KINGSTHORPE, a parish in the hundred of SPELHOE,
county of NORTHAMPTON, 2 miles (N. by W.) from
Northampton, containing 1226 inhabitants. The living
is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the rectory of St. Peter's,
Northampton, in the archdeaconry of Northampton,
and diocese of Peterborough.. The church, dedicated to
St. John the Baptist, is partly Norman, and partly in
the later style of English architecture. There is a place
of worship for Baptists. This was anciently a royal
demesne, having been governed by a bailiff, and had a
common seal, the impress of which was a crowned head
between two fleur de lis, with the motto SigUlum Commune
Kingsthorpe. Among other privileges formerly
possessed by the inhabitants was exemption from toll.
At present a certain number of freeholders, under the
payment of a fixed annual rent to the grantee, hold the
manor in trust for the town: the trustees transact all
manorial business in a small building called the townhouse,
erected by Lady Pritchard. Within this lordship
are extensive quarries of fine white freestone. Elizabeth
Cooke and Margaret Fremeaux, in 1753, assigned
to trustees an estate for the support of a free school,
the annual rental of which, amounting to £20, is applied
towards the instruction of fifteen boys and fifteen
girls.