the church, which after a commission had reported on its ruinous condition was granted. (fn. 448) Nothing survived of the fabric in Bridges's day, although he reported that part of the tower had been standing 'not many years ago'. (fn. 449) The churchyard was later let as part of the glebe (fn. 450) and was still known as Old Churchyard or Church Field Close in the 19th century. (fn. 451)
In 1801 Mrs. Prowse dismissed her dairymaid for attending Methodist meetings (where they were held is not stated), inviting the youth of the village to accompany her, and allowing the preachers to call. (fn. 452) Many years later, in 1833, a house in Wicken occupied by John Foddy was certified as a dissenting meeting house. (fn. 453) This appears to have been a shortlived venture, for a few years later the rector assured the Northamptonshire branch of the National Society that there were no dissenters in his parish and thus no dissenting school. (fn. 454) Any Nonconformists in Wicken probably worshipped at Deanshanger, where there were both Baptist and Primitive Methodist chapels in the 19th century. (fn. 455)
The Village School Before 1870.
From at least 1768 (when the surviving accounts begin) Elizabeth Prowse was paying a master and mistress to teach both boys and girls at a school on her estate at Wicken, as well as providing coal and other items, including worsted cloth for the girls to make up. The cost was charged against income from the cottage rents; Mrs. Prowse kept the proceeds from the sale of finished garments. The master was paid three guineas a year for teaching 12 'Charity Boys', plus 1s. a week for another six boys. (fn. 456) In 1800 Catherline Lamburne was the schoolmaster at Wicken. (fn. 457) When the younger Elizabeth Prowse died in 1810 she left one share in the Grand Junction Canal Company to the rector and churchwardens of Wicken, the dividends on which were to be used to help meet the expenses of both the day school and Sunday school (established in 1788). (fn. 458) In the 1830s the share was producing about £10 a year, three quarters of which was applied to the support of the day school and the rest to the Sunday school. The school house then stood in the Wick Hamon portion of the village. (fn. 459)
The Mordaunts continued the Prowses' work of supporting the schools and in 1818 the day school (the only one in the parish) had 12 boys and eight girls in attendance. (fn. 460) In 1831 the school was admitted into union with the Northamptonshire branch of the National Society. (fn. 461) During the 1830s there were between 30 and 40 boys at the school, but fewer than 10 girls, although over 40 attended the Sunday school. (fn. 462) The contrast was explained by the fact that the girls' day school was in fact a lace school, whose pupils left as soon as they could earn their living. In 1838 the teacher was paid £20 a year, of which £7 16s. was found by the Mordaunts and the rest by the rector. (fn. 463)
Changes soon followed the arrival of H. J. Barton as rector in 1838. (fn. 464) He and Sir John Mordaunt became trustees of the fund endowed with the share in the Grand Junction Canal (fn. 465) and in 1839, having been elected to the committee of the county branch of the National Society, (fn. 466) Barton persuaded Sir John to build a new school at a cost of £200, which the society supplemented with a grant of £20 towards fittings. (fn. 467) The school comprised two rooms, each 21 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. (presumably one for boys and the other for girls), although there was no house for the master. In 1840 there were 32 boys at the day school (but only nine girls), aged between six and 12, and about 60 children of that age in the parish not attending school, who were said to be working on the farms or making lace, for which they could earn between 2d. and 5d. a day. The day schools had an endowment of £10 a year but the master received a salary of £40 3s., the balance coming from Sir John Mordaunt. (fn. 468) His death in 1845 led to a reduction in charitable donations of all kinds on the estate, although both the master and mis