i: i ■ r i»i ii! ; llli ^% ^ > \ M ••'i'UdllVJ so JO^ ) ■ :? \\^ i ^ X CALIFO/?^. ,o,OFCMIFO,V//. o^ ii^ IBRA*^^' '31 I V J 3>0 CAii yNIVERS//; CA vER5^ 'WorthAst4?n uteepJeiAstcn sec/ /9,/^fti^w.,,,,....>:--'X;^~_J yi^'i-off^cU ■ 'j^teepjiijiarff.n KidMrtatcn4. + " //'■: luil>'n /'// ?'//''/ // rf ////r/ vr/ A GUIDE TO THE ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF OXFORD. PUBLISHED BY THE OXFORD SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE STUDY OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. OXFORD, JOHN HENRY PARKER: f . AND J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUl's CHUBCH-YARH AND WATEKLOO-r LACK ; G. BELL, 186, FLEET STEEET, LONDON. MDCCCXLVl. OXFORD : rniNTF.n by i. snniMFTON. 0=1 Pzx6 ADVERTISEMENT. The principal object proposed in this publication was stated in the outset to be, to assist the Members of the Society in the practical study of Gothic Architecture. This object it is hoped has now been accom- plished. The Work comprises an accoimt of eighty Churches and Parishes in Oxfordshire, situated within twelve miles of Oxford ; the architectural descrijitions are believed to be sufficient as a guide for students to lead them to discriminate the styles and the dates of the different parts of a building, so far as this is practicable without the aid of experience. If these descriptions are found to give the student an increased interest in the pursuit, and make him desirous to investigate carefully the history of every building which comes in his way by the evidence afforded by the building itself, it will have accomplished all that can be expected. The historical notices are not confined to the Churches, but contain all the information that could be collected re- specting the history of the respective Parishes also. This part of the work has been considerably extended during its progress ; the re- searches which were originally set on foot with a view to ascertain how far the recorded history of the Churches would be found to agree with their architectural character, and thus either to confirm or modify the received chronology of the art in this country, have led to the discovery of much curious and valuable matter belonging more properly perhaps to a County History than to a woi'k of this limited nature. But the absence of any such History of Oxfordshire rendered it imperative to preserve the information thus collected. These notices do not add mate- rially to the bulk or expense of the work, while to many persons they form the most valuable part of it, and to almost all they will be found interesting. The Society is much indebted to the Rev. John Baron, M.A., of Queen's College, Vicar of Waterpery, for the indefatigable industry and unwearied patience with which he has pursued the investi- gations connected with this part of the work. Those who have had b ADVERTISEMENT. occasion to consult the manuscripts of the middle ages with very- little clue to the object of research, will know how to appreciate his labours. In the earlier part of the Guide the inyaluable " Parochial Antiquities of Ambrosden and Burcester, by Bishop Kennett," sup- plied almost all that was necessary, but in the latter part, being be- yond his district, this help was entirely wanting, and Mr. Baron has proved no unworthy follower in the path which he had pointed out, and in which he had so ably led the way. Our Guide comprises that part of the Deanery of Bicester which lies within the limits prescribed, and the whole of the Deaneries of Woodstock and of Cuddesden"; these are subdivided into seven Rides, each forming a good day's excursion ; by starting early from Oxford and returning late, the student would be able to see and take hasty notes of each of the Churches comprised in the Ride. This arrangement was adopted with the double object of attending to the established ecclesiastical divisions, and of bringing together the descriptions of those Churches which are locally situated near to each other. That the arrangement in Deaneries is on the whole the best for this purpose seems to be now generally acknowledged. One part of our plan was to give some notice of eA^ery Church in the district, so that the ground should be completely surveyed, and we regret that this plan has not been more generally acted upon in other instances, as it is in this way only that we can ever hope to obtain a complete Architectural Sur- vey of all England, an object much to be desired and encouraged. There are still very many valuable specimens of medieval art and ex- cellent examples for modern imitation remaining unnoticed and un- known for want of such a survey. Our Guide was originally intended to have included the Deanery of Abingdon in Berkshire, but the limits proposed being already exceeded, and the bulk of the volume as large as is consistent with convenience, it has been found necessary to defer this part of the plan. » With the exception of Dorchester, tlebed, which is modeni, and beyond our Haseley, and Iffley, of whicli separate limits, accounts have been published ; and Net- CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. DEANERY OF BICESTER. RIDE I. Map of the Deaneby p. 1 ISLIP Tower 1 Credence and Lettern 3 Pillar and Section 4 Oddington — Tower 7 Charlton on Otmoor — View of the Church 9 East Window 10 The Roodloft 11 Crest of Font Cover 12 East Window of South Aisle . . . . ib. Merton — The Sedilia 13 Ambrosden — View of the Church 19 Pillar-bracket ib. Bicester — The Porch 23 Supposed Saxon Arch 24 Capital in South Aisle ib. Section of Pillar 25 Remains of the Priory 27 Caversfield — Supposed Saxon Tower 30 Windows 31 The Piscina 32 Panel of a Monument ib. Mouldings of Norman Doorway ... 33 Bucknell — Tower 34 Chesterton — The Sedilia 38 Wendlebury 42 Middleton Stoney — Tower 43 Norman Doorway 44 Weston on the Green . . .47 KiRTLINGTON The Piscina 48 Blechingdon — Spire Turret ou the Tower . . . . .51 Hampton Poyle — The East Window 53 Decorated Capital 55 Hampton Gay 5fi IV CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. RIDE II. Map of the Deanebt p. 57 KiDLINGTON General View of the Chnrch .... 57 East End of South Chapel . . . . ib. The Ground Plan 58 Poppie in the Chancel 59 Pew in the Chancel ib. North Door of the Nave . . - . . 60 East Window of South Chapel . . . ib. East Window, &c. in the North Transept ib. Piscina in South Chapel 61 Mouldings of the North Door ... 62 South Door . . . . ib. Outer Door of the Porch ib. Impost Mouldings of the Tower . . . ib. Label of Arches ia Nave and Tower-Arch, ib. Label and Jamb of the East Window of South Chapel ib. Crocket on Piscina in North Transept . 63 Niche in the Nave 64 The Font ib. Roof of South Aisle 65 South Porch ib. Crocket ib. The Almshouse - . 72 Water-Eaton — The Chapel 69 The House 70 The Plan of the House ib. Shipxon-on-Cherwell .... 72 Tackley — The Chancel 73 Piscina 74 Section of Arch of West Window . . ib. Impost ib. Dripstone Termination 75 iiovvsiiam 77 Steeple Aston — View of the Church 79 The Ground Plan 80 Decorated Piscina 81 Open SeaU 82 North Aston 85 DUNSTEW • .... 88 Sandfokd, near Woodstock — East Window of Chancel 90 Westcott Barton — Door-Haudle 94 Steeple Barton — Corbel in Chancel 95 Window on the North side . . . . ib. Dripstone Termination 96 RIDE III. WOLVERCOT — View of the Church 98 Impost of Chancel- Arch,with Hour-glass Stand ib. The Pulpit 99 Battlement ib. Corbel of Tower-Arch ib. Part of Roof of Tower 100 GODSTOW Perpendicular Gateway 101 Small Bridge ib. Yarnton — Cross in the Church-yard 106 Plan of the Cross 107 Begbroke — View of the Church Ill Bladon — The House H4 Woodstock — West Porch . Ud Capital on South side of Nave . . . 116 Mouldings of South Window . . . , ib. The Font 117 CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Window on the South side 117 Interior of ditto ib. Chimney on a House in Old Woodstock 121 WOOTTON 122 Glympton 124 KiDDINGTON Moulding of South Doorway . . . .125 Boof of South Chapel 126 The Font ib. Stringcourse 127 Window at west end of Nave . . . . ib. RIDE IV. Cassington — View of the Church Capital of a Shaft in the Chancel Ground Plan of the Church 131 132 133 Ensham — View of the Church 137 Plan of ditto 1 38 Mouldings of Capital of Chancel- Arch . 139 Capital of Pillar . ib. Section of Pillar ib. Window on the south side 140 Buttress ib. The Font ib. Dripstone Termination 141 Cornice of the North Aisle ib. Handborough — View of the Church 145 The Boodloft 146 The Font 147 The Pulpit ib. Norman Window 148 Interior of ditto ib. Perpendicular Niche on south side . . ib. Plan of the Church 149 Ancient Head-stone 150 COOMEE — Chancel Door 153 Stone Pulpit 154 Sanctus-Bell turret 155 Cross on East Gable ib. Stonesfield — Window in Chancel 157 Window, North Chapel 158 Interior of Window, North Chapel . . ib. WiLCOTE — West End of the Church 160 NORTHLEIGH View of the Church 162 East Window ib. South Door 163 Belfry Window 164 Cross on East Gable ib. Plan of the Church 166 SoUTHIiEIGH — Head of Chancel-door 167 Piscina ib. Head of South Window in Chancel . .168 Head of a Light in the North Window . ib. Stanton Harcourt — View of the Church 170 Window-Shaft in Chancel 171 Rood-Screen 173 Base of Shafts ib. Capital of ditto ib. Section of the Arch ib. Parapet of the Nave 175 Shield, with the Harcourt Arms . .178 Pope's Tower, &c 181 The Kitchen 182 The Domestic Chapel 183 VI CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. RIDE V. Map of the Deanery p. 185 Marston — Ground-Plau of the Church . . . . 185 Sculpture over the East Window . . ib. Dripstone Termination ...:.. 186 Chancel Door ...-..•.. ib. Arch, South side of Nave ib. Wood Eaton — North-west view of the Church . . . 189 Plan of the Church ib. The Sedilia 190 Altar Cruet 191 Elsfield — South-west view of the Church . . .193 Section of East Window 194 Dripstone to Tablet in Chancel . . . ib. Exterior and Interior of the low Side Window ib. Roof of Nave 195 Section of South Door ib. Section of Lancet Window . . . . ib. Ground-Planof the Church . . . . 196 NOKE — Noke Church 201 Beckley — Ground-Plan of Church 205 Wall-plate in Chancel ...... 206 Roof in Chancel ib. Turret, North-east Angle ib. Font and Stone Desk 207 South Door 208 HOUTON . 218 Studley — The Priory 219 Stanton St. John — View of the Church from the South-east 223 Side Window of Chancel, Exterior . .224 Corbel Heads, North side of Interior of Chancel ib. Female Head, South side ib. Buttresses of Chancel ib. East Window 225 Side Window of Chancel, Interior . . ib. Recess for Easter Sepulchre . . . . ib. Mouldings of East Window .... 226 Chancel Door 227 Clerestory Window, Interior and Exte- rior ib. Poppies in Nave 228 Bench-end and Poppies in Nave . . . ib. Cross on East Gable 229 Water-drain at East end of North Aisle ib. Rectory-House, in 1835 230 Ground-Plan of the Church .... 232 WOODPERRY 233 Monumental Slabs 236 Fragments of the ancient Church . . 237 Fragments of ancient Cross .... 238 HOLTON North-east view of Church .... 242 Wall-plate in Chancel 243 North Door in Nave ib. Water-pery — Decorated Cross in the Church-yard . 248 Corbel-heads in Chancel ..... 249 Transition Norman Cap in Nave . . ib. Early Decorated Window, North side of Nave 250 Arms of Robert Fitz-Elys, Esq. . . . 251 Brass, A.D. 1527, formerly in the Augus- tine Friars' Church, Oxford . . . 253 Arms of Fitz-Elys and wife . • . .254 Specimen of Inscription on Bell . . . 255 Effigy of a Knight in Plate Armour, Lord's Aisle ib. Ground-Plan of Water-pery Church . 264 Waterstock — Stamp on Bell in Tower 266 Albury — The old Church 269 The Font 270 Forest Hill — The Church 272 The Porch 273 Section of Door ib. Ground-Plun of the Church .... 274 CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Vll Headington — South-East view of the Church . . . 276 Doorway, North side of Chancel . .277 Window, North side of Chancel . . . ib. Chancel-arch, the pews removed . .278 Section of Chancel-arch 279 Shaft of Chancel-arch ib. Scutcheon, South Door 280 West Window ib. King-post to roof 281 Section of West Window ib. Open Seats in Nave ib. Upper Moulding of Open Seats . . . ib. Ground-Plan of the Church .... 283 RIDE VI. CUDDESDEN General view of the Church .... 289 Ground-Plan ib. Mouldings of Arch of West Door . .290 Norman Window in Transept . . . . ib. Upper Section of Wall of North Aisle, shewing Buttress cut away . . . . ib. Junction of last Arch of North Aisle, with opening to Roodloft . . . . ib. South-west corner of Tower Arches . . 291 Cap and Base of a Pillar, on the south side of the Nave ib. Dripstone of Window in the South Aisle of the Nave 292 Hoodraould of Arch, South Aisle of Nave ib. West Door, with Section through the Jamb and Arch-Moulding .... 294 Wheatley 301 Great Milton — South-west view of the Church . . . 302 Ground-Plan ib. East Window of Chancel 303 Clerestory Window — Interior . . . 305 Exterior . . . ib. East Window of South Aisle — Exterior 306 Window in the South Aisle — Exterior . 307 Stringcourse under the Windows . . ib. Mullions of Windows in South Aisle . ib. Flat Gravestone in the Nave .... 308 Buttress of South Aisle 310 Buttress of Chancel ib. The North Doorway ib. Mouldings 311 Arras of Sir William Wace . . . . 312 Arms of Sir Richard Camoys . . . , 313 of Robert Edgerley ib . of Ambrose D'ormer, Esq. . . . ib. Little Milton — Ascot Chapel 320 Newington — View of the Church 321 South Door 322 Font 323 Drayton — Arms of John Drayton 328 Stadhampton 329 Chiselhampton 330 Garsington — View of the Church 332 North-west view of the Church . . . 333 Hood-moulds of East Window . . . ib. Low Side- Window 334 Nave Arches, South side 335 Mouldings of Chancel-arch . . . . ib. Clerestory Window 336 Sections of Parapets — The Nave , . . 337 The South Aisle . ib. Cap and Base, North Pillar of Nave . ib. Corbels of the Arches of Nave . . . 338 Iron Handle, South Door ib. Sections of South Windows of South Aisle 339 Mouldings of Belfry Window, lower West Window, South Door, and North Door ........ ib. The South Porch 340 The North Doorway ib. Plan of the Church 342 Monumental Brass of the Radley Family 344 North-east view of the School-house . 346 South-west view of the School-house . 347 Horsepath — Ground- Plan 348 Mouldings of Tower Arch below Cap . 349 Cap and Base of Shaft, Tower Arch . ib. Cap and Base of Pillar in Nave . . . ib. Parapet, South Aisle 350 Section of Arch, South Aisle .... il). The Font ib. The Stoup 351 Vlll CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Corbel of Arch, South Aisle . . . .351 Window, South Transept ib. Section through the Head ib. Section of Jamb ib. Window, East side of Transept . . . 352 The Cross ib. The old Chancel Roof ib. Sculptures in the Nave 353 RIDE VII. Sandford — Norman Window in the Chancel . . 355 Sculpture in Alabaster 356 Window in the Minchery 308 Crest Tiles from the Minchery . . . 359 View of the Minchery ...... ib. NuNEHAM Courtney — The present Church 364 Remains of the Old Churcli .... 365 Sections of Mouldings in the Old Church ib. CuLlIAM 367 Clifton Hampden — Plan of the Church 373 View of the Church from the river . . 374 The Lich-gate 375 Warborough — The Font 377 Hinge on the Chancel Door .... 378 Benson — East view of the Chancel 380 Toot Baldon — Plan of the Church 383 West view of the Church 384 Cap on the North side 385 Marsh Baldon — Plan of the Chnrch 386 The South Porch 387 Wall-plate in the Porch ib. Arms of the Earls of Buckingham . . ib. of John Danvers, Esq 388 of the Bishopric of Oxford . . . 389 of the Baldington Family . . .391 Cowley — South-east view of the Church . . .392 Low Side- Window 393 The Tower ib. Plan of the Church 394 St. Bartholomew's Chapel and Hospital — View of the Chapel 395 The East Window 396 //a/npU'n (^av Sefkley INTRODUCTION. The object proposed in this publication is to assist the junior members of the Society in the practical study of Gothic Archi- tecture. Presuming that they already possess such a knowledge of the subject as is supplied by the usual elementary works, we would lead them to seek for more detailed and accurate in- formation by the study of buildings rather than of books : these may supply good general rules, but hable to so many exceptions, that any student who attempts to apply them will at first find himself very much at fault, and will speedily discover that to describe with tolerable accuracy the different parts of almost any old Church, with the style and probable date of each portion, requires considerable practice, or the assistance of a more experi- enced guide ; and as such a person is not always at hand, it is hoped that this printed Gmde may in some degree supply the deficiency, and that when a student has examined a few such buildings with this help, he will be better enabled to study others without it. Every building of the middle ages may be con- sidered as a subject for study from which something may be learned ; and the student who has advanced so far as to feel this will never be at a loss for objects of amusement and interest in any part of England, or indeed of Europe ; for although there are peculiarities belonging to each country, and to a great extent also to each district, the general features of Gothic Architecture VI INTRODUCTION. are the same in all ; and the more closely its history is inves- tigated^ the more nearly we shall probably find its progress to have been simultaneous. The plan proposed in the work, of which the First Part is now placed in the hands of our members, is to furnish some account of EVERY Church within a circuit of twelve miles from Oxford; even in those cases where the Church is modern and altogether unworthy of notice, the information of this fact may save many a student a fruitless walk or ride ; whenever the Church is old, it will not be found entirely devoid of interest. This First Part of the Guide contains those Chm'ches in the Deanery of Bicester which come vrithin our limit, and it is intended to follow it up with the other Deaneries in succession, as this ancient Eccle- siastical division of the country seems the most convenient for our pui'pose : at the same time, the Churches within the Deanery are arranged in the order of a ride from Oxford, going by one route and returning by another, and a shght map of the route is prefixed to enable strangers to make use of it. The motives for selecting the Deanery of Bicester to begin with, were, first, that the Churches themselves are of a very interesting character, and little known ; secondly, that more particulars respecting their history have been coDected by the laborious researches of Bishop Kcnnett than can often be found relating to mere country parishes ; and these " Historical Notices" which are appended to the Architectural description of each Church, add considerably to the interest of the work. Bishop Kennett's Parochial Antiquities are arranged in chrono- logical order, which renders it often difficult to make out clearly the history of each parish separately ; this, however, INTRODUCTION. Vll had been in a great degree prepared ready to our hands in Mr. Dunkin^s History of the Hundred of Ploughley, which consists chiefly of a useful digest of Bishop Kennett's learned researches ; and we have not scrupled to avail ourselves of this assistance, more especially as Mr. Dunkin's work was limited to a very small number of copies, and is now difficult to meet with. In speaking only of Churches, it is not intended to confine the work to them, whenever any other Gothic buildings come within our range ; but the domestic buildings of the middle ages, though worthy of more attention than they have hitherto met with, are not very common, and our district is not rich in them. It may be asked why we did not commence our work with the buildings of Oxford itself; but it may be presumed that the generality of our members are well acquainted with them, and the excellent illustrations afforded in Dr. Ingi^am's valuable Memorials, seem to have in a great degree forestalled us. In presenting this First Part of the proposed Guide to the Architectural Antiquities of the neighbourhood of Oxford to our members, it seems necessary to make a few remarks on the buildings contained in it, their general character and peculiarities : and this affords a good opportunity of calling attention to the fact, that although the four Styles of Gothic Architecture are almost as distinct and as well known as the three Orders of Grecian Architecture, yet that the number of buildings which do not belong to any of these styles is much more numerous than is commonly supposed; and this arising not merely from different parts of a building being of different ages, but from so many buildings being erected during the periods of transition from one style to another. Gothic Architecture never stood Vlll INTRODUCTION. still ; and as we have many buildings early or late in each parti- cular style, so we have also others which do not properly belong to either, and can only be described as belonging to the period of transition from one to the other. The number of buildings erected about the end of the twelfth century, dui'ing the reigns of Richard I. and John, when the change from the Norman to the Early English style was in progress, has led Mr, Bloxam to make a new style of this period of transition, which he has called Semi-Norman. The objec- tion to this is, that it is impossible to define such a style, some buildings being almost Norman, with just a beginning of change; others almost Early English, with just a last lingering remnant of Noiinan work ; and this continues, in some instances, to a period when the Early English style was in general fully esta- blished. Instances of this transition will be found in the Churches of Islip, Chesterton, and Middleton Stoney. The second period of transition, from the Early English to the Decorated styles, about the time of Edward I,, is less marked, and consequently not so generally known as the former one; instances of it are, however, very common, and some persons have proposed to make another new style of this, under the name of Geometrical Gothic. The same ob- jection applies to this as in the former instance ; it is im- possible to define such a style; the later examples of Early English, in which we have foliated circles in the head of the window, and the earlier examples of Decorated, in which we have these combined with trefoils, and other geometrical forms, would equally belong to it. It may truly be said, that all Gothic Architecture is Geometrical. Geometry is the very INTRODUCTION. IX soul and essence of Gothic, pervading every part of it, and an Architect who is ignorant of Geometry does not deserve the name, and is not fit to erect any Gothic building. A good example of this transition occurs in the east window of Hampton Poyle (p. 53,) and the tower of Oddington, (p. 7.) The transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular styles has been less noticed than either of the others, from the circum- stance of its character being less marked and obvious, discovered rather by the mouldings and details than by any general fea- tures, although instances do occur of a mixture of Decorated and Perpendicular tracery in the head of a window, as in the east window of Charlton on Otmoor, (p. 10.) Most of the buildings erected in the latter part of the fourteenth century, during the reign of Eichard II., partake of this mixed character. Of the anomalous class of buildings supposed by some persons to be Saxon, and called by Mr, Bloxam the Saxon style, we have a good example in the tower of Caversfield Church, to which we have endeavoured to do ample justice at pp. 30, 31. Here, as in other instances, this work is so much mixed up with other featui'es having the usual character of Norman, as to make it very doubtful whether any part of it is really of an earlier age, or merely rude country work, such as may be found at all periods. This remark applies equally to Bicester, (p. 24.) Of the Norman style, we have some good examples in the North Porch of Caversfield and the Tower of Bucknell. Of the Early English style, the Nave of Charlton on Otmoor, the South Arches of Bicester, the Chancel of Bucknell (a fine example,) the Tower of Middleton Stoney, and the Nave of Kirtlington. X INTRODUCTION. Of Decorated, Merton Church is nearly a perfect specimen. The Soutli Aisle of Ambrosden is very rich and good; the Tower and south side of the Nave of Chesterton, the Nave of Hampton Poyle. Of Perpendicular, the Towers of Islip and Bicester, the Chancel of Ambrosden, the Clerestory and Porch of Bicester, and many windows inserted in all the Churches. This Part of the Guide has been prepared by Mr. J. Henry Parker and Mr. William Grey of Magdalene Hall, who visited all the Chiu'ches together, and generally one took notes of them while the other made sketches of the most interesting featui'es. These rough notes, made on the spot, have been printed with very little alteration, neither party having time to prepare a more elaborate work, biit in any case where a doubt was en- tertained on any particular point, the Church has been visited again. It is hoped that the publication of this specimen will lead to an improvement in the subsequent parts of the Guide, and that other members of the Society will come forward and render their assistance ; that one who is conversant with the manuscripts of the middle ages, will examine the Bishops' Registers, or other documents, calculated to throw light upon the history of the Churches ; another who is conversant with Heraldiy, will examine the different monuments, and see Avhat light can be thrown from that source, (as has been done in the case of the monument at Caversficld, the date of which was as- certained bv means of the Heraldrv, with the kind assistance of the Count Mortara, and the Rev. Dr. Bandinel ;) another who can draw, to make sketches, accompanied by measurements which are indispensable in Architectural drawing ; another who is con- INTRODUCTION. XI versant with the costume of different periods, to examine the various heads which occur as corbels, &c., in almost every Church, and see how far they agree with the Architectural character, and the date thereby assigned. In this way a far more valuable work may be produced than is promised by the present imperfect attempt, but it appeared that unless some one made a beginning nothing would be done, and it is hoped that even this, imperfect and superficial as it is, may be found useful. I.H.P. Oxford, Oct. 10, 1842. PATRONS. THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF WESTMINSTER. I S L I P 5t. Mitliohi' DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OF PLOUGHLEY. FT. IN. Chancel 40 Nave 50 N. Aisle 50 S. Aisle 50 Vestry 10 9 B FT. Iff. by 18 6 by 21 by 15 6 by 11 by 9 2 I S L I P. There can be little doubt that there was a Church at Islip in the Saxon tiraes^ but no part of the present building appears to be earlier than about the end of the twelfth century, to which date the pillars and arches on the north side of the nave must be attributed. The Church appears to have been in a great degree rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and the tower added in the fifteenth. The Chancel was probably destroyed in the civil wars^ and rebuilt soon after the Restoration. Chancel. — Built by the celebrated Dr. Robert South, in 1680, in the debased Gothic style, prevalent at that period. The circum- stance of this Chancel being rebuilt so soon after the restoration of the Church of England, and by a divine so well known for the orthodox character of his writings, attaches a degree of importance which would not otherwise belong to it, and therefore makes it necessary to describe it more minutely than its own merits would require. Of the architecture little need be said, but that it is a favourable specimen of that age, though not free from the usual faults ; the windoAvs have semicircular heads, with the muUions crossing and intersecting each other in the head, without foliation ; the masomy is good and substan- tial, buttresses not being requii^ed are not used ; the roof is of too low a pitch to have a good effect, but the timbers are left open, without much ornament, excepting the eastern bay imme- diately over the Altar ; this has a plaster ceiling, Avhicli, though now mutilated is sufficiently perfect to shew that it was richly painted in the best style of the period, with the Dove in the centre represented as descending, siuTounded by cherubim. The portion of wall immediately over the east window is painted in imitation of open Gothic work, with the date 1G80. On one of the beams of the roof is this inscription : " ROBERTUS SOUTH S. T. P. IN ECCLESIAM HANC PAROCHIALEM INDUCTU8 ANNO DOMINI 1678, PROPRIIS SUMPTIBUS HANC CANCELLARIAM A FUNDAMENTIS INSTAURAVIT EXTRUXITQVE. ANNO D"!. 1680." I SLIP. Credence Table A D. leSO The Communion-table is plain and substantial oak, of tlie usual style of Charles II. In the vestry are preserved the small Credence-tablOj also of oak, corresponding ex- actly with the larger table, and a plain oak Lettern of the same period, the upper part of which is square, hav- ing two desks, and tiu'ning =^ on a pivot on the top of a "^ plain round pillar. The Altar-rail is plain, of the same age as the above ; this end of the Chancel is raised one step. On the north side of the Chancel is the vestry, of the same date, but built in imitation of an Early English chapel, with small lancet windows. In the vestry is the parish chest, of plain oak, in which are pre- served the Chalice and Paten, also of the same date ; these are of pewter, being probably the best that could then be afforded ; their place has since been supplied by silver. The Chancel-arch belongs to the old part of the Churcli, and is plain work of the fourteenth centmy. Parts of the old Rood-screen remain, with the linen pattern panel, marking it to be of about the time of Henry VIII. Other parts are preserved in the vestry, but are plain and mutilated. Nave — North side — tkree arches. Transition Norman, pointed with flat soffit, the edges slightly chamfered. These rest on pillars Lettern, A.D. leSO I SLIP. of the same style, very short and massive ; one square in section, with shafts at the angles, and a plain Norman capital, the other plain round, with sculptured Nor- man capital ; the two Responds, or half pillars, correspond nearly with the square pillar, but the shafts have more of Early English character. In the eastern pillar a Decorated niche is inserted. South side — three arches, of plain work in the Decorated style. Roof — plain open timber of good construction, with garret windows inserted afterwards. Tower-arch — good Perpendi- cular, now plastered up, and a gallery brought out in front of it. Pews — mostly open, good old oak, some agreeing with Dr. South's other work. Several en- closed pews have been introduced of late years. Pulpit — plain, probably Dr. South's work. Font — stands at the west end of the nave, good Perpendicular, octagon cup-shaped, with a qua- trefoil panel on each face. Pillar, North side of Nave, c. 1200. Section of Pillar. North Aisle — Decorated, good windows at each end; the cast window lately (1842) restored in a creditable manner; the side windows are still in a bad state, with their tracery cut out. On the north wall of tliis aisle some ancient painting has recently I S L I p. 5 been discovered, (March, 1842,) and the whitewash of a small part scraped off, but very little can as yet be made out. In this wall there is a small Decorated door now blocked up. A bracket at the east end of the aisle shews the situation of a Chantry-altar. South Aisle — Decorated, the windows mostly mutilated; the west window looks like a small Early Norman one, but is only an imitation, of the time of Charles II. At the east end of this aisle is a Decorated Piscina, partly concealed by modern pewing; this of course marks the situation of another Altar, On the south wall of this aisle is a curious painting of the offerings of the three kings to the infant Saviour, date about 1360, as appeared from an inscription visible at the time it was discovered, in 1824. Roofs of both aisles open timber, plain rough work, but original. South doorway and porch Decorated ; on the east side of the door under the porch is a Stoup of the same period, but mutilated. The Tower is good plain Perpendicular, of four stages, with pinnacles at the angles ; the west door is a good specimen of this style. i.h.p. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In 1009, King Ethelred kept the greatest part of his residence in this county, chiefly at Hedington and Islip ^. (Vide Kennett's Parochial Antiquities, 1808. vol. i. p. 62; for other notices respecting Ishp, see also pages 36, 63, 66, 67, 68, 69, 85, 93, 97, 101, 110, 111, 257, 436, 467, and 582 ; vol. ii. pages 5, 140, 143, 339, and 385.) King Edward (whom for his piety and chastity our forefathers honoured with the title of Confessor) was born here, as is made evident by the original charter of the restoration of the Abbey of Westminster, wherein he gives to tliat Church the town of Islip, with tliis additional clause, " The place where I was born." Sir William Dugdale mentions nothing of this charter in his " Monasticon ;" but the Saxon copy of the greatest part of it was discovered by Dr. Kennett, Bishop of Peterborough, and is published with other instruments relating to the antiquities of Ambrosden, Bur- " Islip, in Saxon Eij;lir)-lepe, called Charter of the same king's, "Ileslepe;" anciently " Ghistlipe ;" in the Pipe Rolls and in a presentation of the Abbey of West- of King Henry II., " Hiltesleape ;" in a minster, Gth Henry III., " Ighteslep." 6 ISLIP. cester, and some other parishes of this county. In this charter this towTi is called liySj-lepe'^. When King Edward founded the Monastery of St. Peter at West- minster, he gave to it this village of Githslepe, as it was then spelled. Notwithstanding this grant, William the Conqueror seized upon the Islip estate, and bestowed it upon the valiant Hugh de Grentmaisnil, who gave it, as a marriage portion, to his daughter Adeline, the wife of Roger de Tveiy. Soon after the death of Jeffrey de Ivery, to whom it descended, the manor and other estates of the lordship of Islip were granted to William de Curcy, who dying about 1173, the land again reverted to the crown. The Abbot and Convent of Westminster, availing themselves of this circumstance, tendered their claim to the village and liberties of Islip, and ultimately succeeded in gaining the restitution of their properties here ; and still retain it. They soon after found the chapel of the palace, which stood near the Church, in a state of dilapidation, and either repaired or rebuilt it, as was attested by the lancet windows in the eastern wall. An engraving of it was pubUshed by Hearne in his preface to " Curious Discourses," A.D. 1720, and a copy of it is given in Mr. Dunkiu's History of the Hundreds of Ploughley and Bullington. It was in the eighteenth century used as a barn or outhouse, till about 1780, when, being in a dangerous state, it was taken dovm. The old Font belonging to this chapel has been generally, but erroneously, supposed to have been that in which Edward the Con- fessor was baptized ; no one, however, in the least acquainted with the character of Fonts at that period, can for a moment entertain such an idea ; it appears to be of about the end of the fourteenth century, and is now carefully presented in the Rectory garden. TRANSLATION OF THE ORIGINAL SAXON CHARTER. Edward, king, greetcth Wlsy, bishop, and Gyrth, earl, and all my nobles in Oxfordshire. And I tell you that I have given to Christ and St. Peter into Westminster that small village wherein I was born, by name Githslepe, and one hide at Mersce, scot-free and rent-free, with all the things which belong thereunto, in wood and field, in meadows and waters, with Church, and with the immunities of the Church, as fully and as largely, and as free as it stood in mine own hand ; and also as my mother Imme, upon my right of primogeniture, for my maintenance gave it me entire, and bequeathed it to the family. — Kennett, vol. i. p. 68, Qd. *> Magna Brilannia 1727, vol. iv. ]) 403. ODDINGTON. PATRONS. Bt ^nlirclu. DEANERY OF BICESTER. TRINITY COLLEGE, HUNDRED OXFORD. OF PLOUGHLEY FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel . . . . 27 3 by 15 9 Nave . . . • • • 46 by 21 7 This Church is plain Decorated^ at least so much aa remains of the original work, but it is so much mutilated, and concealed by plaster, that it is difficult to make out what it has been. In the Cu ANGEL there is an elegant Decorated Piscina, and the Chancel-arch was plain De- corated, but is now an ugly low plaster one. The east window is restored Perpendicular. In the Chancel is a small Brass, a skeleton in a shroud, to Radulph Hamsterley, Fellow of Merton College, Rector of this parish. . . . Anno 15 . . . Mensis . . . [The blanks have never been filled up.] The Nave has Early Deco- rated buttresses; on the north side is an arch, stopped up, which appears to have opened into a chapel now destroyed. Pews — good plain open benches. Font — plain, round, lined with lead, probably the same age as the Church, and therefore of the Decorated style, though without any ornament. South Porch has an Early Decorated doorway. Tower of Oddiijgton Chur^li. c 1300. 8 ODDINGTON. Tower — good, Earh^ Decorated, plain, of two stories; win- dows — lancet-shaped with foliated heads; arch — plain Pointed, not chamfered, now plastered iip. In the Church-yard is the shaft of a Cross. w.g. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In 1079, Adeline, widow of Roger de Ivery, held, by inheritance from her father, lands in Charlton, Otendon, and Islip'^. In 1138, Sir Rob. Gait, Knight, Lord of the manor of Hampton thence called Hampton Gait (now Gay), possessed a fourth part of the \dllage of Ottendun, and going to Gilbert, Abbot of Daverlie, he desired and obtained leave to build an Abbey of the Cistertian order, in the said village of Ottendun, which accordingly he raised at his own charge, and endowed it with five virgates of land, which made the fourth part of a Knight's fee, and called it from the name of an adjoining wood, Ottelei ^. In a short time the Monastery was found so much exposed to inunda- tions, that the society petitioned for a removal ; and in consequence of their representations, Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, was induced to grant them the park of Thame, in this county, and some land which had belonged to Nigel Kyre, for the purpose of building thereon. On their acquisition of this gift, the Monks lost no time in proceeding with the new fabric. The Convent was removed, and on July 21, A.D. 1138, the Church was dedicated to St. Maiy, by the same Bishop, who in gratitude thereof was hereafter reputed the Founder e. " Kennett, vol. i. p. 85. vol. ii. p. 403. ^ Kennett, vol. i. p. 126, 127. See <^ Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 11,5. also p. 119, 159, 27(5, 282, 295, 296. and CHARLTON PATRONS. THE PROVOST AND FELLOWS OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. ON OTMOOR. 5t. iW:ats i\ft Firgtn. DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OP PLOUGHLEY. FT. IN. Chancel 36 9 Nave 40 Aisles 40 FT. IN. by 14 6 by 21 by 10 This Church appears to have been built about the middle of the thirteenth century, and the Chancel added or rebuilt at the end of the fourteenth. Some alterations were made and a story added to the tower in the fifteenth. No part of the original Norman Church remains. c 10 CHARLTON ON OTMOOR. Chancel — late Decorated and Transition to Perpendicular, a good specimen of this period, altliougli the work is somewhat rude and clumsy, as might be expected in a remote country village. East window of four lights, with ramified tracery, approaching to Perpendicular. Side ^vindows of two lights, with more of Deco- rated character, but the labels over them, and the mouldings through- out, partake of the same mixed 1 character. There are some good bits of original stained glass in the heads of all the windows; in that of the east window is an elegant little figm^e of the Virgin and Child. Sedilia and Piscina of the same late Decorated or Transi- tion style, the label forming a square head to the whole. The work is rude and clumsy : in the piscina the wooden shelf remains. Opposite to these is a plain sepulchral recess in the north wall, with an obtusely pointed arch : as there is no tomb under it, there can be little doubt that this was for the Easter sepulchre. There are three steps to the Altar, with many of the en- caustic tiles remaining, but in a very dirty and mutilated state. On the floor near the Easter sepulchre is a stone slab, with an elegant cross fleuree, of the fourteenth centiuy, to the memory of a former Rector — John de France — but much defaced and the date lost. The Altar-rail is a fine piece of oak carving, in the style of Grinling Gibbons. The Chancel has a low flat plaster ceiling, which entirely spoils the Rood-arch. The most interesting feature in this Church is the Rood-loft, wliicli is a very fine and perfect specimen : it is of richly carved Kast Wiudow.c. 1380. CHARLTON ON OTMOOR. 11 oakj with the original painting and gikling, of the time of Henry VII, or VIII. The stone stairs to the Rood-loft are all cut away hut two. The staircase arch, however, remains open. Rood-loft. c. 1600 On this Rood-loft a garland is placed from immemorial custom on May day, strung upon a wooden cross, which remains in the position of the ancient Holy Rood until the foUomng year, when the flowers and evergreens are again renewed. NAVE-^North side, — three Early English arches, acutely pointed, recessed, chamfered, on octagon shafts with plain cir- cular caps, labels of early character, with good terminations. South side, three similar arches, but the caps have the roll moulding, and the label is diflerent in the inside, but on the outside, in the aisles, it is the same as that of the north arches, and is terminated by masks. Clerestory — On north side three very good small quatrefoil windows remain, and are probably Early English : within they are splayed into a square opening, but the effect is very good. On the south side the windows are square common Perpendicular. 12 CHARLTON ON OTMOOR. Crest of Font Cover Roof of Nave spoiled by a modern flat plaster ceiling. Pulpit, good Elizabethan, with the date, 1616. Pews in Nave, all good open seats, a few modern boxes introduced in the Chancel. Font, plain, round, spreading up- wards, stands on two steps, which are built in with the base of the west pillar on the north side, so that it is clearly all of one age. Early English. The cover is plain pyramidal, with a singular and good top to it, con- sisting of a sort of crest of the Tudor- flower. North Aisle, windows Decorated, but in Early Enghsh walls ; at the east end a jAain Early Enghsh Piscina and Bracket. South Aisle, east window Early English, late in the style, label the roll moulding, with masks for ter- minations, window of two hghts, with '^=''^ fohated circle in the head. Near this also an Early English Piscina, and Bracket. Other windows De- corated, and a square Perpendicular insertion. This aisle has a good parapet, ornamented with sunk qua- trefoils. Early English, late in the style. The south door and porch are plain Early English : over the door is a Perpendicular panelled East Ena of the North Aisie.c.i26o. niche, for a Holy Rood. Roofs of aisles, plain open timber, i-ougli work. TowEii, Early English, with a Perpendicular upper story added, lower windows lancet, upper original windows two light Early Enghsh with open head, and roll moulding for CHARLTON ON OTMOOR. 13 labels, terminated by masks. Upper windows and parapet Per- pendicular, with good pinnacles at the angles. Tower-arch good Early Enghsh, but plastered up to accom- modate a singing gallery, which is as usual brought out into the Church, instead of being placed in the tower. The masonry of this Church is very good, entirely built of small stones, with a marked difference between that of the Aisles and Tower, and the Chancel, though both good. It has buttresses only at the angles, none being requii-ed at the sides. The cross in the Church-yard is plain, and much worn, but is probably Early Enghsh. I.H.P. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In 1076, or before, Hugh de Grentemaisnil, father of Adeline, wife of Roger de Ivery, among other large possessions given by him to his restored Monastery of St. Ebrulf^, in Normandy, granted the Church of Charlton-upon-Otmoore, with the tithes, and five virgates of land, and one villain, &c., &c., which grants William the Conqueror confirmed to those monks by a large charter, dated at Winchester, 1081 ''. In 1392, the patronage of the Church of Charlton-upon-Otmoore, being now in the crown, king Richard the Second gave the perpetual advowson to the prioress and nuns of Henwode, county of Warwick, to the intent the said Church might be united for ever to the said nunnery, " The monastery of St. Ebrvilf, or the dominions of his countryman, Robert St. Evran, Was founded for Benedic- duke of Calabria, and built a new mo- tine monks by one Ebrulf, in the reign nastery nigh Brepe, on the shores of the of Clothair I., A.D. 578, and being Adriatic sea, where he died, after having almost destroyed by the intestine ravages governed the community seventeen years, of the Franks and Normans, was restored, — Neustria Pia, p. 104, 105, Rothomag in 1049, by William Geronis, and his 1G63. Also some account of the Alien nephews Robert and Hugh de Grent- Priories, collected from the MSS. of War- maisnil ; and in the following year Robert burton and Ducarel, vol. ii. p. 81,82; assumed the habit and became a monk. London, 1786. Diinkin, vol. i. p. 210. [GuiL Gemet. sub an. 1051, p.280.] On — Ordericus Vitalis, p. G03. Mon. Ang. the death of Theodoric, the Abbot, he torn. ii. p. 966. was elected to the vacant dignity, but was "' Kennett, vol. i. p. 84 ; see also p. driven from his house and banished by 85, 97, 101, 110, 131, 296, 357, 371, and Duke William. He found an asylum in 372 ; vol. ii. p. 85. 14 CHARLTON ON OTMOOR. provided a sufficient portion should be allotted for the endo\vment of a perpetual vicar, and that a due portion at the Diocesan's discretion should be yearly allowed for the better support of the poorer parishioners of the said village of Charlton, which gift King Henry the Fourth did after- wards confirm ^ And Pope Innocent the Seventh, in the first year of his pontificate, upon petition of the said prioress and nuns, did allow them to appropriate the said Church on death or cession of the present Rector i. Henry the Fifth, in the third year of his reign, annexed this Church, together with the greater number of the estates formerly belonging to the Alien Priory of Ware, to the Carthusian Monastery of Shene, in the county of Surrey. After the dissolution of that Monastery, it appears that the advowson of this Church was the property of Wilham Dening and John and Lancelot Shaw, and that they did homage for it '^. By indenture bearing date 20th May, 1567, [10 Ehz.,] Alan Scott, the Rector of Charlton, and the Provost and Fellows and Scholars of Queen's College, Oxford, patrons of the same, granted to William Shillingford, alias Izode, of Beckley, his heu-s and assigns, a lease of the parsonage of this viUage for eighty-one years, on condition of his paying the said Alan Scott and his successors the sum of £20 per annum, in equal portions, at the four usual seasons of payment, and finding an able and sufficient curate, to be allowed by the ordinary to perform divine service and all other parochial duties, or, in case the said Alan or his successors do the duty, the said WiUiam ShQhngford, alias Izode, further covenant- ing to repair the Chancel, whenever necessary, during tlie continuance of his lease. Thomas Lamplugh, afterwards Archbishop of York, was Rector of this parish from 1658 to 1685. " From the registers, this gift seems vol. ii. p. 176, 204, 205, 210, and 220. not to have been carried into effect.— Vide " Originalia, 28—3-7 Henry VIII Dunkin, vol. i. p. 21 1. f. 2f)5. h. No. 63G5, Additional' MSS. in ■^ Mon. Ang. torn, i, p. 479 ; Kennett, Brit. Mus. SEDILIA MERTON CHCHCH, c 13£0 PATRONS. THE RECTOR AND FELLOWS OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD. MERTON. ^t <^&)itl)cn. DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. Chancel Nave . S. Aisle 35 7 61 61 by 15 by 19 by 17 This Church is entirely of the Decorated style, and was pro- bably built in the latter half of the foui'teenth century, a few windows only being added, and the roof of the Nave rebuilt in the fifteenth. Chancel — East window, three light. Perpendicular, but the label and stringcourse Decorated, the roll moulding. Three windows on the south side, of two lights. Perpendicular tracery inserted in Decorated arches, with hollows in the head. In the Chancel there are some very good carved Decorated corbels to the roof and the arch ; the roof of the Chancel spoiled by a plaster ceiling. Chancel-arch Decorated, pointed, re- cessed, chamfered, springing from rich corbels. Sedilia and Piscina, good Decorated, rather late, with ogee arches, crockets and finials ; the Piscina has a shelf and basin perfect ; near these is a foliated ogee-arched sepulchral recess. The south-west window has a low seat under it, and adjoin- ing a small Decorated door. On the north side a good Deco- rated locker, with ogee arch, having pinnacles, crockets, and finials. Two mural monuments, of the time of Elizabeth. 16 MERTON. The Communion-table plain and olcl^ with the slab detached, as ordered by the injunctions of Elizabeth ^. On the outside of the Chancel on the north side, is a small niche in the wall. Nave — On the south side four Decorated arches, on octagon pillars, plain, Avith Decorated caps richly moulded : on the north side three arches walled up with their labels, ha\dng Decorated windows, and a door inserted in the wall under them : these have been moved back from the outer wall when the arches were filled up, and the aisle destroyed. Roof of the Nave original Perpendicular, open timber, with a little of the old painting. Clerestory also Perpendicular. Seats mostly open, plain and old, but higher than usual, some modern and very bad. South Aisle, good Decorated; the east window has Decorated tracery, rather pecuHar, between flowing and flamboyant. Two Decorated niches on the south side, and one on the north side of this window. Side windows very good. Decorated, two light, with quatrefoils in the head, one Perpendicular inserted. South door, plain Decorated, with Perpendicular panel for a rood over it, the same as at Charlton. Font plain, round, with an octagon shaft, probably Deco- rated, and has a pyramidal canopy of the time of Charles II. Pulpit and Reading-desk carved oak scroll work, about the time of James I. Tower situated at the west end, plain Decorated, and has a good ornamented parapet, window and niche ; has had a spire, which was taken down about 1770, to save the expense of keep- ing it in repair. Tower-arch small and plain; west window, single light, cinque-foiled ogee head. Porch, plain Decorated. In the Church-yard is the base of an old Cross ; the foot entrance to the Church-vard is worthv of notice, ha^dng the original coping, apparently of the fonrtecnth or fifteenth century. w.g. ' See Mr. D. Parsons' Letter to the Oxford Heraldic Society. MERTON. 17 HISTORICAL NOTICES. That the first Church in this village owes it origin and endowment to one of the early lords of the manor, is evident, from his successor, David, Earl of Huntingdon, having granted the advowson to the Abbot and Convent of Eynsham in the latter end of the reign of Henry I., A.D. 1118*"; and shortly after, the same community, by a compact with the successive incumbents, reserved to themselves a pension of 30s. per annum out of its revenues s. On the twenty-second of June, 1351, the Abbot and Convent of Eynsham procured hcence from King Edward III., to appropriate the Church of Merton to their Abbey, and soon after petitioned the Bishop of Lincoln, their diocesan, to grant them letters for this purpose, setting forth the following weighty reasons for the necessity of augment- ing the revenues of their Convent : " that their Monastery, standing near the highway, was often frequented and burdened by travellers ; that they had been engaged in many suits and trials in courts ecclesiastical and civil, by which they had contracted many and great debts ; that a late raging pestilence had much diminished and detained their old rents and profits ; and that their house, as well as their offices and other build- ings, w^ere much decayed, and they unable to repair or support them ^. They therefore humbly prayed, that as the parish Church of Merton was only taxed at seventeen marks and ten shillings, it might be appro- priated and for ever annexed to their Convent." The Bishop i-emarking the strong case adduced, consented to their request, and ordained that the appropriation should commence on the death or resignation of John de Wanse, the present Rector, reserving for a perpetual Vicar the yearly pension of ten marks, together with a inanse in the village, and the sum of twenty shilhngs yearly to the See of Lincoln, to compensate for the pro- f Rcgist. de Eynsham Chartae 22, appropriation of Hickfiekl, Hants, to New Apud /Ed. Christ. Oxon., ap. Dunkin. College, Oxford, A.D. 1383. See Reg. K Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 9. Wykeham Episc. Winton, p. 1, f. 144. i" Had their allegations been true to After the Bishop had received this peti- their full extent, the whole revenue of tion, it was common for him to order an Merton Church could not have preserved inquisition to betaken of the matter; and the Convent from ruin ; but as it was as the petitioners generally contrived to usual to set forth some cogent reasons in procure a report which echoed back their cases of appropriation, this seems to have previous statement, the mandate was been the nature of the formula, for nearly granted without difficulty. Ap. Dunkin. the same arguments are adduced for the D 18 MERTON. fits which would otherwise accrue to the said Bishop in the successive vacancies of the Church ; further directing, that the aforesaid Abhot and Convent should discharge the Church and Vicarage of all ordinary and extraordinary burdens, repair the Chancel and its windows, and find all books, vestments, lamps, incense, &c., necessarj' for the celebration of Divine Service, excepting the bread and wine for the sacrament of the Altar, which the Vicar himself was to furnish at his own expense'. On the surrender of the Abbey of Eynsham, this Parsonage became vested in the crown, and, with other conventual estates, was subsequently granted to Sir William Petre, one of the visitors employed by Cromwell to enquire into the government and behaviour of the votaries of both sexes, preparatory to the dissolution of religious houses, as a reward for those services. In the latter part of his life, Sir William conveyed all right and title therein, together with the appropriations and advowsons of the Churches of Yarnton, Kidlington, and Long Wittenham, in the counties of Oxon and Bucks, to Exeter College, Oxford, where he had been educated ^. Amidst the changes of religion, which took place in the reigns of Henry VIII,, Edward VI., Mary, and her sister Elizabeth, John Jones contrived to retain his vicarage of Merton, and died in possession, A,D. 1559. — Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 15. In the village is a manor house, a building erected by the Doyleys in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and for more than a century the chief residence of the Haringtons, their descendants by a female heir. The mansion faces the north, and is entered by a porch leading through a passage to the hall, beyond which is a large parlour, remaining in the same state as left by Sir James Harington, the last member of that family who owned the estate. It appears that little alteration has been eff'ected on the northern side since its original construction ; the greater part of the ancient staircase remains, as well as the upper apartments. The kitchen is also entire, and below is a large cellar arched, now used as a dairy. The south front of the mansion is said to have been originally in the form of a Roman L, and a long gallery ran along the upper part, while the ground floor was occupied by parlours, &c. This portion of the edifice is now demolished'. ' Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 9, 10. ' Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 1, 2. » Ibid., vol. ii. p. H, 15. AMBROSDEN CHDECH , FROM THE S.E. PATRON. SIR a. p. TURNER. AMBROSDEN. FT. IN. Chancel 18 6 Nave 66 4 Aisle 68 7 Tower 16 DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OF BULLINOTON FT. IN. by 17 5 by 22 2 by 11 7 by 15 1 This is a fine Churcli, mostly of tlie Early Decorated style, about the time of Edward IL, with a Tower somewhat earlier. The effect of the south front is very striking, from the richness of the open parapet and cornice to the aisle ,,(',' ivi" "i I'luini, and porch, and the buttresses with their niches. Chancel — Perpendicular, early in the style. East window, three lights; side win- dows, two lights. At the east end are two short pillar-brackets for images, one on each side the Altar, with Early English caps of stiff-leaf foliage. Piscina — Perpendicular, on an octagon shaft. The recesses of the north and south win- dows are continued below the lights, and stopped by a seat across. Some encaustic tiles, but of very common patterns and common work. Rood-arch — plain Perpendicular. Pillar bracket,, c. 1100. 20 AM BROS DEN. Nave — South side, four Decorated arches, pointed, recessed, chamfered; the labels consist of the roll moulding and small corbel heads. Pillars — plain octagon, with Decorated caps, but only two are in their original state. North side — windows originally Early Decorated, but Per- pendicular tracery inserted ; two lights with quatrefoils. Font — Perpendicular, octagon, cup-shaped, with a quatrefoil in each face; the shaft plain. Seats — mostly old, open, and good, but some square enclosed pews have been introduced, and a gallery-pew has been put in at the east end of the north side, against the Chancel-arch : and the upper part of this arch is cut off by a large beam, sup- porting a board having the Royal Arms painted on it : the Commandments &c., are painted on the wall by the side of the arch. Roof — the original open timber roof remains, but is concealed by a plaster ceiling ; there is a gallery at the west end, and the Tower-arch is j)lastered up. At the west end is a curious oil painting of the Resur- rection, said to be of the last century; it is painted on the wall and partly on the plaster partition under the Tower- arch. Pulpit — plain and modern, of Avood, standing on a stone shaft, plain Decorated. South Aisle — windows plain, two lights, early Decorated, with quatrefoil in the head. The exterior has a good open parapet of trefoils, with spaces open above, and closed below ; and a cornice of good Decorated work, filled with a row of heads and ball flowers. South door — plain Decorated, with a niche over it. Buttresses — early Decorated, with niches. Porch — Decorated, tlie same age as the aisle, and with a good open parapet of trefoils enclosed in circles. On the north side is a small plain Norman door ; the parapet on this side is plain, with bold hollow cornice. AMBROSDEN. 21 The Turret for the Rood-loft staircase, on the north side, now used as stairs to a gallery pew. Tower — Early Enghsh, but late in the style, lower windows lancet, upper ones of two lights under one arch, closed in the head and divided by a shaft. Parapet — battlemented, with a plain cornice. Buttresses — on the north side, small, plain, and low, reaching only to the first story ; on the south side, in three stages, to the second story. The Parsonage House, a good old stone one, chiefly built by Dr. John Stubbing, in 1638, but its ancient character has been much spoiled lately by additions. W.G. HISTORICAL NOTICES. The name of the earliest priest belonging to this parish which appears in any known record is William, who is found subscribing to a confirmation [A.D. 1106, 6th Henry I.] by Joan de Piddington, of the hermitage and chapel of St. Cross, at Muswell, to Missenden Abbey, which had been previously annexed to the same by Ralph the hermit'". A.D. 1283. Edmund Earl of Cornwall founded the first College for the order of the Bonhommes at Esserugge, Asherugge, now Ashridge, in the county of Bucks, to which this Church of Ambrosden was soon after impropriated". A.D. 1308. In the fifth year of Oliver Sutton, Bishop of Lincoln, Edmund Earl of Cornwall presented a Rector to the Church of Am- brosden". We may here observe, that Edmund Earl of Cornwall designed no part of the revenues of this Church of Ambrosden should be converted to the use of his new Convent, but he only trusts them with the presentation of a Clerk, on a charitable opinion that these good men would better execute the right of patronage, and more incorruptly provide an able incumbent. But too many guardians have embezzled •" Duiikin, vol. i. ]). 9. Mon. Aug., " Rot. 01. Sutton ep'i Line. II. Dods. vol. iii. p. 18. MS. vol. cvii. f. 144. Kennett, vol.. i. ° Kennett, vol. i. p. 423, 4. p. 429. 22 AMBROSDEN. a trust to their own proper use ; so these holy brethren, without any regard to the donor's intention, soon resolved the inheritance should be theirs, and therefore, purchasing a deed of gift from the Pope, (who, like the tempter in the wilderness, offered what he had no right to bestow,) they quickly made themselves the perpetual Rector. And indeed in this manner was the illegitimate birth of most impropriations ; the lay patrons devoutly (and as they thought mnocently) resigned their right of presentations to religious houses, and they, by their interest and money, procured from the Popes an annexion of the tithes to themselves, with an arbitraiy portion, or a poor settled reserve to a servant of theirs, whom they should call a Vicar p, A.D. 1334. The Bonhommes of the Convent of Ashrugge, to whom the presentation of this Church of Ambrosden was given by Edmund Earl of Cornwall, not content with the honour of patronage without the profit of the tithes, petitioned Pope Clement V. that he would authorize the appropriation of the said Church to their Convent, and effectually begged or bought the Pope's consent, given in letters missive, dated in this third year of his pontificate, and recited in the Bishop of Lincoln's licence, sub an. 1334. Thus at Rome began the sad abuse that yet wants a reformation i. During the time of this Vicar (Richard Hunt, admitted 1518) the sup- pression of religious houses took place, and their lands and livings were given to the King, who, in 1542, granted the patronage of this Church, by letters patent, to John Denton, Esq. The Vicar (Richard Hunt) died at Ambrosden, A.D. 1547"^. The Vicarage of Ambrosden hath been much augmented by the pur- chase of a farm out of Queen Anne's Bounty at Arncott. Previous to the Reformation, this Church was included within the deanery of Cuddesdon, but at that period was attached to Bicester, where it now remains s. From the period of the dissolution of the Convent at Asherugge till the reign of Elizabeth, the Rectory of Ambrosden remained in possession of the crown ; but that Queen having despoiled the See of Oxford during its long vacancy of several of the best estates, to make some amends, bestowed on it the endowment of several impropriations, among which was the present Rectory, then rated at 18/. 12.s\ 1 Id. per annum*. P Kcnnett, vol. i. p. 140. ' Duukin, vol i. p. Ifl. 1 Ibid., vol. i. p. .509. ' Ibid., vol. i. p. 20. ' Dunkin, vol. i. p. ) ■>. PATRON. SIR G. P. TURNER. BICESTER. ^t. CPalitiuvg. DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OF PLOUGHLEY. South Porch, circa 1420. FT. IN. Chancel 39 Nave 82 Aisles 82 FT. IN. by 17 by 28 by 14 9 Originally a Norman cruciform Churchy with a central tower, now destroyed, and aisles added ; the south in the thir- teenth, the north in the fourteenth century ; a western tower also added in the fifteenth. 24 BICESTER. Chancel — Has Norman walls and buttresses, with Decorated windows inserted, but the tracery of the east window has been cut out, and a modern semi-circular head turned on the outside ; the mouldings of the jambs are Decorated : on the south side a Decorated window of two bghts ; on the north side a Deco- rated arch of wide span, originally opening into a chapel, now used as a school-room, and the arch plastered up. Woodwork at the east end, very bad. On the north wall of the Chancel is an inscription on brass, to Roger Moore, 1551, and another in raised letters, to Will Stavely, and AHce his wife, 1498. A gilt hel- met suspended as a funeral achieve- ment. The Rood-abch, and two arches on the west side of it Early Nor- man, plain, squai'e edged, not re- cessed. On the north side, west of this first Norman arch, is a small straight- sided arch, in a slanting direction, partaking of the supposed Saxon character; the impost and the edges of the arch are cham- fered. Nave — Has on the south side four Early English arches recessed, the inner arch chamfered; the outer has bold round mouldings, label, and corbel heads; the pil- lars arc clustered; capitals have had the stiff-leafed foliage, now cut away, excepting on two in the south aisle, which arc good, and part of the one by the pulpit. Against this pillar also arc re- mains of a very elegant Decorated niche. capital, E. End of SouOi Aisle, c. 1260 Supposed Saxon Arch in Nave. BICESTER. 25 On the north side, three Decorated arches, not moukled, but recessed and chamfered, pillars octa- gon, with good Decorated cap mould- ings. The Clerestory Perpendicular. The roof good, plain, open timber. Perpendicular. On the south wall of the Nave is some good Decorated sculpture, two square recessed pan- els, each with three small figures of Knights in armour, inider foliated arches", and a female figure on a corbel, with a canopy over the head; a curious specimen. Section of Pillar, S. side of Nave, c. 1260 Some original open seats remain, with plain bench ends. The stem of the pulpit is original oak, and good Perpendicidar work. There are some fragments of screen-work. This Church is much spoiled by galleries, and by having the mullions and tracery of some of the windows cut out. Font plain, polygonal, probably Early English. South Aisle — Windows, some Decorated, and some Perpen- dicular, the tracery cut out. A small, good. Perpendicular Piscina, with the label defaced. South door, very good, Early English ; mouldings of arch and caps perfect, the shafts gone: over this door another panel of sculpture. North Aisle — Decorated, with some good two-light win- dows. Near the west end of the wall in this aisle, is a piece of zigzag moulding, as a string-course, very perfect, shewing that the Norman Church extended to this part, and had no aisles. North Door — Good plain Decorated. Porch — Early Per- pendicular, with a room over it. Tower — Perpendicular, with arch of the same date, now plastered up ; west door and window plain, but good, very deeply recessed. Belfry windows, of two lights, with transoms. Parapet battlemented ; pinnacles at the angles, panelled and " These are engraved by Skellon in liis " Oxfordshire." E 26 BICESTER. crocketed. This Tower bears so close a resemblance to that Islip, that they are probably the work of the same hand. In the Chancel is a marble slab to the memory of the five children of Samuel Blackwellj sometime Vicar, carved with sculls in a very grotesque manner. SAMUEL BLACKWELL S.T.B. HUJDS ECCLESI^ VICARIUS ET MARIA UXOR FILII3 AC FILIABUS SUTS HIC IN PROXIMO SEPULTIS TmAII C6, 1676. JAN. 4, 1678. APRIL 26, 1680. ) DENATI3 APRIL 17. 1631 OCT. 21, 1633 SAMUEL! I SAMUELI I ELIZA BETH.S; )naTIS JOHaNNI ELEANOKE E >1 PIETATIS CAUSA SEPT. 1 . 1677. JAN. 31,1678. ™-'^-}l631. FEB. 14, J I, MART. 2, 1634. MOERENTES POSUERE . W.G. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the reign of Edward the Confessor the manors of Burcester, Am- brosden, Stratton, Weston, and many adjoining villages were a part of the large estate of Wigod de Walengford, a noble thane, who kept his residence at the to-wn from whence he had his title, where at this time were two hundred and seventy-six houses, of which a mint master had one free from all geld while he coined money ; hut at the general survey in the next reign thirteen of these houses were diminished, and eight had been demolished to make a castle *. A.D. 10G6. 1 William the Conqueror. — Among the Normans who were engaged in this expedition, those who were soon after rewarded with lands in these parts were, first Robert de Oiley, to whom the King gave in marriage the estate of Wigod de Walengford, and two other honors, including Burcester, &c., &c.y A.D. 1073. Rohert de Oily having now finished his castle in Oxford, built within the walls of it a chapel, dedicated to St. George, and esta- blished there a fraternity of secular jjricsts, whom he endowed with several rights and possessions in these parts. He gave them the Churches of * Kennott, vol. i. p. 74. * Ibid., vol. i. p. 75. See account of Bucknell, p. 3(3. BICESTER. 27 Cudelinton, Weston, Cestreton, &c., with two parts of all the tithe of his demesne in Berencestre ^, A.D. 1084, 18, and 19, William the Conqueror. — Between the time of the survey taken in these parts and this year, Robert de Oilly married his only daughter Maud to Milo Crispin, who had before great possessions in the counties of Oxon and Bucks, and in right of this wife had now the custody of the castle and town of Walingford, with that whole honor, within which was included the manor of Bemcestre *. Before the end of the year 1107 this great baron Milo Crispin died without issue, upon which his own proper estate reverted to the crown, but the castle and whole honor of Walingford remained in right of birth to Maud his widow, who from hence was called Matildis Domina de Walengfort*^. It seems that during the time of Milo Crispin, seven knights fees of the honour of Wallingford were granted to Gilbert Basset, a younger son of Ralph Basset, Chief- Justice of England, and amongst these fees are the vil- lages of Bicester, Wretchwic, and Stratton, particularly specified A.D. 11 07''. Gilbert Basset, in the year 1182, baron of Hedington, and lord of the manors of Burcester, Wrechwike, and Stratton, who had his mansion seat and park at Burcester, this year founded there a religious house for a Prior and eleven Canons of the Augustine order, dedicated to St. Edburg, with consent of Egeline, his wife, who, surviving her hus- band, and adding other benefac- tions, was reputed a co-founder *i. Great part of the Priory seems to have been left standing for many years, but nothing can be said of its original form®. How long these buildings re- mained in their original state after the dissolution is uncertain ; the Monastery afterwards became the residence of the Blounts, and was * Kennett, vol. i. p. 81. " Ibid., vol. i. p. 94. •> Mon. Ang. torn. i. p. 582, ap. Ken- nett, vol. i. p. 106. Bemains of the Priory, 1812. ■^ Dunkin's History of Bicester, p. 151. *SM^'^ TOWEE OF BDCKNEI.L CHDRCH BUCKNELL. 