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 ab