a hoard of four hundred and thirty five 15th-century groats, mostly of Edward IV but some as early as Henry IV and some as late as Henry VII, discovered in a small earthenware pot.
Clay Coton Witch Pot
A tantalising glimpse into life in Clay Coton was revealed by the discovery of the contents of a "witch pot" hidden in the inglenook (chimney breast) of an old house in Clay Coton about fifteen years ago. This discovery was featured in the BBC's A History of the World in 100 Objects website. The contents were in a decaying metal container and comprise various pieces of fabric from clothing including possibly a sleeve fragment, some fine fabric and some fingers from a glove, plus some small bones believed to be of a cat. The pot would have been placed behind the chimney to prevent witches or evil spirits from entering the house and causing the family harm. The house in which they were found is believed to have been built in the 1500s and upgraded between 1600-1650. It was common practice to hide objects such as bones and clothing in doorways and fireplaces to protect the household.
Contents of the witch pot found in Clay Coton (photo from BBC's History of the World in 100 Objects website)
Was widow Elizabeth Lethorland a witch ? Witches were often poor widows and, although Elizabeth's name does not appear in any historical records as a suspected witch, it is not impossible that the villagers of Clay Coton feared that she was. For more information see :
www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/khfSdewdQG2m4mdFV0FJeQ