35 On the first floor of the Tower there is a small early Norman loop windoWj widely splayed within ; on the second floor, Nor- man windows of two lights; the upper story has Perpendicular windows and battlement. On the north side of the Tower there is a very good early Norman stair-turret. Chancel — good Early English, in nearly a perfect state, one window blocked up, and the roof plastered, but rounded and lofty : at the east end, three good lancet windows, with elegant shafts between them, supporting the arch mouldings, a very good design. Side windows, lancet, plain, but good ; a low window on the north side at the west end, lancet outside, with square- headed opening inside. Neither Piscina nor Sedilia. The Chancel has doors both on the north and south sides ; that on the south side is very good Early English, that on the north side has been cut through at a much later period. On the floor near the Altar, a Brass, to Edward Eure, Arm., 1638, with shields of arms, and inscription. Nave — west end, a lancet window, with shafts and mould- ings very good inside and outside : the side windows all lancets. Near the east end of the Nave on both sides, a low round arch in the wall with Early Enghsli imposts and labels ; under each a window of unusually wide span, but with good Early Enghsh mouldings. South door very bold and good Early English, with a pecuHar moulding like broken sticks, unless parts are really broken off", which may be the case : the wooden door is modern, but the original iron hinges are preserved, and are very good. North door also good Early English. Eont, octagon, quite plain. Pulpit, carved oak, Elizabethan. Pews, modern deal, enclosed, very bad. Clerestory — Perpendicular, square-headed two-light windows, evidently an addition to the original Church, and has a singular appearance, from the Church having no aisles. Eoof flat, plastered ceihng; the Perpendicular corbels and springers of the roof remain below the plaster ceihng. I.H.P. 36 BUCKNELL. HISTORICAL NOTICES. This parish formed part of the estate of Wigod de Walengford in the time of Edward the Confessor?. After the decisive battle near Hastings, the Conqueror carried his forces into Kent, and, marching back from thence, passed by London, possessed by the party of Edgar Athehng, and came to Wahngford, where the lord of that town, Wigod de Walengeford, went out to meet him 1, delivered the town to him, and entertained him there, till Arch- bishop Stigand and many of the grandees of Edgar's faction came and offered their submission ^. For which service and merit of the lord of that place, the victorious prince, in policy to ingratiate with the Saxons, and to reward his Normans, gave Aldith only daughter of the said Wigod in marriage to Robert de Oily, who, after her father's death, which hap- pened nigh the same time, in right of her became possest of that great estate, wherein Burcester was, in the honor of Walingford, and Ambrosden in that honour which was after called S. Walery. From Wahngford the Conqueror led his army through tliis part of the country with great spoil and mischief in his road to Bercamsted, at which place Prince Edgar, the Earls Edwin and Morcar, the Bishops of York, Wor- cester, Hereford^, &c., waited on Duke William, and resigning up all their interest, invited him to London, and on Christmas-day he was crowned at Westminster by Aldred Archbishop of York *. In 1073, Robert d'Oyly gave two parts of his tithe in this parish to the Chapel of St. George, in Oxford Castle, which he had founded ". In 1149, the whole foundation of this Chapel was transferred by Robert d'Oiley, nephew of the preceding, to Osency Abbey ^. A.D. 1296. At the general taxation of ecclesiastical benefices and dig- nities, usually called Pope Nicholas's taxation, the Church of Bucknell was valued at £10^ (equal to about £200 of our money). This valuation originated in a grant of the tenth of all spiritualities for six years, to King Edward I., by the Pope, when the King, being desirous of raising all the money which he possibly could by the measure, caused a P Keunett, vol. i. p. 75. ' Cliron. Thos. Wilkes, ap. Kennett, 1 Gul. Pict. Gest. Ducis Norman, p. vol. i. p. 77. 21. ap. Ki'iinett, vol. i. p. 7(). " Kennett, vol. i. p. 81. ■■ Ibid., p. 285. ap. ibid. " Ibid., vol. i. p. Ml. » Sim. Dun. p. 193. ap. Kennett, vol. i. >' TaxatioEcclcsiast., P. Nicholai, p. 3. p. 77. ap. Dunkin, vol. i. p. 185. BUCKNELL. 37 new valuation to be instituted, which in most cases rated them much higher than before. This created a general murmur among the Clergy, and some even refused to pay the tax. Among these was the Rector of Bucknell, whose Church had sustained an increase of rate to the amount of four marks per annum. This determination being made known to the Abbot of Oseney, the collector of this district, he complained to his diocesan, the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Rector persisting in his refusal, his Church was put under an interdict. Hereupon he sued the Abbot in the Spiritual Court ; the Abbot appealed to the King, and a precept was directed to the Sheriff of Oxon, requiring him forthwith to attach the body of Ikel de Kerwent, and carry him before one of the Barons of the Exchequer to answer for the contempt and damage. In this court Ikel was convicted of detaining the King's dues ; and the result was, the temporals of his living were seized, and put in the hands of John de Burey, Gilbert de Buckenhull, Chaplain, and nine others, who received the profits for two years, when the Rector submitted ; and an order was issued for the restitution of his property, and the removal of the interdict from his Church, Anno 1298. — SeeMaynard's ed. Mem. in Scacc, p. 38. London 1678, and Prynne's Histor. Collect., vol. iii. p. 798. In 1348, Sir Richard de Amory sold the advowson of this Church for one hundred marks to the Rector, William de Peecks, who the follow- ing year resigned his Living, and exercised the office of patron ^. In 1350, William de Peecks [or Peeks] the patron, obtained full licence from Richard de Stuele and Mihsent, his wife, of Great Barton, county of Oxon, to give the advowson of this Church, which he held from them, to the Abbot and Convent of Oseney, to hold for ever ; upon which he passed a fine in the King's court, and made an absolute conveyance of his right of patronage to that community*. After the dissolution of that society, it was conveyed by indenture to the Warden and Fellows of New College, to whom it still appertains ^. ^ Dunkin, vol. i. p. 186. Kennett, vol. i. p. 186. vol. ii. p. 95. ^ Dunkin, vol. i. p. 182. " Par. Ant., vol. ii. p. 235. ap. Dunkin, PATRONAGE OF NEW COLLEaE, OXFORD. CHESTERTON. SbU i«arj). DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OF PLOUGHLEY. "■ " Dtiamitl, „•,/ Sedilia, c. 13:0. FT. IN. Chancel 23 6 by Nave 40 8 by N. Aisle 37 9 by S. Aisle 36 9 by Tower 13 6 by FT. IN. 16 6 20 9 10 10 9 12 This Chuuch appears to have been built in the fourteenth century, but some parts of an eai'her stmcture have been pre- served, and are of about the end of the twelfth ; some windows have also been inserted in the fifteenth. The Tower is a good CHESTERTON. 39 specimen of a simple country Church tower of the Decorated style. The Sedilia are also worthy of notice^ as an elegant example of the earlier part of the fourteenth century. Plan, oblong, with two aisles. Tower at the west end. Chancel — East window Perpendicular, five hghts with foli- ated heads, but no tracery, arch flat ; south side, two good Deco- rated two-light windows, with flowing tracery. Sedilia — Early Decorated, tliree cinque-foiled arches, with a square label over them, with ball-flowers. In the spandrils a trefoil, also ornamented with ball-flowers. Piscina plain, square, with a shelf. North wall, plain, with one small plain window. Rood-arch, Early English, with shafts, which have good caps, with stifi'-leaf foliage. Eood-screen tolerable, but plastered up above. Altar-rail handsome, time of James I. Nave — North side, tliree Transition Norman arches, pointed, plain, not recessed, but slightly chamfered, on round pillars, with Norman scolloped caps. The south side, three Decorated pointed arches, larger and more lofty than those on the north side. The pillars plain, round, with cap-mouldings. South aisle, a square Decorated window at each end, two brackets, and the fragment of a Piscina at the east end. The side windows mostly square. Per- pendicular, three-hght ; one a wide lancet, without foliation or tracery, but has a good Decorated dripstone. South door, plain Decorated. Clerestory of Nave, Decorated. Roof j^lain, open timber, resting on good Decorated corbels. Font, plain round Norman. Tower — Decorated; the ground-floor has a Decorated window of two lights, with quatrefoil in the head, two small buttresses at each angle ; the second story has no windows ; the Belfry a Decorated windoAv in each face; Parapet ornamented with quatrefoils. In the Church-yard there is a fine yew tree. i.n.p. 40 CHESTERTON. HISTORICAL NOTICES. The Lincoln Register states this Church was consecrated by Bishop Grosteste (or Grosthead) in 1238*=, and dedicated to God and St. Mary'i. In ancient times the authority of this Church extended over Great Chesterton, Little Chesterton, and Wendlebury, and consisted of two separate and distinct endowments under different patrons s. For some time subsequent to the Conquest, its history is the same with that of Bucknell. In 1238, at the consecration of this Church by Robert Grosthead, Sir Roger de Gunelade, Knight, gave towards its better en- dowment one acre of land at FundeshuUe, and an acre upon Rugge : at the same time, William, son of Fulk de Chesterton, for the soul of Denise his wife, and Agnes his daughter, gave to the said Church, for endowment, part of a meadow which belonged to his fee in Blackmore. Bardulf, son of Roger Bardulf, for the health of his own soul, and the health of the souls of his father and mother, and the souls of his ancestors, also gave three acres of arable land of his demesne lying between Wadewell and Small Weye ; and for a further endow- ment, gave for a mansion-house for the incumbent one messuage and a croft belonging to it, which Ralph the mUler held, as well as his whole meadow in demesne in Blakemore, and confirmed to the said Church the gift of his tenants of their right of common in Blakemore, which was his fee^. A.D. 1263, 47, 48 Henry III. This year, the Convent of Oseney, not satisfied with the bare right of patronage to the Churches of Ches- terton, Weston, and others, prevailed upon Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of Lincoln, to issue a letter of appropriation R. Shortly after, the Abbot and Convent of Oseney appear to have con- •^ Skelton's Oxfordshire, Ploughloy could be le<^ally consecrated without such Hundred, p. 3; and Kennett, vol. i. p. ol'i. allotment of house and glebe, generally ^ This date does not agree -with the pre- made by the lord of the manor, who sent Church (except the Chancel-arch), thereby became patron of the Churcli. but many Churches were consecrated a])out Other persons, at the time of dedication, this time, in consequence of a general often contributed small portions of ground, order, although some of them had been which is the reason why in many parishes built long before, and others, as in the the glebe is not only distant from the present instance, have been subsequently manor, but is in remote divided parcels.— rebuilt. Kennett, vol. i. p. 314. "= Dunkin, vol. i. p. 248. g Regist. Osen., fol. 32. ap. Dunkin, ' Reg. Osen.,p. 101andG2. No Church vol. i. p. 251. CHESTERTON. 41 veyed their interest in this Church to the lord of the manor, for no more entries of their presentation occur in Button's Collections in the Harleian Library ; hut among Dodsworth's Extracts from the Lincoln Register (vol. cvii. p. 119, in Bodl. Lib. Oxon.) is a memorandum dated 1 6th Richard de Gravesend, stating, that in a recent trial at law William de Leslie had recovered the right of presentation to the Church of Chesterton against John le Bret, and then conveyed his full right of patronage to Edmund Earl of Cornwall. 1283. On the foundation of the College of Bonhommes, the above- mentioned Edmund Earl of Cornwall gave the advowson of this Church, with the manor, towards its endowment ; and that religious community accordingly became patrons, and presented till the dissolution. 1403. This year the Convent of Asherugge procured the appropria- tion of the Church and the ordination of a Vicarage '\ By this instru- ment, the foi-mer allowances to the Vicar were abrogated ; and instead thereof the ancient Rectory-house, with its appurtenances, and four virgates of land, containing one hundred and thirty-two acres, and six- teen acres of meadow, together with other small parcels, formerly per- taining to the Rectory ; the altar- offerings, small-tithe, an annual pension of 6s. 8d., due from the Church of Wendlebury (in token of subjection), and the trees and fruit growing in the Church-yard, were secured to him : but in consideration of these advantages, he was required to discharge all procurations, synodals, and other ecclesiastical dues, repair and beautify the Rectory-house and Chancel, and his next heir to pay heriot at his decease to the Rector and Convent of Asherugge, the patrons. In 1539, the Rector and Convent of Asherugge surrendered their house, lands, and all other possessions, into the hands of the King ', who authorized Master Wilham Day and Richard Andrew to present Jacob Fell to the Church of Chesterton (on the death of WiUiam EUys), Jxme 25, A.D. 1544^ ; and in the thirty-eighth year of his reign he granted the Rectory of the same Church, with all its appurtenances, by Letters Patent, to Richard Longe and Christopher Edmonds, on condition of rendering to the King, his heirs and successors, the sum of sixteen shillings per annum, payable at Michaelmas only^ Soon after which it was conveyed to the Warden and Society of New College, Oxford, who are now the patrons "'. •^ Dunkin, vol. i. p. 251, 252. '^ Reg. Episc. Oxon. vol. i. ap. Dunk. ' Vide Willis's Abbeys, vol. ii. p. 9. ap. ' Rot. 27, No. 244, Co. Oxon. ap. Dunk. Dunk. '" Dunkin, vol. i. p. 253, 254. G WENDLEBURY. PATRONAGE DEANERY OP OF BICESTER. CHRIST CHURCH, HUNDRED OXFORD. OP PLOUGHLEY. The former Church of Wendleburyj the Tower only of -which now remains, was originally cruciform, and was doubtless an in- teresting structure : falling however into decay, it was taken down in March 1761, and rebuilt so as to be fit for ser^dce by the 25th of AprH, 1763". HISTORICAL NOTICES. The Church of Wendlebury was originally a chapel of ease to the ad- joining Church of Chesterton, but after its separation and endowment paid annually 6s. 8rf. in tolcen of subjection. This sum, at the ordina- tion of the Vicarage of Chesterton, was reserved to the Vicar, and formed a part of his revenues. The actual time of separation is unknown, though it probably took place in the twelfth century °. The scite of the Roman station or city of Alchester is now a part of the field belonging to this parish ; the ruins are still apparent on the eastern bank of a small rivulet which crosses the Bicester turnpike road about half a mile from Wendlebury. For a full account of this Roman station and the road leading from it over Otmoor, and by Beckley over Bullington Green, and by Baldon to Dorchester, see an interesting memoir by the Rev. R. Hussey, published by the Ashmolean Society, in 1841 . For a history of the Lordship of Wendlebury and lands therein, see Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 18G — 197. " Skelton's Oxfordshire. Plonghley Hundred, p. 8. " Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 180. :->ii.-. TOWER OF MIDDLETON STONEY CHDRCH, c. 1220 MIDDLETON STONEY. PATRON. BISHOP OF LINCOLN. ^U ^aintg. DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OF PLOUGHLEY FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel . . . . ... 33 6 by 17 3 Nave ... 40 by 20 North Aisle . ... 40 by 9 4 South Aisle . . ... 40 by 8 8 A GOOD small Clmrcli^ chiefly of the end of the twelfth cen- tury-j in the period of transition from the Norman to the Early- English styles. Nave — the north side has three pointed arches^ recessed; outer arch square-edged^ with Early English label over it ; inner arch has round mouldings on the edges; pillars plain round, with Norman caps. On the south side are two Decorated arches, recessed, cham- fered edges, with labels springing from a corbel head in the cen- tre : the western arch springing from a grotesque head, the other plain square-edged, without any particular character. Chancel — east window has Decorated mouldings on the jambs, tracery cut out, and a plain upright bar substituted. The south side has two Decorated windows ; on the north side there is one Norman window ; on this side of the Chancel is a modern sepulchral chapel of the Jersey family. Chancel-arch good Transition, pointed, recessed ; outer arch square-edged with label o^er it ; shaft, round, with a Norman 44 MIDDLETON STONEY. cap; inner arcli Las ronnd mouldings on eacli edge, and tlie tootli- ornament boldly and well cut in the hollow moulding between them. Clerestory windows Perpendicular ; roof has a flat plaster ceil- ing, both in Nave and Chancel. Tower, a very good specimen of Early English, with a fine Early English arcade running round it. North door, round-headed, though ha\dng Early English mouldings and capitals, with Norman abacus, csddently Tran- sition work. Font, modern, of marble. Windows of aisles. Perpendicular, square-headed. South Porch, Transition Norman. Outer doorway Eai'ly English; inner doorway rich, late Norman, with varieties of the zig-zag moulding, and singular foliage in the head. Souih Doorway, c, 1180. Near the east end of the Church are the interesting traces of an ancient Castle, supposed to have been built in the reign of King Stephen by Richard Camvil on the site of a Saxon mihtary work P. W,G. P Skelton's Oxfordshire, Ploughley Hundred, p. 6. MIDDLETON STONEY. 45 HISTORICAL NOTICES. The Village and Castle of Middleton in Oxfordshire, is two miles by west from Bm-chester. The Castle stode hard by the Chm'che. Sum peces of the walls of it yet a little apeare ; but almoast the whole site of it is overgrowne with busshys i. In Doomesday book, Middleton is thus entered, as the property of William Earl of "Warren, a valiant Norman nobleman, who came over with the Conqueror, and obtained one hundred and nine lordships in Norfolk, besides many others in Yorkshire, Shropshire, &c. &c. His feudatory vassal was Roger, perhaps the ancient Saxon proprietor ^. The village was subsequently possessed by Gerard de Camvill, and at his decease passed to his son Richard, a faithful adherent of King Stephen, who is generally supposed to have built and garrisoned a stately castle on or near the scite of a military work, originally designed for the protection of the West- Saxon kingdom. The strength of the new for- tress is believed to have preserved this neighbourhood from those scenes of war and desolation which afflicted almost every other corner of the kingdom during the greater part of this monarch's reign. And when at last the principal chieftains, tired of rapine, mutually agreed to settle their disputes by treaty, our Baron cheerfully signed the instrument which guaranteed the crown to Stephen during his natural life, but secured the succession to Prince Henry on his decease. That part of the en- gagement, however, which doomed Middleton Castle to destruction, seems to have been cautiously evaded, as it continued to be the re- sidence of this nobleman's posterity several generations afterwards. On the accession of the new Monarch, Richard Camvil was constituted sheriff of Oxon and Berks for the first two years of his reign, and re- ceived a gi'ant of the lordship of Sutton in the county of Northamp- ton ; but he had only enjoyed this acquisition two years when he was arrested by the hand of death, and called to give up his final account. This event happened A.D. 1157 ^. From the well-known piety of tliis Baron, and the general features of the architecture of Middleton Church, there is good reason to believe that edifice was built by his directions about the same time with the Castle. He also founded Combe Abbey in Warwickshire for the Cistertians *, gave two hides of land at Goding- '' Leland'sItiiieraiy,vo]. vii. fol. n. p. 4. ' Par. Ant., vol. i. p. 158. ap. Dunk. ' Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 67. ' Dugd. Warwick., p. 1 15. ap. Dunk. 46 MIDDLETON STONEY. ton to Missenden^ Abbey, and the Chapel of Leigh, county of Oxon, witli two virgates of land within the same parish, to the Convent of Reading, for the health and safety of himself, Milisent his wife, Robert his son, and Robert Marmion, and for all their souls, that they might partake of all the special benefits of the brethren of that house ^. The advowson of the Church of Middleton was granted to the Abbey of Barlings, county Lincoln, by Gerard de Camvill, the lord of the village temp. Richard L, who thereby became patrons. The first Rector was Gei-%'ase de Paveby, in 1217. He was presented to the Church by the Bishop, at the petition of William Longspe and the Abbot of Barhngs, between whom a dispute had arisen respecting their title to the advowson y. In 1334, the King, Edward IIL, grants licence to the Abbot and Convent of Barlings to convey the advowson of this Church to Henry, Bishop of Lincoln, and his successors ; and on the 17th Kal. June the same year, on the death of the Rector, the Bishop collated Palmer Francis de Florentia ^. In 1816 an Act of Parliament was procured to enable the Earl of Jersey to remove the parsonage-house from the immediate vicinity of his park, to some higher ground near the entrance of the town, and add the scite, as well as some adjacent land, to his demesne : this he has since effected, and thereby enclosed the parish Church and cemetery within the park. Tlie scite of the Rectory, lands, meadows, and closes situated on the east and west sides of the ancient road leading from Oxford to Middleton conveyed to Earl Jersey, contained seventy-two acres, three roods, four- teen poles, and were worth £106 13s. 5d. per annum: while those which the Rector received in exchange comprised one hundred and six acres, one rood, and fifteen poles, and wei-e of the yearly value of £125 14s. 8d, besides the new Parsonage ^. " Regist. de Messend., p. 129. b. ap. vol. ii. p. 63. Dunk. ' Pat. 8th Edward III. dated 4th March * Regist. Cart. Abbati.Ts de Readmg, Reg. Burgwersh. ap. Dunkin, vol.ii. p. 63. c. 196. ap. Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 108, J). " Private Acts, 56 George III. cap. y Rot. 9. Hugh Wells, ap. Dunkin, 39. ap. Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 57, 58. WESTON ON THE GREEN. PATRON. 5t. iWarg. DEANERY THE EARL OP OF BICESTER. ABINGDON. HUNDRED OF PLOUGHLEY. The former Churcli of Weston being dilapidated, a Grecian structure was in 1743 erected upon its site at tlie sole expense of Norreys Bertie, Esq., who died in ITGe''. HISTORICAL NOTICES. That a Churcli existed in this village a few years after the Conquest, is evident from the name of " Wakelin, priest of Weston," appearing among the witnesses to a charter of Henry de Oilley, granting four hides of land in Chesterton to the Abbey in Eynsham, temp. Henry II. ; and that the advowson of the Church was also included in the grant of the manor to Oseney Abbey, A.D. 1226, is equally clear, from the Convent exercising the office of patrons from that time *=. For some interesting particulars respecting the manor of Weston, and its connection with Oseney Abbey, see Dunkin, vol. ii. pp. 206 — 216. At a short distance from the Church is the Manor House, a large building, two stories in height, erected about the latter end of the six- teenth century, but much altered by its successive owners of the Norreys and Bertie families. Of late years it has been the residence of the steward only. Many of the family pictures remain ^. b Skelton's Oxfordshire, Ploughley " Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 203. Hundred, p. 8. "* Ibid., vol. ii. p. 198. PATRONAGE OF ST. JOHN'S COLL. OXFORD. KIRTLINGTON. ^t. i^tarjj. DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OF PLOUGHLEY. Piscina, East End of South Aisle, circa 1220. FT. IN. Chancel 35 Central Tower ... 18 6 Nave 48 North Aisle 48 South Aisle . ... 66 FT. IN. by 18 by 18 6 by 25 by 9 by 11 G Chancel — Norman, with Decorated cast window. Side Avin- dows Norman, long and nan-ow. East window very plain, of five lights, mullions crossing in tlie head without fohation. Arches of Tower, east and west, early Norman, plain, square-edged, not KIRTLINGTON. 49 recessed with Norman impost. North arch also Norman, filled up. South arch. Decorated. Groined Norman ceiling, with open circle in centre. Tower itself destroyed, bells stand on the floor. Nave — has three Early English arches on each side, pointed, recessed, chamfered, with good labels; capitals on south side have stiff-leaf foliage; north side have plain cap-mouldings. Clerestory and roof Perpendicular. Side windows, square, plain. At the east end of the south aisle a small good Early English Piscina, with foliage under. South door, plain Decorated. West door and window, plain Decorated. South porch. Perpendicular. On the north side a sash window. At the east end corbie steps ornamented with pinnacles at the angles. At the east end of the south aisle is the burial-place of the Dashwood family. Pews and seats all high, modern, and bad. Galleries erected by Sir Robert Dashwood in 1726, very bad. Pulpit probably of the same age. This Church is very much spoiled on the outside by rough- cast, and inside by the galleries and pews. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In 977 a great Synod or Council was held at Kirtlington in this county (Oxon), which had been a place of great eminence and antiquity, a frontier town between the kingdoms of Mercia and the West Saxons, and of great resort from the port-way that led through it, and had a very ancient Church dedicated to St. Mary^. There has been much doubt and controversy about the name and situation of this place of council^. Bishop Kennett thus sums up the reasons for believing this to have ^ Mon. Ang., torn. ii. p. 1007. ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 58, 59. M 50 KIRTLINGTON. been the place. " In short, from the continual preserved name s, from the commodious situation, from all circumstances thereto agreeing, I think it most certain that this micle jemoc, this great Synod, was held at Kirthngton, within three miles of Burcester'*." At the Norman conquest this village fell to the lot of WiUiam, Earl of Warren*. A. D. 1201, 2 and 3 K. John. Gilbert Basset, lord of Burchester, nigh this time provided that his body should be buried in the Priory of Burcester of his own foundation ; and to that end gave to those Monks all the land which he had bought of Baldwin de Munz in the village of Kirtlington, as also two mills in Kirtlington, paying yearly to the Monks of Aulney in Normandy eleven shillings, and to the heirs of Inge ram two shillings, for all service''. An. 1271. Phihp Basset died possessed of the manors of Kerthng- ton, Chefield, and Hunington, County of Oxford', which, with the manors of Haselee, Ascote, and Peryton, passed to Roger de Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and Mareschal of England, who had married Aliva, the sole daughter and heir of the said Phihp Basset"*. K " In the Saxon Chronicle it is called ^ Kennett, vol. i. p. 60. Kynrlint;rune, which the expert editor ' Ibid., vol. i. p. 7(j. (Gibson, locorum explicatio) grants to be '' Ibid., vol. i. p. 225. a mistake for Kypthnsrune, as Spelman ' Dugd. Bar., torn. i. p. 385. does record it. (Concil. Brit. torn. i. "> R. Dods. MS., vol. Ixxxii. f. 10. p. 493.)"— Kennett, vol.i. p. 59. b. ; ap. Kennett, vol. i. p. 387. BLECHINGDON. PATRONAGE OF QUEEN'S COLLEOE, OXFORD. 5t €5(le!3. DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OF PLOUGHLEY. Spire-Turret on the Tower, circa 1600. FT. IN. Chancel 29 by Nave 52 6 by FT, IN. 17 6 22 Chancel — late and bad. Communion-table has tlie slab detached. South door, good Perpendicular, dripstone has particularly- good returns. Interior, quite plain, plaster ceilings. Open seats, with poppies and scroll-work of the time of James I. 52 BLECHINGDON. Pulpit good old oak, James I. Font, very small plain octagon. A square gallery-pew, battlemented. Porch — tolerably good of its kind, 1695. Tower — Perpendicular, with a square turret, surmounted by a pyramid, rising from the middle of the west side of the tower, and serving as a small spire : west door, Perpendicular. W.G. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the parish of Blechingdon is dug a sort of grey marble used for chimney-pieces, pavements, &c. The pillars of the porticoes of St. John's College, Oxford, are built with it; also chimney-pieces at Blechingdon Park, at Cornbury Park, and other houses in the neigh- bourhood". The early history of this parish being nearly identical with that of Ambrosden, Bucknell, &c., it is not necessary to repeat it here. A.D. 1339, 13 and 14 of Edward III. — An inquisition was taken in these parts on the death of Joan, widow of Thomas de Muse- grave of Blechesdon, wherein it appears that the said Joan held the moiety of one messuage and one caracute of land in Blechesdon of the King, by the service of carrying one shield of brawn, price twopence halfpenny, to the King whenever he should hunt in his park of Corn- bury ; it being understood that one shield of brawn so carried to the King on his first day of hunting, should suffice during the whole of his stay at his manor of Wodestocke °. " Magna Britannia, p. 401. " Kcnnett, vol. ii. p. 73, 74. PATRONAGE OP QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. HAMPTON POYLE, empi'i^ DEANERY OF BICESTER. HUNDRED OP PLOUGHLEY. East Windo^^r, circa 1270. FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel 20 by 12 Nave 31 10 by 17 Aisles 31 10 by 9 6 A SMALL oblong Chm-ch, with aisles to Nave, and bell-turret at the west end. Chancel — East window, remarkably good Early English, very late in the style, and transition to Decorated ; of three lights with 54 HAMPTON POYLE. three circles in the head, filled up with tracery in a sort of star form, leaving trefoils in each opening. The mullions have shafts on the edge inside, with Early English caps ; one has the tooth-ornament, another is sculptured foliage, the dripstone terminated hy masks. A plain bracket on the north side, with Decorated mouldings on face ; on the south side, one quite plain. South door of Chancel, small plain Decorated, with dripstone and corbel heads. Windows on this side blocked up. On the north side, a Perpendicular tall square-headed window, has the symbols of the four Evangelists in stained glass. Chancel-arch, Decorated, pointed, recessed, chamfered. Nave — West window, Decorated two-light, with flowing tracery — very good. On the north side, two pointed arches, recessed, chamfered ; pillar, plain octagon, with the capital orna- mented with half-length figures, the heads of which have close round helmets ; abacus, the roll-moulding. South side, two Decorated arches, pointed, recessed, cham- fered, divided by a flat pier, the imposts consisting of a plain bold roll-moulding. North Aisle — East window, transition from Decorated to Perpendicular, dripstone Perpendicular, but corbel heads more like Decorated. North windows square-headed, tracery good transition from Decorated to Perpendicular; one has a Deco- rated dripstone, the other a Perpendicular. In this aisle a fine Perpendicular sepulchral recess, with ogee canopy, crockets, and finials, and panelling over it, under a square label : a curious little Decorated Piscina, in the form of a hand supporting a small basin. Font, plain round, with octagon base. SouTU Aisle — East window has a Decorated dripstone, three lights, mullions crossing in the head very clumsy. The south window and door modern. In this aisle he two fine monu- mental effigies, separated from their tombs, of a knight in plate armour, cross-legged, and his lady ; also a brass of John Poyle, Oct. 21st, 1434, and Elizabeth his wife. HAMPTON POYLE. 55 The Roofs, both of nave and aisles, are Perpendicular, good open timber work. Pews, modern, high and bad ; but old open seats, with carved ends of a great variety of patterns, remain under them, being built upon ; these might easily be restored. HISTORICAL NOTICES. For a long account of this Church, see " Gentleman's Magazine," 1806, p. 5-24. In the 51st and 52nd of Henry III., 1267, Stephen de Hampton held half a knight's fee in Burcester, who died this year, and left Alice, his daughter and heir, fifteen years of age, married to Walter de la Poyle, which family gave name to Hampton Poyle?. In the year 1420, Robert Jordan, priest, was presented by John de la Poyle to the Church of Hampton Poyle, void by the death of R. Thorpe, the last Rector. In 1466, Ric. Colyns, A.M., was presented by Sir Edmund Rede, Knight, and Catherine his wife, lady of Hampton Poyle, to this Church, void by the death of Rob. Jordan^. p R. Dods. MS., vol. xl. p. ap. Kennett, vol. i. p. 376. 107. 1 Kennett, vol. ii. p. 242. circa \3C0, HAMPTON GAY. The present Church is modern, and a very bad specimen of the meeting-house style, which prevailed in the early part of the present centmy. Near this Church is a good Elizabethan house, of the usual ground plan, two gables, and a recess, with a porch projecting in the centre : some handsome chimney-pieces remain, and several of the rooms appear to be nearly in their original state, though much dilapidated. It is at present only partially occu- pied by the superintendant of the adjoining paper-mill, belong- ing to C. Venables, Esq. HISTORICAL NOTICES. The Church of Chesterton, with those of Weston and Hampton Gay, &c., had been appropriated to the Abbey of Oseney, by Richard, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1263. The said Church of Hampton Gay had been appropriated by the patron, Robert Gait, in the time of Hugh, the second Bishop of Lincoln, by letters of request to the said Diocesan ■■. 1 1 40. 5th and 6th King Stephen. — Nigh this time Sir Robert de Gait gave to the Abbey of Oseney his Church of Hampton Gay by charter, to which were witnesses Henry de Oily and Robert his brother. He married Maud de Povre, and afterward, by consent of the said Maud his wife, and of Phihp and Robert his sons, he confirmed the Church, and gave the manor of Hampton to the said Monks of Oseney; who in consideration thereof, gave ten marks of silver to the said Robert, one bezantine to his wife, and a horse to his son Phihp, who confirmed his father's donation in the 3rd of Henry III.* A.D. 1138. — Sir Robert Gait, Kniglit, lord of the manor of Hamp- ton, thence called Hampton Gait, now Hampton Gay, possessed a fourth part of the village of Ottendun ; and going to Gilbert, Abbot of Waverlie, he desired and obtained leave to build an Abbey of the Cistertian Order in the said \nllage of Ottendun, which accordingly he raised at his own charge, and endowed it with five virgates of lands, which made the fourth part of a Knight's fee, and called it from the name of an adjoining wood, Ottelei*. ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 579. Mon. Ang., torn. ii. p. 802 ; ap. Kennett, ' Ibid., vol. i. p. 1.32. vol. i. p. 126, 127. ' R. Dods. MS., vol. cxliii. f. H. et KIDLINGTON. VIEW OF THE CHDRCH FROM THE S.E KIDLINGTON. PATRONAGE OP EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD. ii|iiiiSii!ii' EaBt Wiudrw. Sec. in the North Transept. c. 1450. KIDLINGTON. 61 On each side of the Chancel are good Decorated aisles, of two bays, the eastern part of Avhich is enclosed by a screen, forming a parclose, or chantry chapel. The south aisle has at the east end a fine Decorated window of four hghts, of geometrical tracery ; the labels are the roll-moulding, ter- minated on the outside by half- length figures, one of them with a mitre on ; in the inside they are whole-length figures, one a female, with a chin-cloth, the other a man with the hair and costume of the time of Edward II, The south windows are of three lights, with flowing tracery and Decorated mouldings ; under the south-east window is a Decorated piscina, standing out a little from the wall, with an ogee head cinque- foiled, and a crocketed canopy, PisoinamsoutbChapei.c. 1320. and in the sill of the window a stone bench, evidently for tlie purpose of seddia ; the Altar itself, under the east window, has been destroyed. The roof is high-pitched and open, but rough, and appears unfinished, the tie-beams and waU-plates only being moulded. This aisle and some other parts of the Church correspond exactly with the south aisles of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Aldate^s, in Oxford. The north aisle of the Chancel is very similar to the south, but the east window has flowing tracery instead of geometrical, and it has a Perpendicular boarded ceihng, nearly flat ; the rafters and principals moulded, resting on good carved corbels ; it has also a Perpendicular battlement and cornice. The arches from these aisles into the transepts are similar to those on the sides of the Chancel. The tower-arches are Early English, pointed and recessed, with the edges chamfered, resting on very massive piers ; the capitals, or rather imposts, are boldly moulded; the label is 62 KIDLINGTON. Mouldings of Ihe North Door, c 1220. Mouldinjs of the South Door, o. 1330. Label of Arches in Nave, Impost. Mouldings of the Tower c. ,1320. Archesi o. 1230. Label of Tower Arch, c. 1220 lilouldiij^b of the Uuusr Coor of the Poich . c. 1320. Label aud Jamb of the East Window of South Chiipcl c, 1320 KIDLINGTON. 63 simple, but of Early English character. Tlie first floor of the tower is Early English, with thick walls, and in each face a lancet window with a trefoil head. The belfry has a Perpendicular window in each face, and squinches across the angles. The spire is Perpendicular, octagonal, remarkably taper, with a round bead on the angles, and a finial ; the spire lights are plain, with trefoil heads ; there is a Perpendicular open para- pet round its base which very much injures the effect. The tower contains six bells, the five larger ones re-cast in 1715, the smaller one added in 1800. The north transept has two lancet windows on the west side, and an Early Enghsh string along the west and north wall under the win- dows ; the north and east windows are Per- pendicular, of three Hghts. The east window has good niches in the jambs, and on each side brackets, supported by heads; on the south side an elegant piscina, with ogee head cinquef oiled, crock eted canopy and pinnacles; the crockets on this canopy are very good specimens of the style. The clerestory is Perpendicular, with small square-headed windows, of two lights. The roof good Perpendicular open timber, with tie-beams and king-posts, and springers supporting the tie-beams at each end, with foliated openings; these and the rafters are aU moulded, resting on plain stone corbels. The south transept has Perpendicular windows of three lights; under the east window has been an Altar, of which the brackets remain; and in the north wall is a Decorated piscina, with an ogee head and crocketed canopy ; by the side of this is a Decorated recess for a sedile ; on the west side of this transept is a small Perpendicular door, vdth a stone pent- house over it. The nave is lofty, with a Perpendicular clerestory and roof; on the north side the waU is Early English, with tall buttresses in three stages, a good Early English door, with a trefoil head. Crocket on Piscina in North Transepi;, c. 1450. 64 KIDLINGTON. Nic .ave, C.1450. under a pointed arch, now blocked up, but still called the Bachelor's door, a Decorated window, of three hghts, with flowing tracery, and a good Perpendicular niche. The cle- restory is evidently an addition, and the corbels of the old roof remain below it : the present roof is Perpendicular, of low pitch, with boarded ceihng; the principals and rafters well moulded, and the corbels good Perpendicular; the springers are open, with Perpendicular panelling. The west door and window are late Perpendicular, but there are remains of two Early English windows in the west wall. On the soiith side of the nave are five Decorated arches, of unequal height and span, becoming gradually lower and narrower as they approach the west end ; this appears to have been, done for the perspective effect : the arches are plain, dying into octagonal piers, without any imposts; the label is equally simple, but difli'erent from that of the tower- arches, and is Decorated ; there is a plain piscina in the splay of the east respond. The font is plain round Decorated, on a moulded base, late- ly restored to its origi- nal position under the arch nearest to the south door ; the pulpit, Eliza- bethfin carved oak. The south aisle of the nave has three good Decorated windows, with The Font, c. 132c. x-ic... KIDLINGTON. 65 , III III luiiMJ^-^—m \m 1|-^' flowing tracery; the roof is a lean-to, nearly flat, with springers, having foHated openings through them; these appear, by the mould- ings, to be of the fourteenth cen- tury. The south door is Deco- rated, with bold mouldings. The south Porch is also Decorated, with stone benches, and a plain open timber e?" roof : the The Roof. fj I outer door is Decorated, richly moulded with the ball-flower ornament ; over this T/ door there is a good Decorated niche, with a rich crocketed canopy, pinnacles, and finials. The crockets are good specimens of the form generally used in this style, i.h.p. Crocket ou the Porch. The South Porch, c 13M. K GC) K I D L I N G T O N. HISTORICAL NOTICES. At the Conquest the manor of Kidlington, in Domesday Book written ChedeUnton, formed part of the grant to Robert de Oily, a follower of the Conqueror^. He was appointed to keep Oxford, and built a castle there, within which he erected a chapel, dedicated to St. George, and established there a fraternity of secular priests, whom he endowed with several rights and possessions in those parts. He gave them the churches of Cudelinton {Kidlington), Weston'', &c. This grant conveyed the appropriation of two parts in three of the tithes, together with the advowson or right of patronage to this body. Robert de Oily died A.D. 1090, and was buried at Abingdon, on the north side of the high Altar. As he left no heirs male of his own body, his brother Nigel succeeded to the Castle of Oxford and the honor of d'Oily, which included the manor of Kidlington, and of which the capital seat was Hook-Norton •=. ■Nigel dying about A.D. 1120, was succeeded by his son Robert de Oily, jun."^, who at the solicitation of his wife Edith founded Oseney A.D. 1129, for a priory of Canons Augustines, and twenty years after its foundation transferred thither the church and college of St. George in the castle, with all its endowments, including the advowson and appropriation of two parts in three of the tithes of Cudelinton^. Thus the church of Kidlington became annexed to Oseney, A.D. 1149. Robert de Oily the younger died, A.D. 1 157, and was succeeded by his son and heir Henry, who was sheriff of Oxford from the third to the sixth year of Henry II. A few years later in this reign, upon an inquisition with a view to the scutagc or tax, he is returned as holding 32 knights' fees, and an half of the old feoffment, and one fee and a half part of a fee of the new feoff- ment. Among these possessions Kidlington must have been included, as appears from a grant which he made to Oseney A.D. 1192, of certain property in Weston, with offer of exchange in the manors of Hook- Norton or of Kidlington, in consideration that his body was to be buried ' Domesday B. Oxensrire Terra de '' Regist. Oseney, ap. Kennett, vol. i. Oilgi. p. 119. •> Diigd. Monnst., toiii. ii. p. IM. — « Carta Rob. de Oilii, jun., Dugd. Leland's Itin., vol. ii. f. 17. Monast., torn. ii. p. 137. ' Kennett, vol. i. jjp. 97,98. K I D L I N G T O N. 67 before the high Altar in Oseney*^. He dying was succeeded by his son Henry, the second of that name, who confirmed the grant of his ancestors to Oseney ; and among other grants of his own, which he added, is mentioned " purprestura gardini sui (i. e. canonicorum) de KidelintonS." On his death, A.D. 1232, he also was interred in the church of Oseney, for which he stipidated in his charter of confirmation. He left two sisters heirs, of which Margery, the elder, was the wife of Henry Earl of Warwick, who had issue by her Thomas Earl of Warwick, who in the 17th of Henry HI. paid £100 and two palfreys for the relief of his uncle, Henry de Oily's, (the second) lands, including the manor of Kidlington^. From Thomas Earl of Warwick, Kidlington passed by marriage into the family of de Plessets, the founder of which, John de Plessets, a Norman by birth, and domestic servant in the king's court, raised himself by marriage with Christian, daughter and heir of Hugh de Sandford, and became sheriff of the county of Oxford, A.D. 1240'. He was in great favour with Henry HI., and by the king's earnest intercession obtained in marriage (on the death of his first wife) Margery, the widow of John Mareschal, sister and heir of Thomas Earl of Warwick, whose mother was Margery, eldest daughter and heir of Henry de Oily, the elder. Baron of Hook-Norton ; by which means he came into possession of the manors of Hook-Norton and Kidlington, held from the king by barony, and afterwards had the title of Earl of Warwick''. He was also made constable of the Tower of London, and had many other honours conferred on him. He was buried in the choir of Missen- den Abbey'. On his death, Feb, 26, 1263, he was succeeded by Hugh de Plessets, son by his first wife, who in April next ensuing, doing his homage, had livery of the manors of Hook-Norton and Kidlington, paying for his relief £100. He married Isabel, daughter of J. de Ripariis'", cousin and one of the heirs to Philippa Basset, sometime Countess of Warwick. By a demise of land in Mussewell to Sir Richard le Pouvre, dated Cudelinton, Saturday after Epiphany, the 7th of Edward I., it appears that Sir Hugh de Plessets resided at the manor house of Kidlington'^ ; to which a chapel was attached by the permission of the Abbot and Convent of Oseney, who in the compact made on this ' Regist. Osen. ap. Kennett, vol. i. ' Dugd. Bar., p. 772. p. 208, 209. '• Dugd. Bar., Kennett, i. pp. 327, 367. E Carta Hen. de Oilii, Dugd. Mon., ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 367. torn. ii. p. 139. '" Dugd. Bar. ap. Kennett, vol. i. p. 367. '' Dugd. Bar., toni. i. p. 461. " Kennett, vol. i. p. 414. 68 KIDLINGTON. account with the said Hugh Baron of Hooknorton, stipulated that the capellane should not pretend to any parochial dues or jurisdiction, but all should be adjusted sine prsejudicio matricis ecclesise". He served in the first expedition of Edward into Scotland?. He died A.D. 1292, and was succeeded by his son and heir Hugh, then twenty-five years of age, who on doing his homage had livery of the manors of Hook-Norton and Kidlington^. This Hugh de Plessets appears in the roll of the summons to Parlia- ment among the Barons of the realm in the 25th of Edward I., and in the following year served in the expedition into Scotland. He died A.D. ISOl"". The manor of Kidlington was settled by Hugh de Plessets before his death on his son Thomas S and it continued in the same family at least till the middle of that century. In the inquisitiones post mortem, there occurs mention of two Hugh de Plessets after this, the former of whom died A.D. 1338', possessed of Kidlington ; the latter A.D. 1350", who at the time of his death, besides Kidlington and Water Eton, held 22 other manors. From this Hugh de Plessey it passed probably in the female line to John Lenneysey, who in the inquisition held after his death, A.D. 1361, is returned as having died possessed jointly with Eleanor his wife of the manors of Hook-Norton and Kidlington^. He was succeeded by his son Sir John, who died A.D. 1380, also possessed jointly with Elizabeth his wife of the manors of Hook- Norton and Kidlington^. The next owner of the manor of Kidlington that has been discovered is Thomas Chaucer, supposed to be a son of the great poet, in whose "* Regist. Osen. ap. Kennett, vol. ii. bcr, holding a half virgate* or virgate of P- 281. land, the rent for which is uniformly at P Like other powerful barons of the the rate of 5s. a virgate, but then they time, he exercised nearly an absolute were bound to certain feudal services, sovereignty within his domain, as appears i Inquisit. post mortem, vol. i. p. 113. from the following extracts from the — Rot. Hundred, ii. 46. — Kennett, vol. i. Hundred Rolls, vol. ii. p. 873 :— " Hugh p. 450.— Dugd. Baron., vol. ii. p. 773. de Pleci holds of the king in capite the ■• Dugd. Summons to Parliament, manor and village of Cudelington of the Barony, Inquisit. post mortem, i. HJ9. fee of Doyly, for military service, and ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 502. has view of Frankpledge over his own ' Inquisit. post mortem, vol. ii. p. 78. men, without the sherifi' and other bayliffs " Ibid. 1 pars Edw. II. of the crown, and husgaHows on his land, '^ Inq. post mort. 34 Edw. III. by what warrant we know not," &c. Then ^ Ibid. 3 Rich. II. follows a list of the villanes, 41 in num- * A yard land, an uncertain rjuautiiy, vaniiig fnim I.') to 40 acres, according lo cuslom. K I D L I N G T O N. 69 possession it appears to have been by an inquisition held at the time of his death, A.D. MSC'. From him it passed to WilHam de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, by his mamage with Alice, daughter and heir of the said Thomas Chaucer. He was afterwards created Duke of Suffolk, and acted a very conspicuous part in the reign of Henry VI. He was the founder of the Hospital of Ewelme, where he sometime resided. He was afterwards attainted, and being intercepted in his passage into France, he was beheaded. His remains were conveyed to the Collegiate Church of Wingfield in SuiFolk, and there buried. Ahce his widow was buried at Ewelme, on the south side of the high Altar. There is an en- graving of her monument, which is very splendid, in Skelton's Oxford- shire, as well as of that of her father, Thomas Chaucer''. By an inquisition after the death of the Duke of Suffolk, he was found to have died possessed in Com: Oxon: jointly with Alice his wife, of twelve messuages, fourteen virgates of land, and twenty acres of meadow, with their appurtenances in Thorp, CudeUnton and Sulthorne, now Thrup, Kid- lington and Souldern'^. All which, with many other large possessions, con- tinued to Alice his widow, in her own right of inheritance, who lived to a good old age in her mansion-house at Ewelm, and, died there, A.D. 1 475 ^. She had issue by her last husband, the Duke of SuiFolk, one son and heir, John, who married Elizabeth, sister to King Edward IV., and for this honourable alliance was, by letters patent, dated March 23, 3rd of Edward IV., restored to the title of Duke of Suffolk''. He inhe- rited, among other possessions from his mother, the meinor oi Kidlington, which must have continued in his family to the Reformation, as certain manorial payments to the Duke of Suffolk and his heirs, are stated among the perpetual reprises to which the Rectory of Kidlington was liable, at the time of the surrender of Oseney^. In the last century it belonged for some time to a family of the name of Smith, of whom was Dr. Joseph Smith, Provost of Queen's, A.D. 1730. It is now the property of the Duke of Marlborough ; but the manor- house was detached from the manor some few years since, and belongs to Thomas Robinson, Esq. The Church is named in honour of the Virgin Mary, and the feast-dav of dedication is the Sunday after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. O.S. ' Kennett, vol. ii. p. o2'2. •■ Dugd. Baron., vol. ii. p. 18,9; Kemiett, » Dugd. Baron., vol. ii. p. 189. vol. ii. p. 380. *> Dugd. Baron., vol. ii. p. 189. ' Valor. Eccl. '= Kennett, vol. ii. p. 380. 70 K I D L 1 N G T O N. The following few scattered notices respecting the Church are sub- joined. The presentations are chiefly taken from the Registry at Lincoln. A.D. 1226. The Abbey of Osney presented in this year to the Vicarage. A.D. 1300—1320. Bishop D' Alderby. Johannes de Ottington Capel- lanus ad Vicariam per Abbatem et Conventum de Osney prsesentatus per mortem Guli. ultimi vicarii vacantem. A.D. 1347 — 1363. Bishop Grindwell. Wilhelmus de Ottingdon per Abbatem et Conventum de Osney ad vicariam praesentatus per mortem Henrici Wylby vacantem. During this century a considerable portion of the Church was rebuilt, probably through the influence of Thomas de Cudlinton, a native of Kidlinton, who died Abbot of Osney, A.D. 1383^ and was distinguished as a builder. He built Hythe- bridge, and the Lady Chapel at Osneye. The south aisle of the Church very closely resembles that of St. Mary Magdalene, which was built A.D. 1338?. A.D. 1405 — 1420. Bishop Repingdon. Mag''. Johan^ Welkes per Abbatem et Conventum de Osneye ad vicariam de Cudlington, praesentatus per mortem Willihelmi Odyngton ultimi vicarii vacantem. A.D. 1431 — 1435. Bishop Grey. Willhelmus Bushell per Abbatem et Conventum de Osneye ad vicariam praesentatus per resignationem Johan*. Welkes vacantem. A.D. 1435 — 1450. Bishop Alnwick. Johannes Bradstone, per Abbatem et Conventum de Osneye ad Vicariam de Osneye praesentatus per resig- nationem Willhelmi Bushell vacantem. Item — Ludovicus North ad vicariam per Abbatem et conventum de Osneye praesentatus per Johannis Bradstone resignationem vacantem. During the incumbency of this last-mentioned vicar, a new endow- ment of the vicarage was made by the Bishop. The parishioners com- plained that the parish, which is very long, wide, dispersed, and large, was not duly served, and the vicar, that the portions of the said vicarage were so scanty, that they weie insufficient for the proper sustentation of him, and the su])port of the charges imposed upon him. Whereupon the Bishop, having heard the various parties by their proctors, totally annuls the existing endowment, and ordains a new and more sufficient one, assigning to the vicar the ])rcscnt vicarage house, and certain ' Lcliind's llin. >■■ I'tsliall, p. 22 k K I D L I N G T O N. 71 portions of the abbey land, tithes, offerings, &c., and binding the vicar to serve and minister continually to the said church by himself and one fit chaplain, who, at his own cost and charge he shall have continually dwelling with him. A.D. 1471 — 1480. Bishop Rotherham. Johannes Lane, presbyter, prse- sentatus per discretum virum Leonellum Wydeville Archidiac. Oxon. ad vicariam perpetuam Ecclesise parochialis de Cudlington Line. Dioces. per resignationem Mag' Ludovici North ultimi vicarii in manus Reverendi Patris Line. Ep. vacantem. A.D. 1495 — 1514. Bishop Shiith. Mag"". Rogerus Sandeford, in utroque jure baccalaureus presbyter preesentatus per religiosos viros Abbatem et conventum monasterii de Osneye per mortem Johannis Lane ultimi vicarii quam per liberam renunciationem Magr. Ricardi Inglesent, vacantem, 21mi April, 1499. Item — Mag"". Johan. Croston A.M. prsesent: per Abb. et Conven. ad vicariam de Cudelynton per resign. Xtopheri Lathum 22 Sep. 1503. The surrender of Osney bears date Nov. 17, A.D. 1540,. and on the erection of the see of Oxford in the year following, the appropriation of Kidlington became part of the endowment of the new chapter at Osney, consisting of a Dean and six Canons, styled the Dean and Canons of the Cathedral Church of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin ; but within three years this foundation was dissolved, and a new one erected at St. Frideswide's, as it now exists, under the style of the Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford. Kidlington then, with many other of the possessions of Osney, remained in the hands of the Crown. In A.D. 1565, it was granted by Q. Ehz. to Sir W. Petre, and by him given to Exeter College. By his ordination, confirmed afterwards by Act of Parliament, the vicarage was permanently attached to the headship of Exeter College, and the Rectors of the College from that time have been the successive vicars of the parish ''. " At Gosford, in the parish of Kidlington, there was an house of Sisters of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, who were removed about A.D. 1180 to Buckland, in Somersetshire. The estate was given to them by Robert de Oily and Henry his son, and continued in the hands of the Hospitalers (who built an oratory or chapel here about A.D. 1234) ^ Tanner's Notiti;i, Q. Elizabeth's ^r.int to E.Kctcr College iu the Areliivcs of the College. 72 KIDLINGTON. till the dissolution. It was granted 34th Henry VIII. to Anth. Stringer and John Williams'." " Close to the Church at Kidlington, in the County of Oxford, is a small hospital or alms-house, containing six rooms. Upon a tablet at the north end, is the following inscription : — " TO GOD, AND THE POOR OF KIDLINGTON, AND TO THE PIOUS MEMOUY OF THE VIRTUOUS LADY, ANN MOKTON, AND HER DECEASED CHILDREN, SIR WILLIAM MORTON, knight, late one of her majesty's justices of THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DEDICATED THIS FOUNDATION, ANNO DOMINI 1671." Extract from the Founder's will : — " Whereas I have built and erected an hospital at Kidlington, in the County of Oxford, for the habitation, and maintenance, of three poor men, and three poor women, that are impotent and decrepid, who are to be single persons, and whose labour and work is done. And in remem- brance of the piety and virtues of my dearly beloved wife, and my dear and dutiful children, John Morton, George, William, Ann, and Mag- dalen Morton, deceased, which I had by her, I will, and appoint, that the said building, or Alms-house, shall be called, and knowne, by the name of ' the Lady Anne Morton's Alms-house' for ever. And that the poor people, that shall be ])laced, and put in, by me in my lifetime, and for ever hereafter, shall be called the Lady Ann Morton's Almsfolke, and shall be stiled, and incorporated, by that name''." j.l.r. » Tanner's Notit. Monast. k Stc -Mr. .Markland's llLinavks on vSc|)iilcliral Memorials, p. 225. WATER-EATON CHAPEL. FT. IN. Nave 29 by Chancel 16 9 by FT. IN. 20 15 10 This is a remarkably good specimen of the revived Gothic, of the time of James I., having at first sight the appearance of a much earlier date ; it is a simple oblong Chapel, with a high- pitched roof, open to the rafters, and of good plain character, without tie-beams. The windows are wide, of three lights, with foliated heads, but without tracery, very much resembhng a window often found in Decorated work, but the mouldings are quite late Perpendi- cular ; the window arches are very much depressed, with a slight point ; the door is late Perpendicular, with a square head over it : the north wall is quite blank ; on the south side there are three windows and a door, and one window at each end. The pulpit and screen are of good Elizabethan work, and the pews are all open, with poppy -heads of the same character. The bell- gable is a modern imitation, and not a very happy one. The house adjoining, and to which this Chapel belongs, is of the same age and character; a remarkably good and perfect specimen of the Elizabethan style, with its court-yard, en- trance-gate, detached wings and chapel, all in their original state, and all apparently built at once from the same design. 70* WATER-EATON. Water-Eaton House, from the Court-Tard . c. 1610. A. The House. B. The Chapel. C. The Court yard. D D. The Lodges, or detached wings. 10 io 30 ^r JLjIf Tc..t WATER-EATON. 71* HISTORICAL NOTICES. Eton, by which is to be understood Water Eton, is mentioned in Domesday Book^ as part of the possessions of Robert de Oily. It was given to Oseney by Robert de Oily the second, the founder. There is also extant a MS. in English in the Exchequer, supposed to be about the time of Edward IV., which contains a further confirmation of this grant by Henry de Oily, and also by Robert Chesney, Bishop of Lincoln, and Pope Eugene III.^ The words of this original endowment in this MS. are as follow : " Eton all my towne the which long to hit, outetake the mill, the which I haue gife to another Church." Within this hamlet is Fryse's farm, lying between the Banbury and Woodstock roads. The grant of this is included in the great charter of Robert de Oily the second, and the words of the grant in his charter are thus rendered into old English in the Exchequer MS. : "And the Chapell of Frees with the mansion and londe against the Chapell towards the west with Fedyngs and pastures and his other purtenances." Here, in Antony Wood's time, was standing nothing but a shepherd's house and no remains of the Chapel. By an inquisition taken 23, 24 of Edward III., it appears that the Abbot of Oseney held the manor of Weston and Water Eton by the service of two knights' fees ". By original letters patent under the privy seal and by authority of Parhament, Henry VIII., on the 24th of September, 34th of his reign, granted to Robert King, Bishop of Oxford, divers estates, parcels of the possessions of Oseney Abbey, and among them, Water Eton, to the said late monastery lately belonging. It remained but a short time in the possession of the Bishop of Oxford, and was resumed again by the Crown, and the King (Henry VIII.) by a deed of exchange dated September 1, 37th of his reign, made between him and William Burg, Merchant of the Staple at Calais, in consideration of the manor of Calchill, in the county of Kent, gave to the said William Burg all that his manor of Water Eton, in the county of Oxford, and all that his Graces pastures, called Fryse, in Water Eton, &c.° ' Oxenscire terra de Oilgi. yq] j;_ ^ ^02 - Carta Rob. de Oilii, Dugd. Monast. o Valor. Ecclesiast. Extracts from .1. 137, Chartulary Cotton. Libr. grants, Archives of Exeter College. " Dods. MS. vol. Ix. f. 188. ap, Kennett, 72* W A T E R - E A T O N. The manor is now in possession of John Saw\'er, Esq., of Way wood Lodge. During the civil wars the Manor House was the abode of the Lord Lovelace, and evidently considered as a place of importance. It is now only used as a farm house. Lady Lovelace was seized here by a party of the Parhamentary troops from Banbury, forced into her carriage, and driven to Middleton, where she was turned out and compelled to walk back. " j.L.B. SHIPTON-ON-CHERWELL. PATRON. ^t, iJlarg. DEANERY W. TURNER, ESQ. Qp WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel 16 by 20 10 Nave 35 by 21 Tower 5 2 by 5 4 A SMALL plain Chiircli, tlie nave and tower modern, the Chancel original : the Clmrcli stands in a very picturesque situation on a cliff, on tlie banks of the Cherwell. The Chancel is Decorated, late in the style ; the east window is transition from Decorated to Perpendicular, of three lights, cinqucfoiled, with flowing tracery, the dripstone returned hori- zontally: the side windows are Decorated^ of two lights, trefoiled, with a quatrefoil in the head. The Chancel-arch is equilateral, pointed, with chamfered edges, and a Decorated label. In the north wall is a sepulchral arch, cinqucfoiled, having a stone coffin, witli a coped hd with a cross upon it. In the Church-yard there is the shaft of an ancient cross, siu-mounted by a cross fleuree. There is a vignette of the old Chui'ch in Skclton's Oxfordshire, Wootton Hundred, p. 21. B. Bevan, Ch. Ch. PATRONS. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. TACKLEY. Bt, iatcl)0la5. DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. FT. IN. Chancel 29 4 Nave 51 Aisle 51 Tower, exterior ... 20 Tower, interior ... 13 L FT. IN. by 13 7 by 17 by 12 by 8 by 5 ill 74 T A C K L E Y. A CRUCIFORM Church, of mixed styles, with a tower iu the centre, mostly Perpendicular. Chancel— Tlie east window is a very good Early English triplet, three lancet lights combined into one composition, with shafts attached : on the south side are two Perpendicular windows, with stone benches under them in the recess ; and a good piscina in the angle. The corbels of the old roof re- main, and are good octagon Perpendicu- lar; the present roof is modern, of low pitch, and bad. In the north wall of the Chancel is an Early English re- ji cessed arch for a tomb, with a doorway i^^^l by the side, and a detached shaft of purbeck marble between; the label of this arch is very bold, with a deep hoi- '■■. (D, , low under: the tomb is Perpendicular, Ksciaa m Nonn Transept c. hso. with flat-arched panels and buttresses between, and an incised slab, with a cross fleury, very simple. Nave — The west window is good Decorated, of three lights, the mullions intersecting, Avith foliations : on the north side, an aisle, destroyed, two Norman arches filled up, and a small Norman door, rebuilt, under the western arch ; on the south side, three ]^]arly English arches, the pillars with good caps, having the stiff'-leaf foliage ; arches pointed and recessed, the edges chamfered, w ith early labels and termina- tions. The clerestory and roof arc plain and late. Tlic Tower-arches are Early English, very plain and mas sive, pointed and recessed, M'ith the edges cham fered oil"; the piers semi-octagon, caps or im- _^ ])osts phiin, the mouldings deep and undercut : ill fill- spandril of the north arch of the tower then; is a s(iuare-hcaded Avindow cut througli the wall, with an iron grating in it; the use of Impost, c, 1220. i Section of arcb of West Window, o. 1350 TACKLEY. 75 this window is not very clear, but it seems to have been con- nected with the rood-loft. The upper story of the tower is Per- pendicular. The North Transept and window are Perpendicular, early in the style, the window-head rather of tran- ^-^--^Mf^MiMjjjLuu^ sition character. The roof is plain : there rfrll is a good small piscina and a square mano- rial pew, with Elizabethan carving, and the date 1613 : The south transept is also Per- pendicular ; the roof of the same style, plain open timber work ; the south aisle has Perpendicular windows, of late cha- racter, one of which has a good termina- tion of the labelj or dripstone. i.h.p. Dripstone tertninatioo. c, 1520 HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 1226, 10, 11 Henry III., Genteschive le Povre presented a clerk to the Church of Ottindon, and three years before had with Emma de Podus, his wife, presented to the Church of Tackley*. A.D. 1314. On the morrow after Michaelmas day, 8th of Edward II., John de Wyithulle, son and heir of Sir Walter de WyithuUe, by deed dated at Kirtlington, did release and quit claim to Hugh le Duke of Wretchwike, within the parish of Burcester, all his right and claim in eighteen perches of arable land in length, and four perches in breadth, in the field of Tackle, in a parcel of ground called Wyitstandelf, to remain to the said Hugh and his heirs for ever'*. This manor and estate belonged to Henry Lord Beaumont, an eminent man in the reigns of King Edward 11. and King Edward HI., in whose reign he died. He was in the 1 1th of king Edward III. constahle of the king's army sent into Scotland, and in consideration of his great services, obtained, among other things, a charter of free-warren in all his demesne lands in this place. He left this manor, 14th Edward IIJ., to his son ^ Rog. Dods. MS. vol. cvii. p. 12. ap. Kcnnctt, vol. i. p. 282. '' Keiinett, vol. i. p. -326. 76 T A C K L E Y. John, Lord Beaumont; but he enjoyed it not above two years, and then dying, left it to Eleanor his wife, who, 17 Edward III., procured another charter of the king for free warren for her demesne lands in this place. She left it to her son and heir, Henry Lord Beaumont, who being bom beyond sea was legitimated by Parliament 25 Edward IIL As to the Church here, we may observe that upon a vacancy of the vicarage, one Mr. Rogers, who was then Rector of the said Church, affirming that the vicarage was not regularly ordained, with the consent of all parties con- cerned, did petition Ohver Sutton, then Bishop of Lincoln, that the said vicarage might be consolidated with the rectory; whereupon the Bishop having made a due inquisition about it, did so consolidate them, ult. Octob. 1299'=. George Powers Knight, who died 1424, was Lord of this manor. 1483, April 22. Oliver Sompnour resigned the living of Oddington and accepted that of Tackley'*. A.D. 1499, May 17. John Hulse was presented to the living of Tackley on the death of Oliver Somner, on the presentation of Clemen- tina Newere, widow of John Newere, gentleman ^. Peter Ailworth, Esq., who died 1595, and was buried in the Church, also possessed this manor ; subsequently it became the property of the Harbome family, John Harborne built here a handsome manor house, of which an outer gate of entrance is now all that remains. A mural monument of the Harbornes is attached to the east wall of the north transept. The advowson of the Rectory was purchased by St. John's College, Oxford, in 1719. The Register commences 1559. The manner in which it is preserved, being substantially bound in russia, is worthy of general adoption '^. ' .Magna Ikitannia, vol. iv. p. 382. nelt, vol. i. p. ;j'2G. •* Reg. llussel, Keniiett, vol. i. p. 4{)(). * Skelton, Wootton lliuidrcd, p. 21. ' Reg. Smith, Ep. London, ap. Ken- ROWSHAM. PATRON. <&t. iW;arS. DEANERY C. COTTRELL DORMER, OF WOODSTOCK. ESQ. