"About 1220 the church at Shangton belonged to Lilleshull Priory (Salop.). It may have been granted to the priory by a member of the Lestrange family, lords of the manor of Shangton, who gave Lilleshull much property in Shropshire. The rectory was never appropriated to the priory. It is not certain whether the prior continued to make presentations to the living in the early 15th century, but in 1461 the advowson formed part of the property confiscated from Sir William Vaux of Harrowden (Northants.) who was lord of the manor of Shangton. Thereafter the advowson apparently descended with the manor to the Saunders and Isham families. After 1918 the advowson was acquired by the Martyrs' Memorial and Church of England Trust. The living was united with the rectory of Carlton Curlieu in 1940, and in 1958 the patrons of the united benefice were the Martyrs' Memorial and Church of England Trust and Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Bt., former patron of Carlton Curlieu, who made presentations alternately. The rector then lived at Carlton Curlieu.
The rectory was valued at 1 mark in 1217, 3 marks in 1254, and 8 marks in 1291. The annual value of the rectory in 1535 was £11, and in 1650, after inclosure, £50. Early in the 13th century the monks of St. Evroul (Orne) were receiving 2/3 of certain great tithes in Shangton. The payment of tithes was apparently regulated by the Chancery decree which settled the inclosure soon after 1638. In 1700 Sir Justinian Isham was paying £40 in lieu of tithes. The rectory was valued at £360 a year in 1831. The tithes were commuted in 1842 for £326 6s. 4d. payable to the rector, virtually all by the lord of the manor. There were 29 a. of glebe in 1846.
Charles Markham (d. 1802), rector in the late 18th century, was also Rector of Church Langton from 1778 to 1782. While the Isham family were patrons of the living, several members of the family were rectors. Robert Isham (1805–90), who described the previous parsonage as 'a bad cottage', built the existing house in 1841, largely at his own expense but with £900 towards the cost from Sir Justinian Isham (d. 1845). His cousin Maxwell Henry Close was rector from 1848 to 1857 and two of his sons-in-law were also rectors—Henry Vere Packe from 1857 to 1891 and Henry Isham Longden from 1891 to 1898. The latter was the author of Northamptonshire and Rutland Clergy (1938–43).
The church of ST. NICHOLAS is a small structure of ironstone and some limestone, and consists of chancel, north vestry, nave with west bell turret, and south porch.
The north wall of the nave still has a short length of a chamfered string course externally above the north door and is probably part of a 13th-century or earlier church. The chancel was rebuilt early in the 14th century. Both the east window and another in the south wall have rear arches decorated with ballflower ornament. The east window has been restored but the side window is well preserved, having two cusped lights with an encircled trefoil in its head under a pointed arch. The sill internally has an elaborate foliated band of ornament which may have been part of a piscina. On each side of the east window are two sections of a quatrefoil frieze that have been reset to serve as a reredos. In the south wall of the chancel is a small locker, and nearby a square-headed window with cusped lights and sunk chamfered jambs was inserted into an earlier opening c. 1340. The south porch, a mixture of ironstone and limestone patching, is an addition of the late 14th century. The nave windows are all Perpendicular in style with cusped lights under square heads and range in date from the late 14th century to c. 1500.
Internally the chancel arch was rebuilt c. 1400 and has narrow semi-octagonal shafts and moulded capitals. Corbels set high up at the east end of the nave probably supported a Lenten Veil. Part of a traceried screen of 15th-century date, which probably divided the nave from the chancel, is now lying in the vestry.
Late in the 15th century the nave walls were heightened and a roof of flatter pitch constructed, from which carved wooden bosses have survived; these are now lying in the nave. It is probable that the west end of the church was partly rebuilt at this period: the present height of the bell turret is compatible with such a roof, and the angle buttresses and plinth, together with the west window, are of similar date. The bell turret has two openings containing bells, one of which is in use.
The archdeacons' reports on the fabric in the 17th and 18th centuries noted the damage caused by damp resulting from the lack of proper drainage. Extensive repairs carried out in 1838 included new drains, and the belfry was cramped with iron bands. Two major structural alterations took place in the late 19th century. In 1863 the east end of the chancel was pulled down and rebuilt, although the new east window by Heaton & Butler in memory of Mrs. Pain was not inserted until 1877. The present vestry and organ chamber were added to the north side of the chancel in 1874. An organ had been put up by Bevingtons' of London in 1849. Either this or another organ by the same firm was brought into use in 1867. A partly-obscured 19th-century date tablet with the initials J.L.C.W. above the openings in the bell turret probably refers to repair work at this end of the nave. Repairs to the roof were carried out in 1920 and the whole church was repaired in 1925.
The font probably dates from the late 14th century; it is octagonal, of grey limestone, and has a low moulded base. The wooden cover is Victorian and incorporates an early roof boss. The old pews were removed and the nave furnished with open sittings in 1845 under the direction of Henry Goddard of Leicester. A new floor and a new door were also added. The cost was borne by a special parish rate and £20 from Sir Justinian Isham (d. 1845). The chancel was similarly refurnished by the rector at his own expense in 1851 when the piscina was uncovered. Some late-15th-century traceried panels were incorporated in a new screen. The pulpit and reading desk were added in 1863. A new altar and furnishings were bought in 1878 to replace the communion table installed in 1842.
The only memorial of note is a mural tablet on the south side of the chancel with strapwork ornament and flanking columns; it was erected by Matthew Saunders in 1612 in memory of his wife Margaret (d. 1605). The grave slabs of both Matthew (d. 1625) and his wife are immediately west of the altar. A slab against the font is to Joseph Chamber (d. 1726) and a tablet in the chancel is in memory of the Revd. Henry Vere Packe (d. 1903). The Revd. Walter Allicock (d. 1757) is also commemorated.
There are two bells, both undated. The plate includes a silver cup and paten dated 1669. The registers date from 1580 and are substantially complete except for the years 1653–77."
SOURCE - (
visit link)