rcade were, however, set up in The Lynch, below Achurch, close to the river, and the monument to Sir Thomas Powys was removed to Achurch church. According to Bridges, (fn. 63) the church of Lilford consisted of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and west tower and spire, but part of the south aisle appears to have been taken down before his time. (fn. 64) There were four bells in the tower. The registers began in 1560, the first volume containing all entries to 1778, together with a long list of briefs (1712–54), and accounts of perambulations of the parish in 1718, 1722 and 1726. A vicarage house was built in 1714. The communion plate is now at Achurch.
The presentation to the church was made in 1228 by Walter Oliphant, and the early history of the advowson is to be found with that of the manor (q.v.), with which it was held until, in 1383–4, Robert de Willoughby of Eresby and his wife Margaret made a conveyance of land in Lilford and of the advowson to Sir John Holt, kt., and others, from whom they were acquired in 1387 by John de Buckingham, Bishop of Lincoln. (fn. 65) The bishop bestowed them as 'bought and acquired with the goods bestowed on him by God,' on the dean and chapter of Lincoln, for the endowment of a chantrey called Buckingham's or Burghersh (Burgherwahas) Chantrey in the cathedral, of two chaplains and two clerks, to pray for the good estate of Pope Urban VI, the King (Richard II), Queen, bishop, etc., and the souls of Edward III, Queen Philippa, the bishop's parents, etc. (fn. 66) In 1398 a vicarage was ordained by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield (fn. 67) and in 1535 Thomas Palfreman was receiving 20d. for the church of Lilford as chantrist of Bishop John Buckingham. (fn. 68) On 26 September 1552, among much monastic property then granted to Thomas Cecill and Philip Bold, the rectory, church, and advowson of the vicarage of Lilford, late belonging to this chantry, were included. (fn. 69) Before 1558 they had been acquired by Edmund Elmes, who was then holding them with the manor (q.v.) with which since then they have again been held.
Lilford was one of the parishes which received an augmentation of its living under the Commonwealth. (fn. 70) About 1755 Thomas Powys, father of the first Lord Lilford (see above), pulled down such of his tenants' houses as were in Lilford, and built others in their place in Wigsthorpe; he then petitioned the Bishop of Peterborough (alleging as his reason that it was now necessary for the vicar to reside at Wigsthorpe in consequence of the removal thither of the inhabitants) for leave to obtain a conveyance to himself of the old vicarage house in Lilford, and to erect instead, before 1 January 1757, a substantial house of stone for a new vicarage upon a certain piece of land in Wigsthorpe. The bishop gave his consent in an instrument dated 27 March 1756, (fn. 71) but when Thomas Powys died on 2 April 1767, the old vicarage house and lands had not been conveyed to him. By indenture of 21 August 1767 the ground on which the old vicarage formerly stood was conveyed by the vicar and churchwardens of Lilford to his son, the fourth Thomas Powys of Lilford. (fn. 72) He completed the work his father had begun, by obtaining in 1778 an Act of Parliament (fn. 73) authorising the consolidation of the rectory of Achurch and vicarage of Lilford (he was lord of both manors and owner of the advowson in each parish), and the removal out of Lilford parish of both church and vicarage into Achurch. Lilford church was to be pulled down and the materials used for the repair of that of Achurch, the vicarage newly erected in Wigsthorpe to be exchanged for a house and 2 acres of land near the rectory lands in Achurch, and an acre added by him for a graveyard there; this was accordingly done. In this Act it was stated that the parish church of Lilford was falling into decay, and would be an expense to repair, (fn. 74) and it was enacted that as much of the building as Thomas Powys might require should be left as a private chapel to his mansion house, in which the rector of Lilford cum Achu