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. A PLAIN Church, mostly Decorated, but with parts transition Norman. Plan oblong, with one aisle and a tower at the west end. The Chancel is Decorated, the east window bad, having no foliations ; the north window tolerably good, of three hghts, foliated 3 a good Decorated piscina. The Chancel-arch is tran- sition Norman, pointed, very plain, and not recessed, with Norman shafts in the angles of the square pier on the west side. The Nave — The western arch is transition Norman, with good Norman caps, arch pointed, not recessed, but the edges chamfered off; the other two arches are different, pointed and recessed, with the edges chamfered, on octagon pillars, with moulded caps of the Decorated style, but very plain. The south aisle is Decorated, with a good west window. The Tower is Decorated, the arch deeply recessed, cham- fered, with moulded caps to round shafts : the windows on the first-floor, lancets, small, and recessed; the belfry windows, on the south side, of two lights, with octagon shaft, round-headed, on the north side, pointed, on the west side, square-headed ; the west door has a Decorated dripstone ; the buttresses are very small, not more than foiu* feet high ; there is no staircase. i.n.p. 78 R O W S H A M. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Domesday survey, Rowesham formed part of the grant of Robert de Oilgi, and of Roger de Iveris. A.D. 1149, 14, 15, Stephen, in the charter of Robert d'Oily, of asignment to Oseney, Rowlesham formed a part of the barony of Hoke- norton. A.D. 1227, Dec. 5, the king presented to one moiety of the Church of Rollesham, com. Oxon. A.D. 1229, we find the other moiety of the Church of Rollesham was in the patronage of Walter de Fontibus. Within the year 1280, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, presented to the Church of Rollesham (now Rowsham''.) A.D. 1635. The manor of Rowsham with its appurtenances was con- veyed by a deed bearing date 1st May, 1635, from the Hawtreys to Sir Robert Dormer, of Dorton. By the will of General James Dormer, who died 1744, or thereabouts, Rowsham descended to Sir Clement Cottrell, Knight, Master of the Ceremonies, who took the name of Dormer. He is the first bearing that name who is interred in the parish church at Rowsham, as it was not the ancient burying-place of the Dormers. There are many inscriptions to the memory of the Martens, who pos- sessed a part of Rowsham. This part of the estate Was purchased, by the present owner, of the late Renjamin IloUoway, Esq., of Lee Place, in this county, A.D. 1828. Near to the Church is the handsome embattled residence, in the Elizabethan style, of C. Cottrell Dormer, Esq., of which there is a view in Skelton's Oxfordshire. " Kenuett, vol. i. p. 90, 91, 142, 284, >■ R. Dods. MS. vol. cvii. p. 141. ap. 21*1. Kennctt, vol. i. p. 418. STEEPLE ASTON. PATRONAGE OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD. 5t. IBcUv, DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. A MIXED Church, with a tower at the west end. The Chancel is debased Perpendicular. The east window is of three lights, with two transoms, each light foliated, but no room for tracery in the head : three side windows on the south side, of two lights, with transoms. The Chancel-arch is Early Deco- rated, pointed and recessed, with the edges chamfered, springing from the caps of triple-shafts attached to the jambs : a good Perpendicular Chancel-screen has lately been restored : the roof is plain, low, and bad. The north aisle of the Chancel has a fine Decorated east 80 STEEPLE-ASTON. THE GROUND PLAN. A. Altar Platform . B Chancel. 28ft 6in. by 15ft C. North Chapel. 28ft. Bin. by 12ft Bin D. North Aisle. 36ft 6in, by 13fl. E. Nave. 36ft 6m. by 13ft P. South Aisle. 36ft. by 12ft. G. Soutli Porch, 10ft. lOin. by 9ft, 6m. H ToTjper. 16ft by 14ft 6in, STEEPLE ASTON. 81 ■''jmwi aiKiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMii'ii'Vi' The arch between this aisle wiadow of three lights^ with flow- ing tracery and a good label, with singular terminations, and the mullions are moulded. In this aisle there is a small Decorated piscina, with its drain perfect, and a foliated circle in the head, the cusps of which terminate in the centre in a ram's head. The arch between the Chancel and aisle is Decorated, with good bold mould- ings continuous to the ground. The north wall of this aisle has been rebuilt without windows, to accommodate the monument of Sir Francis and Lady Page, 1741. and that of the Church is Decorated, springing from corbels : this arch, as well as that on the side, had been built up for many years, but were re-opened in the recent improvements : the roof is still hid by a flat plaster ceiling. The Nave is of three bays, with Early EngHsh arches, having moulded caps and label, rather early in the style : the roof is modern imitation of old work. A canted ceiling, divided into panels : the work is well executed, and the design tolerably good. A clerestory was removed at the time this was put on, in 1842 ; but it was a late addition to the Church, and scarcely worth preserving. The north aisle is Perpendicular, lately rebuilt. The south aisle is Decorated, the windows chiefly modern imitation. It has a good Perpendicular boarded ceiling, with moulded ribs, pierced springers, and stone corbel-heads. The south door and porch are Decorated ; the door moulded, with the roll-moulding for a label ; the windows of the porch are rather singular, loops on the outside, widely splayed within. The south porch, aisle, and Chancel, have Perpen- dicular battlements, with cornice, having heads at wide inter- M 82 STEEPLE ASTON. vals, over which were formerly pinnacles, some portions of which still remain. The Tower is good Perpendicular, the lower part plain, but with a good west door, very deeply recessed, with bold ogee and hollow mouldings, continued nearly to the ground ; a window in the first floor of two lights, plain, with an opening in the head and a Perpendicular label; the upper windows of two lights, with flamboyant tracery and Perpendicular labels : the parapet battlemented, and cornice plain Perpendicular, with heads at the corners, having spouts out of their mouths, and another head in the centre of each front. The buttresses are placed diagonally, and have oblong panels let into the face, engrailed round the edges, with a shield in the centre. The seats are all open, good carved oak, late Perpendicular work, with a variety of pattenis on the ends ; those which had been damaged have lately been restored in very good taste. The font is round, with flat patterns of a diamond shape, of various sizes; from the shallowness and character of the work, it appears to be an imitation of the time of Charles II., but STEEPLE ASTON. 83 may possibly be, as mauy persons consider it, genuine work of the twelfth century. In the parish chest in this Church is carefully preserved a very valuable relic of the olden time, consisting of part of the hangings of the Altar, of the fourteenth century, richly em- broidered with the martyrdom of saints in small divisions; and, considering its age, it is in a very perfect state. There are the steps and base of a Perpendicular cross in the Church-yard. HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 1362, four acres of land in Stepelaston, and the advowson of the church, were granted to Robert, by Divine permission, Prior of Cold- Norton, by Ricardus de Abberbury (Adderbury) Chivaler, 1362; and Thomas de Abberbury ', Lord of Steeple Aston, granted the same, at the same time the convent engaging to find four canons to pray for the soul of Thomas Abberbury, Gierke ^. In 1366, 40, 41 Edw. III., William de Liwte, parson of Steple- Aston, made a release of all claim to the manors of Borstal!, Musewell, &c.^ A.D. 1496. The Priory of Cold Norton escheated to the crown, 11 Hen. VII. 1496 ; and in the 22nd Hen. VII. (1506-7), Hugh Croft, Esq., released to the king, for himself and his heirs, all right and title to the Priory. The lands were then worth £50 per annum. It was given the next year to the Dean and Chapter of St. Stephen's, Westminster. Bishop Smith, the co-founder of Brasenose College, Oxford, and who was Dean of St. Stephen's College in 1492, purchased in the 4th of King Hen. VIII. of Thomas Hobbys, then Dean, and the Chapter, all the lands, tenements, and revenues of the Priory, and gave the whole to his College of Brasenose, in the 5th of Hen. VIII. The lands so given have belonged to that society ever since. Wood says • It is a reasonable conjecture that was removed with others to make room this Thomas Abberbury, lord of Steeple for Sir F. Page, &c. Aston and clerk, is the person described ^ Yate, p. 56 ; vid. Churton's Lives of by Ant. Wood, as a parson out of reniem- tlie Founders of Brasenose College, brance, whose monument of alabaster ' Kennctt, vol. ii. p. 143, &c. 84 STEEPLE ASTON. that Bishop Smith had some thoughts of founding his College on the site of this Priory. A.D. 1596, 14th June, Joh. Buckfold, cl'ic. S.T.B. ad eccl. de Steple Aston ad pres. Tho. d'ni Buckhurst prsenob. ord. Garter, mil. ratione advocat. concess. per principal, et scholares aul. reg. et coll. de Brasen- nose ^. About 1622, some Roman tesselated pavement was dug up in this parish. Samuel Radcliffe, D.D., Principal of Brasenose College, who had been Rector of this parish, endowed a school here in 1640. He like- wise founded two Scholarships in his College, to be supplied, if possible, from his school at Steeple Aston. He was ejected from the headship of Brasenose College by the committee of the Lords and Commons, for the Reformation of the University, on the 20th of January, 1647. He died 26th of June, 1648, and was buried in the chancel of St. Mary's Church. He likewise endowed an almshouse for the poor in this parish, but the building which bears his name was erected by the College. Dr.RadcliiFe, having left a sum of money for the purpose, his heirs-at-law disputed the bequest, and according to an arrangement made, two-thirds only of four hundred pounds was retained by the College for building, endowing, &c. Daniel Greenwood, D.D., uncle to the Rector of Steeple Aston of the same name, is buried in the Chancel of the Church by the side of the grave of his nephew. He was voted Principal of Brasenose, in the place of Dr. Radcliife, by the Parliament committee, and was put in possession of it by the visitors in 1648. He was Vice Chancellor of Oxford in 1650, and was ejected by the King's commission in August 1660. "' Keiinutt, vol. ii. p. 416. NORTH ASTON. PATRON. 5t. JHarg. DEANERY C. O. BOWLES, ESQ. OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel 37 6 by 13 10 Nave 27 by 21 Tower 9 6 by 8 2 North Aisle of Nave. . . 27 10 bv 8 6 South Aisle of Nave ..292 by 110 South Aisle of Chancel . 20 2 by 110 A MIXED Church, with a tower at the west end. The Chancel is of the Decorated style, with a modern east window : on the north side are three windows, of two lights, trefoiled, with a quatrefoil in the head : on the south side is one similar window, and an arch opening to the south aisle : westward of this arch is a square opening through the wall, di^dded by a thick mullion, and more splayed towards the east than the west. The Chancel-arch is blocked up above, and a Grecian screen inserted, painted in perspective". The Nave is of the Decorated style, having plain arches on octagonal pillars, with moulded capitals. The south aisle and the sepulchral chapel on the south side of the Chancel °, are Decorated, with good windows. The north aisle is also Deco- rated, with two windows of that style, and a Perpendicular one inserted. The roof is formed of plain oak beams and rafters, and is almost flat : there are two small clerestory windows on each side. The pulpit is of verjr fine oak, with the Howard coat of arms well carved in front, being the gift of Lady Howard about 1720. " As soon as the requisite funds can open ; and to substitute a pointed stained he obtained, it is contemplated to take window in lieu of the present round- down the present plaster ceiling of the headed unsightly-looking light. Chancel, which now comes down far below " Called the Lord's Aisle in MSS. the apex of the Chancel-arch, to remove collections in Colonel Bowles's library, the Grecian screen, and throw it quite 86 NORTH ASTON. There are some good open seats^ of oak^ with carved ends. The Font is of the time of Charles II. The walls of the mansion-house approach to within a yard of the tower : no \'iew whatever can be got either of the tower or of the Church till you come near to the church-yard gates. The tower, overgrown on all sides with ivy, is a beau- tifully picturesque object : the tower-arch is lofty, of the Per- pendicular style, with well-moulded capitals. b. bevan, ch. ch. Under the arch, on the south side of the Chancel, is an altar- tomb of alabaster, supporting the recumbent figures of a knight in armour, and his lady, in fine preservation. The knight has a collar of SS. arms : party per pale : dexter, argent, on a bend sable three martlets of the first, a crescent of the second for difference; sinister, gules, tliree lions passant argent. These arms occur also in the east window of the south aisle. As weepers round the tomb, there are "fourteen little statues in monastic habits, carrying staves, beads, &c., and three plumed figures, supporting shields, within Gothic niches." These sur- round three sides of the tomb. This monument has no name upon it, but is thus described at p. 67 of " The Gathcringcs of Oxfordsher A". Dom. 1574," by Richard Lee Portcullis, MS. Wood 14. D. in the Ashmolean Museum. "In North Aston Church a mail in armour w"* a woman in a baron's robe very ancient Johns Ann & Alicia uxor ejus, ob. 141(5." The arms are tricked as above, together with another impaled shield, which perhaps then also existed on the monument''. At p. 66 of the same MS. these coats appear among the shields of alliances which Lee gives as being "in the ancient house of Anne'i in Northaston." P Ant. Wood repeats Lee's account of in Yorksliire, who took the name of Tas- this monument. MSS. E. 1. fol. 113. bm-gh in 1810. Their anus were gules ^ This is the surname of the very three bucks' heads caboshed arg. attired ancient Catholic family of Anne of or— but in the family chapel there was Frickley, in the parish of llooton Pagncl formerly a stone with three martlets on NORTH ASTON. 87 HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Domesday Survey, Aston (Etone) formed part of the grant of Robert de Oiley. The next mention of Aston is in 1262, 46, 47 Hen. III., when the name of Wilham de Montacute occm's as Lord of the manor "". In 1295, the advowson of the Church of Aston Cantehia, was given by John de Hastyng to the Prior and Convent of Stodley, together with certain lands in that parish s. In 1336, Sir John de Molins, lord of the manors of Brill and Ludgarshale, did now obtain licence from the king to make a castle of his manor house at Aston, and to impark his woods in Ilmere, with one hundred acres of pasture in Bekkenesfeld, Burnham, and Chippenham ; and to have free warren in Bekkenesfeld, Chalfhunt, &c., being now engaged in the wars of Scotland of the retinue of William de Montacute'. In 1425, Sir William Molins, died July the eighth, seized of the manors of Henle, Aston, &c. &c., leaving WiUiam, his son and heir, 19 years of age. Of which manors, Laurence de Scaccario held two carucates of land in Abbeford, within the parish of Aston, com. Oxon, in ] 3 Edw. I., by the serjeanty of being marshal to the justices itinerant through all England, and to the justices of the King's Bench, and barons of the Exchequer". In 1411, this manor, with others, became the property of Robert Hungerford, Esq., as part of the lands of inheritance of Ahanore, daughter and heir of Sir Wilham Molins. This estate and manor were left to Mrs. Henrietta Fermor, sister of Mr. Fermor of Tusmore, by Madam Brooke, who died in France in 1716^ a bend, and this inscription, " Hie jacet " God save Martin Anne and Frances his Alyss de Anne, qua obiit xx die Febru- wife 1572." — Vide Hunter's South York- arii, Ao D"' millesimo cccc, cujus animse shire, vol. ii. p. 148. propitietur Deus." Dr. NathanielJohn- ' R. Dods. MS. vol. xxix. p. 103. ap. ston, who describes the mansion at Frick- Kennett, vol. i. p. 366. ley in his topographical collections, says, ' Pat. 24. Edw. I. Nov. 15. ap. Ken- that over the door entering into the court nett, vol. i. p. 461. before the house is a shield, with three ' Diigd. Bar. torn. ii. p. 100. ap. Ken- martlets on a bend, which tradition says nett, vol. ii. p. 33. are the arms of the family from whom " Blount's Antient Tenures, p. 72. ap. Frickley came to the Annes. On an old Kennett, vol. ii. p. 247. stable-door the same, quartering an eagle ^ Dr. Hutton's MS. Collections in Bibl. displayed. Over the door, carved in wood, Bodl. 88 NORTH ASTON. Lady Howard, the great benefactress to the church, was the widow of a Sir Robert Howard, afterwards the wife of Dr. Marten, sometime rector of Somerton. She held a hfe interest in the estate by virtue of a lease from one of the Fermor family, about 1716. It appears to have come into the possession of a Mr. Oldfield about 1746; from him into the present family. 1st. Charles Bowles; 2nd. Oldfield Bowles ; 3rd. Charles Oldfield Bowles. DUNSTEW. PATRON. SIR G. DASHWOOD, BART. FT. IN. Chancel 39 Nave 50 6 North Aisle .... 57 Tower 13 DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. FT. IN. by 14 by 18 G by 9 6 by 13 A PLAIN Church of mixed styles^ with tower at the west end. The Chancel has a Perpendicular east window of three hghts, with brackets for images on each side of it; on the north side is a lancet window ; on the south side are two plain square windows and a door. No piscina or sedilia. Chancel-arch Decorated, plain, with moulded imposts ; arch into north aisle also Decorated, quite plain, with roll-moulding for impost; no other capital, and the recess and chamfered edges of arch are continued to the ground in both these arches. Across the Chancel-arch a screen, of Early Perpendicular work, the pattern quite Decorated. In the jamb of the Chancel-arch on the west side is a Decorated niche. DUNSTEW. 89 The Nave on the north side has three Decorated arches, on tall octagon pillars, with moulded caps, ornamented with heads. The south side has two windows, and a small plain round- headed door, with Decorated mouldings. The north aisle is Decorated, Avith two windows of this style, and a door, stopped up ; the other two windows square Perpendicular. The roof is plain, and not original. The font is a clumsy imitation of Norman, probably of the time of Charles II. There is a cross on the east gable ; no parapet to either nave or Chancel. The south porch is Perpendicular. The Tower is Perpendicular; the west door very deeply recessed, and well moulded, with ogees and hollows ; the win- dows are square headed, of two lights ; buttresses, diagonal, in stages ; parapet, plain, with pinnacles at the angles, and a stair-turret at the north-west angle. This Church is much overgrown with ivy. i.h.p. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Domesday survey, Duns Tewe (Tewa) is enumerated as part of the land of Robert de Oilgi. It formed part of his gift to Oseney Abbey, confirmed by his nephew in 1 149 ^. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Hen. VIII., it is described as a Vicarage of the annual value of viij/. xiijs. iiijrf., belonging to the priory of Merton, John Andrewes being then vicar. The priory of Merton was in Surrey ; how this living came to be taken from Oseney, and given to this distant priory does not appear. At the Dissolution it passed into the hands of lay impropriators, and in 1690 was the property of Sir John Read, Bart. ; in 1746 of Dorothy Dashwood, widow ; and in 1768 of Sir Henry Dashwood, Bart; the certified value being then £75. 125. The present value, according to the returns to the Ecclesiastical Commission- ers, is £237. y Kennett, vol. i. p. 90, 142. and Dugdale's Monasticon Aug., vol. ii. p. 138. N SANPFORD, PATRONS. DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, AND MRS. MARSHALL HACKER. (NEAR WOODSTOCK.) St. iWavttn. DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. A MIXED Churchy with a Perpendicular tower at the west end. Chancel — the east window is transition from Decorated to Perpendicular, of three lights, fo- liated, with a Decorated label, the tracery a curious mixture of the two styles : on the north side are two small lancet windows, recessed and chamfered externally, one of them blocked up in the inside : on the ; south side are two plain square- headed oblong windows, and a small round-headed door ; the walls are of \ rubble, with ashlar dressings, without buttresses : close to the west end of the south wall is a low side- window, '"-^t- now blocked up ; it has been a plain square-headed opening like the windows. There is a plain round- headed small piscina, with part of its basin, of late Decorated work, and a stone seat in the sill of the south-cast window : in the north wall is a plain oblong locker : there are three steps to the Altar. The roof is poor, and not original. The Chancel-arch is Early English, with plain shafts attached to the jambs, having moulded caps. The screen is Perpendicular, Avith some good panels on the lower part. The space above it in the arch East Window. SANDFORD. 91 is boarded up, and painted with the arms of Ehzabeth, and the date 1602 upon it. The painting is curious, the ground being a sort of ermine pattern; the screen itself has retained the paint of the same period, blue, red, white, and yellow. The Nave has on the north side three transition Norman pointed arches, recessed and chamfered, on octagon piers, with rude Norman caps, very plain, with thick abacus ; on the south side are three plain Early English arches, on round pillars, with moulded capitals. The clerestory windows are good Per- pendicular, of two lights, square-headed : the roof of the nave is plain Perpendicular, open timber. The font is octagon, cup- shaped, on an octagon shaft, the upper part ornamented with zigzags, and some other Norman ornaments. The north aisle has plain square-headed windows and door. The south aisle has an east window of three lights, pointed, with curious tracery, transition from Decorated to Perpendicular ; near it is the head of a very rich Decorated piscina, almost hid behind a deal pew : the side windows are of two lights, also transition from Decorated to Perpendicular, as is the south door, which is well moulded, and the dripstone terminated by heads ; the south porch is of the same character, having a plain groined vault, very low, with a room over it ; and a plain niche for a stoup, with part of the stone basin : the outer door of the porch is plain, with a Perpendicular dripstone. The pews are mostly plain old oak. The pulpit is Perpendicular, with oak panelling, having a stone foot, which is Decorated, ornamented with the ball flower. The reading desk, of Perpendicular panelling, is probably made out of part of the screen. The Tower-arch is plain, chamfered, dying into the walls : the west door of the tower is Perpendicular : the west window, of three lights, with good tracery, is transition from Decorated. The upper part of the tower is Perpendicular, with belfry windows of two lights, and a battlement. The parapets of the nave and aisles are plain Perpendicular, with a cornice moulding, but no ornaments. 92 S A N D F O R D. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Domesday survey, Sandford formed part of the grant of "Terra Epi' Baiocensis in Levecanol Hund.^" A.D. 1 104, 4th and 5th of Henry I., Nigel de Oily, constable of the castle of Oxford, and lord of the barony of Hooknorton, held at this time in feudatory service from the abbot and monks of Abingdon, one meadow at Oxford, one hide at Sandford, and one hide in Ernecote, or Amcot, vpithin the parish of Ambrosden, which had been aU given to that Abbey by Robert de Oily his brother and predecessor*. A.D. 1264, 48 and 49 Henry HI., Roger de St. John, lord of Staunton, slain in the battle of Evesham, had confirmed to the canons of Oseney that gift which his father had made to them, of a mill and five yards' land in Weston, near Burcester, called Simeon's land. He hkewise confirmed the grant of the church of Great Barton, with the chapels of Sandford and Ledwell*^. A.D. 1273, 1 and 2 Edw. I. On July 12, Reginald, Bishop suffragan of Gloucester (who was substituted by Richard, Bishop of Lincoln, to visit these parts of the diocese of Lincoln, and to consecrate new churches), consecrated the Chapel of St. Martin's, in Sandford, belonging to the parish of Great Barton*^. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Hen. VIIL, it is described as a Vicarage of the annual value of vij/. xjs., belonging to the abbey of Oseney, Robert Draycote being the vicar. At the Dissolution it passed into private hands, and in 1 G95 belonged to Alice Croker, widow ; from 1731 to 1750 to Joseph Taylor, Esq.; and in 1784 to the Duke of Marlborough. The certified value at that time was £25 ; the present value, according to the return to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, is £200. ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 91. nett, vol. i. p. 371. " Kennett, vol. i. p. 102. " Kennett, vol. i. p. d'J'S, 395. '' Dug. Bar., toni. i. p. .539. ap. Kuu- WESTCOTT BARTON. PATRON. 5t. lEtitoarli. deanery REV. S. Y. SEAGRAVE. OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. The exterior of this Church presents the appearance of a neat little Perpendicular building, with a tower at the west end of the same age and style, but in the interior there are portions of Norman work. The Chancel has a Perpendicular east window of three Ughts, with a pointed arch ; the side windows are of two lights, Per- pendicular, square-headed, with good jamb mouldings, tracery, and labels; there is a small Perpendicular door on the south side ; a very small Perpendicular piscina, and a stone seat in the sill of the south-east window. The Chancel-arch is transition Norman, acutely pointed, square-edged, not recessed, with plain square jambs and Norman imposts : there is a good Perpen- dicular screen across the arch, but much mutilated ; the lower part is perfect, with the door, consisting of good panel work, with remains of the old painting, red, blue, and yellow. The Nave has on the north side three Perpendicular windows, the same as the side windows of the Chancel, the remains of the rood-loft staircase and the arch of a doorway ; on the south side two plain Norman semicircular arches, with labels, the central pillar round, with a square scolloped cap and a square base, the responds plain, square, with imposts only. The south aisle has also Perpendicular windows, the east window has good curling terminations to the dripstone; the porch is neat Perpendicular, the south door is also Perpendicu- lar, with ogee and hollow mouldings, but the old oak door 94 WESTCOTT BARTON— STEEPLE BARTON. '■"('' has been preserved, with hinges of the Norman C form, and other old iron work. The font is plain round, on a square base, probably Norman, but of no marked character. The seats are mostly old oak benches, but some have deal pews built upon them. The pulpit and desk modern and bad. The roofs are all concealed by plaster ceilings. The Tower is plain Perpendicular, ter- minated by a battlement ; the belfry win- dows good Perpendicular, pointed, of two lights, with transoms, and the heads foliated good plain Perpendicular, but has a singers' gallery built across it; one of the bells is broken, and lies on the ground in the tower. There are the steps and base of a Perpendicular cross in the church-yard. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Hen. VTIL, this living is described as a rectory of the yearly value of vijZ. xs. vijc?., D. Fever, rector. In 1712 and 1749, it belonged to John Welchnian, Gent.; in 1760 to Constance Welchman and others ; in 1 7G3 to John Welchnian and Samuel Seagrave ; being then of the certified value of £75. The present value, according to the return to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, is £179. 'iiiiiil!H"''l,;[;:'|(|!!|i'i|i' Door Handle the tower-arch is STEEPLE BARTON. PATRONS. Sbt. i^arg. deanery W. AND M. MISTER. OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. FT. 1\. FT. IN. Chancel 20 4 by 18 6 Nave 49 1 by 39 South Aisle .... 49 by Of) Tower 13 10 by 13 10 A PLAIN Church, of mixed styles, with a square tower at the west end : Chancel has been patched in a Debased style, but the walls are Decorated. The cast window has a Decorated arch iiv STEEPLE BARTON. 95 V-' "^^^ff/ il W'J !:''''-i;. ,,„! iii Oak Corbel in Chancel the inside, but the window itself is a plain square-headed insertion of three lights, with flat segmental heads not foliated. The two windows on the south side are similar, but they all have Deco- rated dripstones of the roll moulding. The north window is original, two lights, with ogee heads trefoiled, the eyes open and foliated ; it is transition from Decorated to Perpendicular, and has also the roll moulding for a dripstone. The roof is modern, flat, and poor. The corbels of the old roof remain ; they are good Deco- rated masks, cut in oak. The com- munion-table and rails, plain. Seve- ral monuments in the Elizabethan style to the famihes of Blundel, Hum- frey, and Dormer. The Nave has on the north side two Decorated square-headed windows, one of which is partly blocked up ; two modern windows and a small plain door blocked up. On the south side are five good Decorated arches, pointed and re- cessed, with the edges chamfered off", and the labels united by heads. The pillars octagon, slender, with good Decorated caps, ornamented by heads, resembling those at Woodstock and Hampton Poyle. The Chancel-arch is Decorated, with a label; the jambs quite plain. This arch is boarded up, and the arms of James II., supported by curious figures with wings, are painted on this board- ing, with the date, 1686, and this text under them in Black letter : " £Slr) son fcare tijou tl)e llorU anti {\)C Iting nnO mcDic not toili^ tf)cm tf)at arc gibcn lo CTIjangc." This boarding might be better removed from the arch, but the painting should be preserved and placed against the blank wall. •"■ftHQTrCDEL. isn'-'^^ Window, on the TSTorth side. 96 STEEPLE BARTON. The roof of the nave is plain and bad, not original ; the cor- bels of the old roof remain, and are Decorated. The south aisle has an east window of four lights, transition from Decorated to Perpendicular, the head of which is filled up. On the south side are two square-headed late Decorated win- dows, of two lights, with good dripstones, the terminations of which consist of half- length figures of animals ; the west Avin- dow is also Decorated, but filled up ; the roof flat and poor; the south door is \ Decorated, with a well-moulded arch, the dripstone terminated by heads, shafts in the jambs, with a fiUet on the face, the 'iSIf llfili''' caps moulded. The south porch is also Onpstone lerminalioa. Decorated; the outer arch bricked up, and a square door in- serted; there is a trefoil-headed niche for the stoup; the wooden door is the old one cut down and patched, with the old iron-work preserved. The tower is plain Perpendicular, with tolerably good west door and window ; diagonal but- tresses in stages, and a plain battlement. The inside is finished with ashlar-work, and the tower-arch has evidently been open to the Church, though now boarded up, and a singing gallery built across it. The font is plain, round, but the sides are fluted with very shallow flutes ; the base moulding is Decorated. The pew- ing consists partly of open seats, some old, some of the time of James II. ; all the enclosed deal pews are of quite modern date. The pulpit and reading-desk are modern and bad. The walls of this Church are sound, but the roofs are in a very bad state ; it appears to have been principally built in the fourteenth century, and to have had new roofs and other alterations in the time of James II. Steeple Barton manor-house is situated about a quarter of a mile east of the Church, a part of this building is yet remaining ; it was built, accord- ing toWood's MSS., E. 1. p. 100,Ash.Mus., by John Dormer, circa 1.524. The Dormers were merchants of the staple, and the arms of the staple merchants were to be seen in Wood's time in two or three places on the STEEPLE BARTON. 97 walls of the court before the house. Over the door leading to the stables and to the house, were written, " Thinke and Thanke, ann. 1570." In the upper part of the house were several rooms of large dimensions, which were perhaps formerly used as dormitories ; but there was one about 92 feet long, which appears to have been the ball or ban- quet room, as the walls were ornamented with paintings in fresco, chiefly of allegorical designs, but better drawn and executed than most specimens of that period. In 1678, and 1679, Ralph Sheldon made considerable alterations within the house. Many adjoining remains prove the whole to have been an extensive estabhshment. There is a vignette of that part which is now standing in Skelton's Oxfordshire, Wootton Hundred, p. 3. HISTORICAL NOTICES. The name Berton did signify a granary, or store place for corn^. In 1082, Barton, part of the possessions of Rogerii de Iveri^, In 1360, Simon, son of Walter de Wodeham, in Surrey, released to Nicholas de Loveym, Knight, and Margery his wife, all his right in the manors of Staunton St. John, Barton, &c., com. Oxon^. Roger de St. John, lord of Staunton, slain in the battle of Evesham, had confirmed to the canons of Oseney, that gift which his father had made to them of a mill and five yards land in Weston, near Burcester, called Simeons land. He likewise confirmed the grant of the Church of Great Barton, with the Chapels of Sandford and Ledwell s. The hving is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at 7/. 9s. 4|rf. At the time of the Dissolution it belonged to Osney Abbey, and then passed into lay hands; in 1712 it belonged to John James, Esq. ; in 1729 to the Earl of Godolphin ; in 1772 to the Duke of Marl- borough, in turns with Francis Page, Esq., and Dr. Taylor, being then of the clear yearly value of 31/. According to the late returns to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the present value is 78/. <• Kennett, vol. i. p. 37. « Dug. Bar., torn. i. p. 539 ; ap. Keii- « Kennett, vol. i. p. 91. nett, vol. i. p. 371. ' Kennett, vol. ii. p. 126. WOLVERCOT. PATRONS. MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD. 5t. ^etcr. DEANERY OF OXFORD. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. ■Wolvercot Churgli. A SMALL plain Church, mostly late Perpendicular, witli a tower at the west end. The Chancel is of two bays, the east window modern Per- pendicular, not good. On the north side the wall is blank; on the south side are| two small Perpendicular windows, square headed, of two lights, foliated, and a small door. The roof is ceiled; the Chancel-arch is transition Norman, point- ed, the edges slightly chamfered, spring- ing from Norman imposts, on plain jambs, across it are the remains of what has been a good Perpendicular rood-screen. There is an hour-glass stand by the side of the pulpit. The font is plain, round, ornamented with a diamond pattern, cut very shallow, and nearly effaced. The Nave is of five bays ; on the south side are two square-headed Perpendicular windows, of three lights, cinque- Impost of Channel-arch . with the Hourglass Staud. WOLVERCOT. N -i -^^^».•* V ^ \ ^' ^ -"^ ■ THE PULPIT (Restored). Tbis fine Pulpit is of the time of Henry VIII.. and is at present in a sadly mutilated condition: the stem and haae entirely concealed by deal boarding, and the upper part equally hidden by modern velvet hauginfes. WOLVERCOT. 99 foiled, under a square dripstone, and one bad modern imita- tion: the south door is good Perpendicular, it has a pointed arch, under a square head, with foliated circles in the span- drils; the oak door is old, and has good iron hinges of the fifteenth century; the north wall is blank, except the arch into a chapel. The roof is late Perpendicular, open timber, rather flat, but with the springers pierced with open-work, resting on good stone corbel-heads, these are Decorated, rudely carved, but of good character. The arch into the north chapel is Decorated, pointed and recessed, with the edges chamfered off, having shafts attached to the jambs, with Decorated moulded caps and bands; this chapel has square Perpendicular windows on the east and west sides, and two small round windows on the north side, to throw light under the canopy of a splendid marble monument, in the style of Charles II. ; on a raised tomb under this canopy are three recumbent effigies, of a judge, in his robes, with a collar of SS., and his two wives; at the head are three daughters kneeling, and at the feet three sons; these smaller figures are kneeling on the slab of the monument; the whole has preserved its original painting and gilding. The judge is John Walter, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and Groom of the Chamber to King Charles II. The Tower is Perpendicular, of three stories, terminated by a battlement, but it is evidently built partly of old materials : the belfry windows are Decorated, of two lights, trefoilcd, with a quatrefoil in the head, preserved from an older church, and built in ; '/^A f tiT' I- J BatUfment. Corbel of Tower Arch. the tower-arch is Decorated, with ogee and hollow mouldings, and good corbels : the west door is 100 WOLVERCO T— G O D S T O W. .s^*s^^ =!i^. Perpendicular, having a pointed arch, moulded under a square head and dripstone, the spandrils sunk and ornamented with a flower of four leaves : the west window is of three lights, late Perpendicular, with a flat arch : the buttresses are placed diagon- ally. The roof is of stone, sup- ported by stone ribs, forming a pointed vault, but not groined; the ribs are square, springing from plain corbels : this roof ap- pears to have been rebuilt of the old materials: from which it may be gathered that the original tower, bunt m the foUl^teenth Part of Roof of Tower century, had a saddle-back roof, and when it was rebuilt in the fifteenth century, this was partly preserved, but concealed by a battlemented parapet, according to the fashion of that period. This Church is much encumbered by galleries, and conse- quently very dark, and the tower-arch is boarded up, which shuts out the west window. The pewing is partly square and high, partly open seats with plain poppies cut out of solid oak, but not moulded; these are of the time of Charles II., or later. Tlie west gable of the north chapel is lofty and well propor- tioned, with the shaft of a cross upon it ; the parapet and cor- nice of the nave are late Perpendicular. GODSTOW. The remains of the Nunnery of Godstow consist of a consider- able part of the boundary wall, and at one corner the ruin of a domestic building of the fifteenth century, with a Perpendicular window of three lights, having a flat obtusely pointed arch, two small squai'c-headed, and two small round-headed ones : the WOLVERCO T— G O D S T O W. 101 wall is of considerable extent, and great part of it has Per- pendicular basement mouldings. By the side of a modern barn, is a small bridge, of the fifteenth century, consisting of one pointed arch over a ditch. In another part of the wall is a Perpendi- cular gateway, with a four-cen- tred arch, recessed, with hollow mouldings, and a good dripstone, at a short distance from the ruin, has two arches, one pointed, the other round; part of it is ancient, but much altered by modern work. The bridge over the river. HISTORICAL NOTICES. The village of Wulvercot is written in old evidences Wlgaricot, having been without doubtthe habitation of Ulgarus.or Wolgarus,a Saxon, (temp. Saxonum.) The said village, by the name of Wlgaricot, was given to God- stowe nunnery (much about its dedication, an. 1138) by Bernardus de S. Walerico, for in the reg. book of the said Nunnery (cited by Dugdale, Monast. Anglic, vol. i. p. 526) it appears y* Thom. de S. Walerico did confirme the gift of his father made to Godstow nunnery concerning the village of "Wlgaricot, whether aU the village, or some part of it I know not., because in the confirmation charter of K. Rich. I. of all the gifts before his 102 WOLVERCOT— GODS TOW. time made to the said Nunnery, is confirmed the said village of Wlgaricote given to that Nunnery by his father K. Henry. The church or chapel of Wulvercote is a chappell of ease to the church of St. Peter in the East, Oxon *>. King Heniy HI. gave the Rectory of St. Peter, with the chappel thereto belonging, to the House of Walter de Merton, an. 1266, by virtue of which gift, the warden and Scholars of y*^ house became rectors of this chapel. In the year 1292, the said warden and scholars, with leave from the V., C. Oliver, Bp. of Lyncoln, did appropriate the said Rectory to their house. By virtue of w'^^' appropriation, this ch. or chapp. of Wulvercote was appropriated also. So y* thereupon the said church of St. Peter being made a vicarage (served by Merton coll. Fel- lows) the vicar of y* place, or his substitute, served here at Wulvercote, and had the lesser tithes for his paynes. In the principal foundation charter of Osney Abbey by Rob. de OUeyo, the founder, he does give to y* Abbey tota decima de Wlgarikote. Robert de Oiley, this founder, had the patronage of St, Peter's Church in the East, .... so consequently the chapp. of Wulvericote with it '. Edith, an eminent and devout matron, at her own proper charge built the Monastery of Godestow, near Oxford, which, at the latter end of December, 1138, in the 4th King Stephen, was dedicated by Alexander Bishop of Lincoln, to the honour of the Virgin Mary and St. John Baptist. King Stephen, and his Queen Maude, with their son Eustace, were present at laying the first stone, and were each a benefactor to it. John de St. John gave the site of the Abbey, and one mill of £4. in Wulvercot, and two houses and a parcel of land before the gate of the Church, in the island between the two rivers ; and half a meadow, called Lambey, of which the other half was given by Robert de Oiley. Various other benefactions are recorded in the Monasticon, vol. i. p. 525, and in Kennett, vol. i. p. 129. This Edith, the foundress, seems to have been the same with Edith, wife of Robert de Oiley; she being called " Memorabilis Matrona Deo devota," and was buried in Oseney Abbey, in a religious habit, as Mr. Leland, an eye-witness, reports. " There lyith an Image of Edithe of Stone in th abbite of a Wowes holding an Hart in her right Hond on the North side of the High Altare'^." A.D. 1171. 17, IS, Henry II. Bernard de St. Walery, Lord of the Manor of Ambrosden, seems now to have fallen into the King's dis- '■ Vide Dugdalc, Bar., vol. i. p. 459. b. >< Leland, vol. ii. fol. ID. ' A"'. Wood's MS. E. 1. p. 72. wo LVER COT— GOD STOW. 103 pleasure, and to have his lands seized, and the rents paid into the Exchequer ; for Hugh de S. Germans, sheriff, accounted for £50. of the fee of Bernard de S. Walery. But he soon made his peace, and it seems a condition of it, that he gave to the King the manor of Wulvercotte, near Oxford, and his right of advowson or patronage of the Nunnery of Godstow. The which village of Wulvercote, and site of the abbey, the King gave to those nuns by a charter wherein he acknowledges to have received them from Bernard de St. Walery, who seems to have become possessed of them in right of his second wife, Avoris, daughter of John de St. John, lord of Stanton, and to have brought in frank marriag-e the advowson of Godstow and the manor of Wulvercote, in which place some lands and the site of their house were at the founda- tion given by her father '. King Stephen, by his charter, granted to these nuns [of Godstow] a fair to be kept for the space of three days' space, at St. John Baptist. Multitudes of people resorted thereunto. Walter Ld Clifford gave to this nunnery, for the health of his sovl, and for the souls of Margaret his sometime wife, and Rosamund his daughter, the mill of Frantom (Frampton) in com. Gloc, and a little meede laying near it, called Lechson, and a salt pit at Wychi. — W^alter his son, con- firmed the gift of his father. — Rosamund his sister, was in the flour of her youth concubine to K. H. II., and afterwards a nun here, and dying about the yeare 1175, was buried in the church here, over whose grave was this written. Hie jacet in tumba Rosa mimdi, non rosa munda, Noil ridolet sed olet, qu» redoleri solet"". The story of her being poisoned by Queen Eleanor is of modern date. Brompton, Kington, and Higden, say she died a natural death soon after she was enclosed in her bower. Her parents buried her before the high Altar, at Godstow, her royal lover lavishing great expense on her tomb. About twenty years after, Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, visiting this nunneiy, took offence at the immoral tendency of this, and ordered her corpse to be removed into the Chapter-house. Here it was again disturbed at the Reformation, as we read in Dugdale's Monasticon Anghcanum, vol. i. p. 528. " Rosamunde's tumb, at Godestowe Nunnery was taken up a late ; it is a stone with this inscription — 'Tumba Rosamundae.' Her bones were closid in lede and withyn that bones were closid yn letter (leather). When it was opened there was a very swete smell came out of it." ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 175, 176. "> Ant. Wood, MS. E. 1. p. 74. YARNTON. PATRONS. 5t. 25artl)olomcb}. deanery SIR G. DASHWOOD, OF WOODSTOCK. AND HUNDRED WARDEN AND FELLOWS OP WOOTTON. OP ALL SOULS' COLLEGE. FT. IN. FT. IN. Nave 45 by 15 9 South Aisle .... 48 by 14 Chancel 23 9 by 13 Chapel 31 by 18 9 An Early English Churcli, with late additions : the plan is singular; a nave and Chancel with a south aisle; this south aisle has a tower at the west end, and a chapel, called the Spencer Aisle, at the east end, and a south porch, built in 1616, as appears by the churchwardens' accounts, sub anno. The pillars and arches are good Early English: the roofs of the nave and south aisle are open Perpendicular work; and there arc some Perpendicular benches. The Chancel-arch has for its support three slender detached shafts, with bands: on the north side the arch has sunk considerably, by reason of interments on that side : the grooves and mortices for the insettion of the rood-loft beams are perceptible in and about the archivolt ; the Chancel-roof was plastered about thirty years ago ; the east window is of three lights, each lancet-shaped, the middle one being the highest, but all without any sort of tracery. The late Mr. Alderman Fletcher, out of his stores of painted glass, composed the east window, as also all the other painted glass windows of the Church : the large figure in the centre of the east window was, with its inscription Stus Bartholomaus, inserted at the same time : some few pieces of the original painted glass of this Church escaped the fury of the Puritans in YARNTON. 105 1645, when tlie Parliament array was quartered in the neigh- bourhood: two Benedictine monks, remarkably well designed and coloured, a bishop, with the name Nicholaus on a label below, and an archbishop, in hke manner subscribed Tlionias, are still safely lodged witliin the mullions of the tracery- work at the top of the large north Perpendicular window, and serve to shew the old connection of this church with the Benedictine monas- tery of Ensham, to which it belonged, and whose cure was always supplied by the monks of that abbey. The side windows of the Chancel consist of two on the north side, both small, one pointed, the other round-headed, and both deeply recessed from within, and splayed; there are also two round-headed windows, of the same sort, in the south wall near the tower ; externally they are pointed. William Fletcher, Esq., mayor of Oxford, gave some Scripture pieces in sculptured alabaster", of the early part of the fifteenth century, representing — 1. The Wise Men's Offering; 2. The betrayal with a kiss ; 3. The Bearing of the Cross ; 4. The crucified Saviour in the lap of the Virgin Mother ; they are over the Altar. The tower-arch was built in 1611, when the tower, into which it opens, was erected by Sir Thomas Spencer. In the chapel is deposited the old Norman font, rescued by the present vicar, thirty years ago, from the adjoining farm-yard; in the south aisle is the Perpendicular font, now in use, with a modern foot ; it is said to have come from St. Michael's church, Oxford, and was presented by Mr. Alderman Fletcher. Sir Thomas Spencer did not only erect the tower, (the masonry of which is remarkable for the exactness of its courses and the truth and finish of the work,) but he also built the chapel before-mentioned (the burial-place of his family, hence called the Spencer Aisle), and contributed to the south porch, which has within it a plastered cornice of scroll-work of the date of James I.; " This sculpture was discovered some East, in Oxford, near St. Edinund's Hall, years since secreted under the floor of a purchased by Alderman Fletcher, and house in the parish of St. Peter's-in-the- given to this Church. P 106 YARNTON. the inner doorway is late Norman. Sir Thomas did so much to the Church in other respects, as to make it difficult to say, in many parts of the interior and exterior, what are the dates of their architecture respectively. It seems probable that all the Early English work was completed in the time of that great instaurator of churches and church discipline, Bishop Grosthead, who came to the See of Lincoln in 1235, and who soon after compelled the abbey of Ensham to convert their capella de Erdynton into a Vicaria perpetua. The Institution Rolls at Lincoln will shew, not only Grosthead's interference at Yarntou with the monks of Ensham, but that it was his practice to make all the monasteries do their duty by their churches. The Spencer aisle contains, besides mural tablets, a bedstead monument of Sir William Spencer, the first of the Spencers of Yarnton, being third son of Sir John Spencer, of Althorp, who bought this manor of the Durants, of Cottesmore, Rutlandshire, for the settlement of this son : it also contains a monument of the last of the family, the second Sir Thomas Spencer, exhibiting the statues of Sir Thomas and Lady Spencer, their only son AYilliam, and four daughters, who, by the death of that son, be- came co-heiresses, and ulti- mately possessors each of a fourth share of this estate, from whom the property was purchased by the Dashwood family, one -fourth share (that of Jane, who had mar- ried Robert Spencer, Earl of Tiviot, brother of the Earl of Sundcrland,killcd at New- bury fight, 1643) not having been sold with the rest of %. this property. There is a curious Early '^^'^iM^^^i^^^ cross in the chui'ch-yard, -^^"'' "- '^^Ui»Si i-J^j,, Cross Yarnton Chiirch-yard y A R N T O N. 107 which may be cited in further evidence of the ancient connection between this church and the abbey of Ensham^ for at Ensham there is a cross of the same form and character, and sculptured much in the same manner : the upper half of the shaft at Yarnton is missing, that at^ Ensham is complete. Between the, crosses at Ensham and Yarnton there were, within the memory of man, others at and near Cassington, (Cas- sington, like Yarnton, having formerly been a capella and afterwards a Vicaria of Ensham Abbey,) at each of which crosses, on solemn processions, the abbot and monks were wont to perform the appointed services. Plan of Cross. HISTORICAL NOTICES. Yarnton, a village four miles from Woodstock, and nearly the same from Oxford, was originally called Eardungtun, a name which Somner in his Dictionary translates dwelling town, and illustrates by Eardung-hus, dwelling-house, — Eardung-stow, dwelling-place. This name has been variously moulded in different records into Erdintune (as in the Ensham abbey charter), Eardington and thon, Aerdinton, Ardington, Hardintone, Yearingtone, Yarington, Yarnton. It is singular that the name of the village of Erdington, in the parish of Aston, juxta Birming- ham, has also, by the same sort of process, been changed into Yarnton. Its capital mansion-house, the property of the able, upright, and benevo- lent Earl Howe, is called in the Index Villaris (ed. 1751) Yarnton Hall ; it also bears its old name of Erdington Hall. The farmers of Yarnton, Oxfordshire, in turning their cattle into the meads of the parish, distin- guish them by the letter E and not Y, that is, by the initial of Eardung- tun and not of Yarnton. With respect to the descent of the manor and landed property of the parish, it will be best to throw events into chronological order. A.D. 1005. King Ethelred confirmed the grant of Ethelmar, or Ailmer, earl of Cornwall, to the abbey of Eynesham, which grant, inter 108 YARNTON. alia, consisted of 10 mansions of common field at Erdintune. It is added, that for these mansions Ailmer had given his kinsman Godwin 5 man- sions at Stodeley and 10 at Cestertune. A.D. 1072. Upon the death of Wulwin, bishop of Dorchester, Remi- gius, a monk of Fescamp, and follower of the Norman William, succeeded, and thinking Dorchester too insignificant a place for his See, determined to transfer it to Lincoln. A.D. 1091. Remigius, having eff'ected his purpose, wished to obtain Slatford (Sleaford) of the monks of St. Mary, Stow, near Gainsborough, for his residence, where he afterwards built a palace ; he therefore gave the monks of Stow, Ensham abbey, and, inter alia, Yarnton, as a compen- sation for what they had surrendered, or rather he incorporated them, being Benedictines, with their Elder Brethren of Ensham. To efi'ect all this, Remigius (being one of the king's commissioners under the Inquisition to take an account of the Saxon property in these parts) contrived to insert his own name into the Doomsday record, as owner of Yamton {Hardintone), and then dealt with it as his own, and consequently as land which he had a right to exchange in this way ; he died soon after- wards. A.D. 1092. Robert Bloet succeeded to the bishopric of Lincoln, a firm friend of the monks of Ensham, in whose abbey he ordered his bowels to be buried. By his powerful patronage the monks of Ensham again became possessed of Yarnton, and aU their other property ; they were restored, A.D. 1109, by the grant of King Henry I. A.D. 1123. Bishop Bloet died. A.D. 1154. Henry II. seized the manor of Yarnton, and gave it to Bernard de St. Valery (de Sancto Valerico), who, like Remigius, was a Norman and a king's favourite. He attended Richard I. to Palestine, and fell at the siege of Acre. A.D. 1 190. Thomas de St. Valery succeeded his father, but not with- out opposition from the monks of Ensham. A.D. 120G. There was a trial by jury whether Yarnton was the lay- fee of Thomas de St. Valery, or the Frank Ahnoigne of Ensham abbey. The abbey gained nothing by the verdict, as appears by the sequel. A.D. 1219. This Thomas died. A.D. 122 1. The earl of Dreux, a French nobleman, of the blood royal of France, had livery of Yarnton, as having married Annora, daughter nf Thomas de St. Valery. Y A R N T O N. 109 A.D. 1227. All the earl of Dreux's property was forfeited to king Henry III., as adhering to his enemies heyond seas ; he died soon after in France. A.D. 1229. Henry HI. having seized the earl's property, gave it to his brother, the earl of Cornwall, first for custody, but afterwards by donation; the grant is dated A.D. 1229. A.D. 1272. The earl of Cornwall died in this year; he was a firm and faithful crusader, and afterwards made king of the Romans. A.D. 1281. Edmund, son of the earl of Cornwall, succeeded to Yam- ton, and the rest of his father's possessions, and soon after, in fulfilment of his father's intentions, founded the Cistercian monastery of Rewley, near Oxford, and endowed it, inter alia, with the manor of Yarnton. It is to be observed, that in all these successions to the property of Yarnton, the rights of the abbey of Ensham had been constantly dis- regarded. Although every fresh transfer had produced new appeals to justice, and although abbot after abbot had prosecuted the cause of his convent, still the property continued to descend wrongfully, and no sooner had Yarnton been annexed to the neighbouring abbey of Rewley, than the abbot of Ensham again had recourse to the king's court at Westminster. Without entering upon the pleadings before the Justices in Eyre, at Oxford, 13 Edward I. (A.D. 1285), it will be enough for the present purpose to state the end of this long litigation, or rather of this system of violence and oppression. The abbots of Ensham and Rewley at length came to terms, and entered into a composition. The deed of agreement is dated A.D. 1294. By virtue of this compact, Rewley was to continue in possession of all the Yarnton land, but was to pay great tithes throughout its extent to the abbey of Ensham, and small tithes to the vicar of Yarnton ; an important concession, when it is remembered that, as a Cistercian monastery, Rewley was exempt from all such payments. After this the property experienced no more vicissitudes, and continued peaceably in the possession of the Cistercians, till the suppression of their monastery under Henry VIH. A.D. 1536. The Cistercian abbey of Rewley was dissolved. A.D. 1338. The manor of Yarnton was in the hands of Henry VIII., in which year the king's accountant returned a statement of his receipts and disbursements to the Augmentation Office, together with a list of the tenants, and their respective rents and holdings. A.D. 1540. The manor is found in the hands of Geo. Owen, Esq., 110 YARN TON. of Merton College, the king's physician, in consideration of his pro- fessional services, and of the sum £676 by him paid into the Court of Augmentation. A.D. 1544. John Durrant, Esq., of Cotsmore, Rutlandshire, bought it for his son. A.D. 1575, 1579. In each of these years there are entries in the parish registers of Yarnton, shewing the residence of the Durrants in the parish. A.D. 1584. In and from this year the baptisms, burials, and mar- riages of the Spencers begin, after which the name of Durrant ceases. Yarnton was probably bought of the Durrants, by Sir John Spencer of Althorp, for his third son. Sir William Spencer, sometime between 1579 and 1584. The Spencers possessed the property from 1584 to 1714, about 130 years. A.D. 1684. The second Sir Thomas Spencer, Bart., died, his only son having died before him, when (as before stated) three out of his four daughters agreed to sell their three-fourths of the property to Sir Robert Dashwood, Bart., Lady Spencer their mother enjoying it for her life ; the remaining quarter was sold by the representatives of the fourth daughter. Lady Teviot, to Benjamin Swete, Esq. A.D. 1712. Lady Spencer died, when the above purchasers respec- tively came into possession, the one of three-fourths, the other of one fourth of the property which belonged to the Spencers. A.D. 1813 This ancient estate still continues three-fourths in the hands of the Dashwood family, and the remaining fourth in the heirs and successors of Benjamin Swete, Esq. The descent of the manor has been thus traced from 1005 to 1843, nearly 840 years. Vaughan Thomas, Vicar. BEGBROKE. 5t. micf)atl DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. PATRONS. SIR GEORGE DASHWOOD, (three turns.) BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD, (one turn.) FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel 21 4 bv 14 9 Nave 33 by 17 9 Tower 10 10 by 11 10 Walls 3 thick A SMALL Church, consisting of Nave and Chancel, with a western tower : originally Norman, with many modern altera- tions. Considerable improvements were made about the year 1820 ; the windows in particular were all enlarged, or renewed, and those on the north side of the nave first made. There is some good stained glass. The Chancel is Norman, has a small modern Norman east window, filled with stained glass by Williment, and two on the south side : one has a round moulding to the arch and shafts, the capitals of which are sculptured with rude foliage ; this is filled 112 BEGEROKE. with shields of arms. The Altar platform is raised one step, and there is a modern Norman arcade of wood as a reredos : the roof is concealed by a flat ceiling with ribs. The Chancel-arch is Norman, with zigzag and embattled mouldings ; on the west side are two ornamented shafts under a plain tablet, which is continued to the side walls. A beam seems to have crossed the arch below the soffit to support a rood. This arch is horse-shoed from a settlement in the foun- dation, commencing probably at an early period ; the courses of stone are not level, and there are considerable fissui-es in the arch, though concealed by plaster. The Nave has modern windows, in imitation of a good Per- pendicular example in the cloisters of Christ Chm'ch, Oxford. The roof is of high pitch and open, with a tie-beam and collar-beam. The south door is good Norman, with zigzag mouldings round the arch, supported by a recessed shaft on each side, one orna- mented with the spiral moulding, the other with the chevron ; the abacus on the capitals is continued for some way along the walls, as a string or tablet. The Font is plain, octagonal. Perpendicular, no ornament re- maining but three or four quatrefoils on the stem : it now stands in the tower, but was several years in the rectory garden, ha\ing been removed there to make way for a modern Norman basin, which stands in the Chancel, and is still used. The old font was removed from its proper position opposite the door, at a restora- tion of the Church, about the year 1828. The Tower is of three stages, diminishing with a saddle-back roof; it seems to be originally Norman, with some Decorated windows inserted ; it has no staircase and no tower-arch ; the door is plain, round-headed. The three gables of tower, nave, and chancel, have a very good effect together. Near the south door there is a stone coffin with a coped lid, said to be the Founder's tomb. There is the base of a cross in the Church-yard ; it is octangular, on a square plinth. W. T. Parkins. BEGBROKE. 113 HISTORICAL NOTICES. This parish is memorable for a fortification, commonly called Round Castle, which is situate indeed near Begbroke Church on the west, but is in the parish of Bladon, and Lineham Barrow, between it and Pudlicot, a seat of the antient family of Lacies. On what particular occasion they were made we have no history to inform us, but in general we think it probable that they were made by the Danes, because they are both in figure round. The Annals of Morgan tells us that there was a fight in this place, A.D. 1069, but mention not between what parties °. At the time of forming the Doomsday survey, Bechebroc, as it is there written, was held under Roger de Laci, and was valued at £4. From the Rotuli Hundredorum it appears, that in the time of Edward I., Richard de Lions held the fourth part of the township of " Bekebrock of Richard of Wylamscote ;" he also held in demesne half a caracute of land with the advowson of the Church p. RECTORES ECCL'I/E DE BEGBROOK COM. OXON. [Ap. Kennett, vol. ii. p. 415.] 1231. Serlo capellanus ... ad pres. Rog. de Leonibus. Rot. Hug. Well. pont. 23. 1249. Will, de Bathon capellan ... ad pres. Rog. de Lenns laici. Rot. Rob. Grosthead, anno 15. Nich. de Lyonns acol. pres. per Joh. de Lyonns . . . vac. per mort. Hen. Rot. Dalderby, pont. 4. 2. non. Mart. 1320. Will. Malesovres p'b'r pres. per Joh. de Lyonns . . . vac. per resign. Nich'i de Lyonns nomine permutationis quam idem Nich'us cum eccl'ia de Foxcote quam prsefatus Will'us titulo institutionis prius tenuerat. Reg. Burgwersh. 4. kal. Jun. 1334. Will, de Pershore cl'icus pres. per dom. Joh. de Lyonns . . . vac. per resign, d'ni Tho. de Stoke, ibid. 7. id. Maii 1336. Adam de Assheby canonicorum p'b'r pres. per dom. Joh. de Lyonns . . . vac. per institut. Jacobi de Kyngeston ad eccl. de Rothewell. ibid. 1409. Joh. Chetwode miles fuit patronus eccl'ise de Begbroke. Reg. Repyngdon. 1431. Tho. Chetwode miles fuit patronus eccl'ise de Bekkebroke. ibid. 22. Sept. 1447. Tho. Chetwode miles patronus eccl'ise de Bekkebroke. Reg. Alnewyk. 20. Apr. 1499. Dominus Ric. Sutton p'b'r pres. per Fulconem Wode- hall arm. . . . per mort. mag. Galfr. Tydder. Reg. Smith. ° Beauties of England. '' Skelton's Oxford, Wootton Hundred, p. 3. Q BLADON. PATRON. 5t. iWactin. deanery DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. The Church was rebuilt in 1804, and is an attempt at Gothic. In this parish are the remains of a house of the 15th century, wdth two bold round chimneys, which appear to be of the same age, although the tradition of the village assigns them to a much earlier period. HISTORICAL NOTICES. Bladon, a village famous only for their loyal parson, Dr. Matthew Griffith, who for his zeal to the established Church, and regal preroga- tive, endured seven violent assaults, and five imprisonments, but lived to the restoration of Charles II., and having recovered his living of St. Magdalen, Fish-street, and his rectory here, died at this last, Oct. 14, 1665, setat 68. He fought in defence of Basing-house, and his daughter courageously lost her life there i. A vignette of the demolished Church of Bladon is given in Skelton's Oxfordshire, Wootton Hundred, p. 5. 1 Magna Britannia, vol. iv. p. 377. WOODSTOCK. PATRON. DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. A CHAPELRY TO THE RECTORY OF BLADON. Sbt ittacg. DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. Chancel . Nave . . South Aisle West Porch West Wall Wall of Porch The West Porch FT. IN. 39 VO 70 9 3 1 2 2 by by by bv FT. IN. 19 10 26 9 8 2 The Chancel is originally Decorated, the east window of five lights, with mullions crossing in the head; the Altar-screen, of Grecian wood-work : the north wall, modem, with no win- dows : the south wall has two good small Perpendicular but- tresses, and a good three-light Perpendicular mndow, with a flat arch : there is a stone bench on each side. The roof is Elizabe- than and bad. The Nave on the north side was rebuilt by public subscription in 1785. It is modern plain work, with three large plain round arches and windows, and a large gallery ; it exhibits a melancholy 116 WOODSTOCK. and most ungainly contrast to the south side, which forms the ,..|iil'l'',iii.,i-*ji;'"I|ti ? original part of the building. On the south side are five Early Eng- lish arches on plain round pillars, with good caps, ha^dng fohage and heads intermixed, the bases octa- %, gon. The clerestory windows are i^r^j^ip. Perpendicular, of thi'ce hghts, '^ square-headed. The pewing, both in the galleries capital on soutu side of Nave. and body of the Chapel, is as bad as can be. In 1678, Lord Lovelace erected a gallery for the Corporation upon the scite of the rood-loft. The old half of the roof on the south side is good Perpendicular work : the pulpit has some Perpendicular panels. The font is a modern marble pillar and basin. The old font, which is a good Decorated one, is at present in the garden of Mr. North, but it is hoped that it will speedily be restored to its proper place in the Church. The western gallery has some Elizabethan cai'ving in front, and the posts have caps of that age. The west door is Decorated, with a good suite of mouldings, the roll, ogee, and hollow, the labels terminated by heads, partly cut off by the porch. The west window is Decorated, of five lights, with quatrefoils in the head ; the arch fiat, segmental, pointed, with a plain label ter- minated by heads. In the south aisle are two Early English windows of two lights, foliated, with a quatrefoil in the head; the ,. mouldings inside very good, the outside plain; the dripstone is at some distance from the head of the window : there are the remains of a rich Norman doorway. The Porch is very low under the west window; it has a wide fiat Perpendicular ^ UouMings of a.Window, outer door, with a small niche over it in the parapet; the buttresses diagonal, with good terminations ; the roof is of stone, quite plain, without ribs or groins; it has two Perpendicular windows of two lights on each side. The Tower, modern, i.h.p. WOODSTOCK. 117 'm wmmrniSMMMi Interior. ■WINDOW ON THF. SODTH SIDE Exterior. THR FONT 118 WOODSTOCK. HISTORICAL NOTICES. Saxon Vubej-coc, q. d. woody place ; where King Ethelred A.D. 1009, held an assembly of the states and enacted laws. Here was a magnificent royal mansion built by Henry I., who added to it a spacious park, en- closed with a stone wall, and according to John Ross, the first in Eng- land ; several villages were destroyed to make it, and it was seven miles round, and made the 14th of Henry I. The king had here a menagerie of wild beasts sent him by foreign princes •". Through the park runs the Akemanstreet, entering it at Wotton gate, and going out at Mapleton well. Its course is from Alchester to Bath ; it passes near Stunsfield pavement and Wilcot, and is very fair for near a mile through a long lane, south-w^est from Ramsden, through Wiche- wood forest. A.D. 1123. King Henry I., at Christmas, held a council at Woodstock, where, three days after the Epiphany, riding out with Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, at a distance from all other company, the bishop fell from his horse, and being carried home speechless, died the following day. Our historians relate that Henry II., was enamoured of Rosamond Clif- ford, a lady of such exquisite beauty as to drive all other women out of the prince's thoughts, whereby she acquired the common name of " Rosa Mundi," the rose of the world. In order to conceal her from his jealous consort, he built in this palace a labyrinth with the most intricate turn- ings and windings backwards and forwards, now entirely gone ^ (See the account of Godstow, p. 103.) A paved bath, or large clear beautiful spring, under an old wall, goes by the name of Rosamond's well, and a spot in the park, on the south- west side of the palace, is still called her bower, which literally signifies only a chamber. Henry H. was frequently at Woodstock. Edmund, second son of Edward L, was born here and took his name from it, and so was his brother, Edward the black prince, and Thomas, duke of Gloucester ; the latter was also surnamed from it *. A.D. 1163. Henry H. The king held a great council at Woodstock, where he confirmed the foundation of Nun-Eaton, com. War. Henry II. ' Malmsb. v. 91. Woodstock, see Kennett, vol. i. p. 63, • Camden, vol. i. p. 286. 117, 119, 120, 124, 13.3, 164, 175, 179, ' For a variety of minute particulars 182, 199, 238, 309, 311, 321, 3,54, 410; respecting the residence of the kings at vol. ii. p. 16, 113, 405. WOODSTOCK. 119 here received Rhys, Prince of Wales, when, in 1163, he came to do homage. A.D. 1170. Prince Henry, by his father's order, crowned king at Westminster, on the 1 1th of the calends of July, kept his Christmas at Woodstock, to which place, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, was coming to him ; but was stopped by express messengers at Southwarc, on the 15th of the calends of January. A.D. 1178. The old king was this summer at Woodstock, where, on the 8th of the ides of August, he knighted Jeffrey, his younger son, duke of Britain. A.D. 1186. In September the king was at Woodstock, where, in his royal chapel within the park, William, king of Scotland, with great so- lemnity married Ermengard, daughter of the Lord Beaumont, on Friday, the nones of September. A.D. 1207. King John was at Woodstock in this 9th of his reign, where, on the 5th day of August, he confirmed several donations to the abbey of Neth, in the county of Glamorgan. A.D. 1235. Henry HI. The king spent a great part of this year at Woodstock, where, on the 24th of July, he confirmed the endowments of the nunnery of Tarente in com. Dorset. And on November 3rd. he ratified the charters and privileges of the priory of Daventre in com. Northamp. A.D. 1238. Henry HI. The king was at Woodstock about the feast of St. Matthew, where a pretended priest, feigning himself mad, got in by night at a window of the king and queen's bedchamber, with an intent of murder, but a discovery and noise being made by a devout and noble woman, Margaret Byset, the fellow was apprehended and torn in pieces by horses at Coventry, or at Oxford. A.D. 1256. At the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the king came to Woodstock, and invited thither Alexander, king of Scots, and most of the English nobility, whom he entertained there with great variety and pomp. A.D. 1330. Edward HI. This country was perhaps no less afi*ected with that patent of the king, which granted that a flagon of wine in Oxford should be sold but one halfpenny dearer than in London. But they were most concerned in the honor and the joy for the birth of the king's eldest son Edward, at Woodstock, on Friday, June 15, at ten in the morning, whose nurse was Joan de Oxford, to whom the king after- 120 WOODSTOCK. wards gave a pension of £10 yearly; the rocker was Maud Plumpton, to whom was given an annual pension of 10 marks. A.D. 1354. These parts were much concerned in the joy and solem- nity occasioned by Queen Philippa's delivery of a 7th son, born at Wood- stock, on January 6th, who being at the font named Thomas, bore the simame of this his place of nativity, afterwards earl of Bucks, and duke of Gloucester. The king to express his joy and affection had solemn justs and tournaments at Woodstock, to which the nobility resorted in great numbers. A.D. 1459. Henry VI. The king by letters patent granted to George, Archbishop of York, in consideration of his many faithful services, the manors of Wodestocke, &c., &c., with their several members and hamlets, as also the hundred of Wotton, and the chattels of all felons, fugitives, condemned and outlawed persons, within the said liberties to hold during his life. THE CUSTOME OF THE MANOR OF WOODSTOCKE. First, the sayd Mannor of Woodstocke, with all the Members there- unto belonging, is an auntient Demaine, and so hath been knowne re- puted, and used, time out of man'^s remembrance. And there belongeth to the sayd mannor seaven severall Villages, or Parishes, which are commonly called The Demaines of Woodstocke, viz., Ilordeley, Wootton, Combe, Stonisfield, Hanborough, Bladon, and old Woodstocke. Which sayd Mannor, and other aforesaid Members thereof, have such Lyberties and Priviledges as other auntient Demaine Lands have used, and by the Lawes of this Realme ought to have ^. Elizabeth, when princess, was imprisoned here, and when queen re- sided much here, and was a considerable benefactress to the town. The town of Woodstock was chiefly supported by the resort of our kings and queens, on failure of which a statute was passed, 18th of Ehzabeth, to make it a staple of wool. The old mansion-house was demolished in the civil wars ; it stood on a flat spot, just within the park gate, opposite the great water, and now planted with sycamores and other trees. There is an old house in the lower part of the town, which is com- » Out of Bishop Barlow's MSS. in Bibl. Bodl. num. 9, p. 12.5. ap. Leland's Ilin., vol. viii. p. W. WOODSTOCK. 121 monly said to have been part of the palace, but neither the situation nor the appear- ances agree with this vague tradition ; it is situated in that part of the town called Old Woodstock, but the site of the palace was within the boundary of the park ; part of it is, however, of the fourteenth century, and it has retained one of its old fire-places, with a plain segmental arch, and the roll-mould- ing over it, and its chimney, which is a very|S^ elegant one, having a spiral termination, and openings for the smoke in the sides. ^ ° Cbiumisy, Old Woodstock, The park and manor continued in the crown till the 4th of Queen Anne, when she by act of parliament granted the honour and manor of Woodstock, and hundred of Wootton, to John, Duke of Marlborough, and his heirs, as a reward of his eminent and unparalleled services, as they were deservedly styled by the voice of the nation in parliament, and for perpetuating the memory thereof. The field of this glorious victory being at or near Blenheim, that magnificent house, erected at the public expense by Sir John Vanburgh, within this manor of Woodstock, " as a monument of his glorious actions," to use the words of the act of parliament, is called the house or castle of Blenheim, in which his conquests are further recorded in beautiful tapestry. It is to belong to one of the Duke's descendants, male or female for ever, who are to bear the arms of Marlborough, and by way of homage, present the sovereign every year with a standard, in commemoration of the battle of Blenheim, August 2nd '^. Woodstock is a chapelry to the contiguous parish of Bladon ; the ori- ginal place of worship was a chantry, founded in honour of our Lady by King John. At the dissolution, Henry VIII. granted the Church to the corporation of the town ; but the patronage is now in the gift of the Marlborough family. In the tower there are eight bells, with mellow and pleasing chimes, which go every four hours, and have a different tune for every day in the week y. I Continuation by Gough to Camden's Britannia, vol. i. p. 296, 297. y Beauties of England, vol. xii. p. 383. R WOOTTON. PATRONS. Bt ilKarg. deanery WARDEN AND FELLOWS OF WOODSTOCK. OF NEW COLLEGE. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. A PLAIN Church, with one aisle on the north side, and a Per- pendicular tower at the west end. The Chancel is of the Decorated style, but very plain and poor ; the east window of four lights, with a segmental head ; the Chancel-arch pointed, plain, with shafts, the caps of which have the roll-moulding. The Nave has four arches on the north side, very plain and clumsy Avork, Early English, pointed and recessed, the edges chamfered, with plain lal)els : on the south side the windows are of two lights. Early English, with pointed trcfoil-hcads ; two of them have square Perpendicular dripstones inserted over them. The doorway of the porch is good Early English. The clerestory and roof are late Perpendicular. The Tower is plain Perpendicular. The Font is plain octagon. Early English. The Aisle has Decorated windows and a door, tolerably good, but rather clumsy ; the side windows are of two hghts, with a quatrefoil in the head ; the east window is of three lights, with rather peculiar tracery. HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 1226. 10, 11, Henry HI. Ela, countess of Sarum, widow of William, earl of Sarum, did within this year present a clerk to tlie church of Wootton, county of Oxon '. A.D. 1291. 19, 20, Edward I. The general" taxation of Church dignities and benefices was this year completed and registered : the '' Rnfr. Dods. MS. vol. cvii. p. 1. ap. the king the tenth of all spiritualities for Kennett, vol. i. p. 282. six years in subsidium terra: saiictce. * On occasion of the pope's granting W O O T T O N. 123 abbot of Oseney and prior of St. Catherine's, appointed collectors for this diocese of Lincoln, deputed Ralph, rector of Wotton, and Richard, rector of Gilling, to be taxers in the archdeaconries of Oxford, Bedford and Bucks, excepting the deanery of Rotland ^. A.D. 1310. 3, 4, Edward II. An inquisition was taken, July 19, in the neighbouring parish of Wendlebury, wherein it appeared that Laurence de Preston held two knights fees in Preston, Hacklington, Horton, Pid- ington, Quenton, and Wootton ''■. A.D. 1396. 19, 20, Richard III. John Clompe of Borstall, and Agnes his wife, daughter of John Howes, granted to Thomas Palmer of Wootton, and Joan his wife, one messuage to curtilage adjoining, in the village of Borstall, which fell to them on the death of John Howes '^. A.D. 1440. By patent, dated 2nd August, 18th Henry VI., p. 3. the king gave the abbot and convent of Bruern, the advowson of the parish church of Wootton, by Woodstock, with licence to appropriate it ^. A.D. 1459. 37, 38, Henry VI., the king, by letters patent, granted to George, archbishop of York, in consideration of his many faithful ser- vices, the manors of Wodestocke, Handburgh, Wootton, and Stonesfeld, with their several members and hamlets, as also the hundred of Wootton, and the chattels of all felons, fugitives, condemned and outlawed persons, within the said liberties, to hold during his life ^. A.D. 1 647, the advowson of this hving was settled upon New College, by Robert Pinke, warden of that society ; the person presented to be a fellow of the CoUege, not holding a benefice at the time of presenta- tion g. ^ Kennett, vol. i. p. 445. " Kennett, vol. i. p. 512. •i Kennett, vol. ii. p. 180. <= Kennett, vol. ii. p. 241, 404. f Rog. Dods. MS. vol. Ixxv. p. 152. ap. Kennett, vol. ii. p. 405. s Skelton's Oxford, Wootton Hundred, p. 25. GLYMPTON. PATRON. ^t. iWarg. DEANERY E. WAY, ESQ. OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. The greater part of this Cliurcli is modern, and very bad, but the Chancel-arch has been preserved, and is good transition Norman, pointed, with shafts in recessed nooks, having cushion caps and the star-moulding on the abacus. The tower-arch at the west end is also transition Norman, but the tower itself is late Perpendicular. In the Chancel a fine monument of Maude Tesdale, 1616, two figures kneeling at a faldstool ; it retains some of the old painting and gilding. The roof of the nave is plain Perpendicular. There are some good old pews with panels; they have Decorated patterns, but the mouldings are late ; some of them are turned into enclosed pews by being built upon, and having doors of deal inserted. HISTORICAL NOTICES. Thomas Tesdale, Esq., resided here, and by his last will, dated 30 June, IGIO, bequeathed £5,000 to purchase lands and tenements for the maintenance of certain fellows and scholars, to be chosen from the free- school at Abingdon, into any College in the University of Oxford ; Arch- bishop Abbot, and other great men, with the mayor and burgesses of Abingdon, being made trustees, who, after some difficulty, settled them in Pembroke College ^. The said Thomas Tesdale was hberally beneficial to Pembroke Col- lege, and to the free-school at Abingdon, and his wife Maude, who survived him six years, was a woman of a very charitable disposition, and is said in her epitaph to have lovingly anointed Jesus Christ in his poore members at Glympton, Charlbury, Ascott, and other places '. There is a very curious spring, which riseth in a wood about a mile south-west of the Church, in a place where there are stones in the form of cockles. The ebullitions of it are three, and the most southern makes a humming noise, like that of an empty bottle held with the mouth against the wind ^. ^ Magna Britannia, vol. iv. p. 180. p. 456. ' Beauties of England and "Wales, k Magna Britannia, vol. iv. p. 380. KIDDINGTON. PATRON. 5t. 4EicJ)oIa0. deanery VISCOUNT DILLON. OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel 18 4 by 14 4 Nave 45 by 23 South Chapel ... 15 6 by 14 4 Porch 8 4 by 7 6 This Cliurcli consists of a Cliancel, Nave, and south Cliapcl, or semi-transept, a western tower, and a south porch ; it is mostly Decorated, with some Norman portions. The Chancel has been longer; it has a Norman Chancel- arch at the east end, filled up with a Perpendicular window under it : the present Chancel-arch is Decorated, with short shafts springing from square piers, which have good mouldings, and a hollow moulding filled with hall-flowers as a stringcourse ; on the south side of the Chancel-arch is a small Decorated trefoil window, with a low seat under it. In the north pier of the arch a Decorated piscina, with a trefoil head : the walls of the Chancel are Norman, with a bold corbel-table. The Nave on the north side has the walls mostly blank, but there is a good Decorated square- , ^ ^ . Ililllliilllllllii'iliiiliiiiill,rl''i;|l''l 'I.' headed window. On the south side is a Decorated arch, opening into a ^.^Jillllilili' ,:!llllililllllliillllllllliliiili.liii large chapel or semi-transept; and ^^ ^-e*. ,iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!: the south door, which is plain, but well moulded, with a plain porch at- tached to the west side of the chapel ; also a Decorated square-headed win- '^^^^°^^^i -*■ Moulding of the South Doorway. dow. There is another small Decorated piscina and bracket on the west side in the north corner of the nave, where an Altar has stood. The rood-loft stairs remain under the north window, 126 KIDDINGTON. Roof ot the South Chapel, c. 1350 The Font.c 1360 KIDDINGTON. 127 on the west side of the Chancel-arch; and part of the rood- screen remains, with good Decorated mouldings in oak. The Font is good Decorated, hexagon, with panelling like patterns of the tracery of Decorated windows on each face, an^ good mouldings. The south chapel has a Deco- rated open timber roof, but of very jiji plainwork; there is aboldDecorated ||^^^ stringcourse, with ball-flowers, all stringcourse, c 1350. round this chapel, and a Decorated square-headed window on the east side. The Tower is Decorated, small, and very plain, looks as if intended for a spire : the arch is small and plain. ' At the west end of the nave are two small triangular Decorated windows, * widely splayed within, and with a segmental inner arch. TMDdow at the west end of the Nave EXTRACTS FROM WARTON'S HISTORY OF KIDDINGTON, 4to. 1783. Kiddington, or Cuddington, anciently and properly according to its British etymology written Cudenton or The Town among the Woods, is a small village pleasantly situated on the river Glym, twelve miles from the city of Oxford to the north-west, four from Woodstock, and seven from Cheping-Norton, market towns in this county. It is divided by the river Glym into the upper and lower town, or Over-Kiddington and Nether- Kiddington : the first is in the Hundred of Chadlington, the second in that of Wootton. Both parts contain not more than forty houses. The Church, situated in Lower Kiddington, is said by Browne Willis, not always successful in his laborious investigations of patron-saints, to be dedicated to St. Nicholas : but the annual wake is celebrated on the Sunday following the festival of St. Peter. The seating of the body of the Church is probably the same that was there before the Reformation ; consisting, as was antiently the fashion, of a regular arrangement of plain benches, low and open, without dis- tinction, and on one plan, running at right angles from cither side. 128 KIDDINGTON. Moveable stools were sometimes used. Pews, according to the modern use and idea, which destroy the beauty of our parochial Churches, were not known till long after the Reformation. They would have obstructed processions, and other ceremonies, of the Romish religion. This Church, in common with most other parish Churches, retains marks of the sordid devotion of its possessors under the dominion of Cromwell. But many of those disgraces to divine worship which Calvinism had left behind, have been lately removed by a generous benefactor, with the addition of new improvements and ornaments. When a country Church has been beautified, to use the technical phrase on this occasion, it is customary for the grateful topographer minutely to display the judicious application of some late pious legacy, and to dwell with singular satisfaction on the modern decorations of the com- munion-table, consisting of semicircular groups of bloated cherubs, tawdry festoons, gingerbread pilasters, flaming urns, and a newly-gilded decalogue, flanked by a magnificent Moses and Aaron, in scarlet and purple, the work of some capital artist, who unites the callings of painter, plumber, and glazier, in the next dirty market-town. I do not regret, that the present edifice, which yet has not been without its friends, can boast none of these embellishments. Just within the entrance of the great south door, which has a spacious porch, there is a brass plate on the floor, the only ancient monument in the Church, exhibiting the effigy of a priest habited, with this inscription in the Gothic character. ipix^ic pro nnima mngtstri CCtaltcri C^iootfcvc qitonDnm rrcfoiis tstitts CFccIcsic, qui obiit ticcimo octabo Scjptcmbvis "anno IDom. iH)IS).X313i3. CCujus animc proiJitiftur IDcus. Above the head, on a brass tablet also, are his arms almost obliterated, which I think I have seen in some drawings from the windows of the stately old mansion house, now destroyed, of the family of Walter, at Sarsden, in this neighbourhood, viz. Gules, a Fess between two Cheverons vairy. Argent and Blue. Near it are the marks of another brass plate, which has long ago disappeared. Monuments of brass in our Churches, notwithstanding the boasted proverbial durability of such memorials, have proved far more perishable than those of stone. But these losses are not so much owing to time, as to fanaticism, a more powerful, at least a more furious destroyer. A catalogue of the Rectors of the Church, from 1232 to 1782, is given by Warton, pp. 9 — 1-'3. KIDDINGTON. 129 In that division of the parish, called the upper town, is the ruin of an old parochial cross, containing part of a shaft and base, built of stone. It is still known by the name of the cross, I know of no county which has more frequent or more curious remains of parish crosses than Oxfordshire. To this circumstance, the plenty of stone, with which the whole county abounds, greatly contributed. Among the fields and woods of this parish, detached at almost half a mile's distance from Over-Kiddington, to the south-west, is a single farm-house called Asterley, which also denominates a manor. Here was once the parish of Asterley, of which the memory now scarcely subsists in tradition. But there is a large field, called Chapel-breke, now covered with bushes and high trees, in which the Church, long since decayed or destroyed, may probably be supposed to have stood. The inequalities of the ground seem also to denote the site of an ancient and considerable mansion-house. Here have been dug up pieces of the mouldings of lancet windows, and other fragments of antique masonry in stone. Other buildings, or houses, seem also to have been once standing hereabout. The Church, called the parochial Church of Asterley in the Registers of Lincoln, was dedicated to St. Peter. It was a Rectory, and was valued in 1291 at seven marcs and a half, and is recited under the Deanery of Cheping-Norton. In the year 1466, and on the twenty-second day of October, John Chedworth, bishop of Lincoln, judicially seated in the monastery of the Dominican friers at Oxford, united and incorporated the church of Asterley with that of Kiddington. A catalogue of the Rectors of Asterley is also given by Warton, pp. 21—25. An interesting account of the ancient British, Roman, and Saxon re- mains, in this parish and neighbourhood, and of various military trans- actions on this ground, from the sixth to the eleventh century, will be found in Warton, pp. 46 — 71. King Off"a, about the year 780, gave Kiddington, together with the neighbouring village of Hethrop, to the episcopal priory of Worcester, from which, within a few years, they were both taken away by the Danes, nor were they ever afterwards restored. . . . The Monastery of Winch- combe, in Gloucestershire, also founded by King Offa, had lands or tythes in this parish before the Conquest. ... At the Conquest, among other fees of Roger de Iveri in this neighbourhood, was a part of the S 130 KIDDINGTON. village of Kiddington. . . . Some lands at Kiddington were of the fee of Earl William Fitzosborne, Earl of Hereford, as appears by Domesday. . . . Soon after the Conquest, about the year 1130, and in the reign of King Henry the First, the Norman family of De Salcey, or Saucey, seem to have become proprietors of the manors of Kiddington and Asterley, with other large estates in the neighbourhood. They presented to the Churches of both places, as early as the years 1221 and 1 232, and it is perhaps from the defect of the Lincoln registers, that we do not find much earher presentations from that family to those benefices. They probably built the old Church of Kiddington : and I am of opinion, that they had a large capital mansion at Asterley, the marks of which yet remain. . . . About the year 1220, Kiddington and Asterley became (by marriage) the inheritance of the family of De Williamscote. ... In the reign of King Henry VI., the family of Babington (a branch of the Babingtons of Chelwell, in Nottinghamshire), acquiring these estates, appear to have been established in the capital seat at Kiddington. . . . In the year 1613, or thereabout, the Babingtons sold their estate here, that is, the manors of Upper and Lower Kiddington, and the manor of Asterley, with the advowson of the Church of Kiddington, to Sir Henry Browne, Knight, third son of Antony Browne, the first Lord Viscount Montague. The family of Browne have constantly resided on their estate here, from the beginning of the reign of King James the First. The present mansion-house was for the most part built, or rebuilt, by Sir Henry Browne, the first Baronet, in 1673, on the foundations of the old one, to which belonged a walled park. The situation is remarkably pleasing, on the summit of a gentle semicircular slope, with great advantages of wood, water, and crossing declivities. On altering the windows of an old fashioned dining-room on the west side of the house, about the year 1 750, some beautiful armorial shields in painted glass were removed ; perhaps the same that were once in the Church. In this house are preserved many valuable and capital portraits of the family of Browne, and their honourable intermarriages, by Cornelius .Jansen, and other eminent masters of the reigns of Mary, Elizabeth, James, and Charles the First. The property in 1840 changed hands again, and is now possessed by M. Ricardo, Esq., who has altered and iiiipioved the house both internally and extcrnallv. PATRONS. DEAN AND CANONS OP CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD. CASSINGTON. 5t. iNtct's. DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. '-UZ.- A ^-^^■ ^IMfWn^ "-'''' FT. IN. FT. IN. Nave 51 6 by 24 4 Tower 21 9 by 16 7 Chancel 18 10 by 16 7 An oblong Church, without aisles, the tower and spire in the centre. The general appearance at first sight is Decorated, but the main structure is Norman. The Chancel has Norman walls and a stone vault groined, with bold round ribs springing 132 CASSINGTON. Capital of a Shaft in the Chancel. from Norman shafts, with plain cushion caps: the window on the north side is original small Norman ; on the south side a Perpendicular square-headed win-! dow is inserted : the east window is Decorated, of two lights, e\ddently inserted in a Norman wall. On the south side of this window, but still in the east wall, is a Decorated double piscina, with a stone shelf and one basin only ; on the north side a Decorated bracket. On the outside of the Chancel is a good Norman corbel-table, with masks on some of the corbels. The high-pitched roof remains above the vault. Tower — The lower part is Norman, with a plain Norman doorway on the north side : the arches east and west are good Norman ; the western arch is richly ornamented, the flat soffit being covered with painting ; the eastern arch is plain. A good Decorated spire has been built upon the Norman tower, and an upper story added to the tower itself, the Norman corbel-table being raised to the top of the new part at the springing of the spire. There were some curious paintings on the Avails in the inside of this tower and on the timbers of the roof previous to the improvements in 1842; these are now whitewashed over, but sketches of them are preserved among the Society's di-aw- ings'. ' DisTEMPF.R Painting, as it appeared in 1842.— "On the solfit of a Norman arch a series of circular wreaths, from which spring leaves, filling up tlie exter- nal spaces. Within the one in the centre is the Holy Lamh, bearing the cross and banner ; then one on a shield, containing the cross of St. George, and another con- taining the cross of St. Michael ; the ad- joining ones on each side the monogram I.H.C. ; and next to them, at the lower part of each end of the arch, two keys, in saltere, as the emblem of St. Peter, to whom the Church is dedicated. The face of the arch towards the west has been painted witli a representation of the last judgment, and on the jamb of a window adjoining, on the south side, is ratlier an elegant figure of a female, holding in her right hand a cross, and in her left what appears to be the battlements of a tower. This may be intended for a representation of St. Barbara. On the upper part of the south door inside are painted the cross, ladder, spear, and other implements of the Passion, above which are the remains of an angel, with expanded wings, on one side of which are the letters I.H.C, and on the otlier M.I. A. There are some very imperfect remains on the south wall of the Chancel, which appear to have re- presented tlie Annunciation. No part of CASSINGTON. 133 The Nave has Norman walls, and three of the original win- dows ; the other three windows are Decorated insertions. The roof has been lowered, and has a flat plaster ceiling : there is a good Norman corbel-table, with a projecting parapet, on both sides. The north porch has an open wooden roof, the outer doorway is transition Norman. The south porch is turned into a vestry ; on the inner door in the Church are painted the emblems of the Crucifixion. The west window is Decorated. The font is plain round, probably Norman. On the floor of the nave is a good brass, a cross to the memory of Roger Cheney, and a brass fixed in the wall near the pulpit to Thomas Neale, Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, 1590. There is the base of a Perpendi- cular cross in the Church -yard. i.h.p. Gro\aiid Plan of Cassiugton Church A curious ancient paten is used in the Communion service of this Church. The figures of Adam and Eve are embossed, projecting in high rehef in the centre : an embattled wall is introduced as the wall of paradise, within which they are exhibited as partaking of the forbidden fruit. An inscription, now nearly obliterated by frequent rubbing, ran upon a scroll above the figures, the letters V. B. O. are all that can be satisfactorily made out. A remarkable style of letter is introduced in the inscription which encircles the figures ; the character of it appears to be Gothic, but so strangely ornamented, that the mean- ing rests in conjecture. The same letters or words are several times the painted decoration appears to be of and the figure in the window-jamb, all is earlier date than the latest part of the fif- now too imperfect to make its preserva- teenth century. With the exception of tion desirable in the repair of the Church." the sofRt of the arch, the back of the door, Communicated by T. Willimeut, Esq. 134 CASSINGTON. repeated, and probably are Deus Creavit e., the last word eus being abbreviated. The metal of which this plate is composed is brass [or rather latten] , and the little value of the material may account for its preservation. It is fourteen inches and a half in diameter'". There is also preserved the centre of another sacred vessel, which pro- bably was an oiFertory basin, ornamented with two figures, carrying a bunch of grapes on a pole, in allusion to Numbers xiii. 23. It appears to be of the fourteenth century. HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 1155. Geoffry of Clinton, chamberlain to Henry II., (son of Geoffiy of Clinton, chamberlain and treasurer of Henry I., founder of the monas- tery and castle of Kenilworth, and lord of Cassington,) built the Church of Cassington, on his own fee, at the request of Robert de Chesney, bishop of Lincoln, and of the abbot of Eynsham, about 1155. It was consecrated by the Bishop, and dedicated to St. Peter. The abbey of Eynsham was to find a chaplain or minister, with the advice and consent of Geoffry, the archdeacon. Cassington was before in the parish of St. Mary at Eynsham, and the new Church was given to Eynsham abbey. At the same time it was ordained, that as often as Geoffry de Chnton resided at Cassington with his family, the chaplain of this Church should receive half the oblations coming from his family, " contra capellanos ipsius Galfredi." The said Geofiry also endowed his new Church with one yard land at Cassington, and all the tythes of the village in corn and cattle". Of this Church much of Geoffry 's original building still remains, particularly a noble Norman arch on which the tower stands, and the roof of the choir yet retains four inter- secting Norman ribs. In the register of Eynsham abbey is another particular relating to this Church. " Galfridus de Clinton, concessit ecclesie S. Petri de Chersington unam \nrgatam terre in eadem Cher- sington quam Gulielmus de Clinton eidem ecclesie dedit pro restaura- tione turris ipsius ecclesie quam propter imminentia et suspecta sibi pericula dejecit, &c. Teste Agnete uxore ejus." cap. 108. Agnes, the witness here mentioned, and wife of the second Geoffrey, was daughter of Roger, earl of Warwick °. ■" See Skelton's Oxfordshire, Wootton " Register Abbat de Eynsh. MS. ut Hundred, p. 5, where there is an engrav- supr. cap. 19. ing of this paten. " Warton's Hist, of Kiddington, p. 45. CASSINGTON. 135 A.D. 1318. Sir William de Montacute, son and heir of Simon de Montacute, ancestor of the Montacutes, earls of Salisbury, high in favour with Edward II., obtained licence of that monarch, to make a castle of his mansion house at Kersynton, or Cassington in Oxford- shire P. And the manor of Cassington was a part of the dowry of his wife, lady Elizabeth Montacute i. Sir "William Montacute had two acres of land in Cassington, by the gift, I suppose an exchange, of Maud de Upton, Abbess of Godstow, in 1318 '^. Cassington appears to have been granted to his father Simon, by Edward I., in 1290 ^ The arms of Montacute formerly were in the western window of the Church of Cassington. They also were in a window of the neighbouring Church of Bladon. The mansion house of the Montacutes, at Cassington, perhaps stood where is now a large farm house, with a moat, and other marks of an antient manorial edifice. Here, however, originally lived the noble family of Clinton. A.D. 1450. Carsington, Chersington, or Cassington, was the estate and demesne of Wilham de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, at his death, which hap- pened 2 May, 28 Henry VI., after this manner ; he was a great favorite of Queen Margaret, and had by his imprudent management of royal favours, incurred the odium of the nobility and people, insomuch that a general insurrection being feared by the king, he ordered his banishment, and accordingly the Duke, putting to sea at Ipswich, in Suffolk, with a pur- pose to sail into France, was taken by a ship of war, belonging to the Duke of Exeter, then constable of the tower, and had his head cut off upon the side of the cock boat he was in. His body and head were after found by one of his captains, and being conveyed to the collegiate Church of Wingfield, in Suffolk, was buried there. John de la Pole, then but seven years old, was left his heir. The Church here is a vicarage, for an augmentation of which. Dr. Jasper Maine, archdeacon of Chichester, who died in 1672, gave by his last will £100 to purchase land with for that end. The parsonage, before the dissolution, belonged to the priory of St. Frideswide, Oxford ; but being then seized by King Henry VIII., was settled on his newly erected college, Christ Church, to which it now belongs *. P Pat. ii. Ed. II. ann. 11°. P. i. m. 24. 13(j. 1 Esch. 28°. Ed. II. n. 39. • Cart. 18°. Ed. I. n. 73. ' Register Abbat. Eynsham, MS. cap. ' Magna Britannia, vol. iv. p. 377. 136 CASSINGTON. Thomas Neale, Batchelor of Divinity, sometime fellow of New Col- lege, succeeded Dr. Bruerne as Hebrew professor, 1559; he died at Cassington in 1590, having then at the age of 71, erected his own monument with a brass inscription ". FROM A. wood's MSS. IN THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM. On the S. E. side of this Church is an house, with a moat round all or most part of it, situated. This house hath a fair homestall & 6 yard land belonging to it. Wh. house & land were owned for about 2 or 3 generations by the names of Coventry. The last of that name there, sold it Edmund Rainolds M. of Arts of Glocester Hall, about the latter end of Q. Elizab. This Ed. Rainolds was a younger son of Rich, Rainolds of Pinhawes near Exeter in Devon, educated in C. C. Coll. of which he was fel- low, but leaving that house because he was popishly affected, retired to Glocester Hall, where being a noted tutor, for sixty years or thereabout, grew very rich. This said Edm. died (in Glocester Hall I think) 21 Nov. 1630, aged 92, and was buried in Wolvercot Chancel. He then left to Matthew Cheriton his nephew a farm at Wolvercote joining to the Churchyard there. To Richard Reynolds eldest son of his younger brother Nicholas a farm at Einsham, who having onlie a daughter or daughters, that name there is worn out. To Will. Rainolds 2nd. son of the said Rich, he left his chief farm in Cassington of 6 yard land mentioned before. Wh. William having had three wives, left the said farm to Christo- pher his onhe son by his 2. wife (for he had none by his first) who now enjoyes it — and 'tis esteemed to be worth £100 per an. The said William Rainolds who was bred in Glocester Hall under his uncle Edm. before mentioned was a R. Cath. & dying at Cassenton on the 5. Novemb. 1661. was buried in the middle of the Chancel there. Some years after his widdow a simple woman put a blew marble stone over his grave, whereon she caused to be engraven an inscrip- tion, but false according to time, viz. that he died 6 Nov^ 1662 ". " Wood's Annals, P. ii. p. 849. For Hundred, p. 4. the inscription see Skelton, Wootton x A. Wood's MS., E. 1. folio 160. ENSHAM, PATRON. NASH SKILLICORNE SKILLICORNE, Esq. 3t- Seonarl). DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. A FINE Church, mostly Perpendicular, with a Decorated Chancel, a nave with two aisles, and a tower at the west end of the south aisle. The Chancel is Early Decorated, the east window of three lights, with the foliations cut out of the head, and the lower part concealed by a wooden Altar-screen in the Dutch style : the side windows are of two lights, with geometrical tracery ; the three on the south side are perfect, with fragments of the original stained glass in the head. There is also a small south door. On the north side are two windows, one of which has the tracery T 138 E N S H A M. A. Altar platform. B. Chancel 38ft. by 17ft. C North AisleSlft. by 6ft.7in. D. Nave 68ft. by 24ft. ICin. E. South Aisle 68ft. by 14ft. F Porch lOft, 3in. by 6ft. Sin , G. Tower 10ft lOin. by 10ft. lOin. THE PLAN. ENS HAM. 139 '8HIIII||llil|l[lli!|l[' Mouldings of Capital of Chancel-Arch. cut out. The walls are three feet thick, and have no buttresses; the roof is of a good high pitch, with part of a cross on the east gable ; the timbers are concealed by a coved plaster ceiling; the Chancel-arch is Deco- rated, springing from corbels, richly mould- ed; there are the remains of a Perpen- dicular screen, but the upper part is all cut away. The Nave is Early Perpendicular, of five bays, the arches on each side pointed and recessed, with hollow mouldings on octagonal piers, with each face hollowed, and octagonal shafts attached, with moulded capitals to both piers and shafts; the form of these is unusual, but there are similar exam- i| |\Mlil pies at Chipping Camden in Gloucestershire, and in some other places. The clerestory on the north side has six Per- pendicular windows, of two lights, square-headed ; on the south side there are only three small single lights, fo- liated, with square dripstones over them : the west window is of five lights, the head much subdivided with Per- pendicular tracery. The roof is of plain open timber, with corbel-heads. The parapet is plain, not battlemented. The north aisle is Perpendicular, with good windows, of three lights, the dripstones of which have curling terminations : the roof is a lean-to : the parapet plain Perpendicular, with a rich cornice, having flowers inserted in a hollow moulding : the north door and porch are plain Perpendicular, with a battlement. Capital of Kllax, c. UOO. Section of Pillar. 140 E N S H A M. Window, South Side o. 1290. Buttress, aouth Side, c. 1J90. I »Miimw^VBsf/^^ WW''~'''Wlf'7i?!'' lA^''"'' The Font, c. liao. ENS HAM. 141 t^^ The south aisle is mostly Decorated, with a very good Early Decorated window at the east end, and another on the south side next to it ; there are three other Early Deco- rated windows, of two lights, not foliated, with the roll-moulding for a dripstone, ter- minated by masks ; between them are low flat buttresses, dying into the wall at about half the height of the windows; a good Decorated stringcourse along the wall under the windows continued round the buttresses; a fourth window is also Decorated, but shorter Dripstone Termination, c. 1290 than the others, and with the lights foliated ; the westernmost window on this side is Perpendicular, of three lights ; the south door is also Perpendicular, with bold mouldings and a square head over it, the dripstone having shields for terminations. The Font, placed at the west end of the nave, is good Per- pendicular, raised on three steps, and has been carefully re- stored; the seats are mostly open oak benches, with good carved ends, but there are some high deal pews, and the aisles are spoiled by galleries. The Tower is situated at the west end of the north aisle ; it is good Early Perpendicular, with battlement and cornice; the belfry windows are large, of three lights ; the stair-turret attached to the north-east angle is square below and octagon above ; there are arches opening into the Church on the south and east sides, but now plastered up, and small diagonal but- tresses on the two western angles. Opposite the Church are the shaft and base of a good Early Decorated cross, with figures under canopies round the shaft, and a foliated capital. Cornice of the North Aisle, c. 1450. 142 E N S H A M. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In this part of the country the Britains did long resist the encroaching Saxons. After the kingdom of the West Saxons was established in the persons of Cerdic and Cynric, A.D. 519 y, they made several attempts to enlarge their conquests in these parts, and after the death of Cerdic, A.D. 534, Cynric had a greater progress to his arms, and from 551, for five following years gave several defeats to our midland Britains, who in the year 556, united all their strength, and at Beranbyrig, now Banbury, in this county, they fought with king Cynric, and Ceawlin his son, to regain the honour they had lost in five succeeding years ; where they were so numerous as to divide their army into nine battalions, placing three in the front, a like number in the flank, and as many in the rear, with their archers and horsemen disposed according to the Roman disci- pline ; by which conduct they sq well received the fury of the Saxons, that when the night parted them, the victory was still depending ^, and though the Saxon historians conceal it, the event seems to prove a suc- cess to the Britons, who kept their fortified places in this county to the year 571 ^, or as some writers say, to 580, when king Ceawlyn, and Cuthwulph his brother, fought with the Britons at Bedford, and after a defeat, took from them their strongest garrisons, of which three were in these parts, Egelesburh, Eilesten', now Ailsbury ; Benmington, Bene- singtun, now Benson ; and Eymesham, Henesham, now Ensham. From which time, though this whole county was reputed within the district of Mercia, yet most of it was subject to the kings of the West Saxons ^. [There are still considerable remains of an ancient British earthwork on the brow of a hill, near Ensham, at a short distance from the Oxford road, and plainly visible from it, about half a mile from the bridge. This was probably the fortress here mentioned.] In G26 the Britons were still powerful in these parts, the West Saxon kings had their frontier garrisons at Cirencester and Ensham, and there were continual conflicts. The Isis having received the Windrush flows on to Einsham, Saxon Ei;^neiham, antiently a royal rill among very pleasant meadows. It was first taken from the Britains on their defeat by Cuthwulf the Saxon, and embellished with a monastery (for Benedictines,) by a nobleman named Ethehnan. His foundation was confirmed by Ethelred, king of Eng- y Saxon (,'luoiiicle. " Saxon Chronicle. ' Henry of Huntingdon, ed. Savile, '' Kennett, vol. i. p. 33. p. 534. E N S H A M. 143 land, A.D. 1005, who, in the words of the original, "signed the privi- lege of liberty, with the sign of the holy cross "." The monastery is said in the charter of king Ethelred, to be founded " in loco celebri juxta fluvium qui vocatur Tamis constituto, quod ab incolis regionis illius Ennesham nuncupatur vocabulo'^." Here king Ethelred, by advice of Alphege and Wulstan, archbishops of York and Canterbury, held a council in 1009, wherein many decrees, both ecclesiastical and civil, were enacted. Spelman^ calls the place where this council was held Eanham, but does not determine where it was -. A.D. 1109. In the charter of renewal of Henry I. to Ensham abbey, among the possessions are enumerated the town of Ensham, and all that appertained to it in meadows, and waters, and woods s. A.D. 1184. A general council was held at Ensham, at which Hugh of Grenoble was elected bishop of Lincoln, and several other solemn elec- tions of bishops and abbots were made in the presence of the king and the archbishop ^. A.D. 1230. Upon a grant of the bishop of Lincoln, for observing of processions and other solemnities of Ensham Church, in obedience to the mother Church of Lincoln, in Whitsun week many of the Oxford scholars, repairing thither to see jovial doings, were assaulted by the coun- try people, who killed some, and wounded others, and made the rest fly home in fear and danger of their lives. The bishop hearing it, excom- municated the authors and abettors of this sedition, in all the Churches of Oxfordshire, excluding them the society of all Christians, and depriv- ing them of the benefit of confession till the feast of St. Bartholomew ; the scholars also resented this injury so highly that they intermitted all lectures, and would not resume them till the offenders had undergone the severest punishments ; and when they did, the bishop procured of the Pope a permission for the doctors and masters of Oxford to become lec- turers and regents in any other University without any examination '. Numerous benefactions to the abbey are recorded in Dugdale, Ken- nett, &c., which it is not necessary to repeat here. There is a catalogue ' Camden's Britannia, vol. i. p. 285. p. 295. '' Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 259. sr Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 265. = Spelman's English Councils, vol. i. '' Chron. Gervas., p. 1480. Kennett, p. 510. vol. i. p. 199. ' Gough's add. to Camden, vol. i. ' Magna Britannia, vol. iv. p. 380. 144 ENS HAM. extant of the abbots, twenty-eight in number : Miles Salley, the twenty- sixth abbot, was honoured with a visit at the abbey in 1501, from prince Henry, afterwards king Henry VHI. ; this abbot was subsequently bishop of LlandafF, and held the abbey in commendam. The last abbot was Anthony Kitchen, who with his prior, sub-prior, and thirteen monks subscribed to the king's supremacy, and surrendered the abbey in 1539, 30th Henry VHL, upon the promise of an allowance of £135 6*. 8rf. per annum. He was soon afterwards promoted to the bishopric of Llandafi". At the time of the suppression the revenues of the abbey were valued, according to Dugdale, at £441 12s. 2c?., equal to about £9,000 per annum of our money. The site of the abbey was granted in the 35th of Henry VHL, to Sir Edward Northe, knight, and Wilham Darcye. In the 37th of Henry VHI. it was again granted out to Edward, earl of Derby ; after passing through a younger branch of that family, it came to a nephew. Sir Edward Stanley, K.B., one of whose coheirs was Venetia, wife of Sir Kenelm Digby, celebrated for her beauty and ac- complishments. Subsequently it passed, in 1626, to James Lord Strange, son to William, Earl of Derby, who married Charlotte, daughter to Claude Tremoville, Duke of Tours, who had with her £24,000 in por- tion, in consideration of £6,000 of which sum his father settled the manor of Ensham on Phihp, Earl of Pembroke, Sir Ralph Crew, and Sir Thomas Posthumous Hobby, in trust for the said Charlotte. It was subsequently purchased by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and has continued in that family to the present day ; the Duke of Marlborough is the lay impropriator. Of this once magnificent abbey the last remnant was pulled down by Mr. Druce, in 1843 ; it was a small but elegant doorway, with an ogee head. Decorated mouldings and dripstone. A part of the foundations may still be traced under the greensward of a meadow at a short distance to the west of the Church. A considerable portion of the buildings appears to have remained, though in ruins, up to near the end of the last century : there is an engraving of the west end, with two towers, and a large Decorated window of seven lights between them, and part of a Norman cloister, in the Description of England and Wales, 1769, vol. vii. p. 245. HANDB0R0U6H. PATRONAGE OP ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. 5t. ^ettt anil 5t. i^aul. DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OP WOOTTON. A FINE Church, mostly Perpendicular, with good tower and spire, plan oblong, with two aisles. The Chancel is originally Early English, but the east window is an insertion of debased Perpendicular work, square-headed, with a transom, four lights, not foliated. There is a round- headed niche in the north side which was probably an aumbrye. u 146 HANDBOROUGH. On the south side are two lancet windows, with the roll mould- ing as a string under them ; and a sepulchral recess, under which has been inserted the brass of Alexander Belsyre, the first president of St. John^s College, with an inscription in Latin and English. The Chancel-arch is Early EngHsh, with three engaged shafts, ha\-ing round capitals well moulded. The roof is nearly flat, with purlins, and horizontal tie-beams. The aisles of the Chancel have square-headed Perpendicular windows ; in the south aisle there is also a plain round-headed narrow light, and a piscina, with an ogee head, trefoiled. The rood-loft is perfect across the ^^^^*^5?5fg^?«y«v ^'•'i ton 1 ] \»:»%t.% v^\o» «•■ The Rood-loft. e. 1460. aisles, with a staircase still open in the outer wall of the south aisle; across the Chancel-arch the rood-screen only remains, with a crest of the Tudor flower, and mouldings enriched with foUage; the portion across the north aisle is older than the others, which are rather debased imitations of it; the whole retains a good deal of the ancient painting and gilding. HANDBOROUGH. 14: The Nave is Perpendicu- lar, and has three arches on each side, the pillars slender, octagonal, and hollowed on the alternate faces; caps plain moulded, arches re- cessed, hollowed. The clere- story has three square- headed three-light windows !f on each side. The roof is of low pitch, with horizontal tie- beams and pendants resting on corbels. The Font is good Perpen-^ dicular, octagonal, with qua- trefoiled panels; one con- taining a cross, with the emblems of the Crucifixion, the others a square flower in the centre of the quatrefoil : two of the sides are plain, one has been so originally, the other has been repaired : the shaft is plain, with good base-mouldings. The Pulpit is good Per- pendicular, of oak, panelled; it is placed at the south-east corner of the nave. The seats are mostly good old open oak benches, but a few enclosed pews have crept into the south aisle of the Chan- cel, and a few doors to the old pews have been intro- duced at the west end of the nave. The Font, c 1460. _----p'_=-^^^^>^fc \-< The Pulpit c 1169. 148 H ANDBOROUGH. The outer walls are Norman, and have retained their original doorways, and some of the small Norman windows, but most of the windows are square-headed Perpendicular insertions. One of the Norman windows, near the north door, is a very small lly^Tii!. '! ' iliii I .N'l I I'l ■ ■ . ...■■" iipl; Exterior. N OEM AN WINDOW, Tnterior II. Ill . narrow round-headed light, widely splayed to a flat trefoiled inner arch. On the east side of the south door is an elegant Perpendicular niche, with a battlemented moulding along the sill of it. The outer doorway of the north porch is Early English, with three engaged shafts on each side, of which the centre ones are gone; the arch thrice recessed. The inner doorway is Norman, round- headed, with massive engaged shafts ; the edge of the arch has a bold round moulding, and over that the zigzag. The tympan is filled with a rude sculp- ture of St. Peter sitting with a key in his right hand ; on his left is the Lamb and Cross, on the right a lion. The inner doorway of the south porch is Norman, round-headed, with roll-moulding and large engaged shafts, the head filled up with an obtuse triangular door-head, the tympan plain. The vestry is at the east end of the north % Niche HANDBOROUGH. 149 Chancel-aisle, entered by a pointed door from the Chancel : there are the remains of a square-headed Perpendicular window at the east end, under which a door has been formed. The Tower is square, and has three stages : the west window is Perpendicular, of three lights, cinquefoiled : the west door has a square dripstone, with trefoils in the spandrels : in the upper stage are four windows of two lights, trefoiled. The spire is octangular, with round mouldings on the angles : at the bottom, on the cardinal sides, are four ogee-headed windows of two lights, trefoiled : on the other sides are four small lancets, half way up the spire : the bells are five in number. The tower- arch is Early English, with the ringing-loft open to the Church, serving also as a western gallery. The Plan FT. IN. B. Chancel 27 G C. North Chapel .... 17 10 D. North Aisle 50 E. Nave 34 F. South Aisle 50 G. South Porch !> 8 H. North Porch II I. Tower 1+ J. Vestry 10 FT. IN by 16 8 by 10 3 by 8 10 by 15 by 8 10 by 9 8 by 9 8 by 14 by (i 8 150 HANDBOROUGH. In the north-west corner of the Church-yard stands the ruin of a mausoleum of the Boucher family, built about the beginning of the last century, which now belongs to the Duke of Marl- borough ; it is without a roof, and in a dilapidated state. In the Church-yard, near the principal entrance of the Church, there is a small stone cross, used as a head- stone to a grave ; it appears to be of the fifteenth century, and is a valuable example for imitation : these small crosses are said to have been generally used in former times, but they are now very rarely to be met with. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Doomsday survey, " Haneberge" is enumerated as part of the land of Gisleberti de Gand — " Hanborough '." The Church of Handborough was given to the abbey of Reading, by Simon de Sen Liz, earl of Northampton, in 1 147. Symon de Sen Liz comes Norhamtonise ep'o Line, archid. baronibus, justiciariis, vicecom. ministris, clericis, laicis et omnibus sanctae ecclesise filiis per Oxenefordsyram constitutis salutem. Sciant omnes tarn prse- sentes quam futm-i me dedisse et concessisse et in perjietuse possessionis elemosinam confirmasse Deo et ecclesise S. Marian de Rading pro salute anime mee et parentum meorum ecclesiam de Haiiebergha cum terris et decimis et omnibus ecclesise pertinentibus sicut rex Henricus dedit et concessit in vita sua. Unde volo et precipio quod ecclesia de Rading et monachi eam in perpetuum possideant, et in pace teneant. Hii sunt testes hujus cartse. Ricardus de Camvil, &c."^ Handborough, according to a patent of the 5th of Edward II., contained a messuage and carucate of land, which were held by the service of keeping the gate of the manor-house of Woodstock for the space of forty days in the year in time of war ". ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 92. " Skclton's Oxfordsliire.Woottoii Hun- "■ Kennett, vol. i. p. 1 10. died, j). 8. HANDBOROUGH. 151 The living of Handborough was given to St. John's College by WiUiam Sandys, Esq., at the instance of Archbishop Laud. It is valued in the Liber Regis, temp. Hen. VIIL at £11 6s. ; the present value, according to the return to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, is £353. Handborough is noted for the Selenites, or moon stone, which have been found in great plenty in digging of wells near this place °. THE FOLLOWING MONUMENTS WERE IN THIS CHURCH IN WOOD S TIME. Against the north wall of the Chancell a marble tablet to Margaret Clarke, wife of Humphrey Clarke, Esq., of Woodchurch and Kingsnoth, in Kent, who died September 18, 1542. This Monument was erected by Sir Simon Clarke of Salford, in Com. Wavw., in memory of his grandmother, a°. 1632. On the S. wall a Monument to the memory of Jane Culpepper, widdow of Walter Culpepper, Esq., 1636. On a brass plate on the ground under the former, Anne Culpepper, obiit 3° Aprilis, 1580. On another by the former, Walter Culpepper, obiit 13 Aprilis, 1616. On another brass plate by this last, Mary Culpepper, died 19 Aug" 1593. Within a arch in the S. wall of the Chancel is a brass plate affixed : thereon the pictm-e of a man lying along in his winding sheet, and under him this, Obiit Alexand. Belsire, 13 die Julii, Anno Dni 1567. (See p. 152.) On a brass plate on the ground in the same Chancel, Johanna Mericke uxor Mauritii Merick Generosi, obiit 17 Apr. 1617. In the body of the Church in the middle, is a brass plate upon the ground, whereon is a woman between 2 men, under them 3 boys and 4 girls, between them this inscription : Pray for the souls of Chr. Ford and Jane his wife, and for the soul of Thomas Wlieeler, her first husband, and for all her children's souls : on whose souls Jesus have mercy. In a Chapell on the S. side of the Church, in a window thereof, are the pic- tures of 3 men and 3 women : over them this inscription ; Orate pro bono statu Ricardi Snareston ceterorumque qui reparaverunt istam fenestram, An dni 1453. In the same window the pictures of 3 men and their wives, under them these : Willm Bayly ... uxor ejus. Richard Snareston ... Margaret uxor ejus. Thomas Roch ... Tibott uxor ejus. In a S. window of the Church, the picture of a man praying; under it. Orate pro Johanne Sprot ''. " Magna Britannia, vol. iv. p. 380. these monuments, whether of brass or '' Wood's MS. E. 1. fol. 65. Most of of glass, are now alike destroyed. 152 HANDBOROUGH. INSCRIPTION IN LATIN AND ENGLISH ON THE SEPDLCHRAL BRASS TO ALEXANDER BELSYRE. Hoc quod es, ipse fui, mortalis, uterque perinde Mortuus, ac fate tu moriere tuo. Sic ergo vivas, ut cum moriere, superstes Vita sit in coelis non moritura tibi. That thou art now, the same was I ; And thou likewise shall suer dye : Live so that when thou hence dost wend Thou mayest have blysse that hath no end. ON THE SOUTH WALL OF THE CHANCEL IS PAINTED THIS INSCRIPTION ; M.S. Sanctissimi Regis et Martyi-is Caroli Siste viator Luge. Ohmutesce. Mirari. Memento Caroli illius Nominis pariter et Pietatis insignissimi Primi Magna; Britannia; Regis Qui Rebellium Perfidia primo deceptus Dein Perfidorum Rabie perculsus Inconcussus tamen Legum et Fidei Defensor Schismaticorum Tyrannidi succubuit Anno Salutis humanaB MDCXLVIII. Servitutis nostra; ' ■jPri: , _ nmo Foclicitatis sua; Corona terrestri spoliatus Ca;lesti donatus Sileant autem peritunc Tabella; Perlege Reliquias, vere sacras Carolinas In Queis Sui Mnemosynem, a;re perenniorem Vivacius exprimit Ilia lUa. EIKnN BA2IAIKH. COOMBE. ATTACHED TO THE RECTORY OP LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD. • filled with monuments of the soutb Door, Perrot family ; at the east end of the north aisle is a very rich Perpendicular chapel, with a fan-tracery vault; the windows late Perpendicular, with considerable remains of stained glass : there is a small Perpendicular piscina marking the situation of the Altar. On the south side of this chapel, under the arch, between it and the Chancel, is a very fine Perpendi- cular tomb, with two recumbent figures in alabaster, a knight in armour, with the collar of S.S.S. ; the lady with a rich turban and reticulated head-dress, and also with the collar of S.S.S., &c.; the canopy over the tomb is a fine Perpendicular ogee, with bold crockets, pinnacles, and finial ; the weepers are destroyed, but the niches remain, though mutilated ; the figures are Lord and Lady Wilcot. Attached to this monument are two small figures of Angels, holding shields of arms; on one is 164 NORTHLEIGH. a spread eagle, on the other three cockle-shells, with an en- grailed band. The Tower has very massive walls of rubble, and seems of early character,with arches pierced through the walls under it at a subsequent period ; there is some long and short work, but concealed by rough-cast ; the western arch is fine Early Eng- lish, richly moulded; the side arches are plain, many times recessed ; the west window under the tower is Decorated, of two lights ; on the first floor the windows are plain Norman loops ; the belfry windows (||ll!f!iw|||ti|^ill(f!|f;-,,;:p- Beltry Window, are Norman, of two lights, with a balustre, supporting a long stone through the wall, corresponding Math the imposts; the arches are of rough stone. This tower is by some supposed to be Saxon, but appears to agree with other Norman work. The roof is modern, and there is a Perpendicular battlement : the tower contains four bells, and on each side of the tower is a small penthouse, as if for a bell, but long disused. On the east side of the tower are the weather -mouldings of the original high- pitched roof, and on the west side the same, shewing that the Church must formerly have extended further in that direction ; the impost of a Norman arch in the wall also shews that this west- ern part had an aisle. iiw i-h.p. CrOM on the East GaW?. NORTHLEIGH. 165 HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Doomsday survey, Lege, or Northleigh, formed part of the grant of Roger de Iveri s. In 1149 we find Northleya mentioned as part of the barony of Hoke- norton, transferred by Robert de Oiley to Oseney *. A.D. 1227. 11 and 12 Henry III. Robert earl of Dreux in right of his wife baron of S. Walery, and lord of the manor of Ambrosden, presented to the church of North Leigh com. Oxon ". A.D. 1277. 5, 6. Edw. I. Ricardus Line, ep'us rehgiosis viris abb'i et conv. de Hegles, ord. Cisterc. salut. Cum nobiUs vir d'n's Edmundus com. Comub. cujus predecessores domum vestram fundave- runt et bonis propriis dotaverunt divine pietatis intuitu numerum mona- chorum ad augmentum divini cultus augeri desiderans in eadem nobis humilime supphcaverit ut de Hamelhamstede et de Northle n're dioc. eccl'ias cum capeUis de Bovendone et Slaverdene dicte eccl'ie de Hamel- hamstede spectantibus, quarum advocationes vobis liberaliter concessit ut adjectione decern monachorum vestri conventus sacer numerus ampli- etur, domui v're appropriare curaremus — prescriptas eccl'ias vobis et succ. v'ris in pios et proprios usus — concedimus — salvis archid'o Hunt. 5. sol. annuis pro eccl'ia de Hemelhamstede et archid'o Oxon. 4. sol. ann. de eccl'ia de Northle — pro recompensatione juris sequestri sui in eisdem. dat. 7 kal. Mart. 1277. pont. 20^. Joh. Line, ep'us confirmat 6. id. Jun. 1303. Ordinatio vie. de Northle sequitur. Reg. Dalderby. Mr. Price, of the Bodleian Library, had a very ancient seal in brass, one inch broad, inscribed Sigillu Thome de Wylcote Armigeri, with his arms, viz., an eagle with wings, which had long been preserved at Wilcot- house. The same coat occurs in the neighbouring Church of North- leigh, where is a beautiful chantry Chapel belonging to the family, con- taining an Altar- tomb highly embellished. Both Chapel and tomb appear to have been executed about the reign of Henry YlJ There is a plate of " The Wilcotes' Effigies" in this Church, in Skel- ton's Oxfordshire. ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 91. p. 281. ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 142. ^ Keniictl, vol. i. p. lOS. " Ex. llegist. Line. ap. Kennett, vol. i. >' Warton's History of Kiddington, p.;>8. 166 NORTHLEIGH. THE PLAN. FT. IN. A. Altar Platform. B. Chancel 36 C. Nave 21 2 D. Wilcote Chapel 18 10 E. North Aisle 24. 2 F. Perrot Chapel 23 11 G. South Aisle 25 5 H. South Porch 8 8 I. Tower 18 FT. IN. by 14 9 I'y 15 6 by 8 3 by 8 6 by 15 7 by 10 3 by 7 4 by 12 6 SOUTHLEIGH. A CHAPEL ANNEXED TO STANTON HARCOURT VICARAGE. PATRON. BI8H0P OF OXFORD. 5t. ^am^. DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK, HUNDRED OF WOOTTON. Head of the Chancel door. A NEAT Perpendicular Cliureh, with some portions of early work in the Chancel; an aisle on the north side only, and a tower at the west end. The Chancel walls are transition Nor- man, and one window of that character remains on the north side of the Altar ; there are also Norman strings on all the walls; a transition Norman piscina on a column, and plain brackets for the Altar. The east and south windows are late Perpendicular insertions; there is a small door on the south side, over which are some singular Norman orna- ; ments, cut on the face of the stone. The south window is Perpendicular, of three piscma. lights, the heads not fohated, with a square dripstone, under 168 SOUTHLEIGH. which is a curious aud rich piece of workj resembhng a Decorated parapet of wavy lines, fohated ; it seems probable that this win- dow is imitation Gothic, of the time of James I. The Altar plat- form is raised two steps : on the Head « Scutn W.ndow m Chancel. north side there is a Perpendicular arch opening into an aisle. The Chancel-arch is Early English, plain, pointed, with moulded imposts. The staircase to the rood-loft remains. The north aisle of the Chancel is Perpendicular; the east window of three lights, pointed ; the north window square-headed, of three lights, cinquefoiled, with fragments of stained glass, consisting of stars, in the cusps; there are also some fragments of stained glass in the east window of the Chancel, and a Perpendicular screen across the en- trance to both the Chancel and the aisle ; Head of a h^ht m the n. window over it is an Italian cornice, put on in 1710, and the arms of Queen Anne stuck up in the arch. The Chancel was ceiled at the same date. A poors'-box still remains near the font, with two locks. The Nave has on the north side three good Perpendicular arches, recessed, with deep hollow and ogee mouldings, and shafts, with octagon caps and cases. There are two south win- dows. Perpendicular, of three lights ; one has the tracery cut out. The south door and porch are good plain Perpendicular; the doorway has hollow mouldings, and the tiripstonc is ter- minated by heads ; the door is of old oak, with Perpendicular hinges and iron-work, and a large wooden lock, with a curious key ; the porch has a plain open timber roof, with the cornice moulded and embattled. In the porch are the remains of a niche or stoup for holy water. The north aisle has three good Perpendicular square-headed windows; the cast window pointed. Perpendicular, of three lights. S O U T H L E I G H. 169 The roof is original Perpendicular work, a lean-to, with moulded beams, and good corbel-heads. On the south side of the nave is a good Perpendicular bracket. The roof of the nave is flat, put on in 1812. The Font is good Perpendicular, panelled, with two steps; it stands under the middle arch, opposite the south door. The seats are partly good old oak, and open, and partly modern en- closed deal pews. The Tower is Perpendicular, the arch plain, pointed, and re- cessed, with the edges chamfered, the chamfers continued to the ground, without shafts or bases : it is open to the Church, and has a very good eflFect: the tower contains three bells and a sanctus, and is surmounted by a battlement, with good Perpen- dicular cornice, and gurgoyles at the angles ; there is a square stair-turret on the north side ; the side walls have also Perpen- dicular battlements and cornices : there is a cross on the east gable of the Chancel. The old manor-house, near the Church, has a good Perpen- dicular fire-place, some oak panelling, with good mouldings, and barge-boards to the porch. On the green, near the Church-yard, the remains of a cross are still visible, consisting of three steps. John Wesley preached his first sermon in this Church. His friend, John Gambold, was the Vicar of Stanton Harcourt. The Wesleyans of the present day make frequent visits to the spot which was the first scene of his multifarious labours. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Doomsday survey. Lege, or South Leigh, formed part of the grant of Roger de Iveri ^. A.D. 1 147. 12 and 13, King Stephen. The Chaple of South Leigh, in com. Oxon., was granted by Richard de Camvil, to the abbey of Rading ^. * Kennett, vol. i. p. 91. " Cartular. Abbat. de Radinges MS. b. 169. ap. Keunett, vol. i. p. 140. STANTON HARCOURT. PATRON. 5t. i^icljad. THE BISHOP OF OXFORD. DEANERY OF WOODSTOCK. HUNDRED OP WOOTTON. FT. IN. Chancel .... 44 Harcourt Chapel . 27 North Transept . 24 Tower 17 o South Transept. . 24 Nave 48 Porch 9 8 FT. IN hy 18 .3 by 15 (; by 20 I'y 1() 3 by 20 by 23 by 7 9 STANTON HARCOURT. 171 This Church is cruciform in plan^ the Nave is of the twelfth century, the Chancel and transepts, with the tower-arches, of the thirteenth, but the upper part of the tower added in the fifteenth, and the Harcourt chapel, or aisle, attached to the south side of the Chancel, about the same period. The walls are of rubble or rag-work, with quoins of ashlar. The Chancel is a good specimen of the style of Henry III., with a fine triple lancet window at the east end ; this is united within into a single window of three lights, with triple shafts on the edges, connecting the splays; the window-arches, the capitals and bases of the shafts are boldly and well moulded; the two central caps are ornamented with foliage : on the out- side the three lancet lights are detached, the centre one being the highest ; the dripstones are, however, connected and continued along the wall as strings, ar- ° ^ Window-shaft in the Chancel ranged something like corbie steps; there are small original buttresses at the angles, reaching only up to the lower string beneath the window s ; larger and higher ones have, however, been found necessary and added at a later period : the wall having been much cracked and the arches of the two side windows having given way. On the north side there are six lancet windows divided into two very elegant triplets, but one of the lights is blocked up to receive a monument ; on the exterior the two triplets are very distinct, though the lancets, as at the east end, are united in the inside only ; there is a small round-headed Early English door on this side, now blocked up. On the south side one of the triplets also remains perfect, the other has been destroyed in the fifteenth century to make room for two Perpendicular arches opening into the Harcourt chapel, but now closed with a plastered partition. The strings along the walls, both inside and out, are good and bold Early English mouldings. Under the window, on the south side of the Altar, is a very elegant Early Englisli piscina, with a stone shelf, and a shaft from the ground to carry 172 STANTON HARCOURT. the basin : there are two small brasses on the floor, near the steps to the Altar. On the north side of the Altar is a small monument, about four feet long, by two wide, with a tall and very rich Decorated canopy over it, on the cornice of which are shields, with the arms of several noble families ^ : much of the original colour- ing remains on this canopy. On the Altar-tomb itself are the emblems of the Crucifixion, and five shields, which are now blank : three of these are carried by figures with scales, or feathers, having small crosses on their heads, and the hair dressed in the fashion of Edward I. This structure is supposed to have been used for the Easter sepulchre, and it is stated in the Gentleman^s Magazine (1841) that there are other examples in Germany of the same form. There has evidently been some alteration here, and there are remains of some previous structure in the wall. Westward of this, under an obtuse arch in the wall, is the monument of Maud, daughter of John Lord Grey, of Rotherfield, by his second wife Avice, daughter of Lord Marmion, and wife of Sir Thomas de Harcourt, deceased 17th Richard 11. In the westernmost window on this side are re- mains of the original stained glass, of the thirteenth century. The roof of the Chancel retains its original high pitch exter- nally, but within it is concealed by a plaster ceiling. The Chancel-arch is good Early English, pointed and recessed, the edges chamfered off"; with shafts, having small fillets on the face, and well-moulded caps and bases; and a bold roll-moulding for the label. The rood-screen is perfect, and original oak-work, of the same age with the arch, the mouldings corresponding exactly with the stone-work ; the lock is also original, and wortliy of notice. This is the earliest wooden rood-screen that has yet been noticed in England. The other tower-arches are similar to the Chancel-arch ; their points are, however, cut off by a plaster ceiling : the first story of the tower is of the same age, and the approach to it is by a *' See a further account of this in the Historical Notices. STANTON HARCOURT. 173 ROOD-SCEEEN. \:__jiSI!iiiii;!«ii'''''' BASE OF SHAFTS. .jiilftSSi'Si^^ IB :^ 'liiiii CAPITAL OF SHAFTS ARCH. 174 STANTON HAR COURT. very elegant stair-turret iu the angle of the Chancel and north transept : this has its original pyramidal roof and finial, and is an excellent model for imitation. The original door into it remains in the inside; the present door is external^ and was made in 1789. The upper story of the tower is an addition of the fifteenth century, with a battlemented parapet ; it contains five hells. The north transept retains its lancet windows on the sides, with two moulded arches, supported by good shafts, four good heads as brackets, a piscina, and the platforms of two Altars on the east side; the north window is an insertion of the fifteenth centmy, but the string is perfect on the outside ; that on the inside has been almost destroyed, but the remains of it, with those on the side walls, are good Early Enghsh, and there is a small acutely pointed door of the same period at the north-west corner, which, from immemorial custom, is used by the men only; the wooden door has Early English iron hinges, with scroll-work, but rather plain for that period ; it has a stoup just within it: the roof is plain Perpendicular, of low pitch, but open; in this transept there are some early seats, with poppies of the fleur-de-lis form. The south transept has two lancet windows on the west side, and one Early English arch on the east side, the other having been removed when the Harcourt chapel was added, and a Per- pendicular arch opening into it was made through this wall. The south window is Perpendicular, and the roof plain open timber, of low pitch : the strings are Early English, and there is a small door, similar to that in the north transept, but blocked up. The Nave is Norman, and has still the two original doorways, north and south ; these are simple, having semicircular arches, with a sort of rude zig-zag moulding, and attached shafts with ])old capitals. By the side of the north door is a small Norman stoup ; this door is used by the women only ; the south door is not used, but the old wooden door remains and has Early English iron liinges, with scrolls; there are also four small STANTON HARCOURT. 175 Norman windows, single lights, deeply sunk in the wall on the outside, with a bold round moulding continuous round the head and down the jambs, without capitals, and there are no labels. The west window is Perpendicular. On the north side, close to the tower-arch, is a small low Perpendicular window, under a recessed Early English arch, in which there appears to have been another Altar. The dripstone of this window is ornamented with a four-leaved flower. On the south side of the Nave are two Early English brackets, and on each side of the arch are two others. There is a plain porch of wood and plaster over the north door. The Font is good Perpendicular, tall octagon, panelled, with buttresses at the angles, with the Tudor ornaments, and the emblems of the Crucifixion on one of the panels, IHC on another, and the arms of Byron on another*^. This Font was carefully restored in 1833, but the original ornaments with their painting were preserved and placed on a tablet under the west window. The Pulpit is plain; the seats in the Nave are good specimens of the old style, with solid square ends and moulded rails. The roof of the nave is very good open timber of the latter part of the fourteenth century, with tie-beams and king-posts, and springers to support the tie-beams, resting on good cor- si^-;-- ■ II, , ,,--^'1 I jiiii? bel-heads, the spandrels filled with open tracery : there are two struts on each side of the |||--e:--— ^^r'^^^n^-^-^/.r'^H;";:*^^ king-post to the rafters; these and the principals are engrailed: it is altogether a fine example ^^^^^****'^"''^-"^^^'^'^ of an open timber roof. The paxapet of the Nave. parapet is plain, of the same age as the roof. The Harcourt aisle is rich but late Perpendicular work, with an open quatrefoil parapet, and square-topped pinnacles; it was erected in the time of Henry VII., when the mansion adjoining was built, and it is filled with monuments of the <= See Historical Notices. 176 STANTON HARCOURT. Harcourt family extending from tliat period down to the present time. Near the east end there is an elegant Perpendicular piscina. In the Church -yard there is the base of a cross. The remains of the mansion of the Harcourts are highly interesting; the description of them by Simon, Lord Harcourt, which follows, is so full and satisfactory that it is only necessary here to refer to it. The recent publication by our Society of a complete set of drawings of this Church by Mr. Derick, also renders it unnecessary to repeat them here. EXTRACTS FROM "AN ACCOUNT OP THE CHURCH AND REMAINS OF THE MANOR HOUSE OF STANTON HARCOURT IN THE COUNTY OF OXFORD." BY GEORGE SIMON EARL HARCOURT. NUNEHAM-COURTENAY, Nov. 1, 1803. The manor of Stanton Harcourt has continued six hundred years in the Harcourt family. Queen Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey, first duke of Brabant, and second wife to king Henry I., granted the manor of Stan- ton to her kinswoman, Mihcent, wife of Richard de Camvil, whose daughter Isabel married Robert [Richard ^ ?] de Harcourt ; and from the time of that marriage it assumed the name of Stanton Harcourt. The said Robert was sheriff of Leicester and Warwickshire in the years 1199, 1201, 1202, and the above-mentioned grant was afterwards con- firmed to her and her heirs by king Stephen and king Henry H. * In the Chancel, on the north side of the Altar, is a small but beautiful altar-tomb, with a rich canopy over it, which the arms carved and em- blazoned upon it prove to have been erected to commemorate some per- son of the ancient family of Blount ^. [Camvil }'] ^ Isabella filia Ricardi de Camvill pp. 34, 46, and p. 856. uxor Ric. Harecourt de Bosworth in Com. ' Wood describes this monument as Leic'. 4 R. I.— Dugd Bar., vol. i. p. 628. that of Isabel, daughter and heiress of ^ It was held of the crown by military Richard de Camville before mentioned ; service for some particular customs, for and has preserved sketches of the shields which see Lord Harcourt's Account, pp. as they remained in 1622, which have all 5, 6, and Rot. Hund. Oxon. 4th Ed. I. been ascertained, excepting one : these STANTON HARCOURT. 177 On the south side of the Chancel is a large plain altar-tomb, without any inscription, but with the impression of a cross still remaining upon it ; the brass has been torn away. [It is of the fourteenth century; the end that is visible is richly panelled ; but it is almost concealed by the partition, as it stands under the eastern arch between the chancel and the Har court aisle.] The ancient monument, under an arch in the south wall of the Chancel, is that of Maud, daughter of John lord Grey, of Rotherfield, by his second wife Avice, daughter and co-heiress of John lord Marmion, (which Maud, with her two brothers, assumed the name and arms of Marmion,) wife of Sir Thomas de Harcourt, son of Sir William and of Johanna, daughter of Richard lord Grey of Codnor ; she died in the seventeenth year of Richard II. She has the reticulated head-dress, with a narrow gold binding across the forehead, a scarlet mantle, lined with ermine, and a deep cape of the same, scolloped at the edge, on either side of which are two small gold tassels, a broad band of ermine, with a narrow gold binding across the breasts ; the upper part of the sleeves of the same ; the lower part light blue and reaching to the knuckles, like mittens. On the surcoat the arms of Harcourt impaled with those of Grey, Those parts both of the arms and of the dress which are blue, are damasked : at her feet a small dog. On the front of the monument four shields with the following arms: namely, Harcourt; Harcourt impaling Grey; Grey;. Marmion. On a brass in the pavement is the figure of a priest in his vestments,, in memory of Sir Henry Dodschone, vicar of the parish. seem to shew that Lord Harcourt waf? •wrong in ascribing it tooneof tlie Blount family, and it seems probable that this monument may have been erected to her memory, though not until long after her death, as the monument itself is clearly of the time of Edward I. The extensive connections of the family may account for the number of shields of arms upon it. This is not inconsistent with the idea of its having been used for the Easter sepul- chre also, as it was a common practice to use actual tombs for that purpose, and was considered a very high honour. " These amies on the Monument of the daughter and heire of Camville. 1. Caravile. 2. Harcourt. 3. Harcourt impal- ing Camvile. 4. Marmion. 5. Hovenden. 6. Lovell. 7. Lovell, withbeud for difference. 8. 9. Bohun. 10. Brotherton. IL Estotevil. 12. England. 13. EarlofGloster.. li. Percy. 1.5. E. Warren. 16. Lo. Dacres."^ Wood's MS. E. I. f 36. c. 1022. A a 178 STANTON HARCOURT. In the north transept, on a small round blue marble, inserted in the pavement, is a brass which is worthy of notice from the manner in which the arms of Beke are united with those of Harcourt. Sir Richard de Harcourt, son of William and Hilaria, daughter of Henry lord Hast- ings, married Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of John lord Beke of Eresly, which said lord devised by / his will, made twenty-ninth of Ed- j ward I., the remainder of his arms \ to be divided between Sir Robert de \ Willoughbyand Sir John de Harcourt; and the above-mentioned stone is probably in memory of Sir John, son of Sir Richard Harcourt and Margaret Beke ; he died 1330. [This brass is curious also from its consisting only of the outline of the shield and arms let into the marble in thick lines, and not a brass plate engraved.] In the south transept is an altar-tomb, the monument of Sir Simon Harcourt, son of Sir Christopher and Johanna, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Miles Stapleton. He was knighted in the twenty-first year of Henry VII., and married Agnes, daughter of Thomas Darrell; he died 1547. At the head of the tomb the arms of Harcourt, and on either side three shields, with the following arms : Harcourt and Darrell ; Harcourt and Stapleton ; Harcourt ; Harcourt and Darrell ; Harcourt and St. Clair ; Darrell. The Font is octagonal; on the front is a cross, with letters in the Gothic character on either side of it. In each of the compartments are spread quatrefoils, except that on which there is a cross : within two of the large quatrefoils are two smaller, and more enriched ; within the two others, a rose; and the remaining three contain shields, with the follow- ing arms : Byron; Francis impaling Harcourt; Harcourt. By a strange error, to have been committed in an age when the science of Heraldry was held in high estimation, the arms of Francis are placed on the dexter in- stead of the sinister side. Sir Thomas Harcourt, who died in 1460, mar- ried Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Francis ; but no female of the former family married into the latter. It is probable from the style of the orna- ments carved upon the Font, and from the arms of Byron being placed upon it, that it was erected by Sir Robert Harcourt, who married Mar- garet Byron, and was son of Sir Thomas, [and died in 1471.] STANTON HARCOURT. 179 The Harcourt Chapel. Under the east window, where the Altar formerly stood, is a large monument of marble and alabaster, gilded, to the memory of Sir Philip Harcourt [who died in 1688], and his first wife Anne, daughter of Sir William Waller, the parliament general, by the lady Anne Finch, daughter of Thomas, first earl of Winchelsea. It consists of a pediment supported by two columns of black marble of the Corin- thian order : at the top the crest of Harcourt, and on either side two boy angels holding a drapery, in the centre of which are the arms of Har- court impaling Waller : below the cornice are two oval niches, containing the busts of Sir Philip and his wife, and under them two tablets on which are inscriptions in Latin to their memory. The monument on the south side is that of Sir Robert Harcourt, son of Sir Thomas and Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Francis, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John Byron, and widow of Sir William Atherton. Sir Robert was sheriff of Leicester and Warwickshire in 1445, governor of Vernon, &c., in Normandy, 1446, and elected High Steward of the University of Oxford the same year; knight of the garter in the third year of Edward IV. ; commissioner with the earl of Warwick and others for the treaty between England and France in the year 1467 ; slain by the Stafibrds of the Lancastrian party 1471. He is represented in his hair, a gorget of mail, and plated armour strapped at the elbows and wrists ; a large hilted sword on the left, and a dagger on the right ; belt charged with oak leaves, and hands bare, and a kind of ruffle turned back at the wrists ; shoes of scaled armour; order of the garter on the left leg, and over all the mantle of the order, with a rich cape and cordon ; his head reclined on a helmet, with his crest, a peacock ; at his feet a lion. His lady is in the veUed head-dress falling back ; has a mantle and surcoat, and cordon ; long sleeves, fastened in a singular manner at the wrists, and the garter, with the motto in embossed letters, above the elbow of the left arm, embla- zoned upon it ; her feet partly wrapped up in her mantle. On the front, four spread six foils, containing shields with the following arms : Har- court impaling Byron twice, and twice Marmion ; which Maud Grey, his grandmother, bore in right of her mother, heiress of the Marmions. At the head of the monument two shields ; on one, Harcourt and Byron encircled with the garter; on the other, Harcourt single. The figure of this lady is extremely curious, from her being represented with the garter, and is one of the only three known examples of female sepulchral effi- gies having been decorated with the insignia of that order. According to Mr. Ashmole, Constance, daughter of John Holland, duke of Exeter, 180 STANTON HARCOURT. first married to Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, and secondly to Sir John Grey, knight of the garter, and earl of Tankerville in Normandy, was thus represented on her tomb. The other similar example is the effigy of Alice, daughter of Thomas Chaucer, wife of William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, on her beautiful monument at Ewelme, in the county of Oxford, still in perfect preservation, but on the last-named figure the garter is worn above the wrist, and has no motto. Of the three above- mentioned monuments, fine and accurate engravings have been given in Mr. Cough's magnificent and instructive work on the Funeral Monuments of Great Britain. [And of the one in the Harcourt Chapel a separate engraving was published by R. Wilkinson in 1813.] Opposite the monument of Sir Robert Harcourt and his lady, is that of Sir Robert his grandson, son of Sir John and Anne, daughter of Sir John Norris. He was standard-bearer to king Henry VH. at the battle of Bosworth ; knight of the Bath, 1495 ; knight banneret, 1497. On the front of the tomb are four monks in black, holding their beads, and two angels holding each a shield ; at the head a red rose, the cognizance of the house of Lancaster. He is in his hair, plated armour, gorget of mail, collar of S.S., a large hilted sword, hands bare : his head reclines on a helmet, with the crest, a peacock on a ducal coronet. On a stone in the pavement are the figures of two men engraved in brass, and two shields ; on the one, Harcourt impaling Atherton ; on the other, on the sinister side, the arms of Atherton only, the impalement on the dexter having been torn off". Underneath are inscribed the names of ITiomas Harcourt, who died the third of February, 1460; and of Nicholas Atherton, who died the twenty-sixth of October, 1 454. And under them the figures of three children, George Harcourt, Alys Harcourt, Isabel Harcourt. Thomas Harcourt was third son of Sir Robert and Margaret Byron, and it appears from the arms of Atherton being impaled with his, that he married one of that family. On one side of the Chapel is a large mural monument of marble, or- namented with flowers, to the memory of Simon, only son of Simon, first viscount Harcourt, on which is an inscription in Latin, composed by Dr. Friend; and below it the well known lines by Mr. Pope, which however differ in some respects from those published in his works. Near the head of the monument of Sir Robert Harcourt and Margaret Byron [is a good Perpendicular piscina with ogee canopy, pinnacles, crockets, and finial.] This Church, besides its several ancient and curious monuments, is distinguished by two epitaphs by Mr. Vo]w, and one by Mr. Congreve, STANTON HARCOURT. 181 viz., that inscribed on a tablet on the outside of the south wall, to the memory of the lovers killed by lightning ; that on the monument of the Hon. Simon Harcourt ; and that on Robert Huntingdon and his son, Esqrs., by the last. THE MANOR HOUSE. The Porter's Lodge. The front of which towards the road remains in its original unaltered form. The arms on either side of the gate, in both fronts, Harcourt impaling Darrell, shew that it was erected by Sir Simon, who died 1547. Tope's Tower, &c. The House, The principal apartments, the great hall, the great and little parlour, the Queen's chamber, (so named from its having been occupied by Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, when she made a visit there,) with other chambers, filled the space between the domestic chapel and the kitchen, and remained entire [until near the end of the last century.] Some upper rooms in the small remaining part of the house, adjoining the kitchen, and now occupied by a farmer, are nearly in their original state, and bear evident marks of antiquity. [In one of these rooms there is a plain stone fire-place, with a four-centred arch, and a good chimney of the fifteenth century.] But the time when they were erected is not 182 STANTON HARCOURT. known, nor the date of that curious and remarkable building, the kitchen, [the whole, however, appears to have been built about the reign of Edward IV.] The Kitchen. In its form and general appearance it bears much resemblance to the abbot's kitchen at Glastonbury ; and yet it differs con- siderably from the latter, which is an octagon, inclosed within a square, with four chimneys in the angles ; whereas the lower part of this building is square, both inside and outside ; [the upper part is octagonal, with squinches across the angles.] Moreover it is larger and much more lofty, and has no chimney ; a winding staircase in a turret leads to a passage round the battlement ; and beneath the eaves of the roof, which is octagonal, are shutters, to give vent to the smoke, according to the quarter from whence the wind blows. The height of the walls to the bottom of the roof, which in the centre rises twenty-five feet more, is thirty-nine feet : and the griffin on the point of the cone is eight feet. The turret that contains the steps is square, and rises nine feet above the other walls, which are three feet thick, and measure on the outside, from east to west, thirty-three feet, and from north to south thirty-one feet. STANTON HARCOURT. 183 The abbot's kitchen at Glastonbury is said to have been erected so late as in the reign of Henry VIII. The Domestic Chapel, with a chamber over a part of it, and the tower, contaming three chambers, one above the other, each thirteen feet square, The Domestic Chapel. remains in good repair, and the uppermost retains the name of Pope's study : the pane of red stained glass, upon which he wrote the following inscription, having been taken out of a casement in this chamber, and preserved as a valuable relique at Nuneham Courtenay. " In the year 1718, Alexander Pope finished here the fifth volume of Homer." That great poet passed a part of two summers at Stanton Harcourt for the sake of retirement, where he was occasionally visited by Mr. Gay, from the neighbouring seat of lord Harcourt, at Cockthorp. And the former has recorded the story of the lovers, who were killed by lightning, in a letter dated from the place where that event occurred. The height of the tower is fifty-four feet six inches, and the turret that contains the steps is raised two feet nine inches higher. The part immediately under the tower, where the Altar stands, is twelve feet square, and fifteen feet ten inches high in the centre. Below the springing of the arch on one side are the arms of Harcourt emblazoned on a shield, on the other those of Byron. [This part is vaulted with fan tracery, and a small circular 184 STANTON HARCOURT. opening in the centre ; the ribs spring from good corbels in the angles. The arch between this and the outer Chapel is good Perpendicular, four centred, with a square head over it, retaining much of the ancient red and blue colouring.] The outer part of the Chapel has a flat wooden ceiling, composed of squares with red and yellow mouldings, and a blue ground, with gilded stars in the middle of each compartment. It is 1 7 feet 5 inches by 14 feet 8 inches wide, and 11 feet 8 inches high. From the arms of Harcourt and of Byron being placed where they are, it may be conjectured that the tower was erected by Sir Robert in the reign of Edward IV. The house was never inhabited by any of the family since the death of Sir Philip, an. 1688, when his widow, who had been his second wife, and on whom the estate was settled in jointure, disposed of the furniture by sale, and suffered the buildings, from neglect of the necessary repairs, to fall into decay, and they were afterwards demolished by the late earl. The description given by Mr. Pope of this once large and curious mansion, in a letter written from thence to the duke of Buckingham, although it be ludicrous and witty, is in almost every particular very incorrect ; the situation of the several buildings being exactly the reverse of that Id which they really stood, as is demonstrated by a still existing plan. At a short distance from the village are three large monumental stones known by the name of the devil's coits ; these stones Mr. Thomas War- ton, in his account of Kiddington, conjectures were erected to comme- morate an engagement fought near Bampton in the year 614, between the British and Saxons, when the Saxon princes, Cynegil and Cwhicelon, slew more than two thousand Britons. The adjacent barrow has been destroyed. [The stones are of the sandstone of the country with red veins interspersed.] In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henry VIII., Stanton Harcourt is described as a vicarage belonging to the Abbot and Convent of Reading. John Pereson being then Vicar, and the value of the Vicarage was xvi/. xiijs. iiijrf. In Bacon's Liber Regis, 1786, it is valued at £34, and in the returns to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1831, at £136. MARSTON. PATRON. 5t. Kic|)oIa5. REV. T. WHORWOOD. DEANERY OF CUDDESDON. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. SjecJ. Ground Plan of the Church. A PLAIN Church, oblong, with aisles to the nave only; well-proportioned chancel, and a low tower at the west end. Chancel. — The east window is late Perpendicular, of three lights, with good dripstone ter- minations of octagonal form, and a piece of foliage sculptured at the point, in the hollow of the dripstone; this is an un- common feature, and a very elegant one. The side windows are of two lights, late Per- pendicular, square-headed, with cinqucfoilcd heads to the lights ; B h -.''■>! Sculpture over the East Window. 186 MAR ST ON. the dripstones have bold square termina- tions, enclosing ornaments, some of which are the monograms IHS and IHC. There are some good quarrels of painted glass in the heads of these windows. The re- cess of the first window on the south side is carried down to a stone bench, which served as the seat for the priest ; eastward of this is a small square piscina, with the basin Dripstone Terminaticn. and drain perfect. On the south side is also a small door, square- headed within and quite plain, but ornamented on the outside with a pointed arch, carved spandrels, and a dripstone with square terminations. There is a late Perpendicular basement- moulding all round the walls of the chancel. The roof seems to consist of good arched timbers, but is concealed by a plaster cciHng just above the springing. The stall-desks are chauceiDoor. late, but preserve the old arrangement, having returns at the west end. The chancel-arch is transition Norman, pointed, square-edged, with plain imposts ; by the side of it there is an opening into the south aisle, or liagioscope; this is now boarded up at the west end, but might be re-opened with advantage. The Nave has four bays, the arches are transition Norman, pointed and recessed, with the edges chamfered, with labels over them, those on the south side dif- fering from and of rather earlier character than those on the north. ^ , v, , r^ Arcb, south Bide of Nave. MARSTON. 187 The pillars are round, with moulded caps, having thick abaci, but not all alike, the bases are Norman ; the clerestory windows are late Perpendicular, square, of two lights. The roof is of the same age, of poor work, and nearly flat. The walls of both the aisles are also late Perpendicular, with square-headed win- dows, of two lights, without labels. The roof of the north aisle is a lean-to ; that of the south aisle is very high pitched, open to the rafters, with tie-beams, and queen-posts, and cross spring- ers; these and the cornice are moulded, but the mouldings are late Perpendicular, and of quite a debased character. The north door is late Perpendicular. The south door is transition Nor- man, but quite plain. The porch is late, but with stone benches. There is a good iron strap and scutcheon on the south door. The Font is modern imitation of Gothic. The seats are mostly good old open benches, but many of them have sloping book- boards added, which would be better taken away again, and others have modern deal boxes built upon them. The Tower is late Perpendicular, square, with a good three- light window and arch, open to the nave, but partly hid by the singers' gallery, which should be removed. The belfry-windows are square-headed, of two lights; the parapet is battlemented with a Perpendicular cornice, and gurgoyle heads at the angles. In the Church-yard there was formerly a cross, Avhich was taken down to mend the wall with in the year 1830; and in the village another cross, which was used about the same period to mend the roads with ! ! i.h.p. HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 1082. The manor was given by the Conqueror to Miles Crispin s. A.D. 1132. It was granted by charter of Henry I. to the priory of St. Frideswide •*. A.D. 1156, 2nd Henry II. About this time Hugh de Plagenet •-' Kennett, vol. i. p. 93. >- Reg. S. Fiid. in C.C.C. ap. Dug. I. 174. 188 MARSTON. granted to the priory of St. Frideswide the tithes of his own demesnes and of his tenants in this manor'. A branch of the Croke family had a seat here, which seems to have been acquired by the marriage of Unton Croke, Esq., serjeant-at-law, to Anne, daughter and heiress of Richard Hore, Esq., of Marston. Unton Croke occupies a conspicuous place in the history of the civil wars, as a staunch supporter of the Parliament. In Thurloe's State Papers there is a letter of the 2nd of October, 1655, from Dr. John Owen, the Dean of Christ Church, to the Protector, in which he strongly intercedes in Serjeant Croke's favour, that he might be made a judge : it seems however that the recommendation was not attended to. But in 1 65 6 he was appointed one of the Commissioners under the authority of an act of parliament for the security of the Lord Protector, with power to try offenders for high treason without the intervention of u jury. He acted likewise as a justice of the peace, and there are some entries in the parish register of marriages performed by him in that capa- city during the Great Rebellion. He resided chiefly here, and died in 1671, at the age of seventy- seven. His wife had died a few months previously, and they were both buried in the chancel, where there are inscriptions on a flat stone and on a brass plate to their memory. They left ten children. In May 1646, this house was made use of by the Commissioners for the King and the Parliament army in the treaty for the surrendering of Oxford ''. This house was pulled down in 1843. The vicarage was valued in the time of Henry VIII. at 40s. In the last century it was valued at 26/.; the present value is 195/. Popu- lation, 364. The advowson of the vicarage has been in the possession of the family of Whorwood since about the year 1600, when Sir W. Brome of Holton, whose daughter and heiress married a "Whorwood, exchanged land at Haseley and Albury, for the advowsons and parsonages of Headington and Marston, and the manor of Headington, Marston, and Bolshipton. In 1685 Dr. Edward Masters presented as trustee to Thomas Whor- wood, in 1705 Robert King presented (hac vice), and in 1718 the Bishop of Oxford collated. ' Kennett, vol. i. p. 475. Book I., p. 481 ; Kennett, vol. ii. p. 488. ^ Wood's Annals of Univ. Oxfortl, Croke's History of tlie Croke Family. WOOD EATON, PATRON. V-l^^U i^OOD. RICHARD WEYLAND, ESQ. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. North-^eet view of tlie Church rian of the Church. 190 WOOD EATON. The Church is situated about four miles from Oxford^ in a very picturesque spot, and indeed the whole village is quite like what all English villages used to be, for the Church is made the chief feature, standing out in an open space svirrounded by a low wall and shaded by trees, and on the north side of it lies the green, with a fine old tree in the centre, under which stand the stocks, and near to it the old cross raised on its three steps, though the shaft is now deprived of the sacred emblem of our holy Faith; in another part of the green is the common well with its sweet crystal water ; on the east side lies the rectory hard by, with its gable ends and porch, and massive chimneys ; on the west is the manor-house, well shaded by stately trees, with its usual companion, the rookery, and all around are scattered the neat cottages, each with its garden bright with gilly-flowers : but the Church is the building of Avhicli an account is here to be given. The present structure is Early English, though different in- sertions and additions have been made. In the Chancel, the east window has been destroyed, and a modern Perpendicular one of tln-ee lights has been inserted very high up in the wall ; in the north wall are two lancet windows, three-foiled ; in the south a large Perpendicular one of two lights, five-foiled, has been inserted towards the east end; there is a small Early English priest's door of elegant design, on the Avest of which, lower than the other windows, is a low side window, being a small lancet window, about four feet from the ground, but commanding hardly any view of the interior, on account of the straightncss of its splays, and the thick- ness of the walls. The chan- cel-arch appears to be Early ,,^( English; in the south wall is a piscina with iDrojecting liasin, and three-foiled arch. The ascent to the Altar is by two steps, and on the south side is a small and curious stone seat, with a l|!ili|lg||jl!|liii|!|i|!j|l!l|!|j||ij|iy^^ WOOD EATON. 191 carved elbow on the east side ; a similar stone bench, but with- out elbows, is carried from the Altar-steps some feet towards the west : these were the sedilia for the officiating priests. The roof is flat and ceiled, but covered with lead. The Nave has two Early English windows in the north wall, one a large one of two lights, the other a lancet, three-foiled ; there is a north doorway, now blocked up ; in the south wall, two lancet windows, three-foiled, and a large square-headed Perpendicular one of two lights, five-foiled and transomed, towards the east end : there is also a Decorated doorway and a modern porch; in the west wall there have been two lancets with a buttress between them, one of which is now blocked up ; originally, no doubt, there was a bell-turret, but a small Perpen- dicular tower of one stage, with a window of two lights on each side, has been added, and two pillars with north, south, and east arches support it inside, but tliey are all shut out from the Church, and the north and south ones have given way consider- ably, and wooden centerings have been constructed under them as supports, but apparently it will all come down soon ; the roof is of a good high pitch, but plastered off flat inside; it is covered with stone tiles. A stringcourse of the roll-mould- ing runs round the nave and north wall of chancel, under the windows. The Font is Early English, plain round. The pulpit is slightly carved, Grecian, and painted. In the nave, the seats are old with one or two poppy-heads remaining, but doors have been added to turn them into pews, and they are all painted : there is a great unsightly gallery, (as indeed all galleries are,) shutting out all the west end. The rood-screen is remaining, but is of late Perpendicular work. In the chest is an old altar-cruet, which is not now used; it appears to be made of bell-metal, and in shape, is something like the one in the Chapel of St. ApoUine, Guernsey, figured in " Specimens of Antient Church Plate, &C.'' S. ROOKE, ORIEL. Altar Cruet. 192 WOOD EATON. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In a charter of K. Athelstan, given at Dorchester, A.D. 938, this village is called Wdetun^ In a deed of gift to the abbey of Egne- sham, executed by Thomas de S. Walery in A.D. 1196, we find men- tion of W'deaton™. And in the inquisition made into the state of the forests of Shotover and Stowode, at Brehul, (Brill,) A.D. 1363, it is named Wodeton. Hence came the present name. John Whytton, who was rector of this parish about 1380, was a benefactor of Merton college, and seems to have been the intimate friend of John Bloxham, the seventh warden ; they were both buried in Merton college chapel, and the brass plate, with their effigies united under one canopy, still remains, with an inscription, stating that the brass was executed at the expense of John Whytton, who appears to have survived his friend. This village was formerly the estate of the Taverner family. It be- longed to Sir Rd. Taverner", High Sheriff for this county, A.D. 15G9, who built the manor-house in 1554. He died there July 15th, 1575. This Richard Taverner, although a layman, obtained a special licence from K. Edward VI. to preach in any part of his dominions. He was the author of the Postils, lately reprinted at the Oxford University Press. A short account of him and his works is given in the Beauties of England and Wales, Oxfordshire, p. 263, and a more complete one in Wood's Athenae Oxoniensis, by Bliss, vol. i. p. 419. From the Taverners the estate passed to the Nourse family, and from them, by marriage, to its present possessors, the Weylands. The old manor-house was pulled down in 1775, and the present one built. In 1676 some ancient British coins were found here, one of Cunobe- hnc, coined at Camulodunum, (Maldon in Essex,) as appears from the inscription, on one side is the figure of a horse and the ear of corn, and caynu, on the reverse ; another has a chalice and a crooked lineation, under which is a forked kind of figure and a small crescent. Some Roman urns have likewise been discovered in this neighbourhood °. The rectory was valued in the time of Henry VIII. at 10/. Os. 9d. ; it is now valued at 1G9/. The population is 86. ' Konnctt, vol. i. p. 217. " Vide Skclton's Antiq. Oxfordsliire. '" Ibid., vol. ii. p. MO. " Mag. Brit., vol. iv. j). 512. ELSFIELD. PATRON. St. ^Domas a iJccfecf, LIEUT -OOL. J. S. NORTH. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. ~*^^^~,,if~'itit±s^c^ MS^^S?- SouthWest View of the 'Jhurch. This village is prettily situated upon a hill about three miles from Oxford, and commands an extensive view. The Church is an interesting specimen of the Early English style, but is in bad repair. The Chancel has an open roof of tolerable but not the original pitch. The east window lately repaired, is Decorated, of three lights. The Altar is plain oak, raised on two steps c c 194 E L S F I E L D. above the level of the chancel, which descends with two more into the nave. Over the Altar is an oblong tablet, Avitli a square dripstone of Decorated date, probably for the re- ception of some piece of sculpture now destroyed. There is an Early English piscina, of the point- ed trefoil form, but broken. On the north side of the Altar is a plain bracket. ^*s.^ Dripstoce to Tablet in Chancel. Section of East Wiudo^v. On either side of the chancel are three elegant lancet lights, with a string-course running below them. The south-west window had a low side-open- ing under it, which is plainly visible on the outside, and in the inside the sill is brought down to form a seat, with a sort of elbow or stone desk, for a book. Exterior and Interior of tbe low Side Window. The Chancel-Arch is pointed, transition Norman. The Screen, Debased, about James I., painted stone colour. ELSFIELD. 195 >-^ Hoof of Na'^e. The Nave has a flat ceiling, which conceals an oak roof of good pitch, and of early character, though plain ; it appears to be of the fourteenth century. On the north wall are two large arches and a smaller one, which formerly opened into an aisle now destroyed. On the south side are two square-headed win- dows of three lights each. This side is said to have been re- built in the sixteenth century. At the west end are two ele- gant single lancets, now con- cealed inside by an ugly gallery. Near the west end, on the north side, is another lancet window blocked up. The pulpit is of the same date, and in the same style as the screen; the hourglass-stand remains. The seats are mostly open, of plain oak ; there are a few large deal pews, one of which contains a stove. The Font is plain Norman, of good dimensions, with a circular basin ; I it rests on one step. The porch, which is on the south side, is late and bad; it is surmounted by a plain Latin cross, and entered by a square-headed door. At the west end is a belfry of lath and plaster, containing two bells, on one of which is inscribed, in Lombardic characters, " Sancta Maria ora pro nobis." The de- sign of the west front with its two lancet windows, divided by a tall buttress up the centre, with two small buttresses at each of the angles, has been often and justly admired. In the Church-yard is a fine elm tree. G. S. MASTEU, B.N.C. y / / Section of South Door SecLiou of Laocet Window. 196 ELS FIELD. Ground Plan of the Church. HISTORICAL NOTICES. From (he Gentlemans 3Iaf/azine, October, 1799, cnmiminicaled by Sir Henri/ Ellis, and here reprinted uith his kind permission. EUesfield lies about three miles and an half from Oxford, on the summit of a hill, and is remarkable for little else than the beauty of its situation. In the Domesday Survey it is written Esefcld, perhaps from the Saxon hej-c-pelb, as it overlooks its neighbourhood. Allowing this, we have here a flagrant instance of the contempt with which the Norman scribes treated the Saxon names of our towns and villages. With politic and capricious views, they frequently miswrote them. In the Monasticon Ang. it is spelt Helsefeld, and Elsefcld. This church of Elsefeld had been consecrated in the year 1273, by R, bishop of Cloyne, in Ireland, delegated by the bishop of Lincoln. Universis presentes literas, &c. R. miseracione divina Clonen. episco- pus, &c. Noveritis nos vice vencrabilis patris R. Dei gracia Lincoln, episc. ecclesiam de Elsefeld septimo id. Julii, anno Dora, mcclxxiii. de- dicasse, et recepisse a procuratore rectoris dicte ecclesie duas marcas nomine procuracionis, racione dcdicationis ecclesie, &c.p In ... . William, son of William de Stratford, vfiih consent of Benet his wife, and William his son, gave to the priory of St. Frideswide the '■ Ex Chartular. S. Frideswidae in Mie Christi, Oxon. ap. Kennett, p. 106. Parochial Antiquities, vol. ii. p. lOI. ELSFIELD. 197 thirds part of the village of Elsfield, and afterwards his whole possessions in that manor, excepting one messuage, which he gave to the nunnery of Stodley^ Henry the First confirmed^ in 1132 William de Strat- ford's gift of a fifth of this manor, and granted to the priory the chapels of Hedington, Marston, and Binsey to which the Empress Maud added the chapel of Ellesfield. King John confirmed these *, and his charter adds, "in Elsefeld unam virgatam terrse cum pertinentiis suis, et de molendino ejusdem villse quatuor solidos." The chapel of Elsfield, however, seems, by a deed here copied from Dugdale's Monas- ticon", to have been originally given to St. Frideswide's by Hugh de Ellesfield. " Omnibus, &c. Hugo de Elesfeld, salutem. Sciatis me reddidisse, &c. Deo, & beatae Marise, et sanctse Frideswidse, de Oxene- ford, &c. capellam de Elsefeld, quae ad ecclesiam beatae Frideswidse per- tinet, &c. et ipsi canonici invenient mihi & capellse de Elsefeld imperpe- tuum capellanum qui assidue ibi sit & capellse deserviat. lidem etiam canonici concesserunt mihi et capellse de Elsefeld imperpetuum, ut pau- perum quae in villa de Elsefeld moriuntur corpora in cimeterio capellee de Elsefeld sepeliantur, & aliorum, qui ibi sepeliri voluerint de eadem paro- chia. Testibus," &c. Possessions at Elsefield were given, with other places, to the chapel of St. George, in Oxford castle, by its founder, Robert de Oilgi, or Oilli, the elder. But, in 1149, Robert de Oilli, his nephew, made a new as- signment of his uncle's gifts, and what the elder Robert had given to the seculars of St. George's, the younger transferred to the regulars of Oseney^. In 1240, Roger de EUendon was presented to this vicarage by the prior and convent of St. Frideswide. The prior and convent presented another vicar in 1251. In the hundred rolls temp. Edward I. the following persons are enumerated as holding land in Elsefield : — The prior of S. Frideswide, the fifth part of the manor ; the prioress of Stodley, three farms ; Lady Margaret de Rollright, part of the manor, probably the other four-fifths. Among the names of tenants, which it is not necessary to repeat here, occurs Roger le Despenser, holding under S. Frideswide's. ^ It was but a ffth, according to ' Alon. Angl. i. 175, 981. Henry the First's confirmation, Mon. ' lb. i. 982. Ang. i. 175. from the Register of St. " Ibid. i. 17G. Frideswide's in the library of C.C.C. " Parochial Antiquities, vol. i. p. 142. ' Paroch. Antiquities, vol. i. p. 402. 198 ELSFIELD. In the valor of 1291 (usually called Pope Nicholas's) the vicarage of Elsefield is valued at viij marks y; and in the Liber Regis Henrici VIII. at 61. 8s. l^d. In 1295, the vicarage having suffered much depreciation in value, in consequence of some years of scarcity, the prior and canons augmented the portion of the vicar by a quarter and a half of bread- corn, and the same quantity of barley, at the feasts of S. Michael Our Lady, and Pente- cost, till the living should return to its old value. Pateat universis, quod cum dominus Willielmus de magna RoUynd- ritht perpetuus vicarius ecclesie de Elsefeld, quam rehgiosi viri dominus prior et conventus monasterii S. Frideswide, Oxon. tanquam propriis usibus appropriatam detinent, reverendo patri Domino Olivero Dei gracia Lincolniensi episcopo super vicarie sue exilitate conquestus fuisset, tandem inter dictum vicarium querulum ex parte una, et piefatos religiosos ex altera, memorata querela in forma subscripta amicabili composicione quievit. Videlicet, quod dicti religiosi cognito quod porcio dicte vicarie propter quosdam annos steriles parochianorumque inopiam jam de novo diminuta fuisset, compassionis et caritatis intuitu, tria quarteria bladi apud S. Frideswidam Oxon. seu apud grangiam suam de Elsefeld, sine contradictione vel impedimento quolibet exsolvenda subscriptis terminis concesserunt, videlicet, ad festum S. Michaelis dimidium quarterium frumenti, et dimidium quarterium ordei, ac tantundem ad festum beate virginis, ita que tantundem ad festum Pentecostes, de bono blado ac etiam competente sine fraude qualicunque. Ita tamen quod si contingat dictam vicariam sic ad statum redire pristinum, ut ad ipsius vicarii con- gruam sustentacionem sufficiat, ut solebat, occasione concessionis prefate ad solucionem dicti bladi memorati religiosi nuUatenus teneantur. In cujus rei testimonium sigilla dicti prioris et conventus et vicarii huic scripto in modum cirographi confecto sunt alternatim appensa, et ad majorem rei evidenciam sigillum domini archidiaconi Oxon. eidem est procuratum apponi. Dat. Oxon. xv. kalend. Febr. an. Dom. millesimo ducentesimo nonagesimo quinto^. A.D. 1363. 37, 38, Edward III. An inquisition was taken at Brill about the state of the forests of Shotover and Stowode, and the trespasses committed in them, on the oaths of Robert Gannage, locum tencns for John Appulby keeper of the forest, J. Thorlton, W. Doffcld, T. Man, &c., y MS. Ilatton in Bibl Bodl. LXXXIX. folio 142. '■ Ex Cliartular. S. rrideswidae in JEdc Christi, Oxon. p. Iflfi. ELSFIELD. "199 who say that William Wyke of Ellesfeld, came by night within the bounds of the forest of Stowode, on Palm Sunday of the previous year, with bow and arrows, for the purpose of poaching the wild animals belonging to the king, and Henry Burstall forester, caught him. And they say that certain villages, of which Ellesfeld is one, are out of the forest, and have no right of common in the forest, but they take their pigs into the woods of the king, in certain proportions, Oke (Noke) 12 pigs, price 18s. ; Islep 20, price 32s. ; Wodeton 6, price 9s. ; Elles- feld 8, price 12s., &c. And they say, that where the foresters have been accustomed of old to have their pasture on the manors of their lords, as at Ellesfeld, &c., the value thereof is to be deducted from the value of the manors. And they say, that in the time of Robert de Ildesle, the trees were prostrated for the expences, and for the hospice for boys at Abingdon, of the foundation of the king ". In 1381, a dispute arose between the prior of St. Frideswide's and the vicar of Elsfield. The vicar entered a suit against the prior and convent, for keeping in their hands the whole right of the said church of Elsfield. Upon this the convent made an exemplification of an agree- ment made between their predecessors in the year 1295, by which the prior and canons, appropriators of the church, agreed to augment the portion of the vicar by additional allowance of one quarter and an half of bread-corn, and the like quantity of barley, at three seasons yearly. From Dr. Rawhnson's MS. Collections for an History of Oxford- shire, I have extracted the following memoranda, which throw some light on the history of property there. " EUesfield. — This place gave a surname to an ancient family that sometime lived here, for I find that one Gilbert de EUesfield lived here in King Edward the First's time, who married Joan, the daughter of Sir William de Bereford, knt., living at Brightwell, in this county ; but it did not long continue in this name, for William, a grandchild of the aforesaid Gilbert, dying without male issue, it came to ... . who married Anne, co-heiress of the said William; and Juliana, the other co-heiress, was married to one Thomas de Loundrers (as appears by the descent), but I suppose that this lord- ship by partition, came to Anne, who also dying without male issue, it came to John Hore, of Childerley, co. Cambridge, who married Joane, the daughter and heir of Anne. This John, and Gilbert, his son, resided altogether there. Not long after this, about the beginning of the reign a Ex Cartul. de Borstal), f. 111. ap. Kennett, vol. ii. p. 1 10. 200 ELS FIELD. of Henry VII., their male line failed, and this lordship with other lands came to the Pudseys, for Edith, niece and heir to the last Gilbert (being the daughter of John Hore, his brother), residing at EUsfield, taking a particular fancy (being then a widow without issue) to Rowland Pudsey, a younger son of Henry Pudsey, of Barford and Bolton, in Yorkshire, then a student at the University of Oxford, and a gentleman finely ac- complished, married him, by which means their posterity have ever since enjoyed it." Of this family was Hugh de Puteaco, or Pudsey, bishop of Durham, 1153, who for 3000 marks purchased of Richard I. the earldom of Northumberland for his life, but was, not long after, deprived of it, be- cause he contributed only 2000 pounds in silver towards the king's ran- som at his return from the Holy War. See Gibson's Camden, II. 960, 1104. In 1645, Michael Pudsey, Esq., died here at the age of 84, and was buried in the chancel, and there is an inscription on a brass plate to his memory, with his coat of arms, inserted in the middle of an old grave- stone brought from Ensham Abbey, round the margin of which are the remains of this inscription in black letter : — " l^tc : jacct : J"ratcr : 3of)anncs : ttc : cri)iltcnl)am : quonUam : ^libas : Intjus : loci : cujus : animc : pvopiticlur : Dcus :" John de Chiltenham was elected abbot of Ensham in 1316, and resigned in 1330 ^ Sir George Pudsey, knt. recorder of Oxford in 1685, was the last of the family who resided here. He sold the manor and estate, of about 1200/. per annum, to Lord North (father of Lord Guildford) for 25,000/.'^ Among the later vicars, Mr. Francis Wise, eminent as an antiquary and a Saxonist, should not be forgotten, A short life of him may be seen in the Lives of Leland, Hearne, and Wood, vol. i. part ii, p. 26. Some additional anecdotes may be found of him in Mr. Nichols's Anec- dotes of Bowycr ; and a singular account of Dr. Johnson's visit to him at Elsfield, in Mr. Boswell's Life of the Doctor, 2nd 8vo. edit, vol. i., p. 236. In the last century it was in the patronage of the J'^arl of Guildford, and still continues in the same family. It was certified to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty to be of the yearly value of £20. In the re- turns to the Commissioners in 1832 it is valued at £215, and the popu- lation is reckoned at 185. " Willis's Mitred Abbeys, vol. ii. p. 177. " MS. Rawl. in Bibl. Bodl. NOKE. PATRON. DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. ,^t. ffiilcs. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OP PLOUGHLEY. 30^. Nave . Chancel 36 by 16 14 by 14 3 This is a small Clmrcli, consisting of a Chancel and Nave^ with a small bell-turret at the west end. It was originally Early English, but has been so much modernized that hardly any of the Early English features are now visible. Chancel — the cast window is square-headed, of two lights, modern, but with the sill of the Early English window. In the south Avail is a plain double lancet, under one square head in- side. The chancel-arch is apparently Early English, ill pro- portioned, and misshapen from the settlement of the side walls. The roof is ceiled. Nave — there is one obtusely-arched lancet window at the west end. The bell-turret is square, built of wood, and plastered D d 202 N O K E. on the outside^ with a stone-tiled capping. There is a north door stopped np^ and a sonth one with porch, of plain Early English work. On the north side of the chancel-arch is a Perpendicular niche, low down. The roof is of good construc- tion, and appears to be early, though the timbers are roughly finished off: it is covered with Stonesfield slates. The Font is Early English, of a cylindrical form, larger in circumference at the vertex than at the base, and it stands on a round base, the upper edge of which is chamfered. Its position is between the north and south doors, a little to the west ; it is lined with lead, and has a drain, but a pewter basin is used. The Pulpit is of carved oak, in the Italian style of James I. Tlie seats are old, open, of oak, with square ends and good mouldings, with book-boards. There is a great gallery shutting out all the west end. In the splay of the north-east window is an iron hourglass-stand. In the chancel is a mutilated recumbent figure of a man in stone, of the time of James I., which, together with a small brass now let into the wall just above, used to be in a chapel which formerly stood on the north side of the chancel, but of which no vestige now remains, though an account of it is given below in the Historical Notices. The brass is to Johanna Bradshawe and her two husbands, William Manwayringe and Henry Bradshawe. She rebuilt the chapel, and died A.D. 1598. In the chest is an old Bible in black letter, not now used. S. ROOKE, ORIEL. HISTORICAL NOTICES. Noke is usually spelt in ancient writings Oke or Ake. Within this parisli was a considerable estate comprehended in the original grant of the liberties or fee of Islip, made by Edward the Confessor to the Church of St. Peter, Westminster, and those inhabitants did suit at the Abbot's court. The manor of Noke was granted by the Conqueror to WilHam Earl Warren ; from liim it passed, tlu-ough a series of undistinguished pro- NOKE. 203 prietors, to Sampson Foliot, in the time of Henry III., who was sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and one of the commissioners to enquire into the tenure of all the lands in Oxfordshire. From him the manor and advowson of the church descended to Henry le Ties, a nobleman who had also obtained a grant of Sherborn, and was sum- moned to Parliament 15 Edward II., but having joined in the northern insurrection, he was taken prisoner and suffered death at London. The hamlet of Noke, with his other estates, descended to his sister and heiress, Alice, wife of Warine de Lisle. From this family it came by marriage to Thomas Lord Berkley, who was married at the age of fourteen to Margaret de L'isle, aged eight years, A.D. 1366, at Wen- grave, Bucks. At his decease it passed to Elizabeth, his only child, the wife of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. On the division of his estates, after his decease, Noke was sold, and passing through several hands became the property of the Fermours, by whom it was sold to Benedict Winchcombe, before mentioned, who, having no children, devised it to his nephew, Benedict Hall, Esq. His descendants con- tinued to enjoy these estates till the following century, when they were alienated to Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, who pulled down the family mansion, or manor-house. In the 1st Edward VI., according to the Chantry-roll, Noke contained " sixty houselying people," [or persons accustomed to receive the Holy Communion, probably at that period about a third of tlie population,] and that there were certain lands of the annual value of twopence, given by some unknown person towards finding a lamp-light at the Altar within the Church, but that no ornaments, plate, jewels, or stock, belonged thereto. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Joan Bradshaw, a lady then resident in the village, and the grandmother of the lord of the manor, repaired the Church, and erected a chapel on the north side of the chancel, for a burying-place for herself and her descendants of the Winchcombe family. Here she was afterwards buried, anno 1598, and a sumptuous monument was erected. In the same chapel was a fair raised altar-tomb of black marble, on which was the effigy of a man lying on a cushion, for Bene- dict Winchcombe, who died 102 3, bequeathing a sum of money for the repair of the Church, leaving one sister, Mary, his heiress, who married William Hall, Esq. This chapel being considered private pro- perty, and neglected by the descendants of the Halls, after the alienation 204 NOKE. of their estate in the parish, it fell into decay, and was taken down by the consent of the feoffees of the Winchcombe charity. The materials were used for the repairs of the chancel, and some parts of the monuments affixed to the walls, where they still remain ; but the tomb of Benedict Winchcombe was entirely done away with except part of his effigy, the figure being broken off at the knees'*. RECTORS. — Walter, died 1272. 1272. John de Draycote. 1293. Richard de Scirehum. Richard de Southampton, died 1320. 1320. John de Okele. Henry de Emberton, died 1345. 1345. Richard de Engleby. 1511. Edward Halsall, William Ashfield, died 1529. 1549. John Donyell. Robert Warland, died 1636. 1 636. Hugh Holden. John Gilder, died 1697. 1689. Richard Vesey, B.D. 1732. Charles Hall. 1739. Gilbert Stephens, died 1773. 1773. Alexander Lichfield. 1804. Edward Turner. 1840. J. Carlisle. PATRONS. Sampson Foliot. Henry Ties. Henry Ties. Gerrard de L'isle. Collated by the Bp. of Lincoln, by lapse. Hy. Bradshaw,Esq., Attorney- General. Benedict Hall, Esq. Benedict Hall, Esq. Martha May, of Kidlington. Francis Earl Godolphin, and Duchess of Marlborough. Charles Duke of Marlborough. George Duke of Marlborough. George Duke of Marlborough. George Duke of Marlborough' At the general valuation of ecclesiastical benefices, 26 Henry VIII., the Rectory of Noke was valued at viij/. 2^. \0d. In Bacon's Liber Regis, 1786, the clear yearly value is stated at 421. In the returns to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners it is valued at 90/., and is in the patronage of the Duke of Marlborough. The population is 187. '' Alderman Fletcher's MBS., at Oxford, ap. Dunkin, vol. ii. p. 85. BECKLEY. PATRON, THE REV. T. L. COOKE. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN, HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. Ground-Plan of Cburcli. This Church is chiefly of the fourteenth century, but the nave was rebuilt late in the fifteenth. The tower is placed between the nave and the chancel, and the work is so plain that it is diflicult to assign a date to it, but most probably it was built at the end of the fourteenth century, the period of tran- sition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular style. The Chancel is good Decorated, very similar in style to the south aisles of St. Mary Magdalene and of St. Aldate's churches in Oxford, which were built about 1320. The cast window is of three lights, of flowing tracery; the side windows of two lights, in the same style. In the heads of these windows are some beautiful remains of painted glass of the fourteenth century. On the south side are two windows and a small 206 B E C K L E Y. door, and a string, wliicli is carried over tlie liead of the door, forming a dripstone. Near the east end is a small plain piscina, with the pro- jecting basin restored, and a narrow stone shelf. The Altar- platform is raised two steps ; the Communion Table is of Wall-plate in Ctiaucel Koof in Chancel. plain oak ; the enclosed pews have lately been cleared out of the chancel, and re-placed by open seats against the walls, Avith desks in front of them. The roof is i of plain timber, of the canted form, open to the ridge and ceiled to the rafters : it has only one tie-beam, and the wall-plates have Decorated mould- ings. On the north side there is only one window, and an opening like a doorway, but not reaching to the ground. Tower — The chancel-arch and the other three arches of the toAver are quite plain, recessed, and chamfered, the chamfers dpng into the piers. The belfry Avindows are of two lights, quite plain, but these, as well as the masonry, appear to be Decorated work. The parapet and cornice are Perpendicular. The sanctus-bell hangs ' ..,,,,;„:-...':,; -■ n\ a small opening, with a foliated iunct Nonh.ast Angi. BECKLEY. 207 head just below the cornice and above the level of the windows. The staircase to the tower is in a very good round turret at the north-east angle. This appears to be early Perpendicular work. The Nave is Perpendicular, about the time of Henry YII. j it has only two arches on each side, plain, on clustered pillars, with moulded caps. The clerestory windows are square-headed, of two lights. The roof appears to be original, but is partly hid by a plaster ceiling. The west door is good Perpendicular ; over it is a Decorated window of three lights, quite plain, with mullions crossing in the head, but with a Decorated drip- stone : this window appears to have been preserved when the nave was rebuilt. The Font is plain, round, and massive ; it is placed against the north-east pillar of the nave, attached to which is a small stone desk, supported by a shaft of Perpendicular work ; this appears to have been made for the purpose of carry- ing the book for the priest at a christen- ing. There is also a wooden desk attached to the south-east pil- lar, probably for pla- cing the book of Ho- milies upon. The North Aisle is Perpendicular, but earlier than the nave, the east window being in a style of transition from Decorated ; and the roof is below the points of the arches ; the windows are early Perpendicular, rather clumsy ; the north door, of the same age, is now stopped. Font and Stono Desk. 208 B E C K L E Y The South Aisle is partly Decorated and partly Perpendicular ; the two western windows are of the same style as the chancel ; the two eastern ones are Perpendicular, of three lights, with the heads nearly flat. On each side of the east window are corbels for images, marking the site of an Altar. In the head of this window are some good old painted quarries. There has been an opening from each aisle through the wall by the side of the chancel-arch in an oblique direction towards the high Altar, of the kind called a squint, or lately a hagioscope ; that from the south aisle is of the usual size and form, and about level with the eye ; that on the north side is more remarkable, the opening in the chancel being of the size and form of a door- way, but not reaching quite to the ground, and there is a shallow projection on the outside to make room for the squint ; the opening from the aisle is an actual doorway, giving access also to the tower staircase. Both these openings are blocked up, and partly concealed. The South Door and Porch are Perpendicular, with a good small window on the east side, and a niche for a stoup, with the square stone basin re- maining perfect on the east side of the door. The Pulpit and Read- ing-desk are of plain oak, painted red ; this paint should be clean- ed ofl'. The hourglass- stand remains. The seats are mostly good old open ones, of solid oak, Init a few have h;ul deal boxes built upon them, which ought to be removed. There is a very ugly west gallery and staircase, with two absurd wings to it, filling up half an arch on each side, for South Door. B E C K L E Y. 209 the purpose of keeping the singers warm and comfortable. The points of the tower-arches are concealed by a ringing-loft, which is so rotten that the ringers are afraid to stand in it, and obliged to ring from the ground, and which is therefore merely a great deformity to the Church, without being of any use whatever. Few Churches could be restored to their original beauty at so trifling a cost as Becldey. The chancel has already been done, in a great degree, and in good taste, and the thanks of our Society are due to the incumbent, especially for restoring to view the valuable original timber roof, which may serve as a useful model, i.h.p. HISTORICAL NOTICES. The village of Beckley is situated about five miles north-east from Oxford, on the borders of Otmoor. The Roman road from Allchester to Dorchester passed through this parish, and considerable remains of it may still be distinctly traced, particularly across Otmoor and in some arable land on the hill in a direct line from it, full particulars of which will be found in Mr. Hussey's excellent account of the Roman remains in the neighbourhood of Oxford, lately published by the Ash- molean Society. The British saint Donanverdh'* is recorded to have been buried at Beckley, which may be considered as proof that this part of the country had become Christian before the invasion of the Saxons. The parish of Beckley formed part of the hereditary posses- sions of King Alfred, bequeathed by him to his kinsman Osserth, in his will, which is still extant, and has been printed by the University of Oxford''. In the time of Edward the Confessor it belonged to Wigod de WaUingford. After the Norman conquest, Beckley being the capital seat of the honor, which afterwards bore the name of its possessors, De Iveri and De S. Walery, formed part of the grant to Robert de Oily, on his marriage with the daughter of Wigod de WaUingford, and was transferred by him to his sworn brother in arms, Roger de " Kennett, vol. i. p. 30 ; and Leland, "> Will of King Alfred, 4to. p. 17. Collect., vol. ii. p. ^6'.). E e 210 BECK LEY. Iveri*'. In the Domesday survey it is thus entered, as translated by Bawdwen : — " The same (Roger de Ivery) holds Bechelie. There are six hides there. Land to seven ploughs. Now in the demesne two have ploughs and six bondmen, and eleven villanes, with six bordars, five ploughs. There are twenty acres of meadow ; and pasture one mile long, and two quarentens broad. Wood one mile long, and a half broad. It was worth one hundred shillings, now eight pounds'^." Previous to this transfer to Roger de Iveri, Robert de Oily had how- ever given two parts of all the tithe of Beckley, and half a hide of land in Stodeley, belonging to Beckley, to his new foundation of a college, dedicated to St. George, in Oxford castle. This grant was confirmed by Roger de Iveri, and they were considered as joint benefactors, the whole foundation being afterwards merged in Osney abbey ^. Roger de Iveri died in 1079, and the honor of Beckley became the property successively of his three sons, Roger, Hugh, and Jefiery^, who all died without issue, the last named Jeff'rey in 1112, and the property then fell to the king, who granted it to Guy de S. Walery, who was related by marriage to the family of the Conquerors. He died in 1141, leaving his possessions to his son Reginald, a supporter of the Empress Maud, for which he was deprived of part of his possessions by King Stephen : but these were restored to him by Henry II.'' He was one of the barons convened to the council of Clarendon, being an opponent of S. Thomas of Canterbury, and was sent with other nobles to Lewis King of France, and to the Pope, but without success. He died in 116G, leaving his possessions, including Beckley, to his son Bernard, who being beyond the seas at the time of his father's decease, the king issued a precept to secure his rights and properties till he should return, which is printed by Kennett'. Reginald de S. Walery also left one daughter, Maud, wife of William de Braose, a potent baron, who " for her bold and resolute behaviour to King John, was miserably famished, with her eldest son, in Windsor Castle," in 1210. ^ Reginald de S. Walery granted the church of Beckley to the Precep- tory of Knights' Templars at Sandford, as appears by the charter which is printed from Wood's MS. in Bibl. Bodl. 10. in Warton's History ■• Kcniictt, vol. i. p. 7.J— 77. e Kemictt, vol. i. p. 113. •• Ap. Duiikin, vol. i. p. 102. h Jbid., p. ].5(i. ' Rcgist. Osney, MS. fol. I. i Ibid., p. 1G9. ' Domesday Hook, and Oseney Reg. J Matt. Westni., sub an. ap. Kennett, vol. i. p. 85. BECKLEY. 211 of Kiddington, p. 34, and again by Dunkin, vol. i. p. 95 ; but it seems to have been speedily restored to his family, as in 1226 it was given to the prioress and convent of Studley in this parish. A.D. 1184, 30, 31. Henry II., Bernard de S. Walery founded a nunnery at Stodley in this neighbourhood, which he endowed with half a hide of land in Horton. A.D. 1189, 1. Richard I., on the return of Bernard de S. Walery from Normandy, his lands, which had been disseized, were restored to him by the new king : who at Christmas, after his coronation, passed over to Normandy, to prepare for his expedition to the Holy Land, in which pious adventure he was attended by Bernard de S. Walery. For the better success of his expedition to the Holy Land, in his passage through France, he, with his wife Alianore, laid the foundation of a monastery called Godstow, the name derived from that in this county, built on the land which he gave for that purpose to Henry 11. His new monastery was situated on the river Breston, between Picardy and Normandy, in the duchy of Eu. A.D. 1207, 8, 9. King John, Thomas de S. Walery gave to the nunnery of Stodley, of his father's foundation, three shillings a year rent in Beckley ; and by another charter he gave to the said nuns, in every week, one carriage of dead fuel in his wood of Horton [in this parish]. A.D. 1226, 10, 11. Henry III., Robert Earl of Dreux, [and ex- duke of Lorraine,] lord of the honor of St. Walery, i. e. the manors of Ambrosden, Horton, Beckley, &c. and Alianore [daughter of Thomas de S. Walery] his wife, gave to the nuns of Stodley the church of Beckley. After this date frequent entries occur of presentations to the church of Beckley, by the prioress of Stodley*^. But the advowson returned for a considerable period to the lords of the manor (see p. 213), though the priory afterwards recovered it. A.D. 1227, on the sequestration of the estates of Robert ex-duke of Lor- raine, &c. for high treason, the manor of Beckley, together with the whole honor of S. Walery, were committed to the care of Richard Earl of Cornwall, the brother of King Henry III. ; and in 1230 the same was granted to him in perpetuity, the king specially covenanting that if it should so happen that it should be necessary to restore these lands to the said duke, for the sake of peace, the earl or his heirs should have a ^ Mon. Ann., vol. i. p. 487. 212 BECKLEY. reasonable compensation in proportion to their value at the expense of the crown'. In consequence of this charter it is probable that Earl Richard enlarged or rebuilt the ancient mansion in this village, heretofore belonging to the lords of S. Walery, in a style of magnificence corresponding to his princely- fortune and the ideas of the age, as it is evident, from several charters and other instruments dated from this place, that both he and his son Edmund made it one of their principal residences. It is also probable that at this period the extensive park eastward of the village was enclosed or enlarged. A considerable tract of country is still known by the name of The Park. — [Of the house here mentioned as the residence of Richard King of the Romans, brother of Henry III., some portions were standing within a few years, and the site may still be traced with tolerable clear- ness by the moat and earthwork. The last piece of masonry which re- mained was a round tower, long used as a pigeon-house, of which there is an engraving in Mr. Dunkin's work.] A.D. 1231, Richard Earl of Cornwall was married to Isabella Countess of Gloucester, sister of William Mareschall, Earl of Pembroke "*. A.D. 1253. The king passing over to Gascoign committed the custody of his whole kingdom to Richard Earl of Cornwall and Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York ; which Earl Richard granted to the monks of Okeburry a release of suite and service within his honor of Waling- ford, which charter has a seal appending, bearing an impress of the said earl, armed on horseback, with a lion rampant crowned on his surcoat, inscribed " Sigillum Richardi Comitis Cornubise." A.D. 1256. Richard Earl of Cornwall was elected King of the Romans on St. Hilary day, at Francfort. To secure this honour he had com- pounded with the electors for large sums of money : the Archbishop of Cologne 12,000 marks, the Archbishop of Mentz 8,000, the Duke of Bavaria 1 8,000, and some of the other electors 8,000, computing each mark at twelve shillings [making the enormous sum of £27,600 in the money of that day, equal to nearly a million sterling of our money.] A.D. 1257, 41, 42. Henry III., Richard Earl of Cornwall, lord of tlte manors of Ambrosden, Beckley, &c., having been elected King of the Romans in the preceding year, the Archbisliop of Cologne, the Bishop (jf Liege, the Bishop or Utrecht, the Earl of Holland, and other nobles, came over to conduct him to his new kingdom ; upon which he ti^ct sail ' I'lacit. (lu ijuo Wananl., l.'J E. 1. rot. 25. '" Lelaiul's Collectanea, vol. i. p, '1'25. BECKLEY. 213 at Yarmouth, April 29th, with forty-eight ships, and May the 5th arrived at Dort in Holland, thence to Aquisgrane, where on Ascension-day, May the 1 7th, he was solemnly crowned, with Senchia his lady empress, hy Conrade Archbishop of Cologne". An account of his voyage and coro- nation is given in a letter from himself to Prince Edward, dated from Aquisgrane, May 18." A.D, 1258. Richard King of the Romans having his treasure this year computed, was found able to expend a hundred marks a day for ten years, besides his standing revenues in England and Almaigni'. A.D. 1261, 45 and 46 Henry HI. At this period we find Richard King of the Romans residing at his house in Beckley, and acting as umpire in a dispute between Roger de Amory and the abbey of Oseney, respecting the manor of Weston, which he settled by a compromise, the abbey retaining the manor but paying 300 marks for it. The same year, Nov. 9th, died Senchia wife of Richard King of the Romans. About Candlemas there was a Parliament held at London, where the king and barons referred their differences to the arbitration of the King of France, and Richard King of the Romans. [From this period the history of this great man is so much mixed up with that of the country and of Europe, that it is not necessary for our purpose to attempt to follow it. He was reported to be the wealthiest man in Europe at that period. He died in 1272, at Berkhamstead, after a long paralytic illness. He had been so great a patron of Walter de Merton, that this munificent prelate, in 1274, founded his college in Oxford, "pro salute animarum Henrici quondam regis Anglise nee non German! sui Ricardi Romanorum regis inclyti et hBeredum suorum."] A.D. 1268. There was now, by the king's assent, an aid imposed on the inhabitants of Beckley, and all other tenants of Richard King of the Romans, to raise the money he had expended for his redemption when a prisoner to Montfort's party ; and this illustrious prince sailed over again to his kingdom of Almaign, and there on June 16, married [his ^third wife] Beatrice niece to the Archbishop of Cologne [and daughter of Theodoric de Falkemontei.] On August 3rd he arrived at Dover, where the nobility with great honour received him*'. A.D. 1272. After his death, on Wednesday before Palm Sunday, an inquisition was taken of his lands in these parts, and it was returned upon " Chron. Thos. VVikes, sub an. P Kennett, vol. i. p. 358. " Aiinal. Moil. Biutoii., p. 376, ap. '* Lelaiul's Collect, vol. ii. p. 119. Kennett, vol. i. p. 356. Sandford 95. ■■ Kennett, vol. i. p. 378. 214 BECKLEY. oath, that the manors of Beckley, &c. were held by barony of the honor of St. Walery ; that the advowsons of the churches of Beckley and Am- brosden belonged to the said manors ; and the advowson of the church of Mixbury to the manor of Willarston ; (and indeed it was seldom seen that the possession of the manor and patronage of the church were in several hands, before the perpetual advowsons were given to the monks;) .... that his son Edmund was next heir, and on the feast-day of S. Ste- phen last past was of the age of twenty-two years. This Edmund Earl of Cornwall having succeeded to the large possessions of his father, con- tinued to make Beckley a frequent place of residence. He died at his convent of Asherugge, on the 1st of October, 1300, without legitimate issue ; his honours and lands fell to the king, Edward I., whom he had before declared his heir. In his treasury were found infinite sums of gold and silver, and great store of jewels. The following account of the honor and village of Beckley is given in the Hundred Rolls, 7 Edward I., A.D. 1279 :— The honor of St. Walerie de Becklyee. The jurors say, that the lord Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, holds the honor of S. Walerie, which descended to him in hereditary right, after the death of his father, Richard Earl of Cornwall, as his son and heir. Of which honor the said Edmund holds several manors in the hundred of Bolendon. Beckley. Also the said Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, holds the manor of Beckeley, with the advowson of the church in demesne of the lord the king in capite, with all the appurtenances, by military service, whereof he holds in demesne two carucates of land, with a certain park, and one outwood, which is called Horhemewood. Also there are holden of the same earl, in the said vill. three virgates and a half of land, in villenage of the said earl, doing service yearly to the said earl, at his will. Also there are holden of the same earl, at the will of the said earl, nine cottages doing service yearly to the said earl, at the will of the said carl, and they are holden of the lord the king in capite. Free tenants. Also there is holden freely of the same earl, one virgate of land, paying yearly eight shillings suit to the court of Beckley, from three weeks to three weeks, and royal service as much as pertains to the same tenements. Also there are two carucates of land, and eight cottages pertaining to the church, doing royal service, as much as per- tain to the same tenements. BECKLEY. 215 A.D. 1301, 29, 30. Edward I., the king presented to the church of Beckle, as having the honor of S. Walery escheated to him^ A.D. 1308, 1, 2. Edward II.* Within the first year of his reign, the king made a grant in fee of the whole earldom of Cornwall, the honour of St. Walerie, with Beckley the capital manor, and all other lands which Edmund Earl of Cornwall held at the time of his death, as well in rever- sion as possession, to Piers de Gavestone, who held them for some years, notwithstanding the strong remonstrances of the barons, who eventually put him to death in -1312. On his death, the barony of S. Walerie reverted to the crown, when the king immediately granted it to his new creature, Hugh Despenser, senior, who accordingly obtained a charter for the manor and park of Beckley, to be held upon the same services as Edmund Earl of Cornwall had performed for them. A.D. 1315, 7, 8. Edward II. Sir John de Handlo, of Borstall, pre- sented a clerk to the church of Beckley, the head of the barony of St. Walerie : which was granted to him by his potent friend and relation, Hugh Despenser, senior". [From the style of the chancel and some other parts of this church, it would appear to have been rebuilt during the time that this Sir John de Handlo held it.] A.D. 1337, 11 and 12 Edward III. Sir John de Handlo holding the manor of Beckley during his life, William de Montacute, earl of Salisbury, obtained now from the king a grant in fee of the said manor of Beckley, in reversion after the death of Sir John de Handlo'^. This Sir John died in 1346, leaving Edmund de Handlo his grandson (by Richard his eldest son, who died in his father's life, and Isabel his wife) his next heir, at this time seven years of age^ ; he died in his minority, in 1355, and his manors descended to his sisters Margery and Elizabeth. Margery was married twice, first to Gilbert Chastelein, secondly to John de Apullby. Elizabeth was married to Sir Edmund de la Pole, younger son of Sir William de la Pole, of Kingston-upon-Hull^ But several of the manors of Edmund de Handlo were held for her life of Isabel his mother, daugh- ter of Almaric de S. Amand, who attended the king at the battle of Cressy, and did good service there. In 1357 we find this Almaric lord of the adjoining manors of Beckley, co. Oxon, and Grendon, co. Bucks, which having formed part of the possessions of Edmund de Handlo, were probably held in trust by Almaric for his daughter Isabel and her chil- s Kennett, vol. i. p. 494. " Ibid., vol. ii. p. 69. ' Thirl., p. 509. '' Ibid., p. 89. " Ibid., p. 532. '' Ibid., p. 114. 216 BECKLEY. dren. It does not appear that the grant to the Earl of Salisbury was carried into effect. A.D. 1352, the prioress and nuns of Studley procured licence to appro- priate this church to their convent from John Bishop of Lincoln. A vicarage was then instituted, and an annual pension allotted to the vicar, while all oblations, Easter offerings, &c., together with all tithes in Beckley, and in the hamlets of Horton, Studley, and Marlake, were reserved to the prioress and convent^. A.D. 1363, 37 and 38 Edward III. An inquisition was held at Brehull (Brill), of the state of the royal forests of Shotover and Stowode. At this period John de Appulby was keeper of the forest. The jurors say that certain villages, of which Beckley is one, are out of the forest, and have no common in the forest, but they take their pigs into the woods of the king, in certain numbers, of which Becldey ten, price fifteen shillings. And they find that where the foresters have been accustomed of old to have pasture on the manors of the lords, as at Beckley, &c., the value of their pasturage should be deducted from that of the manors. A.D. 1379, 1 Richard II. From an inquisition taken at Woodstock in this year it appears that this manor, with its appurtenances, was held by Sir Nicholas Bonde, Knight, of Edward Prince of Wales, and Joan, his wife, the father and mother of the king ; and that the said Nicholas again enfeeoffed the said prince thereof, who, in 44 Edward III. enfee- offed the king of England with the same''. This estate appears to have then remained for a considerable time in the immediate possession of the crowTi ; for in 1385, Richard II. granted letters patent to Richard Forester of Beckley, empowering him to take customs of all wares that shall pass through the north street in the parish of St. Clement, near Oxford, to repair the highway between that city and Headington hill"^; and in 1457, King Henry VI. presented Archbishop Chiclielc with twelve trees from his park at Beckley, towards building All Souls College'^, From this period we have been unable to trace any particular notice of this manor, until tlic time of Hemy VIII., when it became the property of Lord Williams, probably by a royal grant, as he was one * Appropriatio eccl'sie Ac Bckkclcgh No. 81. priorissu ct coiivcntori de Stoddo 18 Kal. <= I'esliall's Oxford, p. 286. Mali 13-52. Keg. Gynwell. ap. Dunkin, "* Spencer's Life of Chiclielc, vol. ii. vol. i. p. !)7. p. I(j9. ^ liHiiiisit. post mortem, 1 Ric. II., BECKLEY. 217 of the courtiers of that monarch, and a tool of Thomas Cromwell. From the inquisition taken at his death, it appears that he died in possession of the manors of Beckley and Horton, jointly valued at £24. 9s. Id., with all reprisals, and that the same were held of the king, but by what services the jury were ignorant. This estate then became the property of Henry Norreys, in right of his wife Margaret, the daughter and co-heiress of Lord Williams. In the 40th of Ehzabeth, Lord Norreys, and Margaret his wife, obtained licence of the queen to alienate the manors of Beckley and Sydenham to Sir Anthony Powlett and others, for certain uses ; these, no doubt, related to a settlement of the same upon Francis his grandson, to whom his chief estates devolved on his death, A.D. 1601. The estate at Beckley comprised the manor, with 20 messuages, 10 tofts, 20 gardens, 200 acres of land, 400 of meadow, 600 of pasture, 600 of wood, 4000 in fields and plains, and £3 in rents ^. By Bridget his wife, he left one sole daughter and heir, named Elizabeth, who became the wife of Edward Wray, Esq., of Glentworth, in the county of Lincoln. From an inquisition taken during the lives of these parties, it appears that this gentleman and his wife held the manor of Beckley of the king in capite by military service, and the park of Beckley for the fortieth part of a knight's fee. Their only daughter, Bridget, who inherited the title of Baroness Norreys, married Edward Sackville, Esq., second son to Edward, earl of Dorset : but the civil wars commencing, her husband ranged himself under the banners of King Charles and was wounded in the battle of Newbury, Sept. 20th., 1641. In 1646, ac- companying a party to Kidlington, three miles from Oxford, he was taken prisoner by the parliament forces, and afterwards cowardly stabbed to death by a soldier at Chawley, near Abingdon, from whence he was taken to Witham and buried : he left no issue. His widow Bridget, by a second marriage, carried her numerous estates to Montague, earl of Lindsay, another noted partisan of the king and one of his privy coun- cil. He departed this life at Lord Camden's house, in Kensington, 25 July, 1666. By the before-mentioned Bridget, his second wife, he had issue, 1, James Lord Norreys, 2, Edward, who died young, 3, Cap- tain Henry Bertie, and a daughter, named Mary, who married Charles Dormer, second Earl of Caernarvon, and died Nov. 29, 1709. In con- sequence of a previous settlement, the hereditary estates of the baroness ' Lethieullier's MS., No. 4701, B. 0, Ayscough's Catal. if 218 BECKLEY. Norreys devolved to her children after her decease, and the greater por- tion, including Beckley and Horton, became the property of James Lord Norreys, created by King Charles II., Earl of Abingdon, in which noble family the estate still remains ^. In Pope Nicolas's taxation, A.D. 1291, the Church of Beckley was taxed at lOZ. ; and in the Inquisitiones Nonarum, taken A.D. 1342 (15 Edw. III.) at 13/. 6s. 8d; and at the valuation of ecclesiastical benefices, 26 Hen. VIII., this Church was valued at 16/. 15^. lid. The rectory impropriate, valued at £8., was granted by King Henry VIII. to John Croke, Esq., and alienated by his grandson to William Shillingford, alias Izode, or Izard, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, The latter gentleman, a person of very considerable property, formed the rectory-house into a commodious habitation, which continued to be the principal residence of himself and his descendants for several generations, one of whom sold the impropriate rectory of Beckley to the duke of Bedford, whose successor again alienated it about 1 700 to Edward Bee, Esq. The rectory devolved to the Rev. Dr. Leigh, Master of Balliol college, Oxford, by his marriage with the daughter and only child of Mr. Bee, from whom it descended to the Rev. T. L. Cooke, the present proprietor. In 1718 this Church was served for£10. 10s. per annum, being an im- propriation, as appears by a letter from the Rev. Mr. Watkins, minister there, quoted in Bacon's Liber Regis, but it was not certified into the Exchequer, or to the governors of Queen Anne's bounty. It is now valued at £112 ; population 776. In this parish are the hamlets of Horton and Studley, which together contained in 1811 sixty-two houses, inhabited by seventv-five families, chiefly engaged in agriculture*^. HOKTON. The hamlet of Horton chiefly consists of some farm-houses and cot- tages erected on the verge of a common or piece of waste land on the border of Otmoor, and is two miles distant from Beckley. At a very early period a church or chapel was built for the use of the " Dunkiu, vol. i. ]>. 112, 4to. b Dunkin, vol. i. p. 124. HORTON— STUDLEY. 219 township, which was given by Wachehne Hareng, who then held it of Bernard de St. Walery, to the abbot and convent of Eynsham "=, in the reign of Henry II. From the endowments of this chapel the monks of Eynsham after- wards reserved a pension of something more than four shiUings per annum, as appears by the deed of confirmation granted by Hugh Wells bishop of Lincoln. How long it continued to exist as a place of worship is uncertain ; it is not mentioned in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, nor in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henry VIII. A tradition exists respecting its site, which is said to have been in a field still called Chapel Close. The inhabitants of the hamlet now usually attend at the chapel at Studley House. In the year 1764 Margaret and Stephen Wheatland gave by will 230/. 105. ll^d. 3 per cent, consols, for teaching ten children of Beckley and Horton ; which sum in 1823 appears to have been vested in the names of Thomas Nichols, — Stephens, and William LedwelH. This is recorded in the Parliamentary Digest of the Reports of the Charity Commissioners, published in 1841. STUDLEY. The Pjiory Studley is situated on a hill, a short distance above Horton, and is partly in the second division of the three hundreds of Ashendon, countv of Bucks, and partly in the hundred of BuUington, in the county of " Reg. Eynesham MS. cartg. 102. ap. '' Diiukin's Oxfordshire, Ajipendix, Kennett, and ap. Dunkiii, vol. i. p. 125. No. 8. 220 S T U D L E Y. Oxford : it is a chapelry of the vicarage of Beckley, and has been deno- minated such ever since the erection of a chapel here by Sir George Croke. The hamlet is fifteen miles west of Aylesbury, and seven miles north-east by east of Oxford. In 1803 that part in the county of Bucks was only assessed at 2s. Gd. in the pound, while the Oxfordshire portion was rated at 5s. 8d. In the reign of King Ethelred, Studley, or Stodileye, or Estodeley, was the property of Ailmer, earl of Cornwall, said by Dugdale to be a nobleman of " singular piety^," and given in exchange to his kins- man Godwyne, A.D. 1005, for some lands in Eynsham, where he founded an abbey of the Benedictine order, and was buried in the church of the monastery''. At the Norman invasion, it was included in the honor bestowed upon Robert D'Oilly, who gave half a hide of land therein towards the endow- ment of St. George's church in Oxford castle. This donation was subse- quently transferred to Oseney abbey, with the other estates belonging to that church, and confirmed by Jeffrey de Ivery, the superior lord, in the fourteenth year of King Stephen. About the middle of the reign of Henry II., Bernard S. Walery, lord of this manor, and of the late barony of Ivery, founded a Benedictine nunnery in this place, which he dedicated to St. Mary, and endowed with half an hide of land. For the histoiy of this priory our limits compel us to refer to other works. It will be found in the Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. i. p. 48G ; Tanner's Notitia Monastica, p. 426 ; Dunkin's Hundred of Ploughley, vol. i. i)p. 130, 179; and in the History of the Croke or Le Blount family, by Sir Alexander Croke, vol. i. pp. 408 — 437. At the dissolution of the smaller religious houses, 26 Henry VIII., the excellent character of the inmates of this priory procured it the special recommendation of the Commissioners to royal favour. This averted its impending fate for a few years, but in 1540, 31 Henry VIII., it fell in the common ruin. Sir Jobson Williams having obtained from the affrighted sisters, assembled in common chapter, a deed of surrender on Nov. 9. of that year : this deed is printed by Dunkin, with a translation. The prioress and nuns were allowed pensions for their lives; that of the prioress was £16. 5s. 8d., equal to at least £325 of our money : those of the nuns varied from 26s. 8d. to 40s., and for • Baronage, vol. i. p. ,3, 2.1 1. *> Mon. Ang., vol. i. p. 220. STUDLEY. 221 shillings we may safely read pounds in reducing them to our present standard. Of these pensions only one continued to be claimed fifteen years after the dissolution. In a little more than three months after the afflicted sisters had been driven forth from their habitation, the king, by letters patent, bearing date Feb. 26, in the thirty-first year of his reign, granted to John Croke and his heirs (inter alia) the site of the priory of Studley, the manor of Studley, the rectory of Beckley, and the advowson of the vicarage of Beckley, as fally as the prioress of Studley held them at the time of the dissolution. Some fragments of the ancient buildings of the priory were dug up a few years since by Sir A. Croke, who made drawings and etchings of them, which he published in the History of his Family, vol. i. p. 437, and also presented a copy to our Society ; they are chiefly of the thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries, and were apparently parts of the chapel. The present appearance of Studley priory is that of a very picturesque Elizabethan house, beautifully situated. The Chapel is attached to one end of the house, and is quite of a domestic character, with square- headed transomed windows ; it has a wooden bell-turret on the roof. Some of the seats are open, with carved poppies of Elizabethan work, among which is a cock : they are unusually tall, being five feet high. The Communion-table is plain, of the same age, with the slab still detached, according to the custom of that period : the pulpit with its canopy is of the same character. The hourglass-stand remains attached to one end of the reading-desk. At the west end of the chapel is a gallery with a screen under it, with balustres both above and below, all of the same style. This chapel has a flat plaster ceil- ing, and there is a loft over it, which appears to be the original ar- rangement. It was built in 1639. The house may be generally described as a long range of buildings, constituting a centre and two wings ; the latter divided into offices, stables, and other conveniences. Some portions of the interior of the building belonged to the old priory, as is indicated by the great thick- ness of the walls, one of which is seven feet thick. The central division, now formed into a handsome mansion, is considerably elevated, and the front commands an extensive view of the surrounding country, com- prising Beckley, Otmoor, &c. On the eastern side of the priory two bay windows have been lately 2-22 STUDLEY. added. The principal entrance is by a porch on the west side, orna- mented with Doric pilasters, surmounted by others of the Ionic orders. Four shields, exhibiting the armorial bearings of the several families into which the first lay possessors intermarried, are placed above the arch, inscribed with their several names, Croke and Cave ; Croke and Unton ; Croke and Blount ; and Croke and Bennett. Over them is the motto of the Crokes, Virtutis amore. Between the three first is the date 1587, and under Croke and Bennett 1622. On the centre of the pediment over the door is a rose under a crown, between the initials E. K., for Ed. VI., and over it the following inscription : — "Fear this glorious and fearful Name, the Lord thy God. Honour the King." Over this is a book open between two cherubs' heads, and upon its pages the Greek word eEOS. The chapel was built by Sir George Croke in 1639. The stables have the date of 1666, and the initials of Alexander Croke. Without, and nearly opposite the park-gate, is a range of alms-houses, erected by Sir George Croke, for four men and four women, A.D. 1636; for the better regulation of which he drew up a code of orders, which are now in full force, and the presentations made accordingly. He also settled a rent charge of twenty pounds a year for a clergyman who should preach once every Sunday, there, or in the chapel at Horton, [since de- stroyed.] This was a great convenience to his own family, the poor people in the alms-house, his tenants and neighbours ; the parish church being at Beckley, at the distance of two miles'*. One of these orders is, " That from henceforth public prayers shall be read in the almeshouse in their several chambers by course, or in the chappell belonging to the mansion house of Studley every monwige and evenmge, at certain hours, and that the same prayers shal be the Confes- sion of Sinners, and such other prayers now used in the Church of England." Provision is also made for payment to the curate or school- master, if any such shall be resident in Horton or Studley. The poor men are to be called together by a bell, and any that are absent without just cause are to be fined^. "= Par. Antiq., vol. i. p. 141. «; Sir A. Croke, Appendix xxx., vol. ii. '' Sir A. Croke, vol. i. p. 587. j). 8(J0. STANTON ST. JOHN. PATRON. 5t. %of)n 33apttst. NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. •Cvr* View of the Church from the South-East. This Church appears to have been built in the time of Edward I. The Chancel is a fine and valuable specimen of that age, the period of transition from the Early English to the Decorated style. The Tower was added or rebuilt in the fif- teenth century. The Chancel, which is the most important feature of this Church, is a composition of singular character and great beauty ; the north and south side are each in two divisions with a buttress between ; the two divisions on the north, and the eastern one on 224 STANTON ST. JOHN. the south side, each contain two very beautiful lancet windows with delicate mouldings and trefoiled heads ; these are widely splayed within, and with beautiful suits of mouldings ; the interior arches are depressed, and the arch-mouldings at the corners cross in a very elegant man- ner; the corbel-heads between are well cut : the accompanying engravings wall, however, explain better than a descrip- tion. The south-west division consists of a small door and one window, which ^^'^^ ^^^°r °^ f'""^"^^' ^ (Exterior. 1 is wider than the rest, but in other respects similar; the Corbel Heads, North side of Interior of Chancel. Female Head, South side. dripstones over these windows are well moulded, and termi- nated by the peculiar ornaments called Masks, or Notch-heads. In the interior the terminations are heads, elegantly carved, among which are a king and a bishop very similar to those of the east window of Merton college chapel, and female heads with the chin-cloth, very characteristic of the period. The but- tresses are of two stages, and bold pro- jection ; the ta])lct-moulding under the lower stage runs quite round the chan- cel, and is remarkaljle for its singular character, and the curious hollow, which however does not add much to the eflFcct, 3 '^^■ ,2i?-a?.3»*.v» iiuttreases of Chancel. STANTON ST. JOHN. 225 East Window. Side Wiodow of Cbaucel (interior.) Hecessfor Easter Sepulchie. 226 STANTON ST. JOHN. in consequence of its small distance from tlie ground, tliat under the upper stage runs round the buttresses and stops against the Avail. The east end is a very beautiful but singular composition, remarkable for its window, which is a large one of three lights, the head is formed by a stright- sided triangle inscribed in a lan- cet arch, and straight lines drawn parallel to these sides from the summits of the two mullions, the lozenge-forms in the tracery are very beautifully feathered ; the dripstone is good and charac- teristic, terminated by heads ; the Mouldings of East window. inside is still more beautiful, the arch-mouldings are the same as those of the other windows, except that they are a trifle larger, the mullions have small attached shafts terminating in heads instead of the common foliaged cap ; the mouldings of the tracery are very delicate and beautiful. This window was once evidently filled with painted glass of the same date as the chancel ; some of which yet remains in the tracery to attest its excellence; the north-east window is still filled with it, of the common geometrical character, and the arms of Clare occur in it ; two more of the north windows are half full of painted glass, the re- mainder are filled up with brick, and one whole window by a large marble monument; in the south window there is a beautiful remnant of painted glass, the subject seems to be two persons carrying a shrine, which is censed by two angels, while two men are prostrate in adoration before it ; the canopies in it are of early Decorated character; on the north side there is the arch of an Easter sepidchre; the crockets and bases of the pinnacles have been cut away. On the south is a plain piscina. The ceiling of the eastern division of the chancel, over the Altar platform, is canted, and divided into square compart- ments by wooden ribs, witii bosses at the intersections ; these STANTON ST. JOHN. 227 Chancel Door. are alternately square four-leaved flowers, and shields of arms; they are painted blue, red, and white, and on them occur the arms of New College, shewing that it was put up by that Society after their pur- chase of the Church, soon after the Dissolution. The chancel door has a good dripstone ter- minated by masks, and united at the top with the moulded string, which is carried over it so as to form a square head. The chancel-arch is transition Norman, pointed and quite plain : the arch not recessed, and the imposts square, not even chamfered, and it has no labels. The Nave is divided from the aisles by three arches on each side, those on the north are of much ruder workmanship than those on the south ; the piers are square and massive, and the arches pointed with a mere chamfer ; they belong to the period of transition from the Norman to the Early English styles, having Norman imposts and labels : those on the south are Decorated, having good labels, the roll-moulding terminated by, and meeting in a head, the costume of which is the same as those in the chancel ; the caps have Deco- rated mouldings of not bad character. The cle- restory windows are over the piers, and not over ' the centre of the arches. Some very good old pews, or as they are more usually called open benches, remain, with very curious carved poppies, consisting chiefly of small heads, two on each standard joined back to back. Some of these are heads of horses, others grotesque figures, but some are human heads, with costume of a very Interior. Clerestory Window. Exterior. 228 STANTON ST. JOHN. Poppy-heads in Nave, c 1530. Bench-ei:ds and Poppy heads iu Nave c irao STANTON ST. JOHN. 229 marked character of the time of Henry VIII. The exterior of the nave is of Decorated character; the south aisle small and low^ and the clerestory windows above are spherical triangles, the interior mouldings cinquefoiled ; the entrance to the Church is in this aisle ; a plain Decorated doorway, unprotected by a porch. The north aisle is much wider, with a high-pitched roof almost as high as that of the nave ; this aisle is Perpen- dicular, but the south-west window is Decorated, preserved from an earlier structure, the rest square-headed Perpendicular; there are some fine and large buttresses to this aisle. On the east gable of this aisle is a very good Perpendicular cross, canted and ornamented with a four-leaved flower near the extremity of each of the arms, the base ornament- ed with trefoils on each face ; on the east gable of the nave is the base of a sanctus-bell niche. In the north aisle there is a chantry surrounded with very beautiful oak open screen-work, which retains many traces of its former brilliant colouring ; there is a beautiful early Decorated piscina on the south side, in a singular project- ing mass like a buttress, and a locker on the north side: in the eastern wall another water-drain, like a piece of a stone spout through the wall, this is on the north side of the Altar, and low down, so as to be convenient for pouring into. From these remains it would appear that this inclosure was most probably a vestry, in which, according to custom, there was an Altar for rehearsing the service, with all its appurtenances. It is lamentable to see this curious and interesting inclosure now filled up with new deal pews, of the most approved box form. The Font is octagonal, quite plain, and remarkably low, standing on the ground without any steps. The wall above the Altar was covered with paintings. Cross on East Gable. Waterdraiu at East end of NorUi Aisle. 230 STANTON ST. JOHN. There is a current tradition tliat this aisle was built for the in- habitants of Woodpery, in place of rebuilding their church after it had been destroyed, with the whole village, by an acci- dental fire in the fifteenth century. There was also a chantry in the south aisle ; the piscina remains, as also some wood- work, on which are some very good paintings of angels. The Tower is of Perpendicular date, with a staircase-turret on the south side, not at the angle, but nearer tbe south-east than the south-west angle ; it contains five bells and a clock. The tower-arch is of simple and bold character, and of good pro- portions. In the west window there is a very curious small circular panel of painted glass, on which is represented a man in a fighting attitude, with sword and shield, in a remarkable costume of the time of Edward I., so that this piece of glass must have been preserved from an earlier window, as is frequently the case. The old Rectory-house, which was standing until within these Rectory -House , in 1835. four years at the soutli-east corner of the Church-yard, was a valuable sjjccimen of the domestic architecture of the fourteenth century: its destruction is very much to be regretted. We are indebted to the zeal and taste of the late Sir Alexander Croke, of Studlcy, for this representation of it. x. simpson, oriel. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In Domesday Book, it is written Stantone, and was held by Ilbert de Laci, of the Bishop of Baieux. A.D. 1141, G, 7, King Stephen. This church was granted to the STANTON ST. JOHN. 231 convent of St. Mary, at Reading, by the empress Maude ; the deed of presentation, and the confirmations of it are printed in Kennett's Par. Ant.^, Stanton St. John, so called because the family of St. John of Lageham, in Surrey, were lords of it so early as King Henry HI.'s days, and continued so to the 25th of Edward HI. and after, for we find the Lord St. John of Bletsho, Earl of Bolenbroke, in possession of it 1st of EHz., as being a branch of that antient family of St. John of this place ^. A.D. 1181. A composition was made in the Church of Stanton, and afterwards fully confirmed at St. Frideswide's, in Oxford, between the Abbot and Monks of Ensham, and the Prior and Canons of Bicester re- specting the tithes of Stratton ^. 1184, 30, 31, Henry H. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, confirmed to the Abbey of Ensham, the Church of Stanton ; the gift of John de St. John. A.D. 1229, 13 Henry III. Roger St. John, of Stanton, did remit and quit claim (as his father had before done) to a mill and five virgates of land in Weston, adjoining to Burcester, called Simeon's land, which had been granted to the abbey of Oseney''. A.D. 1254, 39 Henry HL By the hundred Rolls^* of this date we find that Lady Emma de St. John held the manor of the value of 20/. [about 800/. of our money] as her dowry, with ten hides of land held under the king by the service of the third part of a knight's fee. A.D. 1290, aut circiter, temp. Edward L'" At this period John de St. John held the manor of hereditary right, and had three plough lands and two meadows- called Sideleme and Hildesden, and common pasture in Menemers and Bernwood, also two woods called Hornle and Sidele, and two mills which paid 22s. a year. The abbot of Ensham was patron of the Church. A.D. 1323, 16, 17 Edw. II. John de St. John, lord of the manors of Staunton St. John and Great Barton, departed this life, leaving John his son and heir fifteen years of age ; and Alice his widow, who after married to Reginald de Pavely, lord of the manor of Wendlebury^. A.D. 1340. Sir Richard d'Amorie assigned over fifty acres of land in Staunton St. Johns, to Matthew Clyredon, with other property. In trust for himself, and for Richard his son and heir, on occasion of his joining an expedition in Flanders. ^ Kennett, vol. i. p. 132. '^ P. 38. " Mag. Brit, vol. iv. p. 411. ' Hot. Hand., p. 713. " Kemiett, vol. i. p. 201. ^ Kennett, vol. i. p. 563. << lb., p. 290. 232 STANTON ST. JOHN. A.D. 1390. Simon, son of Walter de Wodeham, in the county of Surrey, released to Nicholas de Loveyn,' knight, and Margery his wife, all his right in the manors of Staunton St. John, Barton and Lageham, com. Oxon ; from which family of Loveyn, the possessions passed to that of St. Clare ; of whom Sir Philip St. Clare, knight, died pos- sessed of the manor of Staunton, as demesne of the king in capite, 10 Henry IV., and left John his son and heir a minor in ward to the king ^. The manor and rectoiy were purchased by New College immediately after the suppression of monasteries : we find that in 1534, 26 Henry VIII., Wilham Fleshmonger gave £200. towards the purchase of the manor of Stanton St. John's; and in 1535, Thomas Milling also gave 300 marks towards the same purchase'. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII. the manor with its appur- tenances belonging to New College is valued at 22/. 4s. 2d. The living was valued in the Ecclesiastical Taxations, A.D. 1291, at 6/. 135. 4d. ; in 1341 it was still valued at the same sum*', though assessed at 61. : in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII.' it is reckoned at IG/. 9^. 4^d., net value. It is now valued at 287/., and the population is 470. •> R. Dods. MS., vol. xxxvii. and xli., ap. Kennett, vol. ii. p. 126. ' Wood's Oxford, by Gutcli, vol. iv., p. 1S5. J P. ;ii. *- P. 134. ' P. 171. Ground riau of the Cburch WOODPERRY. AN ECCLESIA DESTRUCTA. This, which from long acquiescence, and in some degree per- haps, from unity of possession in the hands of the same pro- prietors during three centuries, has, for many years past, been considered a hamlet or tithing of Stanton St. John, appears to have been once a distinct parish or district, possessing a place of worship and cemetery of its own. For, in the Valor of Pope Nicholas, the abbot of Oseney is stated to have a portion of tithes worth 6s. 8d. per annum, in ecclesia de Wodepyrie indecimali. Tliis portion, as will appear below, consisted of two-thirds of the tithes, which, having origi- nally been granted by Robert de Oily the elder, to the secular priests of St. George's chapel within the castle of Oxford, were transferred by Robert de Oily, the nephew, to his new foundation at Oseney in 1129. The only inference, however, attempted to be drawn from the use of the word " Ecclesia'' in this passage, is, not that there was then a church at Woodperry, but that there existed in it a rectory, or property in tithes, distinct from those of its neighbour Stanton ; and this is placed beyond a doubt by the " Ecclesia de Staunton" being afterwards separately noticed in the same record, and estimated to be worth £6 13s. 4d. a- year. In the inquisitiones nonarum, in the 15th year of Edward III., (1340,) the following entry occurs : — "Wodepirie. Ecclesia Parochialis ejusdem cum omnibus suis porcionibus taxatur ad xiii^. iiiif/. cujus nona pr?edicta assedetur ad xiii*. iiii^. et non plus, per jurat ores et inquisitorcs praidictos." King Henry VIII.'s commissioners, in their return of pensions and portions due and unpaid to the monastery of Oseney, have H h 234 W O O D P E R R Y. under the title Woodpcrry, " De X5. de portione decimarum infra parochiam ibidem per annura^ nil :" and in tlieir account of the possessions of New College, they carefully distinguish the lands in Wodbury from the manor, &c., of Staunton Seynt John. Farther, the Studley chartulary expressly calls this a parish^. " Fines et limites parochise ecclesise de Beckleye. Sepe vo- catum Arnegravchegh quod est inter quondam campum voca- tum Borstallfelde dividit parochiam de Beckleye a parochia de Brehull. Et per illud sepe extendit se parochia de Beckleye, et ducit idem sepe recte ad quondam rivulum Denebrooke nun- cupatum, qui quidem rivulus pertendit usque ad clausum Domini Richardi Damori. Qui quidem clausus dividit paro- chiam de Beckley a parochia de Woodperrye." In the preamble to the Stanton Inclosure Act, passed in 1777, it is mentioned, and evidently with some doubt as to its proper description, as "a certain farm, estate, or tithing, within the said parish, called Wood- perry, which is free from tithes ;" and though now rated together with that parish for the repairs of the church and support of the poor, it still retains its own surveyors of the roads, does suit and service to a different court, at which, previous to the late change of the law, the tithingman was always appointed, and came into the possession of its present owners by a title altogether distinct from that of the other. With regard to the existence of a church or chapel here, there had always been a tradition in the neighbourhood to that effect ; and it was added, that upon its being destroyed, the in- habitants purchased for themselves the privilege of attending divine worship at Stanton St. John, by building the north aisle of the present church. Of the truth of the latter assertion, there is not known to be any proofs. About twenty years since, a labourer, felling a tree which stood near the S. E. " F. 5. quoted in Sir A. Croke's His- account of the church of Woodpery tory of the Croke family, vol. i. p. '1'32. brings it down to so late a period, and the note. fragments discovered all belong to an ^ Circumstances seem rather to con- earlier period. It seems therefore, most firm the tradition ; the aisle is unusually lu-obable, that the fire which destroyed large, and has clearly been rebuilt and the village and church, took place early enlarged in the 15tli century, while no in the fiflecntli century. W O O D P E R R Y. 235 corner of the wall of the kitchen garden belonging to the mansion-house, in a field called Upper Ashen Close, found beneath the root of it the skull and part of the bones of a man. The singularity of the circumstance attracted his attention; and considering what chance, (for it could hardly be design,) had placed these relics of mortality in such a situation, it occurred to him that the spot on which he was at work, must be part of the church-yard of which he had often heard, and subsequent researches proved this to be the fact. As far as can at present be ascertained, along the highest part of the mound below the garden wall, stood the church, (or whatever it was called), and around it, to a considerable extent, was the cemetery. The hollow near it, running up to the garden wall on one side, and on the other winding with a gentle curve towards the water, is said to have been the " town road ;" and over the whole extent of the field are scattered the remains of the village houses and buildings, extending nearly down to the little stream below, and reaching through the small close beyond it, up to the Horton road. In searching over the ground once occupied by the church and church-yard, very numerous interments were found in the latter of bodies lying side by side, in the usual direction, at no great depth, which had apparently been buried in ordinary wooden coffins. What had been the site of the body of the church was still clearly distinguishable by the different coloiir of the soil, or rather rubbish, found in it, and by the absence of interments, three only excepted. But the walls of the edifice had been entirely removed, save only a small por- tion of the foundation of that on the south side, and another not so large of what was possibly part of the church-yard wall. These were purposely suffered to remain still undis- turbed. The first of them is about eighteen feet long, by some- what less than three in thickness, and seems to have had two clumsy buttresses : the second is nearly 14 feet long by 2i wide. The three interments already mentioned to have been within the body of the church are further to the west, and are 236 WOODPERRY. marked by three stones, lying side by side, two of which are ridged en dos d' ane as it is called, having raised ornamented crosses along the top ; the third, that to the south, is flat, scored ^eCtlOTTS Fret ^^onumental 81at9. down the middle with three lines, and crossed by similar ones near the top and bottom. The two latter are broken across. The bodies were found beneath, and had been buried in wood only, but there was neither trinket or any thing else to denote who these personages were, or at what period they had been so deposited. Indeed, from the fashion of two, at least, of the stones, it niiglit have been supposed their corresponding stone coffins had disappeared, and they had been used a second time to protect bodies to which they did not WOODPERRY. 237 belong, were not such an idea at once disproved by the fact, that the intervals between them were carefully filled up with encaustic tiles (many more fragments of which kind were found dispersed), shewing that no previous removal had taken place. These tiles have been carefully preserved, and one of each pattern deposited in the Ashmolean Museum, they are of the thirteenth century, as indicated by the patterns, which present remarkably good specimens of that age ; among them are the badges of Richard, earl of Cornwall, and king of the Romans, who resided principally at his mansion in the adjoining village of Beckley, and was proprietor of this manor; they are a lion rampant, crowned, his arms as earl of Poictou, and this badge is found on his seal, as mentioned under Beckley, p. 212, the other is the spread eagle of Germany, his badge as king of the Romans. In the course of the search, some portions of the building were brought to light, which, though inconsiderable, are curious and interesting, as tending to shcAV Fragtnenta of the aooieut Church. its style and date. They consist principally of parts of a Nor- man arch or doorway, and two mullions and jambs of windows, and all the fragments seem to be either of the twelfth, thir- teenth, or fourteenth centuries. There is also one perfect 238 WOODPERRY. stone of an elegant Gothic canopy, Avliich possibly may either be part of a cross, or perhaps of a build- ing over some holy spring, for it was found away from the church, in the close adjoining the Horton road, and near the brook, the Fragment of anoiemoross. source of which is not far off. No endowment of the church having been traced, and one, at least, of the fragments of the building indicating that it was of early date, it may not be unreasonable to hazard the conjecture that its authors were the abbot and canons of Oseney. There remains, however, one question which will naturally suggest itself, which is, why a spot so pleasantly situated, and once apparently so populous, should have been deserted. Tradi- tion says, this was owing to an accidental fire, which burnt the whole village, and compelled the inhabitants to take refuge in Stanton ; and undoubtedly the quantity of charred wood found amongst the ruins, with the paucity of slates, shewing that the general covering was of thatch, Avould seem to give weight and authority to the suggestion. On the other hand, the builder of the mansion, which is of the early part of the last century, may have thought his neighbours too many and too near, and trans- ferred them, as in the case of Nuneham, elsewhere. But inquiry has failed to throw light on the real circumstances of the case ; and the bviildings having been originally constructed for the most part of flat stones uncementcd by mortar, their remains have offered a most convenient stone quarry, which has been used probably in the first instance for constructing the walls of the garden and pleasure ground, (not those of the house,) and for many years past in the repairs of the roads, till every thing which could furnish a date has disappeared, and, what is more to be regretted, almost every thing has been disturbed. In clearing and levelling the ground in the course of the last few years, a well has been found still in good preservation, aljout twenty feet deep, the water flowing through it and not standing W O O D P E R R Y. 239 in it j and a number of keys^ which must have been tied together^ with a heap of cinders near them, seemed to indicate the site of a smiths shop. But the most curious fact which these researches have disclosed, is the indubitable evidence which they have afforded as to the inhabitants of the spot at a remote period, — of a previous settlement or villa of the Romans. Traces of that extraordinary people may be found over the whole neighbour- hood, but nowhere more abundantly than here. They consist of fragments of pottery in great variety of patterns, and many similar to those preserved in the museum at Bonn ; of the fine red ware called Samian, both plain and elegantly embossed with figures; of pieces of cinerary urns, yet bearing distinctly the marks of fire, and in one case containing what appear to have been the burnt ashes of a human being ; together with an almost inexhaustible store of the coarse tiles used for supplying warm air to apartments'^. Added to these, a few trinkets in bronze, arrow-heads, and other instruments in iron, and brass coins of Domitian, Hadrian, Maximian, Constantino, and Claudius Gothicus, have been dug up. HISTORICAL NOTICES. Woodpery, Wodpary, Wode-pire, pirie, piry, or pyri, (for it is found spelt in all these forms,) would seem to denote a town or village in a wood. But in the great charter of Robert de Oily to Oseney abbey, we find him granting a portion of tithes " de Wode Pire et de Pyria," which words so connected almost imply that the epithet Wode was used to distinguish it from some other Pire or Pyria, in which the etymology of the name must be sought. The notices respecting it are scanty. There were originally a manor and lay rectory here, and the former was a part of the barony of S. Walery. Robert de Oily the elder, after founding his chapel of St. c In some instances they are found to mortar by the succeeding inliabitants of have been pounded and nsed to make a hiter period. 240 W O O D P E R R Y. George, afterwards made a parochial church, within the precincts of Oxford castle, endowed it (amongst other things,) with two thirds of the tithes of this place. From this time it formed part of the honor of S. Walery, (for which see Beckley, p. 210) and is frequently mentioned as such ; it occurs in inquisitions of the 39th Henry III., 7th Edward I., 28th Edward I. 1296. 24-25 Edw. I. Robert Bell de Wodepirie appears as a witness to a deed of grant and quit claim '^. Circa 1303, 32 Edw. I. Robert de Wodepyri is one of the jury upon an extent of the manor of Ambrosden, taken on an inquisition^. 1315. In a return of the limits of Bernwood forest, made upon oath, Wodeperie wood is stated to belong to Richard de Aumarie^ This must have been as tenant only. 1317, May 24, 10 Edw. II. The king grants to Richard D'Amory and his heirs, free manor in all his demesne lands of Bokenhalle, Blech- edon. Stoke de ITle, Wodepiry, and Bix Gibwyn, co. Oxon, with other lands in Somerset and BucksS. 4 Edw. III. Richard D'Amory died possessed of Woodpary manor''. 1330, 4 and 5 Edw. III. John de Eltham, second son of Edw. II., having been advanced to the title of Earl of Cornwall, has now a grant from the king, his brother, of the manor of S. Walery, &c.', but dying unmarried without issue in 1336, it again reverts to the Crown k. 1360, 34-35 Edw. III. The king grants to John Chaundos the manor of Wodepery, co. Oxon, to hold by the accustomed service. This was said to be the celebrated Sir John Chandos', slain ten years afterwards in France, whose death is mentioned with so much interest and feeling by Froissart. He was of kin to Sir Richard de Amerie'", which may have been one reason of the grant. 2 Henry IV. February 1 1 . The king grants to William Willicotes, Esq., and his heirs, free warren in all his demesne lands of Willicotc, or Alvescote, in the county of Gloucester, and in the manors of Ipwell, Walcote, and Wodepary, in the county of Oxon" ; and in the 12th Henry <> Kennett, vol. i. p. 4G6. ^ Kennett, vol. ii. p. 157. •^ Ib.,ii. p. 411. ■" P. 1.'54. ' lb., i. p. 529. " Cat. Rott. Chartt, p. 195. His name « P. 5;57. 1 Rott. Chartt. sub anno. was not derived from Wilcot, co. Oxon, ^ Inquis. post mort., vol. ii. p. 30. but from a property in Gloucestershire, ' Kennett, vol. ii. p. 15. ibid. ^ Pp. 32. 159. W O O D P E R R Y. 211 IV. he is returned to have died seized of ness 'tur et reddit' in Noi'thlye, Weahcott, Wodeparye, and Ypwell, co. Oxon°. 24 Henry VI, EHzaLeth Blaket is found to have died seized of this manor'', and also to have held Madecroft, and Horley's close''. Early in the sixteenth century, the estate was purchased by the Warden and Scholars of New College, Oxford, from Sir John Brome, of Holton, an ancestor of the Whorwood family, and was conveyed as a lay rectory, with lands appurtenant to it, a peculiarity not easily to be accounted for, but by supposing that the manor had become extinct for want of the requisite number of tenants to support it. It may not be uninteresting to add that this spot is noticed by the celebrated antiquary, Thomas Hearne. In his diaries preserved in the Bodleian Library, he gives us the following particulars in his account of a walk which he took to Studley, on Saturday, March 31st, 1716. " Having done at Borstall, I returned homewards, and stopping at the Royal Oak, at Stowe Wood, (on this side Beckley,) Master Haynes, the tenant of the house, told me that his mother was living (somewhere about Woodbury Farm, I think,) being about 1 02 years of age. " The said Woodbury Farm is above a quarter of a mile from Stowe- wood, and Haynes gave several reasons to shew that it was formerly a town. He says many foundations of buildings appear continually, and that in a plain below the farm houses many human bones have been dug up at different times, and that this was the Church-yard, and that there- fore the Church stood there." He also gives some account of the building of the mansion-house in his diary for the year 1732, vol. 137, p. 100, saying that " Woodbury house was built by Mr. Morse, a bachelor of 74 years of age, that he was worth £300,000 and was purchasing estates. I have heard that he was a partner in Child's house." That respectable firm, upon being applied to, confessed their belief that they had once had a partner of the name; added to which, " Mr. Morse's exors." are found rated in the parish books of Stanton for the year 1750"". And in the iron-work on the gate in front of the house are the initials I. M. or T, M. with the crest, a battle-axe, which probably may have been the crest of the Morse family, as Edmondson blazons their arms thus : — Argent, a battle-axe in pale gules, between three pellets. ° Cal. inq. p. mortem, vol. iii. p. 334, i P. 306. No. 55. No. 41. ■• Constable's Book. The rate is uijon P Vol. iv. p. 226. No. 33. property in Stanton. I i PATRON. MISS BISCOE. HOLTON. 5t. 33artl}oIomcb. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. Northe• Val. Ec, ii. 171. atioii, Wood's MS. D. 14. 262 WATER-PERY. p. 217. Waterpery , Thomley, cum Ledall. Rectory, with demesne lands, meadows, feedings, pastui'es, let on lease to John Brown, Knt., is worth, per annum \jZ. xiiJ5. iiijrf. In quit rent of the same John for certain lands in Ledehaull to the amount of vijs. vjd. per annum, The Abbot prays to have the following payments allowed : — Portion to the Prioress of Goring and her successors for ever, for tythes in Thomley per annum xs. Perpetual pension to the Vicar of Waterpery, for a certain tythe per annum, as per account xxvjs. viijrf. Procurations paid tothe Archdeacon of Oxford, yearly vijs. vijfc?. And the clear value is iiij/. ixs. — ^d. The Abbot and Canons of Oseney had also lands and tenements in Ledehall, of the yearly value of 51. '2s. 6d. 1538. When Henry the Eighth seized the possessions of Oseney', he granted the Rectory of Waterpery to Chamberlayne and Andrewes. 1543. Richard Curson, son of Walter, purchases the Rectory from Chamberlayne and Andrewes. 1562, July 1, Vincent Curson, grandson of Walter, purchases the manor and estate of Waterpery and Ledall from Thomas Typpinge, Esq., of Shabbington, who had bought them of Sir George Tyrrell, on the 20th of May previous. The Cursons continued to own the estate, and in most cases to present to the Vicai'age, till the close of the eighteenth century. In Bacon's Liber Regis, p. 797, it is stated that Sir John Curson presented in 1682 ; Thomas Rowney, Esq., 1716 ; the King, 1719 ; and the clear yearly value was £35. In consequence of a munificent gift by the late Joseph Henley, Esq., an augmentation of £23. 15s. 2d. per annum was obtained from Queen Anne's bounty. The present value is £60 a year, and the population 243. The last of the Curson family, in 1787 devised the estate, manor, and advowson, to the Honourable Francis Roper, uncle to the then Lord Teynham, who took the name of Curson"". From the family of Roper- Curson, they passed by purchase to the father of the present proprietor, Joseph Warner Henley, Esq., M.P. The feast-day of dedication is the Sunday after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, old style. ' MSS. of J. W. Henley, Esq., M.P. "• British Topog., vol. ii. p. 362. WATER- PER Y. 263 The blazoning of the earlier arms in Waterpery church" is as follows : — A. a bend between 6 fleurs-de-lis G., Fitz-Elys. S. a mullet between 3 falcons A. belled, beaked and membered O., Fawkeneb. Per pale G. S. an eagle dis- played A. heahed and 'membered. O. S. a f esse dancette A. Erm. 3 chevronelh G. Among fragments of early glass in the cinquefoiled arches of the lights of the Curson obituary window, Per saltire A and B., Pipard. 3 fusils in fesse G., Montague. O. 3 piles in point B. Those in italics have entirely dis- appeared. An extract from the will of Walter Curson o is subjoined, as an inter- esting document relating to this church, and not generally accessible. " IN THE NAME OF GOD. AMEN. " The xxiiij day of the moneth of Nouembre the yere of oure Lord God Mcccccxxvj I Walter Curson of Waterpury in the countie of Oxforde gentilman hoole and pfyte in mynde and vnderstonding make by the suifrance of AUmyghty God my last will and Testament in maner and forme fol owing / First I bequeth my soule vnto AUmyghty God his blessed mother Saint Mary and to all the holy company of heuen my bodie to be buried wiil y^ church of eny suche pisshe or other religiouse house where I shall fortune to be at in the houre of my depting or deth. Also I will and gyue to the Church of Lincoln xvj'^ Also I Woll to be gyuen to the rode light of Waterpury Church \'f \\\f- And to the helpe and mayntenuce of other lightes win the same church iij^ iiij'^ Also I Woll and gyue to the iiij orders of Freers in Oxforde for iiij Trentalls to be doen and had for my soule and my frends soules xP equally to be deuyded that is to Wit to every one of them x^ Also I woll that Isabell my wife and Richard my sonne doo and cause to be doon all suche Werkemanshipp and Coste as shallbe by theire discretions bestowed vpon the taking downe of the leade and Tiles of the rofe of Waterpury church and the same Rofe to repaire in all places fawtye and couer it ageyn as they shall thinke necessarie by theire discrecons Also I woll that Isabell my wife and Richard my Sonne for theire tymes shall pay cotinually eueiy yere to the prio? of the Augustyne freers in Oxforde for the tyme beying for the soules of me and my Wife my Father and Mother and all my Kynsefolks to be prayed for foreuermore x^ for the which x^ I woll that there be iij coletts sayed euery day yerely for euer at and in the high masse that is to Witt the Colet of Deus qui Charitatis dona pgram &c The colect in the secrets of the masse and the colect of Deus cui pprm And the saied Prio? for the tyme beying to bestowe iij^ iiij'^ pcell of the said x^ vppon the Brithern of the said house in a repaste yerely and the other y'f viij'' residue to be to thuse and supportacon of the sayed house of Augustyns for eu. And if it happen the sayed memo- riall prayers and Coletts not to be sayed informe aforesayed Than I woll that all suche psons as hereafter I have assigned to be charged w* the doying thereof shall bestowe the sayed monney in the house of the Blake Freers in Oxforde the sayed prayers and Coletts there to be doon for the sayed monney in maner and forme afore sayed Also I woll Isabell my wife and Richard my sonne do cawse one honest preste to sing for me and for my frends immediately after my decease, and to continue so by the space of one hole yere." The following charters relating to this parish are extant in the Oseney Register. " Wood's MS. D. 14. ° In the Prerogative Comt of Canterbury. 264 WATER-PERY. Bailiwick of Pyrye, Ledhal, Thomle, Draycot, Stoke. 1 . A chart by which Wilham son of Elye, by the wish and entreaty of Emma his wife, gives the Church of Watcrpyrye to Oseney with its appurtenances. 2. A confirmation of the above by William son of WiUiam Fitz-Elye with one virgate of land. 3. Final concord upon a dispute with John Leech, Abbot of Oseney, respecting part of advowson in the 20th year of Hen. III. The party executing this deed is William, son of William, in the presence of his mother Roesia de Rokele, and he speaks of Emma as his grandmother. 4. Final concord together with a virgate of land, free passage and commonage in field of Pyrye. Same date and same witness. 5. A charter of Richard BeUifago concerning certain islands near Stokes, alias Stokesham. 6. A charter concerning a certain messuage with a curtilage for the use of the Vicar of Pery, for building his house, by the last mentioned William and his wife Margery, for the benefit of his own soul and the souls of his wife and children. 7. The consecration of the Church at Waterpyrye. N.B. The Chartulary or Register of Oseney Abbey, in the Archives of the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, was compiled in the time of William de Sutton, abbot of Oseney, about 1275, i. e. between 1267 and 1284. It was given to Christ Church in exchange for the Annales Burtonienses, by Sir Robert Cotton, as appears by a note in Sir Robert's handwriting on the first page. This valuable relique could not have been consigned to better keeping, for, while it has been pre- served with all the care it deserves, great courtesy has always been shewn in afi'ording an inspection of it for the purposes of antiquarian research, as may be seen by the large extracts and acknowledgments of Bishop Kennett and others. j. bakon, vicah. G roiiEd Plan of Waterpery Cburch, WATERSTOCK. PATRON. ^t. SconarD. deanery W. H. ASHHURST, ESQ. OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF THAME. The present Church is a modern structure of the year 1792^ with the exception of the north aisle and tower, which are of Perpendicular character. The west window of the tower appears by its mouldings to belong to the Decorated period. Rising from the eastern battlement of the tower, an unusual position, is a bell-cot of singular shape. The Font is early, cylindrical, and quite plain, remaining apparently in its original position, as the drain when cleared of the obstructions in the upper part in 1829 was found to carry off the water readily, and has been regularly used to the present time. Affixed to the south wall of the Chancel is the monument of Sir George Croke, who died A.D. 1641. It is figm-ed in Skelton's Oxfordshire. Copious notes of the arms and stained glass in the old Church and manor-house, taken about 1660, will be found in "Wood's M.S. E. I. in the Ashmolean Museum. From these the follow- ing are extracted as those which are principally interesting, and because some mutilated remains of the figures referred to may still be perceived in a window of the north aisle. " In the nortli window two clergymen (perhaps one a laic) all in blew kneeling before deskes. Over these, pictures of Saints, with their names under them, Ignatius, St. Maria, St. Swithin. — Under these, " Orate pro animabus Magistri Johannis Browne quondam rectoris istius ecclesiae et Thomse Browne et — His uxoris ejus, parentum ejtis qui me fieri fecit." " In a north window pictures of St. Barbara, St. Trinitas, St. Anna. Under these a man between two women praying, and the arms of Danvers quartering Bruly. Under all, "Orate pro animabus .... filiaeJacobi Finys .... qui istam ecclesiam (fecerunt?) anno gracife, MCCCCLXXX." " In a south window, under the portraits and arms of Archbp. Nevill and Bp. Waynflete, " Orate pro animabus Georgii quondam Archiepiscopi Ebor. ac Willielmi Waynflete Winton. Episcopi, et Thomse Danvers." M m 206 AVATERSTOCK. George Nevill was Arclibisliop of York from 1464 to 1476, and was translated thither from the see of Exeter. He held the office of Chancellor of the University of Oxford as early as 1456% and Avas a j^onnger brother of the Earl of Warwick surnamed the King-Maker''. The remains of the portrait of an Arch- bishop, habited in his pall, the right hand holding the crozier, the left in the attitude of blessing, may still be distinguished in the north window. In the Tower are four bells bearing ^r ^ ."-^ the following inscriptions and dates : "7 : 1. Sancte Niccolae, and a stamp, of : , i, iji Avhich a cut is annexed. % f 1-- '-')£■ 2. Henry Knight made Mee 1615, ; J G C. Probably the initials of Sir ^^ asii!*;! George Croke, as the donor of the '^^'\>^W 'sj/- bell, soon after his accession to the liijijijifi wl r ' '^i estate. '^''■'''''''^■^^''wwsl:.:.- 3.1664. 4. I. W. 1736. stamp ob BeU m Tower. HISTORICAL NOTICES. For a detailed history of the manor of Waterstock, and memoirs of distinguished persons connected with it, see Sir Alexander Croke's His- tory of his family, Bp. Kennett's History of Chilton, and Skelton's Oxfordshire. It was formerly one of the fees belonging to the Bp. of Lincoln. In the reign of Henry III. Henry de Colevill held half a knight's fee in Waterstock'^, the remainder was held by Bartholomew Foliott, into whose family the whole appears to have passed. In 1279 Henry Bruilly held Waterstock of the Bishop for one knight's fee, paying scutage and making suit to the hundred court''. ••• Kennett, vol. ii. p. 401. "^ Testa de Nevill., p. VIO. " Sir Alex. Croke's Hist., vol. i. p. 564. '^ Skclton. Godwin's Prelates. W A T E R S T O C K. 267 The changes in the ownership of the estate are indicated in the follow- ing list of Rectors^, who seem in all cases to have been presented by the lord of the manor, " as was usually the case before the perpetual advow- sons were given to the monks." 1235. Master John of Hadenham, subdeacon to the Church of Water- stock, at the presentation of Bartholomew Foliot. Roll of Robert Grosthead, anno 1. 1241. Master John of Hadenham, to the Church of Waterstoke, at the presentation of Bartholomew Foliot ; witnesses Sir John de St. ^gidio, Archdeacon; Master R. de Campeden : Sir John de Dyam, canon, &c. Roll of Robert Grosthead, 7 . 1268. Sept. 20. Alexander of Waterstock, subdeacon, presented by Sir William Foliot, knt., to the Church of Waterstock, vacant by death of Master John. Roll of Richard Gravesend, 10. 1326. Nov. 16. Thomas Breuly, clerk, presented by Sir John Breuly to the Church of Waterstock, vacant by death of Sir Richard. Reg. Burgwersh. 1411. Thomas Taylor, presented by William Bruly of Waterstoke, to the Church of Waterstoke, by death of John Umfrey, Jan. 30, re- signed March 6, same year, and Sir Thomas Derecors succeeded. Reg. of Reppingdon, Bp. of Lincoln. 1422. March 16. John Kent, priest, presented by John Danvers, Esq., to the Church of Waterstoke, by death of Thomas Derecors. The inqui- sitors say that the said John Danvers hath the right of presentation, in that turn to the said church, by reason of his feoffature in the manor of Waterstock with the advowson of the said church, by gift and conces- sion of Will. Bruly, which William presented last time to the same. Reg. Flemmyng. 1467. Aug. 18. Master John Parys, " deer, bacc." presented by Walter Mauntell, Knt., and Joan his wife, to the Church of Waterstoke by death of John Kent. Reg. Chedworth. 1499. March 14. John Chapman, priest, presented by Thomas Dan- vers, Esq., to the Church of Waterstoke, by death of Master John Browne. Reg. Smith. 1501. Sept. 15. Robert Wright, priest, presented by Thomas Danvers, Esq., to the Church of Waterstoke, by death of Sir John Chapman, 1534. William Wylmoll, Rector. '' Kennett, vol. ii. p. 389, 268 WATERSTOCK. 1580. Sept. 14. John Rider, clerk, to the Church of Waterstock, at the presentation of Edw. Cave of Bampton, Esq., resigned 1581. Reg. Grindall, Archbp. of Canterbury. 1609. John Stayning signs a terrier as Rector. 1616. Charles Croke, D.D., presented by Sir G. Croke in June, re- signed in October. 1627. Henry Croke, D.D., presented by Sir G. Croke, died 1642. Robert Turner, minister, died 1658. 1664. John Quarne, Rector. 1677. Charles Hinde, Rector, presented by G. Croke, Esq., buried 1725. 1725. Edward Lewis, presented by Sir Henry Ashhurst. 1784. Robert Bertie Broughton Robinson. 1827. Gibbes Walker Jordan. The entry in the Book of Henry VHI.*^ is as follows : — WAT'STOKE. £ s. d. Sir William Wylmott, rector there xj vj viij Deduct for synods and promotions — x vijj Remainder x xvj — .• The tenth — xxj vijj It is now valued at £58. Tlie number of inhabitants is 142. J. B. 1 Valor. Eccles. Hen. VIU. ALBUEY. PATRON. EARL OF ABINGDON. Bt ^den. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. The old Church. The old Churcli was picturesque, though without any very remarkable architectural features. The present Church is a modern building, in imitation of the Gothic style, with a bell- gable at the west end. The ancient Font has been preserved, and is a good specimen of Norman work, with some rather curious ornament upon it. The Chapel of Rycote is situated in the park, at about half a mile from Albury, but is in the parish of Haseley. An account of it will be found in Mr. Weare's Memoir of Haseley Churcli and Parish, published for the Society. 270 A L B U R Y. The Fonc. HISTORICAL NOTICES. ALDBURY OR ALDBURG. The name signifies the old borough or town. It stands on the same ground where the ancient Roman station Isurium was. Dr. Plot will have Henley to be the ancientest town in this county, and grounds his conjecture much upon the derivation of it from the British word hen, which signifies old, and ley, a place ; but vulgar tradition runs " that Aldbury was the mother of Henley, and consequently is older," which the Doctor thus far allows : that it is probable that Christian Henley may be younger than Aldbury in respect of a church built first here, but upon no other account*. In Domesday Book it is written Alwoldesberie and Aldeberie, and formed part of the fee of earl William. Walter, son of Pony and Rainald, at the time of the Norman survey, held land here. A.D. 1255. In the Hundred Rolls, 39 Henry III. p. 714, the village of Aldebur is held of the Countess de I'lsle by the service of half a knight's fee, and Sampson Foliot holds the manor in the name of the award which is between the countess and Roger Foliott ; and the same Sampson held five virgates and a half of land belonging to the lordship. There are twelve tenants in servitude. A.D. 1474. An inquisition was held respecting the advowson of Aldcbury, from which it appeared that GeoflVey Gate had acquired the right of patronage by marriage with Agnes Brown, widow of William Brown, gentleman, and daughter and heiress of Thomas Baldynton, Esq.'', the rightful patron. " Magna Brit., vol. iv. p. 421. '' Kennett, vol. ii. p. 41 ■J. ALBURY. 271 The following list of Rectors is taken from the Lincoln registers by Kennett, with some corrections and additions by Sir Henry Ellis, from the same source. It serves at the same time to shew the successive changes of the property of the manor : — RECTORS OP ALBURY. 1225. John de Clavely or Claxeby, subdeacon, presented by Roger Fohot^ 1227. William de . . . ., chaplain, presented by Roger Foliof^. 1238. John de Cambes, subdeacon, presented by Peter Foliot"^. 1278. Rad. de Bungeye, subdeacon, presented by Sampson Foliot^ Hugh de Langele. 1298. Wilham le Despenser, clerk, presented by John de London^. 1327. Ric. de Babeham, priest, presented by John le Despenser^. 1411. Thomas Thame, upon whose resignation in 1411, Richard Seddon, presented by Walter de Walkestede, Rector of Charlton-upon- Otmoor, by concession of William Baldyngton, Lord of Albuiy^ John Byllyng, resigned in 1431. 1431. John Anneys, priest, presented by William Baldyngton k. 1459. John Kendale, priest, presented by William Brome^ 1474. John Bowes, chaplain, presented by Geoffrey Gate, knight, and Agnes his wife'". 1595. Richard Wightwick, S.T.B., presented by Lord Henry Norris of Ricott". 1670. WiUiamMore. 1712. Dr. William Tilly. 1739. Dr. William Bertie. 1758. — Harrington. 1759. Christopher Robinson. 1804. George Wasey. 1813. John Curtis. 1813. The Honourable Frederick Bertie. The Rectory was valued in the time of Henry VHL at 10/., with pay- ments out for synodals, &c. 10^. 1\d., and to the prioress of Studley 6s. 8d., leaving the net value 9/. 2^. S^d. It is now valued at 2761., and the population is 239. c Reg. Hugh Wells, an. 16. ' Reg. Repyndon. " Ibid., an. 18. '' Reg. Gray, f' Reg. Rob. Grosthead, an. 4. ' Reg. Chedworth. ' Reg. R. Gravcsend, an. 20. '" Reg. Rotherliani. 'i Reg. 01. Sntton. " Reg. Wliitgift. h Reg. Burgliwersh. " Parish Reg. FOREST HILL. PATRON. LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD. <§t. Ktcljolas. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. The Cturcb. A SMALL oblong Cliurclij without aisles, witli n, bell-gable at the west end; it is chiefly transition Norman work, probably built about A.D. 1200. The Chancel has two lancet windows on each side widely splayed, and round-headed in the inside, with good simple Early English dripstones over them, and stringcourses under them : the east window is modern and very bad, Avith wooden tracery. The Chanccl-arch is round horsc-shoed, square edged, and not FOREST HILL. 273 recessedj the imposts are plain Norman with the edges cham- fered off. The Nave has one Norman window remaining on the north side^ round-headed and plain, and a similar one on the south side, the other is modern. The west window is late Perpendicular. On the north side is a small transition Norman doorway with a pointed arch, with a good bold dripstone and imposts. The south doorway has a plain segmental head, with the edges merely *^ i^^i- Tbe Porch. chamfered off. The outer doorway of the porch is good transi- tion Norman, approaching near to Early English, having shafts with capitals ornamented with the stiff-leaf foliage, but with square abacusses, the arch is also square in section. The bell-gable at the west end is a remarkably picturesque object, and from its situation is visible from a considerable distance, it has openings for section of Door. two bells, and a smaller opening above; it appears to ])c part N n 274 FOREST HILL. of the original building of transition Norman work, but lias bad two tremendous buttresses attaclied on the west side to support it, projecting one 14 feet, the other 11 feet 4 inches : this great irregularity arises apparently from the nature of the ground, this part of the Church being close to the brow of the hill ; the buttresses are of comparatively late work, although not modern, the mouldings are of Italian character; there are also smaller buttresses at the angles, these are of Perpendicular work of the same age as the west window, which is evidently an insertion. I.H.P. Ground plan of the Church HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 1273, 1 and 2 Edward I. On July 6th, the Chapel of Forest- Hull was dedicated to St. Nicholas the Confessor, by Reginald Bishop Suffragan of Cloyne in Ireland, substituted by Richard Bishop of Lincoln, to visit these parts of the Diocese of Lincoln, and to consecrate new Churches". A.D. 1285. The Abbott of Oseney held one knight's fee in Forest- HulP. The estate and Chapel of Forest Hill formed part of the grant of Robert D'Oiley to the Church of St. George in Oxford Castle, after- wards transferred to the Abbey of Oseney, and is mentioned in the foundation charter of that Abbey '^. ' Kcimctt, vol. i. p. -132. ' Dugdalc, Mon. Ang., vol. ii. p. 138. " Ibid. FOREST HILL. 275 It remained part of the possession of that Abbey till the Dissolution. Since that period, the manor-house, with a considerable part of the estate and the patronage of the church, have become the property of Lincoln College. The Poet Milton married his first wife from this place. The register of her baptism is yet preserved, and is as follows; " Maria Powell, the daughter of Richard Powell, baptized the 28th day of January, 1625." The house in which Mr. Powell lived has been in part destroyed, but there are yet existing against the west ends of two out-houses some very curious remains of ornamental plastering, which seem as old as the time of Milton, one of them is an allusion to the subject of Paradise Lost. An anchor is represented as an heraldic device on the other wall. Another celebrated poet, William Julius Mickle, was yet more inti- mately connected with Forest Hill. He married the daughter of Robert and Ehzabeth Tomkins of this place, and lies interred on the north side of the Church, without any memorial over his grave. There are several tombstones in the Churchyard to individuals of the Tomkins' family, having upon them engraved lines in verse, some of which appear to be written by Mickle himself. HEADINGTON. PATRON. REV. T. WHORWOOD. 5t. Slnlirclo. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. ■ :o';J'P?77T Soutb-eaat View of the Church A PLAIN Clmrch of mixed styles, but with good portions, particularly the Tower and Chancel-arch. It consists of a Chancel, a Nave with south and north aisles, and a Tower at the west end of the south aisle. The Chancel, which is the oldest part of the Church, is rather large in proportion to the Nave; the walls are Nor- man, and on the outside of the north wall are the remains of a Norman doorway, the imposts of which yet remain, but the HEADINGTON. 277 stones of the arch have been built into the wall, so as to make it square-headed. Near this is a large semicircular arch of rude (1 1 *^ Doorway. Mortt side of Chancel, stones; eastward of this is a small foliated lancet window, which from its mouldings appears to be of the commencement of the fourteenth century, or end of the thirteenth ; the quarries of glass in the upper part of this window, still retain their original painting. The gable at the east end has evidently been raised since the Nor- man times, and has on the point the base of a cross, the upper part of which is broken off. The greater part of this end has been taken down, the original window removed, and a modern round-headed one inserted, which very much injures the effect. In the south wall, two Perpendicu- lar windows have been inserted : these windows are divided by a mullion, running up to the point of the head ; they are without labels, and are widely splayed within. In these windows are portions of stained glass, which have belonged to earlier windows, and there are also a WiDdow, North side of Cbauutji, 278 HEADINGTON. few painted quarries of the same date as the windows. The Altar platform is approached by three steps^ and the Chancel itself by one. In the south wall is a projecting moulding, which marks the place of a piscina now filled up, and near this in the sill of the adjoining window, is a sedile for the priest. There has evidently been a good arched timber roof, which is now plastered over except the ends of the transverse ribs, and the pendants or wall-pieces on which they rest : these and the corbels have Perpendicular mouldings ; two on the north side are supported by angels, one of which has a book ; of the corbels on the south, one has a plain shield, another a head with long hair and beard, the third a bishop's head, and the fourth a shield charged with three escallops. They appear, as well as the roof, to be early in the fifteenth century, and are most probably of the same age as the windows. CUaacel arch, Ibo IVwa removed The Chan GEL- ARCH is plain on the east side, but on the west HEADINGTON. 279 Section of Chaacel-arcb.. it is recessed, and ornamented with a double zigzag with a bold round moulding between them, which rises from a shaft on each side. The zigzag is carried down the jambs ; the shaft on the south side is plain, but that on the north is twisted for about a third of its length, and the remain- der richly sculptured in beaded interlaced work. The capitals are slightly varied from the cushion-shape, and the abacus and im- posts are cut with the beaded star-orna- ment. It is much to be regretted, that a great part of the lower part of the chancel-arch is entirely concealed by unsightly pews^ and that a portion on the north side has been cut away to make room for a sitting. Over the chancel-arch, both on the east and west sides, is a pointed arch, which seems evidently to have been formed as a discharging arch, to bear off the superincumbent weight from the Norman arch when the chancel was raised, and the Early English nave added : such arches being seldom so well built, as to bear much weight. Numerous instances may be seen in which the pressure from above has had the effect of depressing the arch, and widening the jambs, and consequently throwing them out of the perpendicular, and this is the case with the present one. The Nave and south aisle are Early English, and are divided by three arches, supported by massive round pillars, with good moulded capitals and bases. In the south wall are two lancet Shalt of Cliancel-aich 280 HEADINGTON. windows, plain on the outside, but widely splayed within, with a hollow in the head. The east window of this aisle is rather singular, it consists of three trefoil-headed lijjjhts, with the head solidj and on the outside a label, enclosing all three. The label is a plain round moulding, and the edges of the lights simply chamfered. Near this window in the south wall, is a plain Early English piscina with a credence-shelf, but almost covered up by a pew. No trace of an Altar can be seen under this window, but in the north-east angle are the remains of an ob- lique opening, and also of the stairs to the roodloft, Avhich have been cut through the solid wall. The south door is Early English, plain, but with good mouldings. The original door has lately been replaced by a new one, copied from the old, and the oi'iginal iron-work retained. Over this doorway, is a late plain porch. The west window is a good Decorated spe- cimen : it con- sists of two cinqucfoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the head. The label is a plain round, terminating in a head and a knop of foliage, and the jambs are plainly chamfered. The roof is of the fourteenth century, having a tie-beam supported by braces, and a king-post with base and battlemented capital, supporting longitudinal and transverse struts, and apparently with cross rafters ; but this part is covered with a plaster ceiling. It may be here remarked, that all the roofs retain their original pitch ; as may be seen on the outside, where the weather-moulds and gables still remain as originally built. On the gal)le of the nave, is a Scutcheon. Soutti Xjoov "■Diinmiiiiiili" West Window. iP HEADINGTON. 28 1 small sancte-bell cot, and that of the south aisle is finished with King-post to Roof, Sertiou of West Window ^^^^ a cross partly mutilated. In the nave are a number of plain open seats^ with good mould- ings; but the rest of the nave and chancel are filled with pews of all sizes and heights. The Font, which is a modern one of paint- ed wood, stood till lately at the west end of the nave, but is now removed to within the altar-rails. The north aisle is modern, and in a style not easily to be described : three arches have been cut through the solid wall, in imitation of those on the south, but badly executed. The Tower is placed at the west end of the south aisle, and on the cast and north sides has Early English arches open- ing into the Church; these arches are plainly chamfered, but the capitals and bases of the pillars are well moulded, similar to upper Moulding of open seats those in the nave : across the eastern arch of the tower is a piece of oak screen- work, good for its period, on which is o o OpeD Seats in Nave 282 HEADINGTON. the following date : ( DA : IC : 1635 M W ). At the south-west angle is a square stair-turret^ which rising above the battlements^ very advantageously varies the outline of the tower. The lower story is Early English, the second apparently the same; the upper story, and the outer casing of the whole are Perpendicular. On the south-east side of the turret, a stone is inserted with initials, (r c-w'"^^) "^^'l^ich mark the date and the name of the churchwardens when some repairs were made to the tower. In the churchyard, a little to the south-east of the porch, stands a Cross raised on three steps ; it consists of an octagonal pedestal, each side of which is ornamented with a quatrefoil enclosing an open book ; and an octagonal shaft, up the angles of which run slender shafts, or round mouldings. The head is square and heavy, and evidently of later date than the rest ; but on the Avest side are the remains of a crucifix, with the letters I N E, I over the head, and a rose on each side, the whole enclosed in a square border. The head is surmounted by a small modern cross. ^^ . o. J. :*';, North west View of the Cross. HEADINGTON. Grouud-plan of the Church. 3ft'.6M Plan of Oross. HISTORICAL NOTICES. The old Roman road passes toward Headington Quarry pits". A.D. 1009. King Ethelred kept the greatest part of his residence in this county, chiefly at Hedington and Islip, and concludes a charter granting privileges to St. Frideswide's here**. [The site of King Ethelred's palace is said to have been partly in Court Close, and partly in Mrs. Finch's garden, the present road to Marston running through it. There was certainly some old building of considerable extent on this site, part of which was pulled down about 1820, near Mrs. Finch's barn, and some remains of foundations may still be traced in the orchard, or Court Close, on the opposite side of the road.] 10G6. Basset had the Lordship of Hedington, 1132. 32 and 33 Henry I. The King granted to the prior and canons ■1 Kcnnett, vol. i. p. 23. '' Mnn. Ang.,tom. i. p. 259, ap. Kennett, vol. i. pp. 62 — 64. 284 H E A D I N G T O N. of St. Frideswide's, the Chapel of Hedingdon, Merston, and Benesey, exempt from all taxes and other dues''. 1179. 25 and 26 Henry II. Thomas Basset, lord of the manor of Burcester, had the lordship of Hedingdon with the hundred of Bolendon, granted to him for his special services to the king in divers wars, from whence this branch of that great family had the title of Basset of Hedingdon. 1218, 2 and 3 Henry HI. In the SheriiFs accompts, Petronilla, wife of Jeffery Fleccan, paid 50s. for a mill in Hedingdon, called King's Milne. Thomas Basset answered for £42. 10s. in Hedingdon, and £20 for the fee farm of the said barony '^. In the Hundred Rolls, temp. Henry HI. In Hedingdon are ten hides of the lordship of the King, and Philippa Countess of Warwick holds the said manor, with the hundred of Bulendon and the hundred without the north-gate of Oxford, in fee farm of the King by the service of one knight, and for £20 paid annually to the exchequer, and the manor with- out the hundred is worth £30, and the hundred of Bulendon is worth £8. Item, in the same village is a certain hide whose heir is in the custody of the Queen, the son of Philip Muneton, and it belongs to the forest of Shotover and Stowood, and does not follow the hundred. 1292. 20 and 21 Edw. I. Hugh de Plessets had taken to wife Isabel, the third daughter of John de Ripariis, cousin, and one of the heirs to Philippa Basset, Countess of Warwick, and for the purparty of his said wife had the manor of Hedingdon, with the hundred of Bulendon, and to which Hugh de Plessit in 5 Edw. I. was impleaded by the men of Hedington for depriving and abridging them of their antient customs and priviledges. Within the said manor and in the King's court at Westminster, a memorable composition was made^. These rights and privileges were confirmed to the tenants of Hedingdon by King Edward III. at West- minster, Oct. 20, regni 29. The same grants were renewed and ratified by Sir Richard d'Amory, lord of the manor of Hedingdon, 31 Edw. III. and again confirmed at Oxford by King Richard II. Oct. 4, regni 16'. Hugh dc Plugenet, with consent of Josceus his son, had granted to the church of St. Frideswide's common pasture in his manor of Hedingdon, and a ground in the said parish called Godenthecroft, and thirty acres of « Kennctt, vol. i. p. 1 25. Aubroy, Bart., ap.Kcnnctt, vol. i. p.'152-4. <1 R. Dods. MS. vol. Ixxxix. f. 118. ' Vide ex llegist. Borstall, penes e Ex Kcgist. Borstal!, penes 1). John D. John Aubrey, Bart. HEADINGTON. 285 arable land, and all the tithe of his own demesne and of his tenants in Hedingdon and Merston, and the rent of Hakelingcroft, to find one lamp in the church of Hedingdon. 1305. 34 and 35 Edw. I. An inquisition was taken at Oxford on the Saturday before Easter Day, to enquire how the manor of Hedington alienated from the Crown. The jurors returned upon oath that Henry H. King of England, gave the said manor of Hedington with the hundred of Bolendon, and the hundred without the north gate of Oxford, to Thomas Basset and his heirs for ever, for his good services in divers wars, paying to the exchequer the yearly rent of £20 in silver. After him the said manor descended to Phillippa and Juliana, his daughters, the elder dying without heirs, the manor passed to Isabella, daughter of Juliana, by John de Ripariis. Isabella married Hugh de Plessets, who, after his wife's death, made an exchange with the King for the manor of Compton ; by which means the said manor of Hedington was now in the King's hands. And the said Hugh de Plessets settled on Thomas, his son and heir, the manors of Kidlington, Hokenorton, and Missenden, in lieu of his right to the manor of Hedindon, which he had given to the King. 1308. 1 and 2 Edw. II. Sir John de Handlo, of Boi-stale, was made governor of St. BriavePs castle, in Gloucestershire, and purchased from Phihp Mymeken the Bailewick of the forest of Shotover and Stowode, with all appertenances in the village of Hedingdon, but for acquiring and entering upon the said bailewick without the King's licence, he was obliged to procure a royal pardon. 1316. 9 and 10 Edw. II. Ahce, the relict of Philip Mymekan, in con- sideration of £10 received in hand, released and quitted claim to the said Sir John Handlo, all her right to the lands and tenements in Hedington, which her husband had conveyed to him. 1346. Sir John de Handlo deceased, leaving his possessions to Isabel, his son's widow, who had married after the death of her husband Robert de Ildesle, knight. 1347, 21 and 22 Edward HI. Sir Richard de Amory paid a fine to the king for leave to convey his manors of Godingdon and Hedingdon, and the hundred of Bolingdon, in the county of Oxon, to Sir Otho de Holland. 1375, 49 and 50 Edward HI. Sir Richard de Amory, late lord of the manors of Bucknell and Godington, and present possessor of several lands in Blechingdon, Hedingdon, &c. died, leaving Isabel, the daughter 286 HEADINGTON. of Margaret, sister of Sir John Chandos, and the wife of Sir John de Annesley, knight, his heir. 1377, 1 Richard II. An inquisition was made on the death of Sir Richard de Amory, by whicli it appeared that he held the manor of Hedingdon, &c. by gift of John Chaundos, knight, during the hfe of Sir Richard, whose heirs were the sisters of Sir John Chaundos, one of the greatest soldiers of his age, who in the 33rd of Edward III. for his many eminent services at the battle of Poictiers, and in other wars of France, was retained by the king to serve him in the office of vice-chamberlain during his Hfe, and had a pension of 100/. per annum paid out of the exchequer ; and among other lands and profits he now obtained the manor of Hedingdon and the two hundreds of Bolendon and Northgate, which coming formerly to Hugh de Plessets, in right of Isabel his wife, he, the said Hugh, in consideration of 200/. &c. conveyed them to king Edward I. in the 33rd of his reign. The prior and canons of St. Frideswide, Oxford, had enjoyed a right of common for all their cattle within the manor of Hedington, and in the forest of Stowode ; which right being denied or disputed, it was now determined, and hvery of the said right of common was given to them by Richard Forster, the deputy of Sir Edmund de la Pole, keeper of the said forest. The kings of England had a chapel in their royal manor of Heding- don, which was afterwards appropriated to the said priory of St. Frides- wide, and a vicarage was then ordained in this manner : — " Vicaria in capelle de Hedindon que est dictorum prioris et conventus S. Frideswide, auctoritate consilii ordinata consistit in omnibus obvencionibus altaria cum minutis decimis tocius parochie, exceptis decimis agnorum et deci- mus casei de curia doraini provenientibus quas prior et canonici, sibi retinebunt. Habebit autem vicarius domum et curiam in quibus capel- lanus manere consuevit. Et valet vicaria quinque marcas et amplius totalis autem Ecclesia xx marcasB." 1399, 22 and 23 Richard II. The king granted to William Willicotes, Esq., in fee, the manor of Hedingdon, county Oxon, with the hundreds of Rolindon, and Northgate, Oxford, in farm for '40/. yearly rent, which premises had lately belonged to Sir John Chandos, and were now for- feited to the Crown for defect of payment of the reserved rent"^. 8 Ex cliaitular. S. Friilcswidjp MS., p. 79. ap. Kcnnctt, vol. ii. p. 158. h 11. Dods. MS. vol. liv. f. 152. HEADINGTON. 287 1410, 11 and 12 Henry IV. By an inquisition taken in these parts it appeared that William Willicotes, lately deceased, held from the king to himself and his heirs, in socage, the manor of Hedingdon, &c. paying to the king- the vearlv rent of 40/., and that Thomas Willecotes was his son and heir'. 1415, 3 Henry V. Thomas Wilcotes, who held the manor of Heding- don, &c. accounted to the king, in Michaelmas term, for the reliefs of Eliz. Chaundos, Roger Cohnge and Alianore his wife, John Annesley and Ehz. his wife, for the manor and hundreds aforesaid, due upon the king's pardon to them*^. 1418, 6 Henry V. By an inquisition taken after the death of Sir Edmund de la Pole, it was found that he w^as possessed, in right of his wife, of three carucates of land in capite in Hedingdon, county Oxon, by the service of keeping the forests of Shotover and Stowood. 1427, 5 and 6 Henry VT. This manor, with other property, was re- settled upon Robert James, Esq., lord of Borstall, for his life, with remainder to Edmund Rede and Cristina his wife, daughter of the said Robert James and Catherine de la Pole. 1435, 13 and 14 Henry VI. An inquisition taken at Oxford, when the jury found that the said Christina Rede assigned to Maud, the widow of Robert James, a third part of the moiety of the manors of Musewell and Hedyngdon, &c. 1445, 23 and 24 Henry VI. Thomas Harald released to Edmund Rede, Esq. all his right and claim to three acres of land in the field of Hedingdon, in the quarre of the said Edmund. 1459, 37 and 38 Henry VI. Edmund Rede, Esq. of Borstall, granted to WiUiam Craunford and Thomas WilUams his manor of Hedingdon, &c. &c. In the taxation of ecclesiastical benefices under Pope Nicholas, A.D. 1291, the church of Headington was valued at 51. 6s. 8d. ; in 1341 it was valued at the same sum. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henry VIII., the Rectory and Vicarage of Hedyngton, with Merston and Sydley [Suscot ?], were valued together at 17/. 13s. 4d., namely, the Rectory of Hedyngton and Merston, with its appurtenances, 12/. ; the Vicarage of Hedington, 3/. ; the Rec- tory of Merston, with the small tithes. 21. ; the rent of a tenement in i R. Dods. M.S. vol. xxxvi. f. 81. " El. Ashmole MS. X. p. 350. 288 HEADINGTON. Hedyngton, 13s. 4d. They belonged at that time to king Henry the VIII. 's college in Oxford •. This valuation took place about 1525, and the college must therefore have been the first foundation of Cardinal Wolsey, and this living was lost, with that of St. Clement's and many others, during the interval between the fall of the Cardinal in 1529 and the new foundation in 1532. In which time, says Wood, " most of the lands, tenements, revenues, &c. which belonged to the monasteries dis- solved for the erection of this college, were either sold to, or begged by, hungry courtiers and others™." The advowson of the vicarage has been in the possession of the family of Whorwood since about the year 1600, when Sir G. Brome, of Holton, whose daughter and heiress mar- ried a Whorwood, exchanged land at Haseley and Albury for the advow- sons and pasturages of Headington and Marston, and the manor of Headington, Marston, and Bolshipton. The vicarage is now valued at £118, and the population is reckoned at 1,388. ' Valor Eccles., vol. ii. p. 250. "> Ant. k Wood, Colleges by Gutcli, p. 428. South Door. Wiudow, Kast Eud of Noi'tii Aisle. ANNEXED TO THE BISHOPRIC OF OXFORD. CUDDESDEN ail faints. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN HUNDRED OF BULLINGDON General View from the Sonth-wesc. This Churchy in which many of the most interesting features have been carefully restored, appears to have been originally built towards the close of the twelfth century, on a cruciform plan, with a tower at the intersection, but without aisles. Ground-Plan PP 290 C U D D E S D E N. A.D. 1180 circa. To this period belong the following parts : the arches under the tower; the west doorway, which is a very good spe- cimen of the latest Norman work, with the lozenge moulding half de- tached, and the tooth ornament, the oak door of which has the original ironwork (see woodcut on p. 294) ; the south doorway of similar cha- racter; the west buttresses; and the walls of the north transept, with one small Norman window, and Mouidmgs of Arch of west Door. portions of the corbel-table ; the stair-turret at the north-west angle of the tower; the cor- bel-table on each side of the nave, under the present roofs of the aisles; and the upper parts of pilaster buttresses, of which the lower parts were cut away when the present pillars and arches were built; the opening to the roodloft, with a part of the Norman string under it at the north-east corner of the nave ; and the head of one of the original clerestory ., „ , o ""•■J Norman Window m J iMusept ^i^i;;iiii. Dpper Section of Wa\l of North Aisle, shewing Buttress cut away. Juaction of last Arch of JSIorth Aisle. with opening to Roodloft CUDDESDEN. 291 Soutb-west coruer of Tower Arches. windows over the point of the central arch on the north side. In the north transejat are the remains of a stone seat with a step which was (Continued round both transepts. The four arches under the tower are pointed and recessed, have the edges moulded by a plain round, and above this the zig-zag ornament. Those to the north and south are of greater span by three feet than those to the east and west. The piers are square, with shafts in nooks at the angles, and moulded imposts run- ning across the spring of the arch. This por- tion of the Chancel had originally a stone groined vault, with moulded ribs, the situation and design of which is clearly marked out by the masonry in the ringing loft ; at the termina- tions of the ribs in the four corners are the remains of the corbels upon which the groining rested. A.D. 1240 circa. To this cruciform Church, built during the period of transition from the ^p. Norman to the Early English style, nave aisles were added about the middle of the thir- teenth century, with lean-to roofs, low side walls, and small lancet windows, of which three remain on the south side, and at the west end of each aisle is a taller window of the lan- cet shape. To this Early Eng- lish period also belong, the CapaudBdseofPmar, south side of ^ave. & r< -?> y. m 292 C U D D E S D E N. piers and arches on both sides of the nave, on the soutli side the hoodmoulds are of the form called the scroll, and terminated by the peculiar ornament i^^m^M^?^ usually called a mask, or by some a buckle; the elegant little corbels on the west side '^-^isl^ of the Chancel-arch, apparently connected I ' Dj-ipatone of Window in with the roodloft; and on the exterior, the south &isie of Nave. low buttresses of the aisles. A.D. 1350 circa. The low side walls were raised, and larger windows of the Decorated style, and of two lights, introduced ; one ' ' small window, of the time of Edward I., was ''''°^Z:1 fr Naf ''' removed and built into the new w^ork over the three small lancet windows on the south side. At this date the south Porch was added, the west Porch having been erected about the beginning of the century. The west window of the nave is a very singular one, of three liglits, cinquefoiled, with quatrefoils in the head, and a transom across at the springing of the arch. A.D. 1400 — 1450. The clerestory windows are Perpendicular, single lights, with trefoil heads, the openings inside being square- headed. The window inserted in the north wall of the north transept is Perpendicular, of three lights, cinquefoiled, and retains a few fragments of painted glass. At the east end of the north aisle of the nave, where it abuts against the transept, is a small window of a single light with a trefoil head, and under this a small square Avindow, divided only by a transom from the one above, but still not part of it ; this belongs to the class of low side windows, l)y some called lych- noscopes, usually found only in the Chancel, it opens at present into a small vestry, but this is a modern arrangement, it is probable that there was originally an Altar close to it. A.D. 1500. The Chancel is late Perpendicular, having a large east window, which has been well restored, of four lights, witli a transom. This, and the priest's door on the south side, arc the best parts of the dcsigu. The roof, now hidden l)y a C U D D E S D E N. 293 plaster ceiling, is of oak, but of a plain character. On each side of the Chancel are two clumsy windows, set within arches which appear to have been made in the prospect of aisles being added, but are not carried through the whole thickness of the walls. There are also two rude openings, with pointed arches, in the usual place of piscina and locker. In the seventeenth century the upper part of the tower was rebuilt, the south transept repaired, and a debased window in- serted in its south wall. The oak roof of the nave also belongs to this period. The fittings of the nave and aisles are mostly of the time of King James the First, and good of their kind. Some of the seats have plain square ends, others are ornamented with poppy-heads, somewhat rudely carved, in the shape of fleurs-de-hs. The replacing of the old oak pulpit, together with the modern desk and lettern, also of oak and of good design, help to give a uniformity of appearance to this part of the Church, which is one of the most pleasing results of the resto- ration, commenced A.D. 1842 : the crosses on the gables and on the porch are also a judicious restoration. There are still, however, one or two square pews in the aisles, and across the west end extends a gallery, rebuilt A.D. 1830. The Font, which is early, is plain, round, and placed on a modern pedestal, to the west of the south door, supposed to be its original position. There are no early monuments, but among those of later date may be mentioned the following, the first of which recorded by Anthony k Wood has disappeared. "In an aisle, on the south side of the Church, on a brass plate in the wall, the arms taken away : — Insignia Georgii Barston de Chibhenhurst (qui matri- monium contraxit cum Margeria Doyly de Chiselhampton) annigeri, ex qua genuit filios Johannem ; Georgiuni; Franciscum ; Beniamin ; et liliam Aniiam : (}ui obiit Ainio salutis 1()07. — There arc no arms in the windows'*." On the walls of the Chancel, James King, departed this life A.D. 1620, the son of a master of the London Company of Clothworkers, whose arms are placed over the monument. Charles Moss, Bishop of Oxford, A.D. 1811. William Jackson, Bishop of Oxford, A.D. 1815. a Notes taken Feb. 17, A.D. 1(J58. Wood's MS. B. l,j. 294 CUDDESDEN. In tlie Cliurcli-yard^ near the priest's door^ is a small tomb of white marble to the memory of Maria, daughter of Bishop Lowth, who departed this life July 5, A.D. 1768. Of the bells, three are inscribed " Henry Knight made mee Ano. 1617;" a fourth bears the date 1677; a fifth, 1709; a sixth, 1795, the gift of Dr. Smallwell, bishop of Oxford; the seventh is a little bell dated 1748. Under a tree in the middle of the village is the shaft of a cross with a base of four steps ^. '' In drawing up the foregoing account by E. A. Freeman, Esq., Trinity College, and much nssistance has been derived from notos others by S. Rooke, Esq., Oriel College. West Door, with Secuon through .lamb and Arcb-Moulding. C U D D E S D E N. 295 HISTORICAL NOTICES. Cuddesden or Cudesdon, with its hamlets Wheatley and Denton, was for nearly six hundred years connected with the Benedictine abhey of St. Mary of Abingdon, and to this circumstance it owes not only the architectural beauties of its Church, but the preservation of many interesting particulars of its early history. A few of these, derived chiefly from two very fine chartularies of the abbey, in the British Museum, are inserted in the following account. A.D. 956. King Edwy gave to ^Ifere, his loyal and illustrious earl, " Cuthenesdune of 20 manses," and he with the consent of the king bestowed it upon the house of the Blessed Mary of Abingdon, and the monks there serving God. After the royal grant to vElfere follows a statement in Saxon of the boundaries of the land so given, and the whole is thus dated and signed. Hec carta scriptum est anno dominice incarnationis DCCCCLVI, in- dictione XXIII. )^ Ego Eadwius rex anglorum indeclinabiliter concessi. flK(| Ego Eadgar ejusdem regis frater celeriter consensi. 1^ Ego Oda archiepc cum signo saucte crucis roboravi. |Xi( Ego iElsmuf prsesul sigillum agie crucis impressi. ^ Ego Brihtelm ej^c confirmavi. i^ Ego Oscytel epc adquievi. \^ Ego Osulf epc non rennui. ^ J'go Alfuuold epc subscripsi. )J|( Ego Daniel epc conclusi. After these follow the signatures of four dukes and eight thanes <=. This charter shortly after passed into the possession of the abbey of St. Mary, together with the property to which it gave a title ; " banc itaque terram sanctus pater ^thelwoldus concedente rege ab eodem comite adquisivit cum carta sibi a rege data et sic terra ista ad ecclesiam istam pervenifi." ^thelwold here mentioned, under whose auspices the monastery of St. Mary was rebuilt after its destruction by the Danes, was made abbot of Abingdon, A.D. 954, and translated thence to the see of Winchester, A.D. 963, by King Eadgar «. A.D. 1065. A dispute arose about a mill on the confines of Milton •^ Cot. MS. Tib. b. vi. f. 50. The Claud, c. ix., a transcript of the reign of titles in this transcript of the reign of Henry II. Richard I. are " dux" and "minister." '' Cot. MS. Claud, c. ix. f. 112. The Saxon boundaries are also i^iven, " Dugd. Hon. N. E., vol. i. p. 50(). 296 C U D D E S D E N. and Cudesdon, probably in the same place as that which is still worked by the stream of the Thame which is there the boundary between the two parishes. The men of the bishop of Lincoln, to whom Milton belonged, wished to break down the sluice, an attempt which was resisted by the servants of the abbot of Abingdon. The charge of the bishopric of Lincoln had upon a recent vacancy ^ been placed in the hands of Peter, a chaplain of the king, and sometime bishop of Chester, who came to the mill with many armed attendants and was confronted by the abbot Ealdrcds, who brought with him a devout company of laymen and monks, together with the reliques of St. Vincent the martyr. The conference ended in an acknowledgment of the abbot's right, which was probably made clear by the production of King Edwy's charter and other indis- putable vouchers, although in the account the withdrawal of the adverse claim is ascribed to the terror inspired by miraculous appearances '\ A.D. 1U80. The following is the return in the Domesday Survey. " Land of St. Mary of Abingdon. The abbey holds Codesdone, there are eighteen hides there. There is land to eighteen ploughs. Of these there are four hides in the demesne, and therein four ploughs and eight bondmen ; and twenty-four villanes, with twelve bordars, have eighteen ploughs. A mill there and two fisheries pay twelve shillings. There are sixty acres of meadow. "Wood eight quarentens long and half a mile broad. It was worth nine pounds, now twelve pounds'.'" A.D. 1117. 17 Hen. L In this year took place the decease of the abbot Faricius; the following extract would therefore seem to prove that Cudesdon must have had a church even before that which was built about A.D. 1180. " Hec sunt que dominus Faricius ecclesie contulit, ecclesiam silicet Sancti Martini de Oxenford, et ecclesiam dc Mercham, ecclesiam de Offentuna, ecclesiam de Witteham, ecclesiam de Cudesduna, ecclesiam de NiwehamJ." A.D. 1146. 11 Stephen. Pope Eugenius the Third, in a privilege granted to Ingulf the abbot, and his convent, takes the monastery of St. Mary of Abingdon under the protection of the Blessed Peter and him- self, decreeing that all their possessions should remain to them and their successors, expressly mentioning "Cuthesdonam'^.'" The same pope <■ Bishop Ulf or Wulfin is said to have mitted to the custody of Walclieline, died A.D. 1067, having been previously bishop of Wincliester, with whom he banished. passed the remainder of his days. — Dugd. ft Ealdred, who was chosen abbot of Mon. N. E,, vol. i. p. 507. Abingdon, A.D. lOO-'j, appears to have ^ Cf. Cot. MS. Tib. b. vi. f 11!). submitted early to King William the ' Bawdwen's Translation. Conqueror. In 1071 however he was j Tib. b. vi. f 157. sent a prisoner to the castle of Waling- •• Dugdale's Monasticon. ford, was deposed, and afterwards com- CUDDESDEN. 297 in another like document confirms to the Abbey the Church of Cudesdon i. A.D. 1237. 21 Hen. III. Institutio vicarise de Cudesdon: — Omni- bus etc. Noverit universitas vestra nos auctoritate Gregorii papse 9. Abbatem et conventum de Abendon in ecclesia de Cuddesdon canonice rectores instituisse, ipsosque in corporalem possessionem ipsius ecclesice induci fecisse, salva vicaria per dilectum filium magistrum R. de Weseham Archid. Oxon. in eadem taxata. Dat. 18. cal. Jan. pont. tertio. Taxa- tio vicaripe sequitur. Rot. Rob. Grostete. Anno. 3™. 1249. Thomas de Hangrafe, deacon, was presented by the Abbot and Convent of Abingdon to the vicarage. Rob. Grostete 13". 1251. John de Gnatteshall, capellan,by the same. Rob. Grostete 17". In the reign of Henry the Third, the Templars of " Cofle ° " held of the Abbot of Abingdon two hides of land in Denton, and one in Wateley. Mathus de Wateley tenet in eadem diraidium feodum militis de Abbate de Abendon et ipse de Rege scihcet de Warda de WyndelesoreP. A.D. 1272. In the Hundred Rolls of the beginning of the reign of Edward the First many particulars respecting the property in this place are preserved, of wiiich the most important appear to be that the manor belonged to the Abbot of Abingdon, together with the patronage and im- propriation of the Church, and that the part of the parish still called Chijipinghurst farm was held of the Prior of Nugyiui. " Dicunt jurati quod manerium de Codesdone tenetur in capite de domino rege et est de baronia Abendonie pro qua dominus Abbas de Abendon respondet domino regi de tota baronia cujus membrum Codes- done est. . . . Idem Abbas debet sectam hundredo de Bulendon ' per attor- natum suum per litteras suas patentes singulis annis de novo presen- tatum et hoc per cartam domine Philippe Comitisse Warr' concessum et confirmatum — Item dominus Abbas est patronus ecclesie de Codesdon, et Abbas et Conventus tenentecclesiamin propriosususper concessionem et confirmacionem sedis Apostolice. Item habet (sc. Abbas) duo mo- lendina aquatica de quibus unum currit per cursum rivuli qui dicitur Cumbe Broke et aliud molendinum currit per aquam que vocatur Thame cum piscaria per eandem aquam sicut per mctas et per bundas anti- quitus constitutasi cum uno gurgite qui vocatur Cliffware. — " Habent etiam unam gravam de corulo que vocatur Cumbegrave — cpie est extra metas foreste. Et unum boscum qui vocatur Sawe et est in regardo foreste de Sottor . . Et unum clausum quod vocatur La Vente 1 Tib. B. vi. f. 1(J7. 1' Testa de Nevill, p. 102. Feoda "» Bp. Kennett, Par. Ant., vol. ii. p. Abbatis de Abindon, p. 105. Huiidre- 33(3. dum de Buliiideii. " Lincoln Registers. i E. g. the Saxon boundaries, Cot. MS. " Now called Temple Cowley. Tib. B. vi. f. 50, and Claud. C. ix. f. 1!)(). Q q 26 13 4 5 6 8 9 19 8 1 4 6 298 C U D D E S D E N. quod continet in se xxiii acr : ex licencia domini Regis Henrici filii Regis Johannis. Dicunt jurati quod Dentone est hamelettum de Codes- done — Hamelettum quod vacatur Watele." Rogerus Vicarius de Codesdon, de predicto Thoma tenet dimidiam acram terre et reddit per annum obolum pro omni servicio eidem Thome. Johannes de Chibenhurst tenet villam de Chibenhurst ad feodi firmani de Priore de Nugun reddendo inde per annum Ix^ pro omni servicio — debet sectam hundredo de Bolendon. A.D. 1291. 19 Edwakd I. Tax. Ec. P. Nich. P. 30. Ecclesia de Cuddcsdon', Abbatis de Abbyndon P. 40. Vicaria de Codesdon. P. 44. Decanatus de Codesdon : — Abbas de Abbingdon habct ill Codesdon in terris et redditibus Idem habet ibidem in fructu gregis et animahum Prior de Nugyun habet in Chibenhurst et in Baldin- don in redd' . . . . .600 A.D. 1316. 9 Edward II. At this date Quodesdon, Denton and Whatele are reported as owned by the Abbot of x\byngdon ; and Chiben- hurst, by " Domina Benedicta de Chibenhurst ■"." A.D. 1523. Richard Stolv, B.D., was presented by the Abbot and Convent to the Vicarages- A.D. 1341. 14 Edward III. Decanatus de Cotesdon" : — Ecclesia })arochialis ejusdem cum omnibus portionibus suis taxatur ad xxvi" xiii** iiij^ ' J ■ ) jie],^ Humiridum liiomam Joluinnem Edw. II. Isabellam P^lenam, lladulfum et Tho- ^ Bishop Kennett sub anno. Ex mam. Et ]-redictus Willielmus lilius chartul. de Boarstall. Sir Richard Ca- predicti Willielmi supervixit. Et pre- , IT,. 1 TIT dicta Elena maritata iiut Ricardo Lou- moys, by a deed bearmg date May ^,^^,^ ,,^5,;^; ,i^, ^i^jt^.^^ y^^ j,^.^,,lj^ti jj^,„^ 25th, in the same year, had enfeoffed Johannes Humfridus Thomas Johannes Sir Robert Ponynges, and the others Isabella Radulfus et Thomas obierunt in the above, together with other pos- *^'"'^ heredibus de corporibus suis pro- „ -, rrr r,- 1 1 tvt -1 crcatis Et prcdictus vViUielmus films sessions, in Ewelme, Tuffield, Neltil- wiUielmi Et Cecilia uxor ejus habue- bold, Waceswoode, Mongchamwoode, runt exitum inter se viz. Gilbertum Wace Shephurstes londes. The following militcm Agnctam Matildam Sibillam et document of the reign of Henry VI. Margaretam. Et prcdicte Agn Mat. r , Sib. et Marg. obisrunt sme heredibus de shews the descent of most of these pos- ^0,^0^1,,,, p,ocreatis et predictus Gil- sessions, and serves to illustrate the his- bertus supervixit. Et ])redictus Gilber- tory of Milton and other neighbouring tus ct Nicholna uxor ejus fueiunt seisiti places in several important particulars. ^^^'. ^^^'^^ prejh-ctis et nullum habuerunt , -r . TT 1-,.-, •!• • exitum et dictus iJiibertus suiicrvixit Linea Ricardi Camoys militis quo- predictam Nicholaam et obiit seisitus de 316 GREAT MILTON. A.U. 1 122. 5 Hon. VI. Sir William Dugdale mentions that the manor of Whateley, Oxon, also descended to the Camoys family from the Louches, (see note",) and that Hugh Camoys the son of Richard, at length succeeded to the manor of Great Milton, called " Camoys manor," but died soon after within age and without issue, leaving his inheritance to be divided between his two sisters, Margaret the wife of Ralph Red- milde, and Alianore the wife of Roger Lewknore. The said Ralph and Roger accordingly did homage for their respective shares, 5 Hen. VI.^ A.D. 1535. 26 Hen. VHI. The following is a brief abstract of the retui'u in the Valor Ecclesiasticus. Of the two prebends in Lincoln cathedral, derived out of Great Milton, that which was endowed with the appropriation of the church, being held by Thomas Baddell or Bedel, who is called the rector, amounted at that time to the clear yearly value xxxiij''. xviij^. vj. terris predictis cujus propinquior lieres buried at Dorchester. See Account of est Ricardus Camoys miles filius Thome Dorchester Church, p. 1 33, 1 34. (^amoys militis el hlisabeth uxoris ejus i t>, , i filie et hcredis Willielmi Louclies de Bugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 768. Milton filii et heredis Johannis Louches Thomas Lord Camoys, the father of Sir de Milton filii et heredis prcdicti llicardi Richard, deceased, A.D. 142L Louches militis de Milton et pre.lic.e c By the above extract, as well that li.lene fine predicti VV ilhehni V\ ace null- tis uxoris predicti Ricardi Louches." ''O'" ^he Taxation of Tope Nicholas, From the Boarstall chartulary, a tran- A-^- 1291, it appears that Great Milton script of the reign of Henry VL, kindly ''^'^ ^oi" ^ery early times furnished two communicated by Sir Thomas Digby 1 rcbends to the cathedral of Lincoln. Aubrev Bart '^'''^ following are the names of some of Sir Gilbert Wacc, above mentioned, the earlier Brebendaries :— departed this life A.D. 1 1()8, and was Prebendaries of" Milton Church." L John de Monmouth ....-- A.D. 1290 2. Gilbert Segrave, Bishop of London . _ - . - 1296 3. Galliard de Mota, Archdeacon of Oxford, and rixcentor of , Chicliester 1312 4. Hugo Cardinalis, Sanctae Mariae in porticu . . _ 1,"J0'5 5. Francis Cardinal de Sabina ------ 1372 6. Walter Skirlow, Bishop of Balli and Wells - - - i3!)6 7. Richard de Scroop, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry - - 1386 8. Andrew Barret - - 1389 HISTORICAL NOTICES. 317 A.D. 1542. John Leland the great antiquary, who was at this date rector of Haseley, thus i-ecords his visit to Great Milton. "• From Haseley to Miltoun village half a mile, at tliis place, as I heard say, was many yeres syns a Priorie of Monkes : a selle, as one told me to Abingdon. The House of the Priorie was by likelihood, wher the Farmer's House is now, hard by the Chirch yard. For ther appere foundations of great bviildinges. Sum say that Monseir de Louches House was wher the Farmer's House is^. In the Chirch of INIiltun is an Highe Tumbe of P^re Stone with the Image of a Knight and a Lady, with an Epitaphie in Frenche, de- claring that Richard de Louches Chivalier and Helene his wife ly buried there «. The Voice ther goith that Louche had the Priorie Land gyven hym. Louches Landes cam to Heires Generalls. Of later Tymes Davers had this Lordship of one Syr Regnald Bray boute it of Davers. The late I^ord Bray sold it to Dormer Mair of London. There is a prebend Land in Miltun longging to Lincoln. The Bishop of Lincoln is Patrone of the Chirch. Prebendaries of" Milton Manor." 1. Richard Hannibal -- 1330 2. Manuel Flisco ---.-.-. 1333 3. William Norwich ---.-.-.] 343 4. Thomas Bembre --...--. 134' I 5. Hugh de St. Marshall ---..-. 1345 G. Hugo Cardinalis - -_--.., 1365 7. Raymond Pelegrini - - - . - - - - 1375 For the names of later Prebendaries see Account of Great Milton, by tlie Rev. T. Ellis, whence the above are taken. "* The Benedictines of Abingdon had was connected with Lincoln Cathedral possessions at Milton, Berks, as early as and the prebend " Milton Ecclesia,"hav- the Conquest, but that they had a cell at ing their house on the site of the present Great Milton, Oxon, is a supposition rectorial farm, still called the "Monkery " which, in the Monasticon and in Stevens's or " Monk's Farm." Supplement, vol. i. p. 127, is made to rest « This tomb did not exist in Anthony solely on the above passage in Leland, D, Wood's time (HitiO), and was probably and is not borne out by the Hundred destroyed in the Great Rebellion, as Rolls or Valor Ecclesiasticus. It is much ]\Jilton was a favourite residence of more probable that the foundations hard Thurloe, the secretary of Oliver Crom- by the church-yard were those of " Mon- well, and was frequently visited by the sier de Louche's House," and that the usurper himself. See Account of Great only Priorie of Monkes at Great Milton Milton, by the Rev. T. Ellis, Vicar, p. 22. 318 GREAT MILTON. There joynith unto Great Miltun, Little Miltoiin, and there is a Chappelle of Ease dedicate to S. James f." No traces are now to be seen of the tomb of Richard de Louches and his Lady, to whom considerable interest is attached, as the persons of most rank and property residing at Milton daring the time when the beautiful Church of St. Matthew was built. An altar-tomb Avith effigies at that early date, would warrant the supposition that they were con- siderable benefactors to the Church. By documents already quoted, it appears that this Richard de Louches did his homage A.D. 1300, that his wife Helene was the daughter of Sir William Wace, (of Ewelme,) and that the possessions of Louches, Inge, and Wace at length came to Sir Richard Camoys, who departed this life A.D. 1416, leaving a widow and three sons, the youngest of whom at length inherited, but dying soon after left the inheritance to be divided between his sisters Margaret and Alianore. This must nearly fill up the gap in Ijeland's account between Louches and Danvers, who sold the manor to Sir Reginald Bray. Sir Michael D'ormer who purchased it of the "late Lord Bray"' was the son of Geoffrey D'ormer a woolstapler of Thame, Oxon, and was elected Lord Mayor of London in the year 1541. He was suc- ceeded by his son Ambrose D'ormer, who died in the year 1566. Michael the eldest son of Ambrose, served under Robert Earl of Leicester and Sir Francis Yere in the low countries, received the honour of knighthood, and A.D. 1618, erected for himself, his wife, and his father, the monu- ment in the south aisle of Milton Church. He was not however at the time of the erection of this monument, lord of the manors of Milton and its hamlets, having thirty years previouslj', at the beginning of his military career, sold them to Sir Michael Grene, by whom they were sold to the Lord Keeper Coventry. The manors of Great and Little Milton and Ascot, afterwards became the property of John Blackall, Esq., partly by virtue of family settlements and partly by purchase. They are now possessed by Walter Long, Esq. John Milton the Poet is said to have descended from the proprietors of Milton, near Thame in Oxfordshire, one of whom forfeited his estate in the times of York and Lancaster k. The house which is reputed to have been occupied by the ancestors of the poet is still standing, with mullioncd windows and pointed roofs, opposite to the village well. This house, with its original garden wall, and an outbuilding of similar character, affords an interesting specimen of domestic architecture, but cannot be assigned to a date much earlier than A.D. 1600. In the fields on the opposite side of the road is the rectorial farm- house, wliich was completely modernised, and a subterraneous passage ' Lcl. Itin., vol. ii. p. 10. « Fcntou and Dr. .Foliiison, quoted by Kev. T. Ellis. LITTLE MILTON. 319 destroyed, at the time that Sir John Aubrey, Bart., of Dorton House, Bucks, was lessee, but the premises are still known by the name of Monks Farm. The old manor-farm to the north-west of the Church, still retains the name of Romeyns Court. By the operation of the late Act of Parliament, the two Prebends in Lincoln cathedral, still called Milton Church and Milton manor, to which these belonged, are now de- prived of their revenues and patronage, the vicarage has been slightly augmented to its present value £223. per annum, and placed in the patronage of the Bishop of Oxford. J. B. LITTLE MILTON. PATRON. St. 3amcs, DEANERY P. C. Apostle anXf i^artur. OF CUDDESDEN. THE BISHOP OF HUNDRED OXFORD. OF THAME. The Chapel of Ease at Little Milton dedicated to St. James wldcli was standing in Leland^s time, after having been com- pletely destroyed for about two hundred years, has happily been replaced by a Church of good design, consecrated by the Right Hon. Richard Bagot, Lord Bishop of Oxford, on the 4th of June, A.D. 1844, to which Little Milton with Ascot is now attached, as a separate district and a perpetual curacy, value £95, in the gift of the Rev. Thomas Ellis, vicar of Great Milton, for life, but afterwards to be in the patronage of the Bishop of Oxford. Dr. Plot in his Natural History of Oxfordshire, has described a British coin of Prasutagus the husband of Boadicea which was dug up at Little Milton. Among the notes of the Rev. Thomas Delafield, Vicar of Great Milton, A.D. 1737, are the following statements. " Mr. Eustace of Little Milton, hath an orchard in Little Milton planted by his father, in all his writings called Abbot's close. . . . The Chappel yard at Little Milton, now called Chappel Heys, hath had even of late some human bones dug up there. And Mr. Paul Wildgoose, in the year 1748, in digging the foundation for a granary, lighted upon the bones of a human skeleton." 320 LITTLE MILTON. The Abbot's close, belonging to Mr. Eustace, was no doubt part of the lands of the abbot of Dorchester mentioned in the Hundred Rolls, and given to that abbey, A.D. 1272, by- William le Sage and Roesia his wife^ The statement of Mr. Delafield with respect to the Chapel yard, appears sufficient to determine the ancient site of the House of God in this place, and is confirmed by the discovery in " Chapel Heys," the farm- yard nearly opposite to the present Church, of fragments of a font and piscina, now placed in the north wall of the new chancel. A cross formerl}^ stood in the centre of the village, but has been taken down since A.D. 1825. In the hamlet of Ascot are some ruins of the D'ormer mansion, but every vestige of the neighbouring chapel has been ruthlessly destroyed, and its site is now only marked by a weather-beaten elm twenty-one feet in girth, which stood at the west end, and is still called the " Chapel Tree." ASCOT CHAPEL, OSON. We are indebted to the taste and skill of Charles Ellis, Esq., of Great Milton, for the above sketch of this interesting building, taken A.D. 1811, from which time it continued standing entire, with the excejition of the roofs, till 1 823, when it wa.s pulled down, and the stones, including the Ibuiidations, were afterwards fetched away as wanted. It woidd appear that the chapel was built soon after A.D. 1200, and that several addi- tions were made in the Decorated period. j. b. '^ Fin. 0x011. 5G llcii 111., (luoted in Account of Dorchester Abbey Church, p. 1.39. NEWINGTON. PATRON. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. ^t. ffitlcS. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF EWELME. The general character of this Church is Decorated, with some portions of other styles. It has a Chancel; nave, and north tran- sept or chapel, with a tower and spire at the west end. The Chancel. — The east window is Decorated, of three lights, with flowing tracery, the hood and jamb mouldings having much of the Perpendicular character : on the south side are two good Decorated windows of two lights, the tracery trefoiled and cusped : on the north side the easternmost window is Pcr- peikdicular, square-headed, of two lights ; the western is an Early English lancet, with the original string beneath, but not con- T t 322 N E W I N G T O N. tiiiued. In the south wall of the Chancel is an arched recess, probably the tomb of the restorer of the Church in the four- teenth century; the arch is low, foliated and moulded, with open cusps. There is a plainly-cusped piscina, square-headed, of wliich the shelf and water-drain have been recently restored : the priest^s door, on the north side, is pointed, with chamfered edges to the jambs. The Chancel-arch appears to be of the fourteenth century; the mouldings are plain, and die on the surface of the side piers ; it has no hoodmould over. The remains of a good Early Perpendicular rood-screen, repaired and beautified in King George the Third's time, having the royal arms at the top, divide the Chancel from the nave : the latter has, on the south side, one Decorated window of two lights; there are also, with one Perpendicular window of little character, two modern insertions. The south door, within a modern porch, is Norman, but the jambs or sides have been com- pletely destroyed, and the arch mouldings left as a hoodmould over, with two heads, of Edward the Third's time, supporting them, carved out of the capi- tals or upper parts of the old Nor man work : they give a singular and displeasing ap- pearance to the whole, but shew, perhaps, in the only way that could be adopted, the desire to preserve the upper part of the old door, when the lower was entirely destroyed or defaced, are visible on the north side, but it is now stopped up. The side chapel or transept opens into the nave by a plain arch, recessed on both sides, and was added, apparently, in the fourteenth century : the windows arc Decorated, and the Avholc has the general character of tliis date. liouLb Doer. The remains of a Norman door N E W I N G T O N. .323 Font. The Font, which is very large, is of the round form, quite plain, and apparently of the early part of the thir- teenth century. All the roofs inside are ceiled, and there are no windows on the north side of the nave. There are a few scattered re- mains of painted glass. In the south windows of the Chancel are two small medaUions of the four- teenth century. The Per- pendicular window on the north side of the Chancel is nearly full of late glass, but the subjects are in much confusion; in the easternmost light between two other figures, nimbed and regally crowned, is a figure of our Saviour, shewing the five wounds, and Avearing the crown of thorns, nimbed, and attended by Angels, one of whom supports a regal crown. On either side is a figure, likewise regally crowned, and nimbed. The dresses of our Saviour and the other figures are nearly similar, being tunics of blue with edged alb and offray. Below this group is a figure of an ecclesiastic kneeling on a chequered ground and praying, having on, the amice and scapulary ; on a scroll issuing above his head, can be traced " Gloria ^terno Patri et Christo * * in perpetuura, Amen.'^ In the other light is represented the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Against the north wall of the Chancel is an alabaster monu- ment, with busts of Walter Dunch and his wife Mary in shrouds, erected A.D. 1650; under these are the arms of Dunch, Sable, on a cheveron between three towers, triple-toAvered Ar- gent, a crescent of the field : impaling Ilungerford, Sable, two bars Argent, in chief three plates : above the monument is a wooden tablet, ornamented with arms and other devices. There is another monument against the cast wall to Henry Dunch, 324 N E W I N G T O N. Esq., who died A.D. 1686. " Iii a chapel on the north side is a stone on the ground, whereon, in brass, are the pictures of two women, and iinder them this inscription — Hie jacet AUcia quondam uxor WilHelmi Skyrmote, et Maria uxor Johannis Skyrmote fiHi dictorum Wilhelmi et Alicias quae quidam Maria obiit duodecimo die mensis Juhi Anno Domini MCCCCLXIII quorum animabus propitietur &c.''" This monument is not now visible, and is perhaps concealed by the floor of the pew. The exterior of the Church is covered with roughcast, the work of some churchwarden, A.D. 1776, and some other church- Avarden had previously, A.D. 1743, put up a sun-dial on the east gable; it consequently would have a very meagre appearance but for the stone spire, the only one in this part of the Dean- ery. The Chancel has only buttresses to the east wall ; these are angular and low, with the string-course continued round them. The lower stage of the tower is Early English, with the upper part and spire Decorated. From some settlement of the foundations it hangs over considerably, and at the north- west corner a large Perpendicular buttress has been added, corresponding in some measure with the one at the south-west corner. The lower windows are lancet, but those in the bell- chamber are Decorated, of two lights. The spire, which is rather heavy, has a low parapet, and for security has been braced by irons, which have an ugly appearance on the out- side. On the east side is a spire-light, which probably served for the sanctus bell, and now holds the small bell. Within the steeple are four bells, bearing the following inscriptions : — 1. " Sancta Maria ora pro nobis '^." 2. " Oure hope is in the lorde. 1592. R ^ E." ;;. " Henri Knight made this bell. 1608." 4. " Richard Peploe,WilhamWilmott, churchwardens. 1710. A.R." JOSErn CLARKE. * Wood's MS. Asli. Mils. E. 1. date as the glabs in the north window of •* This bell is probably not earlier than the Chancel, the sixteenth ccnluvv, about the same N E W I N G T O N. 325 HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 997 Elgive the Queen gave the two manors of Newington and Brightwell to the Church of Canterbury, free from all secular service, except the threefold necessity <=. "Ainio Dominica; incarnationis Ego Elgiua Ymma regina concedo ecclesise Christi terram nomine Niwen- tune et Brutewell liberam ab omni seculari servitio, exceptis expeditione, pontis et arcis constructione. Ista terra in regione de Oxoneford. Ego quoque contuli eideni ecclesise Christi calicem cum patena aurea in quo sunt xiij marca? de puro auro, et duo dorsalia de pallio et duas cappas de pallio cum tassellis auro paratis''."' A.D. 1080. 14 William I. The Archbishop of Canterbury holds Newtone. It was and is the property of the Church. Robert de Oilgi holds one hide and Roger one hide. In the time of King Edward it was worth xi^'. now xv^'.® A.D. 1272. 1 Ed. I. In this reign the Prior and Convent of the Holy Trinity in Canterbury, held under the Archbishop, the manor of Nywenton, with the hamlets Brochampton, Brittewell, and Berewyk *". A.D. 1535. 26 Hen. VIII. The clear receipts of Christ Church, Canterbury, from the manor of Newenton, Oxon, were xxxiij^. ixs. vijr/.s The living of Newington is now a Rectory, with the chapel of Bright- welP^ annexed, in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury, value £3G0 ; population, by the last census, 471. It was formerly in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in the deanexy of Monks Risborough, Bucks, the manor of which place was given to the Church of Canterbury and Elfric, Archbishop, A.D. 995, by Escwin, Bishop of Dorchester*'. '■ Bp. Kennett, vol. i. p. 61. name, Christ Church. Soniner, p. 155 " Script. R. Twysden, p. 2222. See —159. also Gervase Dorob. sub anno. Dugd. ^ Val. Ecc., vol. i. p. 16. Men. N. E. p. 83, and Wood's MS. E. I. '' The chapel at Brightwell Prior is a e Domesday Survey, p. 155. little Early English building, with some ' Hundred Rolls. The Cathedral at remains of Norman work. It has re- Canterbury was dedicated to St. Saviour cently been restored with some care, but by St. Augustine, to the Holy Trinity unhappily without professional super- when restored by Archbishop Lanfranc, intendance. and afterwards it was called by its present DRAYTON. PATRON. ^t. CCatl)frlne • DEANERY CHRIST CHURCH, OF CUDDESDEN. OXFORD. HUNDRED OF DORCHESTER FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel . , . . . . 23 9 by 14 9 Nave . . . . , . . . 45 3 i^y 17 5 North Chapel , . . . 17 4 by 13 10 A SMALL plain Cliurch having a Clmncel, nave^ a chapel on the north side, and a wooden tower over the west gable. The Chancel is Decorated : the tracery of the east Avindow, which is much mutilated, is of three lights, plain, and not cusped. On the south side the windows are square-headed, of tM'o lights; on the north side is a Avindow of one light, trefoiled and cusped, in which is a fragment of fifteenth century glass, representing a bishop with a staff in the left hand, and a large chain hanging from the right, which is raised as in the act of blessing; this is by village tradition reported to be St. Leonard'*. The piscina on the south side with the drain remains perfect, and opposite to this are the traces of an aumbre, near which are two corbel-heads, probably of the fourteenth century, but defaced. The Chancel-arch is quite plain. In the nave are the remains of Norman and Early English work. On the north side is a Norman door now stopped, and an early window with very ' St. Leonard or Lienard was a French nobleman who in the flower of his age took the religious hahit at St. Me.sinins in the territory of Orleans, and afterwards became a hermit in a forest four leagues from Limoges. This Saint was most re- markable for his charity, towards cap- tives and prisoners : he departed this life A.D. 599. — Alhan Butlkh. See also Catalogue of the emblems of Saints, Archaeological Journal, vol. i. )). .58. DRAYTON. 327 deeply splayed sill. The south doorway is Norman, quite plain ; the door is later, with rounded shoulder inserted. The south windows are square-headed, Perpendicular, of two lights. The west window is Early English, of one light. The chapel on the north opens into the nave by two arches of unequal size, the chamfers dying into the wall, supported in the centre by a circular pier with moulded cap and base of the thirteenth century. It has one small Early English window, and a square- headed Perpendicular window of two lights in the north wall. There is also a corbel-head in this wall similar to those in the Chancel. The roofs are all concealed by plaster ceilings. The Font is Perpendicular, but appears to have been altered from its original form. On the Chancel-arch are now the arms of King George II., which a few years back were placed beneath the arch, as was usual at the time of their being ordered. A few tiles remain, and a portion of the original open seats are perfect. On the east gable of the nave is the base of a large sanctus bell-turret, against which is now a sun-dial. The present wooden tower is partly carried on the base of the original bell- turret, which must have been made for more than one bell. There are noAV three bells. The oldest (broken) bears the inscription Sancta Hafcrtna ota pro nobi^, with three stamps, one of which consists of a cross fleuree, with the words Jj^u metcv laDg I)clp, distributed in the spaces. The next, (cracked) >J< ^^snxi Unigljt maDe mcf 1603. The third bell, (Dut Ijope (s in Wje 2orli 1625. 328 DRAYTON. HISTORICAL NOTICES. This place was formerly the seat of the Draytons, of which family Sir John Drayton, who departed this life A.D. 1411, and Richard Drayton, Esq., (1450,) were honoured with sepultm-e and brass effigies in the south aisle of Dorchester Abbey Church ''. Others of the family had monuments in Drayton Church, as appears by two coats of arms, recorded as existing there A.D. 1574, in the note-book of R. Lee, the herald '=. One of them. Azure, a bend between six cross crosslets fitchee Or, Drayton : quartering Er- mine, two bars, and in chief a demi-lion, Gules, Segrave : Crest a Sai-acen's head, as in the annexed engraving, is accompanied by the remark " John Drayton very ancient." The other coat consists of the same arms impaled by. Ermine, a fess Vairee Gules and Or ; within a border engrailed, Sable ; Crest the Saracen's head as before. Drayton was one of the twelve Churches within the juiisdiction or "Peculiar" of Dorchester abbey, to which house the rectory was impropriate. The value of the rectory of Drayton, A.D. 1536, was xj", and was let to Richard iNIolyners at will*^. It is now a perpetual curacy in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, population 327. The village feast is held on the 24th of November, the eve of St. Catherine^, virgin and martyr, new style. ^ See Acct. of Dorchester Church, p. 131—3. "= Wood's MS. D. 14. •• Roll 29 Hen. VIII. Augmentation Office, and records in Exchequer quoted in Acct. of Dorchester Church, pp. 92. 164. ^ The sign of the village inn at the edge of the river Thame is the Wheel of St. Catherine. STADHAMPTON. PATRON. ^t. %oi)n lUaptliSt CHARLES PEERS, Esq. t. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF DORCHESTER IT. IN. h' 12 6 I'y 19 6 by 8 FT. IN. Chancel 19 6 Nave ...-..., -11 Nortli Aisle 41 The Church at Stadhampton is in a debased style, with the exception of the north aisle, which is Perpendicular. Tlic tower is modern. The Chancel is raised two steps; the east window of three lights exhibits the last ray of that feeling which pervaded the purer styles of Christian architecture, the outer or upper mould- ing of the head being cusped, whilst the inside form is elliptical. In the north wall is a window of two lights, not cusped at all, and on the south side one of two lights and another of one, similar to the east window, having a priest's door between them. The Chancel-arch is splayed on to plain caps, which appear to have been intended to be moulded, the ceiling is plastered ; the nave is divided from the north aisle by three arches on piers wdth plainly moulded caps ; the pulpit and reading desk bear the date "I. P. 1611." Some clumsy seats of " 1G36" remain in the nave, but placed much closer than originally. The roof is plastered, and tied in by beams. In the east wall of the north aisle is a Perpendicular window of two lights, and near this a bracket for a light, or an image. On the north are three low two-light windows, of the same date. The north door is now stopped. In this aisle is a brass with the figures of a man and woman, and the following inscription, |Jraj) for l!)c soloUus of ^Jolju 22tlj)l^ u u li'riO vSTADHAMPTON AND CHISELHAMPTON. mot i>'' jioungci- nnt) Slljis |)ls liDjfc luljicl) 3)olju Dicti i.tl tiny of ^ususit tt)c ycrc of oluic Sorli ^.mccctcbllt". There is also a brass plate in the Chancel to the memory of Dorothy Clarke^ who died A.D. 1G45. The Font is plain, round, and has the staple holes remaining. Over the Chancel-arch are the arms of Queen Elizabeth, carved on a wooden tablet, with the motto " Regintc erunt nutrices tux\" These however were not originally placed in this Church. There is also an old parish chest. The Church is much disfigured by a raised pew in the north aisle, and a singers' gallery at the west end of the nave. In the latter is a small but remarkably sweet toned organ made by a former curate. In the tower are four bells, each inscribed, " Henry Knight made mee 1621." CHISELHAMPTON. At the close of the last century when the old manor-house near the banks of the river Thame was pulled down in order to be built in a more eligible situation, the Church was also sub- jected to removal. The present building, consecrated Aug. 22, A.D. 1763, and dedicated to St. Catherine, has a bell-turret such as is usually placed on stables, large round-headed windows in the front toward the road, but none in the back or end walls, and is, notwithstanding its neat and trim appearance, a sad in- stance of departure from all the proprieties of Church architec- ture. The vane is pierced with the name of St. Catherine, the patron saint ^. The only building of any antiquity now remaining in the village is the bridge over the Thame, with angular buttresses on the upper side to stem the force of the current below, and afford recesses above for the convenience of foot passengers. ' 'I'Ir' t'niiiifr CluuL'li is said to luive lictn (kilicattil to St. Mary, in JSacon's J.ibcr Regis. STADHAMPTON AND CHISIXHAMPTON. 331 HISTORICAL NOTICES. Stadhampton and Chiselhampton, which as early as the reign of Henry VIII. were vulgarly called Stodham^ and Chisilton'=, and eccle- siastically united, were formerly within the jurisdiction or "Peculiar" of Dorchester Abhey, to which house the impropriate rectory belonged. At the Dissolution the Rectory and Parish Church of Stodham and Chesel- hampton were let on a lease of thirty-one years, beginning from the 2nd of May, A.D. 1534, to Thomas Reade, at a yearly rent of xviij^i vj^ viij'' payable at the Feasts of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, Michael the Archangel, Nativity of our Lord, and Annunciation of the Blessed Mary'^. From the following notice of Anthony a Wood, it would appear that Chiselhampton is an abbreviation of a still longer name. " From Sir Robert ChevacheeshuU of Hampton near to Dorchester, in com. Oxon. temp. Hen. III. and his ancestors that probably there lived, the said town of Hampton was called Chevacheeshull-Hampton and Chisling- ton^." A.D. 1416. Sir Richard Camoys, son of Thomas, Lord Camoys, was lord of the manor of Chiselhampton f. In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries this was a seat of a branch of the ancient family of D'OyleyS. The period when the property changed hands may be inferred from the following singular entry in the parish register. "Mem. March 20. I743. I enter this to acquaint my successors that the stipend for Chisleton and Stadham curacy was ever till this day ten shillings a Sunday and a Dinner for myself and care of my Horse. But now Sir John D"Oyley being obliged to sell the Chisleton Estate, in order to make more of it, has refused to give any more than twenty Pounds a year and obliges me to take care of myself and Horse. This is Sir John's own Declaration. This I attest to be litterally true. John Bilstone Curate of Chisleton." From the above-named Sir John D'Oyley, the manor, estate, and advowson of Chiselhampton, with lands in Stadhampton, passed to Charles Peers, Esq., who built a neAV Church at his own expense, and it is only to be regretted that so liberal an outlay should have taken place at a time when the proprieties of Church architecture were so little un- derstood. By the munificence of this gentleman and his successors, the living has been augmented from £20 to £135, being now in the gift of Charles Peers, Esq., of Chiselhampton House, and styled the " Perpetual Curacy of Chiselhampton with Stadhampton." b Records of Augmentation Office. Abbey Church, p. 165. = Leland Itin., vol. ii. p. 10. '■ Wood's MS., E. I. 'I Records in Exchequer 29 lien. ' Historical Notices of Great Milton. VIII., quoted in Acct. of Dorchester e Visitat. of Oxon., A.D. 1574. 3.32 G A R S I N G T O N. c o •a e .2 GARSINGTON. PATRON. TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. 5t. i*latj?. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. NOKTH-WF.ST VIEW OP &ARSTNGTON CHaP.CH . This Clmrcli consists of nave, with side aisles, western tower, and Chancel : it seems to have been built late in the twelfth century, with a nave, north aisle, and western tower. The chancel and south aisle were added, or entirely rebuilt, in the fourteenth, the north aisle considerably altered, and the clear- story added. i& The Chancel is late Decorated; there are no foliations either in the head or in | the liffhts of the windows. Both the east v and the side windows are very plain out- side, the dripstones very simple, and the mullions flush with the outer face of the wall. But in the inside these windows have good hood-moulds, especially the east win- Hood moulds of v-asiwiudow 334 G A R S I N G T O N. (low; the lahcl of wliich lias a deep liollow under it, wliicli gives it boldness and distinetness. Beneath each window is a recess, which gives a great appearance of lightness to the Chancel. That under the cast window is 7 ft. G in. broad, and in this stood the Altar. Those under the side windows were made by the present Rector; who has also filled the five windows of the Chancel with coloured glass, suggested by some fragments of old glass, which served as a pattern for the new. The side windows are of two lights : there were three on each side in the original design, but those in the centre have been blocked up by large mural monuments of the Wickhara family in the modern taste. Both the south-west and north-west windows are what Hickman calls "lovv side windows.^^ Such a window is often found on the south side ; but not often on the north. The lower parts of these ySFT' windows have the original Low f^ido Window iron bars, and were lately found on examination to be separated from the upper parts by a plain transom. They were before walled up as high as the transom ; and now partly so in consequence of pews in the inside. Close by the south-east window is a piscina with cut spandrels, which makes it look like late Decorated work, and so it will well agree with the date assigned to the rest of the Chancel. The present credence-table is formed out of the old com- munion-table. This being much decayed, another of carved oak, somewhat larger, has been substituted in its place. The commu- nion-rails are good of their kind, probably of the age of King Charles TI. There are a few encaustic tiles in the Chancel and GARSINGTON. 335 some other parts of the Church, apparently of the fourteenth century, or of the beginning of the fifteenth, when considerable alterations and additions seem to have been made, such as the Chancel-screen, &c. The roof is now quite hid by plaster; but it seems to have been of a kind not unfrequently found in the neighbourhood of Oxford, being an open cant roof. A good ex- ample may be seen in Duckhngton Church, near Witney, and another at Beckley. It is difficult to tell the age of a roof of this description, which has no strongly marked mouldings in any of its timbers. Those at Duckliugton and Beckley seem to be of the fourteenth century ; this at Garsington may perhaps have been copied from an older one, as the wall-plate has late mould- ings, probably of the time of King Charles II., when some con- siderable repairs were made in the Church. The Chancel has a small doorway on the south side, of similar character, and of the same date as the side windows. The oak door has been lately renewed. The Chancel-arch, which is large and lofty, seems to correspond in general cha- racter with the Earlv English part of the Church. It has recessed mouldings, which partly die into the wall, and partly are carried by a kind of corbel, but this docs not appear to have been the original finish. An examina- tion of that part of the arch near the pidpit, will shew that it Avas carried by a re- spond on cither side, which had Early English caps : why these were cut away is not «o clear ; perhaps to make way for the rood-loft and N ave Arches. SouLb side. -/;^«% ilouldiufiaof Chaucel aich. 336' GARSINGTON. screen : and it is not unlikely that this alteration of the arch has contributed to throw it out of place ; for at present, owing to its outwai'd thrust, or to some settlement in the south wall, it has given over on that side, and a buttress has been added on the outside to strengthen the wall. The Rood-screen is of rather late Perpendicular work. The pulpit now stands on the south side, upon what seems to be the stone base of an older one ; it is of the date of King Charles II., and both it and the reading-desk (which latter is made up of parts of the rood-screen) are furnished with a velvet covering inscribed, " D. D. Gul. Bell, 1779." Just below the reading-desk are some monumental brasses, with this inscription : — " Here lyeth Thomas Radley gentleman and Elisabeth his wife y^ which Thomas decessyed y*^ iii day of the month of October y^ year of our lord God a thousand ccccclxxxiiii on whose soules Ihu have m'cy." The Nave opens into the north aisle by four arches, and by as many into the south aisle. Its roof is Perpendicular ; the tie- beams are cambered, and both they and the other timbers have been painted : the roof is much spoiled by later additions, for about the time of the Restoration the tie-beams were strength- ened by struts and other means of support. The clerestory Avindows are three in number on each side : they are foliated circles, of the same character as the south aisle. Decorated ; in the interior they have for a hood-moulding a four-cen- tred arch, which is generally a charac- teristic of Perpendicular work ; yet it is found occasionally in the earlier styles. The eastern clerestory window on the north side has been replaced by a large square window of the time of Charles II. This was probably inserted by Dr. Bath- urst, as it corresponds exactly with those in his new building, at Trinity College, (Jlerestory Window GARSINGTON. 337 called after his name. The Decorated parapet, together with the Tbe Ma^e The South Aisle. Sections of Parapets. cornice, was taken off at the same time, and put on again as before, only the cornice was made to run round the square window, serv- ing for a kind of label. The cornice of the aisles is the same ; the parapet of the south aisle is somewhat different from that of the clerestory, but of the 1 same date. The north aisle has a late parapet. The pillars and arches — [;/ on the north side are -— of Early English date. The pillars are cylindri- cal, short, with bold square bases and caps ; they carry low arches with recessed mould- ings, which have labels toward the nave, but — W"/ Cap aDd Base, north Pillar of Nav^. none toward the aisle. These labels are carried by corbels of Early English character between the arches ; but at the western respond are returned to the west wall of the nave. The pillars and arches on the south side, are partly copied from those on the north, though the variations are considerable; the pillars, for instance, are octagonal instead of cylindrical : they have the same propor- tions, but the capitals are richer^ being very good Decorated : the arches and their mouldings are the same ; they have labels X X 338 G A R S I N G T O N. on botli sides, toward the nave and toward the aisles : at the western respond these labels were to have been carried by a head, but the stones still remain uncut. This work is evidently later. Corbels of Ihe Arches of Nave. At the west end a cumbrous gallery obscures the tower arch. The plain open seats apparently of the fifteenth century, are of similar character with those in Great Haseley, Charlton, and indeed almost all the country Churches about Oxford ; some are of later date. The south Aisle has a three-light east window, with elegant flowing Decorated tracery; the hood-moiilding is the same as that of the inner label of the east window of the Chancel. The cor- nice of the arch stops against its head in a rather singular man- ner. There are three south windows of two lights each, two to the east, and one to the west of the south doorway. These windows arc square-headed, with segmental inner arches, and have the same mouldings as the east window. In the south wall is a good Deco- rated piscina, with an ogee arch. The south doorway has good mouldings of tbe fourteenth century ; over it has been added a wooden porch, in the fifteenth. The west window of this aisle is late Iron Handle, Soath Door GARSINGTON. 339 South Window of South Aisle Section of Principal of South Aisle .-// '^ Mouldings of Belfry Window, above Cap. X'M*^ J Mouldings of Belfry Window, below Cap. Mouldings of Lower West Window, above Cap. Mouldings oi Lower West Wiudow. below Cap. , ////k E5^ Mouldings of South Door. Mouldings of North Door 340 GARSINGTON, Perpendicular: the wall above this window has been taken down and rebuilt, when the win- dow was inserted, a very poor parapet Avas put on, and the slope of the lean-to roof was lowered considerabl3% Inside the roof of this aisle, as well as that of the other, is al- most entirely hid by lath and plaster; still the prin- cipals stand out boldly with good Decorated mouldings. ^^^ ,,^,^ p,,,^ The north Aisle has windows nearly the same in position and character as the south; with these differences, that inside they have pointed segmental arches, and the mouldings of their labels outside are not the same, but answer to the mouldings of the door- way, and the caps of the pillars of the south aisle. Opposite the south door- way, is another of Early English character, and very singular mouldings, which were at first carried by a shaft on either side, of which only the caps now remain, built into two small buttresses, which were added, together with two other buttresses, as it appears, in the year 1668, to strengthen the side wall, which was then beginning to fall outwards. At the same time it was found necessary to strengthen the roof The Norih Doorway. GARSINGTON. 341 of the aisle, which was done by inserting large pieces of wood under all the principals, that the ends of the principals and the wall-plate might not come asunder. The date of these altera- tions in the church is recorded on a stone at the east end of this north aisle | l b F F kjgs | : two of the buttresses in this aisle seem to be original, and coeval with the windows, namely, those at the angles. The east window of the aisle is of the same character as the east window of the Chancel. The west window is the same as that of the south aisle ; here also the wall has been partly rebuilt in an irregular way, leaving a part of the old wall at the north-west corner standing out beyond it, and looking like a buttress. Near the west end of this aisle stands the Font, which is of poor design and material, inscribed round, " The gift of Richard Turrill, clerk of this parish. Anno D"'. 1782." The Tower is about 42 ft. high ; the tower-arch is good Early English, pointed, with recessed mouldings ; in its general cha- racter it is Norman, but its mouldings are quite Early English, as are the capitals of the shafts which carry these mouldings. The date is probably about the year 1200= The tower has no western doorway. The west window has a semicircular head; but over this on the outside is a rude pointed arch carried by circular shafts : the window is widely splayed inside. At the north-west and south-west angles are small shallow buttresses. On the north side is a buttress of bold pro- jection, in which is the newel staircase leading to the belfry. In the second stage are three small slits with semicircular heads, looking north, west, and south. The belfry stage is pierced with eight pointed windows, two on each side, with returned dripstones and mouldings, carried by shafts with square abaci. Between each window is a small head projecting from the wall. Above the belfry window is a corbel-table ; some of the corbels have the tooth-moulding cut in them, others have Norman ornaments. The parapet seems to be original; it consists merely of a slope, surmounted by a beading. w.g. 342 GARSINGTON. Plan of the Church HISTORICAL NOTICES. In Saxon and Norman times it was spelt Gers-ing-dun, or Gerse- dune ; signifying a hill that overlooks meadows or pastures abounding in gorse, or coarse grass. The latter orthography is adopted in the Domesday Survey. The greater part of the land in the parish at the time of the Conquest belonged to the Monastery of St. Mary at Abingdon. Gilbert Le Gand held seven hides and a half, that is, about nine hundred acres, under the Abbat and Convent ; and other tenants are mentioned, in the valu- able Survey of the Norman Commissioners, as holding inferior portions. One hide of land (120 acres) formed part of the Conqueror's grant to Miles Crispin. In the thirteenth century, the Knights Templars held lands in this parish, which being escheated to the crown were granted to Sir Richard D'Amary, of Bucknill, and by him transferred to John de Bloxham. In the 28th Edward I., John de la Mare was summoned to Parliament as baron of Garsington ; the same name appears also in the " Inquisitiones post mortem," in the 9th Edward II. In the Hundred Rolls of Edward I. considerable portions are said to be held by the Hospitallers of St. John beyond the east gate in Oxford, and by the Rector of the Church also, as belonging to the Honour of Wallingford. At that time the Jurors under the Rolls- Commission re- turned Isabella de la Mare as the Lady of the Manor, which she held by the service of half a knight's fee, when the King was in the army. It is probable that this is the same Isabella who is known afterwards as Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Albemarle, whose son, by her former husband, in 28 Edw. I., had summons to parliament amongst the Barons of the realm, by the style and title of John de la Mare of Gersyngdon. G A R S I N G T O N. 343 She appears to have been interred in Garsington Church, if the following inscription on her grave-stone be correctly stated : The whole inscription may be thus read : f^ " Isabele de Fortibus gist ici : Deu de sa alme eyt merci :" The size of the grave-stone, which is nearly a parallelogram, is about 7 feet by 3 feet ; and the general character of it, as well as the round form of the letters, corresponding with the date of her death (1293), as given in the additions to Dugdale's Baronage, in the Collectanea Topo- graphica. Part XXVI. 148. There was originally an elegant cross flory, now much defaced, and other sculpture. Sufficient traces, nevertheless, of the letters of the inscription remain to identify the person intended to be commemorated. This is the oldest grave-stone in the Church. There are traces remaining of some of a later date, and a stone coffin has been found in the chancel. The patronage of the Church appears to have been vested, from a very early period, in the Prior and Convent of the Holy Trinity at Walling- ford, which was a cell to the great Benedictine monastery of St. Alban from the time of Paul the Norman, the fourteenth Abbat, who died in 1093. A "Magister de Sancto Albano," or Sancti Albani, is mentioned in the margin of the valor of Pope Nicholas ; but perhaps he merely pre- sented to the Rectory pro hac vice : for, with one exception only^, the Prior and Convent of Wallingford presented the Rectors from the first entry in the register of the Diocese of Lincoln till the dissolution of the monastic establishments. About the middle of the fourteenth century there was a severe contest between the Rector of this Church and the Convent of St. Frideswide, respecting the tithes of the north end moiety of the manor, which after a long process of litigation, and an appeal to Rome, was referred back to the Archbishop of Canterbury, as sole arbitrator, who decided in favour of the Rector, reserving a quit rent of forty shillings for ever to the convent. The Prior was afterwards deprived for avarice and extor- tion, and a new charter of appropriation was obtained from the crown 15 and 16 Ric. ij, confirming the ancient claims of the Priory of Wal- lingford to the advowson and emoluments of the Rectory. Hence some writers have erroneously stated, that the Church was then first given and appropriated to the Priory. Soon after the dissolution of the Priory, the living came into the possession of Sir Thomas Pope, who obtained the patronage for his College by a grant from the Crown in the reign of Philip and Mary, annexing the Church and Parsonage to the headship of the same, to be ■■• A.D. 1179. Robert IMiddlctcn was presented June ISth by Sir Edward Rede, Knt.— Reg-. Rotliernm. 344 G A R S I N G T O N. ^nrnmnMmmniiinn' JH'inumeDial Biass of t-he Kadley tainily, ICSl. [For the iiae or this woodnit the Society in indebtc.l to llie Prcsilciit of Trinity.] GARSINGTON. 345 held in free socage for ever. The Founder's intention in this pur- chase partly was, "to erect a house there for the President, Fellows, and Scholars to repose them in when any plague shall happen with- in the University ;" an object which was confirmed by the sanction of the Crown. The house was erected accordingly, with money pro- vided by the Founder, but not finished till after his death. It was oc- cupied by the members of the College during the plague of 1577; not being finished in 1563, when they were obliged to retire to Woodstock. It is now occupied by the Curate. The situation of this Parsonage, of the Church, and of the School-house, is highly picturesque, and com- mands extensive views of the surrounding country between the Chiltern Hills and the Wantage Downs. An inclosure of this parish was attempted in vain in the reign of James I. It appears from Wood's Annals, that Sir Thomas Fairfax, on the l-t of May, 1646, previous to the siege of the city of Oxford, drew up his army between Garsington and Abingdon, and the same night made Garsington his head-quarters. On the following morning there was a general muster of the army, horse and foot, on Bullingdon Green, whence his forces were disti-ibuted to their several quarters at Heading- ton, Marston, and other villages around. The oldest register in this parish begins in 1562. It is a Rectory, valued in the King's books at £14. 19s. 8fd. The present value, according to the Parliamentary return, is £482. The population by the last census was 597. Several minute particulars respecting the property in this parish, omitted here from want of space, may be seen in Mr. Skelton's Anti- quities of Oxfordshire. Two large Schools, for both sexes, were erected in this parish in 1840 and 1841, with a dwelling-house for the master and mistress. The site was liberally given by Thomas Plumer Halsey, Esq., of Temple Dinsley, in Hertfordshire, consisting of three roods of land on Garsington Green, in the centre of the parish, bounded on all sides by public roads, being an allotment granted to the lord of the North- end manor at the time of the inclosure, in lieu of right to coil of commons and waste grounds. It is demised to the President, Fellows, and Scholars of Trinity College for 999 years, the President for the time being, as Rector, to have the appointment of the master and mistress and the general superintendance of the Schools; the children to be instructed in the tenets and principles of the Church of England as now established, &c.'' The cost of erect- ing these Schools amounted to about £1500 ; about one-third of which sum was raised by a liberal subscription among some of the Colleges and individuals interested in the parish, and the remaining two-thirds were defrayed by the President of Trinity College as Rector of the parish. ^ Indenture of Demise, 2nd of April, 1810, Coll. Reg. 1. 1. 346 G A R S I N G T O N. * 1 1 t *'* o o M u 'A O o 0] 6 "A p w 0] H (i< O H CZ3 < W w h « O 'A GARSINGTON. 347 H E S B P A T H. PATRON. MAGDALENE COLLEGE, OXFORD. St. fflilcs. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN, HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. A. The Font Ground Plan. B. The Stoup. '••>r...t C. The Pulpit. The Church of Horsepath (called in Domesday Horspadan), is a small edifice — consisting of a western tower, nave, south aisle, south transept, and Chancel. The tower is rather short, yet well proportioned. It is of Perpendicular work : the buttresses are angular. The western side has a four-centred doorway with a square dripstone, and above it a three-light Avindow, both of good bold work. In the window arc some remains of tlie painted glass, but the colours are faint. These consist of a representation of the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St. John. Below this is a fragment, which contains some of the emblems of the Cruci- fi.\ion. On the southern side of the tower is the staircase- turret : the belfry windows are four-centred, with a square moulding running all round. The tower has one of the high pyramidal roofs which seem to have been the usual finish of towers, especially of those which were not lofty, and wliich give a very elegant cff'ect. HORSEPATH. 349 ■-i m Cap and Base of Shaft, Tower- arch. The arch between the tower and nave is the most beautiful feature in the interior of the Church. It is of the same date as the tower. The mouldings are bold, the execution of the whole good. Most unfortunately this is lost to the Church, for just in front of it is a huge singing gallery, which also shuts out the view of the head of the west window. The nave of the j "^ Church was built about the end of the twelfth cen- tury. One of the original windows remains in the Mouldings of Tower arch below Cap. nOrtuem Wall j It is pointed, small, and has Early English mouldings of plain character. In the same wall are two late Perpendicular windows. On the south side of the nave, separating it from the south aisle, are four arches. There are three square pillars, and one respond at the east end ; the western- most arch was supported by a corbel in the western wall ; but it has been taken down some time, and in its place is a segmental arch which abuts against the wall of the tower. The corbel just men- tioned is in fact nothing more than the capital of the pillar that originally sup- ported this arch, which pillar was built round by the walls of the tower. Built into this wall are two curious figures, one with a bagpipe. The tradition is, that they were two deformed persons, who left money to build the tower. „, „„, „ . .^.,, . ,, Cap and Base of Pillar m Nave. 350 H O R S E P A T H. Section of Arch.Soutb Aisl.' The remaining arches are pointed and plain, as well as the pillars, Avith the exception of a chamfer at the angles. The open seats in the nave are very plain ; the hench ends at each ex- tremity of the ranges are finished hy poppies. Above the pier-arches is a modern clearstory, which lights the nave. The south aisle is entered by a porch of late work ; the door- way inside this porch is of the same character as the pier-arches in the nave. The south Avail Avas rebuilt very late in the thirteenth _^,_,^ century, at Avhich time ' also the transept Avas carried out. It is sin- gular that there arc no traces of windoAvs in this wall, but there are two small open- ings, Avliich perhaps Avere made when the tower Avas built. The buttresses are very plain and early. The original pitch of the roof has very considerably, the pre- .ttfiiiii sent one is open to the interior, and is of lute Perpendicular work. Near the south door is the Font; it is hexagonal, lined Avith lead, and stands on a circular base ; it seems to be of the same age as the pil- lars and arches. But the greatest curiosity in this Church is on the Avest side of the door. The villagers say that it is a second font; some liavc supposed it to be the base of a cross, some the upper Parapet, South Aisle. been lowered Thr? Pont. HORSEPATH. 351 part of a shaft : but it is more probable tliat it is a stoup. If so, it is probably unique, for it is of the same date as the oldest parts of the church. The arch at the east end of the aisle is earl}^ Decorated, the corbels which support it are sin- gularly beautiful. !iiii!;iiiiii:!iNiii" The Stoup. Corbel of Arcli. Souti Aisle. The south transept was probably built in the latter part of the thirteenth century. At the south end is a very curious ^^""■^Jl^ f — ''\jy\\ ', 'J, III "Mi"^"" Window, Soath Trausept. Sfjcuon tbT-ouf^b the head S^^ction of Jimb. two-light window ; the lights are finished on the exterior with a kind of ornament like an arrow-head. The dripstone mould- 352 HORSEPATH. iii-i '•■'"■'^.Pil ings are Decorated, but tlie jamb mouldings are completely- Early English. There are no foliations, either in the heads of the lights or in the circle above. In the east wall is an elegant piscina, and near it a bracket, both of the same date as the transept: tliese shew that this transept was a cha- pel. In this same wall is a small early Deco- rated window of one light, the mouldings are very simple, but the window is an elegant one. Against the north wall of the nave, and OppO- window, Ea.L side of Transept. site this transept, is the pulpit, which is of late work, as is the reading-desk. The Chancel, which was rebuilt in 1840, had Early English walls, a small south door, and a very curi- ous cross over the east end, which has been preserved. There was a piscina, of the same date, very much like .^MS_ that in the south tran- sept, and a plain, though ancient roof, closely resembling that of Beckley Church, which has mould- ings of the fourteenth century. (See Beckley, p. 206.) The side windows were late in the fifteenth centur}^; these have been replaced. The east window was of the same date, but had the dripstone of an earlier window finished by a curious mask. The Cross. The old Chancel root HORSEPATH. 353 HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Domesday Survey, Horsepath is mentioned by the name of Horspadan, and the manor was then the property of the King-, and was granted to Roger de Ivery. It was afterwards the property of the Knights Templars. A.D. 1149, 14, 15 King Stephen, Horsepath formed part of the grant to Osney Abbey. A.D. 1229, 13, 14 Hen. III., Richard, earl of Cornwall, presented to the Chm'ch of Horsepath, and again in 1247. A.D. 1231. This year mention is made of a suit between Osney Abbey and the Rector of Horsepath, concerning the lesser tithes thereof*. A.D. 1309, 2 and 3 Edw. II., Sir Richard D'Amory computed for lands of the Knights Templars escheated to the king within the manor of Horsepath, Sec, &c., and A.D. 1312, John de Bloxam accounted for the same lands. This John de Bloxam was a witness against the Templars^. A.D. 1452. The Church of Horsepath was appropriated to the Hos- pital of St. John Baptist, in Oxford*^. In Browne Wilhs's volumes of MSS., numbered 45, is a letter of Mr. George Rye, rector of Islip, to Browne Willis, dated Islip, 25 March, 1 730, in which he says : " At Horsepath the tower is said to have been built by Thomas London, a bag-piper, and that he and his wife are «!->>■' there buried ; and in the front of the entrance to the tower from the body of the Church are their figures in stone, the man being on the right with his bag-pipes. The Wake is kept on the first Sunday in ■'' In Reg. Osney, in Bibl. Cotton, fol. 1 ] C. 1). " Bodleian MSS. 491', f. !)5. <• Vide Pat. 20 Hen. VI. p. 1. m. 1 ; z z 354 HORSEPATH. September, and the Church is dedicated to St. Giles, but Mr. Hearne conjectures it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist." In the nave near the pulpit is a small window of stained glass, con- taining the figure of a man holding a boar's head on the point of a spear : probably a representation of one of the lords of the manor of Boarstall. Antony Wood mentions a figure so represented in the beginning of the Leiger Book of Borstall, a manuscript written by Edmund Rede, Esq., lord of the manor in the time of Henry VI. '^ " In the beginning of this book is represented in colours the mannour house of Borstall, with a moat round it, and the lord of the mannour, Joannes Filius Nigelli, issuing out of his house to meet a certain King and his retinew, and at some distance from the house, the Lord kneels down to the King, and presents him with a boar's head on the top of a sword or speare. This, as the tradition of the family goeth, is an allusion to the custom of the mannour of Borstall, to present the King with a Boar's Head, because the said mannour was in ancient time, when 'twas woody, a stall or den for wild boars." In the north window of the chancel are the arms of Magdalene Col- lege, and in the south, the figures of St. Mary and St. John, as they are generally represented beneath the cross. These were originally in the east window, with the figure of our Lord on the rood between them. The stoup is of a very unusual form, but a very similar one from Penmon, in the isle of Anglesey, is engraved in the Archaeological Journal, vol. i. p. 122, and it is there stated that "at Penmon, until within a few years, a water-stoup of the same age as the font was used ; and at Llandegvan another water-stoup is still employed for the bap- tismal sacrament." Horsepath is now a Perpetual Curacy, held with a Fellowship of Magdalene College, not in charge in the King's Book. The present value, according to the Parliamentary return, is £9 1 , and the population 295. ■i See the Life ol' Antony a Wood, pnge Ixi. SANDFORD. DEANERY PATRON. St. •anUrcij). OF CUDDESDEN. THE DUKE OF HUNDRED MARLBOROUGH. OF BULLINGTON Chancel 27 ft. lin. J'y lift. 9 in. Nave 31 10 by 15 10 Tower 14. 7 b> 12 3 This Churchy which is described by the antiquary Hearne^ as " a small thing and of mean building/' underwent considerable repairs and alterations in the year of our Lord 1840^ under the superintendance of Mr. Derick, Architect. A Norman tower of two stages was added at the west end, the roof of the nave was raised to its original pitch, and the arches of theChancel andTower were built. A window of two lights with three engaged shafts was made in the south side, in the place of a Perpendicular window, square headed, of two lights, removed to the eastern end of the north wall. In the Chancel, a new Altar was placed at the east end, and a north window was inserted, containing a symbol of the Holy Trinity, and the royal arms. The east window, a trefoiled lancet, is filled with painted glass by Mr. Willement, representing the Crucifixion. The fittings throughout the Church have been remodelled, preserving a number of seats of the date A.D. 1630, Avith variously carved poppy-heads. It is to be regretted that the pleasing appearance of uni- formity thus produced is somewhat lessened by a raised pew on the north side of the nave, and a gallery at the west end. The walls appear to be those of the original Church, built by Gerri de Planastre^, soon after the Conquest. The earliest features in the nave are the north and south doors, the for- mer of which is still stopped up, and a Norman window. The Font, ^ Account of Antiq. near Oxford. Lei. Itin., ii. p. 92. Ko.ruaD Window in the Cbauctl. ^ Hundred Rolls. 356 SANDFORD. which is large and plain, is probably of the thirteenth cen- tury, or earlier; it is lined with lead and the drain is still used. On the south side of the Chancel is a small Norman window, having externally heavy engaged shafts. To the east of this is also a Norman narrow window, corresponding to which is another on the north side. Near the window last mentioned is a plain recess, which may have been the Easter sepulchre ; and below this is an altar-tomb, quite plain, now used as a credence. On the south side is a like tomb, but of much later date, with debased Arabesque work on the front. Above this is a mural monument to Sir William Powell, of Tutbury, Staftbrdshire, brother of Edmund Powell, Esq., lord of the manor of Sandford, erected by his heir, John Powell, Esq., grandson of the latter, in the year of our Lord 1661 ; the whole is surmounted by the Powell arms, viz. Or, a lion rampant Sable; over all, a fesse Gules. The curious piece of carving in alabaster fixed against the east wall was dug up in the church-yard after being buried more than a hundred years; the subject is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, who is represented as surrounded by rays of glory, and attendant angels, two of whom, beneath the figure, hold a reliquary, upon which, as well as on other parts of the sculpture, the remains of gilding are still visible. There are several encaustic tiles at this end of theChancelof various patterns. Sculpture in Alab^iflter. SANDFORD. 357 the most distinct of which are fleurs-de-lis^ set lozenge- wise, on tiles four and a half inches square. The bells, which before the building of the present tower were protected from the weather by a wooden box, are four in number; of these one bears the inscription, l^raji^e g^ Icvlie. 5^®. 1592. Another, ^W bell toas mate 1606, I|^@. The third bell has some letters upon it now illegible, but the fourth, a small bell, has none. Over the south door is a porch, which tells its own history in the following inscription : CONDIDIT ME DNIA ELIZA • ISHAINI ANNO GRATIS 1652. PORTICVS PATRONiE. Tliaiikes to thy charitie, religiose Dame W" found mee old & made mee newe againe. Near this south entrance has lately been dug up a well- wrought Norman capital, which may have been part of the former porch. The farm-house in a field on the north-west side of the Church has usually been looked upon as the remains of the old Preceptory of Knights Templars in this place, but the only ancient parts of it are some slight traces of Early English work in what was formerly the chapel "^j these consist of a portion of the east window and a roll-moulded string-course ; the doorway is much later, of Perpendicular character. In the garden is a gateway bearing the date 1614, on each side of which there arc fragments of architectural ornaments built into the wall, and c The chapel of the Kiiiglits Temjjlai's George Napier, a seminary priest who at Sandford was dedicated to St. Mary was hanged, drawn, and quartered, A.D. the Virgin. (See Wood's MS. 10. f. 22.) IGIO, see Wood's Annals, vol. ii. p. ]C>C> For a notice of this chapel in later times, suh A.D. 1568. and the burial tl)erc of the remains of 358 SANDFORD. among them a reversed shield of late date, having carved upon it a cross pattee, the badge of the Knights Templars, and also of their successors at Sandford, the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Mr. llearne, who saw these buildings A.D. 1722, in a much more perfect state, thought they were the remains of a nunnery, principally from "the heads of veiled nuns fixed on divers parts of the outside of the building'^.'' The latter supposition agrees very well with the return in the Hun- dred Rolls, which leads to the conclusion, that besides the well- known nunnery of Sandford or Littlemore, there was (A.D. 1272) another nunnery in the parish, founded upon the Templars' land by Robert de Sandford. Upon the whole, however, tradition is so strongly in favour of this having been the house of the Tem- plars, that it seems reasonable to refer to them, rather than to the nuns of the smaller priory, the few traces of thirteenth cen- tury work, and to suppose that the additions which belong to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were made by their suc- cessors, the Knights Hospitallers. About a mile to the east of the Church are the remains of the other and more important nunnery, which, being on the confines of Sandford and Little- more, takes its name from either. A range of building, running- north and south, is still called the " Minchery," a word formed from "myncean," a Saxon word for nun. Mr. Hearne, A.D. 1722, was able to make out the ruins of the church or chapel, on the north side; the refec- tory, in which the old table was still standing; and several other portions, -r of which he has given an interesting sketch in the Appendix to the His- tory of Glastonbury ^. Time has now nearly completed its ravages on this ancient building ; even the stone coffins, described by Mr. Hearne, lately fell d Lcl. I till., vol. ix. p. lis. e See also Preface, xvi Window in the .VLinchei-y, -xxiii. SANDFORD. 359 to pieces, when an attempt was made to move them, and although the Minchery must always be an interest- ing object for a summer's walk, there are no remains either here, or at the farm near the Church, to reward the antiquary for a special visit. THE MINCHEE7 HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 1054. King Edward the Confessor gave to the Abbey of St. Mary of Abingdon four manses on common land at Sandford, the same which had been granted four years previously to Godwin f. A.D. 1084. 18 "WilHam I. A portion of the land in Sandford was held by Odo, Bishop of Baieux, and the remainder by the Abbey of St. Mary of Abingdon s. Soon after the Conquest, Gerri dc Planastre founded the Church of ' Cott. MS. Brit. Mus. CJaud. B. vi. f. Ill and 115. Domesday Survey, f. 156. b. and 2. 360 SANDFORD. Sandford upon his own land. The possessions of Gerri de Phmastre descended to Radulphus de Sandford, and the Cliurch became impro- priate to the nuns of Littlemoi"e^. This was the parisli Church dedi- cated to St. Andrew. A.D. 1177. 24 Hen. II. In this year, according to Bp. Kennett, Roger de Sanford gave to the Benedictine nunnery of Littlemore, in the parish of Sandford, still called the "Minchery," and said to have been founded in Saxon times, a third part of his island at Keniton. Among the witnesses are John de Sanford ; the King's marshal ; Thomas de Sanford, Adam de Sanford, Richard de Sanford, Hugh de Sanford, pages to the King; and Fulcho de Sanford '. A.D. 1216. I Hen. III. William Fitz Robert, clerk of Thomas de Sandford, was presented by letters patent to the Church of Sandford then vacant and in the royal patronage, because the lands of Josceus de Baiocis were in the hands of the King'^. A.D. 1218. 2 Hen. III. The manor of Sandford, including two hides of land in Denton and one in Wheatley, with the advowson of the Church of Blewbury, Berks, was given to the Knights Templars by Thomas de Sandford, who appears to have filled the office of Chamberlain during the reign of King John, being constantly intrusted with the care of the royal purse, jewels, and wardrobe'. In the begin- ning of the reign of Hen. III. he became a Templar™, and therefore it may be supposed that his donation to the Templars took place at this time, although it has been placed somewhat earlier by Bp. Tanner", and Mr. Hearne". The Templars had already a preceptory at Cowley, which place had been given them by the Empress Maud, and they also held Littlemore, in which they were enfeoflfed by Roger de St. Andrew, as of the honor of Leicester?, but in course of time Sandford became their head quarters in this neighbourhood. In the beginning of the reign of Hen. III. St. Alban Hall (in Oxford) with another tenement on the west side of it afterwards called " Noone Hall," were given to the nuns of Littlemore by Roger de St. Alban, citizen of Oxford i. A.D. 1244. 28 Hen. III. Pope Innocent IV. in the second year of his pontificate, by a bull directed to all the faithful in the dioceses '' Hundred Rolls, torn. ii. p. 723. " Notitia Monastica, art. Sandford. ' Bp. Tanner's Notitia Monastica, art. " Lei. Itin., vol. ii. p. 91. Littlemore. Dugd. Mon. N. E. iv. 490. p Hundred Rolls, toni. ii. p. 72."5, and and Ingram's Memorials. Testa de Nevill, p. 112. k Rot. lit. pat. anno 12] 6, p. 187. ■> Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford, by A ' Rnf. lit. clans. Wood (Gutcli), vol. ii. p. 65k "• Ibid. p. ;349. SANDFOllD. 361 of Lincoln, Ely, and Salisbury, granted a relaxation of ten days of en- joined penance to all who should aid the prioress and convent of the Benedictine monastery of Lytelmore in rebuilding their Church. The original bull is preserved, among other documents relating to this monastery, in the Ashmolean Museum. The Church thus rebuilt was on the north side of the Minchery, and was styled the Conventual Church of St. Nicholas of Sandford, being also dedicated to St. Mary, and St. Eadmund. It has been destroyed more than an hundred years'^. A.D. 1272. 1 Edward I. In Sandford sunt ix hide et dimidia qua- rum preceptor Templi de Covele tenet iij hidas et dim. per servicium dimid. feodi militis ad wardam Castri de Windlesore per xvij septi- manas xl*^. Heredes domini Radulphi de Sandford tenent v hidas per servicium unius feodi militis ad wardam ejusdem castri eodem modo. Item sunt de baronia de Abendon. Item Abbas de Osen', tenet j hidam de prebenda Sancti Georgii et est de feodo Doyli. Preceptor et heredes Racb.dphi de Sandford sequuntur hundredum *, Ecclesia de Sandford quam priorissa de Littlemore et conventus tenent in proprios usus fundata est super feod. Radulphi de Sandford. .... Item una prioria sanctimonialium fundata est in una pastura que vocatur Cherleyham et pertinet ad manerium de Sandford quod Tem- plarii tenent et fundata fuit per Robertum de Sandford qui illam pastu- ram sanctimonialibus dedit . . . . Et ille locus qui tunc vocabatur Chir- leham nunc vocatur Chaldewelle*. A.D. 1274. 2 Edward I. About this time the preceptory of Knights Templars was moved from Temple Cowley to Sandford, and a transcript was made of their charters, which is still preserved in the Bodleian Library, Avith the following cotemporary description on the inside of the cover : — " In isto libro continentur transcripta cartarum et aliorum instrumen- torum ballive de Saumford ordinata et coadunata tempore fratris Roberti le Escropp tunc preceptoris ibidem." >■ Sec Uugdale's Monasticon, N. E., capite. Testa de Nevill, temp. lien. 111. vol. iv. p. 492. Hearne's Hist, of Glast, ' Rot. Hund. ii. f. 722-3. Isabella de Preface, xvi. A.D. 1722. Ilenred monialis de Saiunford electa per s Hundred Rolls, toiTi. ii. p. 39. See conventum ejusdem loci in priorissam do also pp. 722-3. Radulphus de Sand- Saumford. Thoma de Saumford patrono, ford tenet in eadcm (sc. Sandford) feo- suum ad id adhibente consensum. A.D. dum unius militis de feodo Abbatis de 1229, R. Dodsw. MS. vol. cvii. f. 45. cf. Abendon ct idem Abbas de Rcffc in Rot. lit. cl.ius. t. i. f. 357. A.D. 1218. ^i^ 3 A 362 SANDFORD. The book consists of 119 leaves, on the lirst nine of wliicli are written deeds relating special!}' to Sandford. Some of the more interesting notices not printed in the Monasticon are, 1. A confirmation, by Kate- rina Paynel, daughter of Adam de Pyriton, the nephew of Thomas de Samford, of the manor of Sandford, and other gifts of her father and great uncle". 2. A like confirmation by William Peverel. nephew of Thomas de Sandford, dated in the land of Syria in the year of the Incar- nation of our Lord Jesus Christ mccxli. on the second day of May, witnessed by WilUam Longespee and others^. 3. An agreement by which the Knights Temjilars grant to the nuns of Littlemore three acres of meadow in Sandford, in lieu of small tithes y. 4. A covenant of mutual help and counsel between the Canons of Oseney and the Tem- plars ^. A.D. 1309. At the suppression of the Knights Templars, the following were among those sent to the Tower from the county of Oxford. Frater WilUelmus de Sautre, preceptor apud Samford. Frater Willielmus de Warewyk, presbyter, frater apud*Samford per tres annos et plus. Frater Richardus de Colyngham, frater apud Samford per sex annos ^. Soon after the above date, Sandford, like the other possessions of the Knights Templars, was given to the Knights Hospitalars of St. John of Jerusalem, who in like manner had a preceptory or commandry liere, fur the maintenance of which Temple Hockley in Wiltshire was ex- pressly assigned. A.D. 1512. 3 Hen. VIII. Sir Thomas Lelond, Knt., was sent by the special mandate of Thomas Docwra, Piior of the Hospitalars, to take an account of the rents witliin the " demesnes of the preceptory of Saumpford*^'." Among the notices relating especially to Sandford con- tained in the rent-book thus made, is the following : " Sciendum est quod dominus prior Sancti Johannis in Anglia debet annuatim soluere Abbati de Abyngdon de Castellwarde pro terris suis infra manerium de Sampforde per annum iiijs. x'ujd. ob. et similiter eidem Abbati pro ([uodam prato vocato Turvct jacente super Ripam Thamisie apud Samp- forde per annum ijs. \'ujd. A.D. 1524. 15 Hen. VIII. Littlemore was one of the small monas- teries suppressed by the Pope's bull, and given to Cardinal Wolsey toward the erection of his new College in Oxford. Afterwards it " Wood's MS. 10. 1'. 2. h. » Ibid. f. :i. y r.id. }'. 5. b. • Hid. f. 17. " Wilkiiis's Concilia, ii. p. ."17. '* llcntale dc novo nnovatuin, tvic, in JSibl. Coll. Corp. Claisti, Oxoii. MS. Davis. SAND FORD. 3G3 became part of the endowment of the King's College there; and in 38 Hen. VIII. was granted, in exchange for other lands, to George Owen, Esq., and John Bridges, M.D.*' From them it passed to Sir John, afterwards Lord Williams, of Thame, who in 2 Edw. VI. sold the " Min- chery" to Edmund Powell, Esq.*! After remaining in this family for several generations, it passed to that of Walker, from whom it was bought by the Duke of Marlborough. There belonged to this nunnery at its suppression, in spiritualities 12/., and in temporalities 21/. 6s. 8d. In all 33/. 6s. 8cl. per annum. The seal of Littlemore nunnery, found by a farmer about A.D. 1762, was shewn by the Bishop of Carlisle in 1765 at the Society of Anti- quaries, being a man in a long gown and flowing hair^. A.D. 1542. 33 Hen. VIII. Soon after the dissolution, the house of the Knights Hospitalars was granted to Edward Powell, whose descend- ants also acquired the Minchery, which, with the site and possessions of this house in Sandford, at length became the property of the Duke of Mai"lborough. A.D. 1661, June 29. 1 Charles II. The antiquary Antony a Wood made a visit to the house once belonging to the Templars, which he has thus noted. " Mr. Francis Napier of Halywell and myself walked over to Sand- ford, 2 miles distant from Oxon, where we saw the ruins of an old Priory and a Chapel there adjoining .... this house at the dissolution came to the Powells, who enjoy it to this day; in the hall in a canton window there are these arms belonging to that family, viz., Argent, a cheveron Gules, between 3 cootes or ducks Sable ; within a bor- dure Azure bezantee. Vert, 3 stirropps with leathers Or. Argent, on a fess Sable, 3 mullets of the first, between 3 annulets of the second, by the name of Fogge. There is in the same window also a crest of a coate of amies which is a hand brandishing a sword : and Powell's crest'." The living of Sandford s is now a Donative, in the gift of his Grace the Duke of Marlborough, and the present value is 15/.; the population 304, according to the last return. J. b. •= Dugd. Monast. N. E. iv. p. 491. K Year Books 9 Edw. III., Trin. 24. ■^ Pref. to Hist, of Glastonbury xvii. Of the advowson of the Church of "^ Gough, Brit. Top., vol. ii. p. 86, Saiiiulford. Bp. Tanner, Not. Mon. art. quoted in Monasticon, N. E. iv. p. 491. Saunford. f Wood's MS. Ash. Mus. B. 15. NUNEIIAM COUETNEY. PATRON. THE ARCHBISHOP OK YORK. ^n faints. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. THE PRESENT CHURCH, The old Church was taken down by Simon Lord Harcourt and the present building erected in 1764, after a design of his own, which was slightly corrected by Stuart. It affords a memorable instance of the taste of that age, of which it was the misfortune that those persons who were the most liberal, and desirous to serve the Church, and who, for their private virtues, were most worthy of praise, were precisely those who did the most mischief; the fault was that of the age, not of the indi- vidual. Some fragments of the old Church are preserved in the grounds at Baldon House ; they consist of the jambs of a fine Early English window, with the shafts, the section of the mould- ings remarkably good ; the caps and bases of the shafts are also well moulded. By the side of this is a small plain lancet win- dow, and adjoining to it a splendid tomb of Sir Anthony Pollard, 1577, and Philhppa his wife, 1606; it is in the taste of that age, with Corinthian columns, &c., and the figures of the knight, his lady, and two children; the original colouring remains, though the whole is much mutilated". " For notes of the arms and monu- KifiO, see Harl. MS., Brit. Mus., No. nients in the former Cluircli, taken A.D. 4170. NUNEHAM COURTNEY. 365 Remains of the Old Church. / f. /; V r- w i*^" V ' "^^'■U^.' ''/, ^i Sections of Mouldings in the Old Church. 366 NUNEHAM COURTNEY. HISTORICAL NOTICES. In the Domesday Survey Nuneham is recorded as part of the grant of Milo Crispin. According to Simon Earl Harcourt, at the Norman survey the Manor of Newnham belonged to Richard de Curci, afterwards to the family of Ripargs or Redvers. Mary, youngest daughter of William de Redvers, Earl of Devon, (who, as well as his uncle William, was surnamed de Vernon,) married in 1214 Robert de Courtney, Baron of Okehampton^. After these succeeded Sir John Pollard, of Devon. From the Pollards it came to — Audley, of the court of wards, called the Rich Audley : Robert Wright, Bishop of Lichfield, was the next owner of it ; his son, Calvert Wright, sold it to John Robinson, of London, merchant, who was knighted in 1G60 by King Charles II., and made lieutenant of the tower. From the Robinsons it descended to David, Earl of Wemys, (who married Mary, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Robinson, Bart.;) from the said Earl of Wemys it was purchased in 1710 for the sum of £ 17,000, by Simon, first Lord Harcourt, Lord Chancellor of England. It was the first Lord .Harcourt who removed the cottagers from their proximity to the mansion and the Church to the situation in which the village now stands on the London road. The living is a Rectory, in the gift of the Harcourt family, and formerly belonged to the Abbey of Abingdon. It was valued in the King's Books at 16^. Gs. : the present value is 45G/., and the population 514. '' Cf. Dugdale's Baronage, Courtney, Earls of Devon. C U L H A M. PATRON. ^ t. ^ !aur. DEANERY THE BISHOP OF OF CUDDESDEN. OXFORD. ( HUNDRED DF DORCHESTER, FT. IN. FT. IN. Chancel 33 4 by 14 3 Nave 46 8 by 15 2 Aisle 10 North transept 15 2 by 13 7 South transept 7 by 13 3 Tower 12 10 by 10 7 A SMALL plain Church ; plan, cruciform, with a tower at tlic west end. The Chancel, with the exception of the north wall, is modci'n, and very bad ; on the south side is a door, with a fan-hght over it, and a brick chimney ; on the north is a small trefoil recess, probably a locker for the cruets ; a monument of Thomas Bury, of an ancient family of that name, of Bury Hall, in the county of Lancashire, who died in 1624, and married Judith, daughter of Dr. Laurence Humphrey. The communion-table has the date of 1G38. The roofs are all ceiled and white-washed. The north transept has a two-light lancet Avindow on each side, and a debased Perpendicular window at the end. Tlic south transept has a Decorated window of two lights on the east side, and another of three lights at the end, the mullions crossing in the head, and foliated. The south aisle has on the south side a Decorated window of two lights, the dripstone partly cut off. The south porch is plain and poor, with the date 1G38. On the north side is a single lancet window, and above is a range of four clearstory windows of two lights, square, the heads all cut off by the wall-plate of the roof. The tower is debased, plain, and late ; there is the date of 1710 on the lead; the south door is Decorated, but of the poorest description. 368 C U L H A M. In the north transept tlie north window is filled with shields of arms of the seventeenth century, and is curio asly made part of the design of a monument of the date of 1638, to the Gary family, erected by the Lady Judith Gary, to the memory of Sir Edmund Gary, Knight, deceased 1637. He was sometime Esquire of the Body to Queen Elizabeth, and Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King James I. and King Gharles I., and was the son of Henry Gary, Lord Hunsdon, Ghamberlain to Queen Elizabeth. In the jambs of the windows are chains of shields, with the arms of various families. The Nave has on the south side five small arches, pointed and recessed, the edges chamfered, the chamfers continuing nearly to the ground, without caps or bases to the pillars ; the chamfer terminations are good Early English. The tower-arch is lofty and well-proportioned, and pointed, but quite plain. It is boarded up, with a singers' gallery in front of it, with the date of 1721. A stone font has recently been presented to the Ghurch by J. Phillips, Esq., in the place of a mahogany one, which had been used for some years. Near the Ghurch is an Elizabethan manor house, with the date of 1610. HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 821. Coenulf, King of Mercia, gave to the Monastery of Abingdon, at the request of his sisters Keneswyth and Burgevilde, who had selected Abingdon Monastery as their place of burial, fifteen manses in Culham, [loco, qui a ruricolis nuncupatur Cullanhaunna, cum omnibus utilitatibus ad earn pertinentibus,] witb tbe meadow culled tbe Otteneys^S so called to tbis day. A.U. 940 — 946. Cbarter of King Eadmund, confirming to Abingdon monastery the grant of Culbam, on condition that Abbot Godescale gave up possession of it to ^Elfilda, [yElflcda ?] of kin to the royal family, for her life, as Coenulf had granted to his sisters before''. As this charter is curious, and we believe has never been printed before, we subjoin it at length. " Diigd. Monast., vol. i. p. 51k " .MS. Claud., 15. vi. f. 2-5. C U L H A M. 369 Cotton MS. Claudius B. VI. fol. 25. Carta regis Edmundi de Culehara. " Eadmundus ^])elstano fratri succedens confirmavit ecclesie abbend' pa, Chenesfeld cum omnibus ad illam integre pertinentibus, quam predic- tus Aelfricus de consensu domini sui regis JEfelstani domui Abbend' in puram et perpetuam contulerat elemosinam ; hac tamen dicione, ut Godescair abbas abbend' et conventus eiusdem loci concederent cuidam matrone regal' progenei, nomine ^Elfildae, Culeham omnibus diebus Yite sue liberam et quietam in ea forma et omni eodem tenoi'e quo rex Kenulfus concessit sororibus suis, que eandem villam huic domui Abbend' contulerunt, ut predictum est, et post decessum ipsius ^Ifild villa memorata omni eodem modo ad proprios monachorum usus reuer- tetur. Quod itaque sic factum est, memorata yElfilda cedente in fatuni ; sepulta est ^Ifilda matrona ista in capella, quam in honore sancti Vin- centii edificaA'erat." Mete de Culeham '^. "^rest on pylfingford on temese. f of ))ylfingaford k lang ane smale die to Jjapanhseminga londjemsere on nia heafdo. ^ford' be pon heafdon on fippel*^ beorjas. of fippel beorjon on Culanhema die & lang die on seppel- ford. of seppelforda & lang psere richt temese on butan utan eje. Joet eft on pylsingford." Thans. " First on Wylfingford upon Thames. From Wylfingford along a small dyke to the Nuneham landmarks on the headlands. From the head- lands to the five harrows. From the five barrows to Culham dyke. Along the dyke to Appleford. From Appleford along straight to the Thames ; and so about the outer stream that leads back to Wylfingford." A.D. 1110. A miller of Sutton, by name Gamel, was fined five mancuses for steabng earth from the Culham side of the river, for the repair of the mill. The case appears to have been carried by Faritius, the Abbot of Abingdon, to Hugh de Boclande, at that time Sheriff of Berkshire, who referred it to the justiciary of the hundred ^. A.D. 1111. Charter of Henry I. confirming to Abingdon St. An- drew's Church, Culham, and all grants made by Aubrey de Vere, Bea- trice his wife, and their children^. A.D. circ. 1 125. Vincent, Abbot of Abingdon, " devised to tume the streme of Isis, and at the last brought it on to the very abbay side, and partly thrwghe it. The chefe streme of Isis rane afore betwixt Andersey Isle and Culneham, even where now the soutlie ende is of Culneham. c It is " Cullaiiham" in MS. Cot. men; as the Punjaub in Northern India Claudius, C. ix. is so called from the five tributary streams d " Fippel " in the Saxon seems to be a of the Indus, corruption of pjjalb. So " fiffel-stream" e MS. Claud., B. vi. f. 135 b. in the Saxon Boethius, quintnplex flu- ' Cotton. MS. Claud. C. ix. fol. llo. 3b 370 C U L H A M. The other arme that brekethe out of Isis aboute a quarter of a mile above Culneham, and then cummithe downe thoroughe Cuhieham bridge selfe, is now the lesse peace of the hole river^." A.D. 1307. Nicholas de Coleham, Abbot of Abingdon. He is re- ported to have rebuilt St. Nicholas Church, without the west gate of the Abbey: ob. 1307- A.D. 1416. Application was made by the fraternity of the Holy Cross, and the commons of Abingdon, to Henry V., and licence granted by letters patent dated Westminster, 20th June, 1416, to .John Ilutchion, John Brite, and the commons of the same town, to build bridges over Burford and Culhamford'-'. A.D. 1430. An Act of Parliament was passed in this year to confirm the building of the bridges, with orders that the highway between them should be four perches and eight inches broad between the ditches of the said way'. The circumstances connected with the building of Culham bridge have been very accurately described in the following metrical narrative, still preserved on the original table, set up by the author in the hall of Christ's Hospital, Abingdon, and which has been collated for the pre- sent work : — Henrici quiuti regis quarto revoluto Anno, rex idem pontem fundavit utrumque, Supra locum binum Borford dictumque Culhamford. Inter eos namque via regia tendit alta. Annis adjunctis dat inter gradientibus amplum ; Principium cujus Abendoniae situatur. Annis tunc donum M. quater C. numeratis, Et sexto deno cum fecit opus pietatis. Vos qui transitis hujus memores bene sitis, Et vestris precibus fundator sit relevatus. ©fF allc CillTcvIins in tl)is SCtovlUc ii),it c'ocr Uicvt torougI)t Ijolij d)ixc\)t is cl)cfc, tijcvc d)ilDicn lucn cljcvsifi''. _jm he tiaptim tl)rsc 13avncs lo blissc iictn i brougljt, CTijorougil) tl)c gvncc of criofl, nntt faint rcfic3sf)e0. ?li\oiljcv blisscLi licsincs is Iniggfs to make, TJlMxc that tl)c pcpul man not passe after gicct sfjofcuvcs. Sole'' it is to UvaiBC n Uecti fjottij outc of a lafec, 5H;at tnas fullcti in a fount stoon s anU a J'cloin of ourcs. 8 Willis's ]\Iitrcd Abbeys, in Leland. Cullfct., vol. vi. p. W2. •> Cal. Pat. Rot. 4 Hen. V. m. 23. ' On one of the windows in St. Helen's church was formerly the following distich, " Henricus quintus quarto fundavcrat anno Rex pontem Burford super undas atquc Culhamfoid." Stevenson's MSS. Gough. Berks. * Christened. " Grievous. <= Washed in the font. CULHAM. 371 Itong l^errr) t^e fnft in I)!? foiutl)c Were, T^e I)atf)c i founUe for I)is folfee a brtge in 13crl;EScI)tre. JFor cartis toiti^ cariagc may goo ant( tome clcrc, 5ri;at many asanntcrs afore lucre mavccir in tfjc JfWijrir. '^nti som oute of Ijcr saUels ffettci to tl)c grotin^ie aSSentc fortf)c in tf)e abater tuist no man tol)arc. .-/Fybe a^efens after or tftcij tncrc i fountie, l^er feijn anU ^cr Imotulecl) " caugi)t {)cm nppc toiti) rare. 5ri)en t{)c CTomtnons of ?llicntfon rrycB on tlje filjnge, ®)3on Bufefs anti lorties tfjat tocrc in tljis lontte. W^z ISynge 6atl f)em licgijnnc apon ffioiatics liUssing, ■anO make it also sirongc as tl)ci) coutf;c tuitl) stone, lyme or sonKc, ■Upon tl)c Uaij of setjnt ^Ibon t\)c\} began tJ)is game, anlj 3oI)n l^ttcfnjns lanDc tf)c ftrstc stoon in tijc feijnges name. Sir ^rris IScsillis Iinwgfjt curtcys anO I)ccnti, .for i)is faDir soulc anto fjis frcntics \)e KyU as f)e scljollrc. T^e gaf f)cm stonys i notoljc into t{)c tocrfeys entJe, ■^Iso mony as t^ey neliiu fcc})e i)cm if tijey inofiJe. W)m crafti men for tl)e querry malje trotoes of yre, SHRcgcs, antf tuayes, nntt mony J)ar'De J)otoys', 3ieffray ISarbotir baft pay I)cm I)er i^yre. 5ri)cn must tfjcy I;at)c tnoolBs to mafee on llje botnyss. STbey cocfeilf for cartes, anti cast for Ijcr cljisyng. ®;f)ey fountff oiitc tl)c funtremcnt anO layUe in large stones STi^ey retisiti ttp tl)c arcljeys be gcmeotre in rysyng, aSRitlj xi. laborers labyng'' at onys. CTfjcr toas toater i noiiif)c, stone, lyme anti grabcl, a^crfeemen als tuisc as tl)cy coiiftc fynOc any. ■^nti cber bat) t\)c barbowr pay for i^er trabel, Vtil a JTO. JWark be spcntfe ecl)e a pcny. ®f)£n tfje strengj)c of tfje strcmc astoneD Ijem stronge, In labor antr labyng moclje money tnas lore'. Vl\)tx lobctf I)cm a latJBe teas a fioater man longe, l|e I)flpe stop tlje strcme til tf)e toerfec ivae a fore, Et toas a solace to see in a somcr scson, ®ffi®. I toysse fcooifeyng at onys. iiii. antf iiii. reulyti be rcson, VLo toete iiiI;o inrougljt best toerc set for tf)c nonce'*. STi^e peplc prebcO Jjer potncr tuttl) tl)e pccoysc'. ■^)c JWattoli tnas man fjanCeletl rigl^t toele a tobyle. a®itl) spaces anti scbobelis tljey matif suel)e a noysc, ®I;at men mygf)t I)crc Ijem tl)cns a mylc. aSSybes luent oute to tnite"' Ijotn tl^cy turougl;! : "V. score in a flofe it tuns a fayre sygl)t. En borti clotI)cs brigf)t lubite bretle tbey brougljt, CDfjees anti cljcbcncs clcrclycb '^ t(ygl)t". 2rf)cse tocren tl)e bycljes i tiiget) in ful I)artic grountie, "^ Fell. e Acquaintance. f Hoes, ^ Arch-stones. ^ Baling. ' Lost. ^ For this especial service. ' Pickaxe. >" Know. " Prepared. 372 CULHAM. ■anto i cast up to arevc tntil) \\)c aicij, Sctljcn tl)ci} tMcrc i set initl) a quyk moton"oc STo I)oHjc in tf)c Inmfecs for cbcr aiiD at). ^I}C gotJe lovlfE of ^bcnUon left of f)is lontic, JFor tl)c bicctjo of tlic briqc ^^. fotc large. It fioas a greet socour of ertfie anU of sonOe, "anD ijt \)z abatcD tfjc rent of tfje ba rgc. "an ec. potuntie, artU ib'>. fcoas truly paneU 13c t'^e I)onl(cs of 3of)n l^ud)nns anti ISanbcnj also , J^For tl)e tnane anU tf)c barge tl)us It must be sancD. ©I)crto initnesse al ^bcntJon, ant( mani) oon moo. J"ot noto is CCulbam l)itl)c i com to an entje, •an al tl}e contrc tlje better anti no man tijc ixiotse. JFcto folfec tl)crc lucre coutte tl)at men tBcnUc, 13ut tl)ci) foagctl a toetJP or pancB of l)cr purse ■ant) if it toere a bcgger l)at( brcct> in Ijis baggc, l^c scl)ulKc be njg!)t soonc i bit) for to goo aboutc, "antl of ti)c pore pennies tl)e bicretnarti i inolti Ijabbc ^ '^ootf or a girDcl, ant) let l)rm goo toitlpute. Jfitanp moo mnscljebcs tl;erc tocrcn E sau. CCull)am l)iti)e l)atl) rausit) mamj a curse, 3E blysset) be our f)elpers toc I)abc a better tnatje, aStiti^oute ani) penij for cart ant) for l)orse. 5r!)us acorttiD tf)c feimgc ant) tl)e cobcnt, "anD tbe commones of ^bention as tf)e abbot toolDe. 5ri)us tl)ci} tncrc cescD ant) set al in oon assent, Sn^at al tl)e brefeimgcs of tlje brige tl)e totone bere scljulOc. ®f)is toas prcbet) acte also in ti^e ^erlement, En perpetual pees to l)abe ant) to IjolDc. ^i^is talc is i tolBe in noon otl)cr entent 33ut for mijitbc antr in memonj to yonge anD to olDc. i^ohj cberij gooD botin tbat gotl)e on tl)is brige, 13it) for tl)c ISarbour gcntil Seffray, ®I)at clotljctr many a pore man to bet) anti to rigc, •anD Ijatljc I)olpc to rentis to l)oltJe up tljis toaye. Wi)C b3icl)e rentes rigl)t tretne men f)abe f take on IjonDe, ^nti graciously gobcrncti bem noto a goot) iDbile. Mtt)o so l)atie bcm Ijercaftcr toitl)c trctotlje but be stont)e, 3Et scljal be knotocn openly be t)oibc f)ymsclfe bcgyle. E councel ebery creature to licpe \)\m from tl)c curst. JFor of tf)is treiys toil 3: no more telle, "ant) be not to cobetous to youre otonc purse, jFor peril of i\)t peynes in tbe pit of Ijcllc. i^oto ffiot) gcbc us grace to folotoc trcutbc eben, ^t)at toe may Ijabe a place in tlje blysse of l^ebcn. ^jTO1£T:«r. r. A. B. I. N. D. O. N. R. F. I. ^[afee tl)c ferst letter of youre foure faDer toitl) a, tl)e toorlter of toex, ant) E ant) TnT, tbe colore of an asse ; set tbcm togcter, ant) tel me yf you can tol)at it is tf)an. 1Mcl)art) JFannantie Ercmonger l;atl)e mat)e ti;is tabul, ant) set it I;erc in tl;e pcre of Ityng 12?erry tljc scxtc xxxvi'e. » Breadth. i> Left something as a pledge. i Take for the tolls. C U L H A M. 373 At the time of the dissolution of the Abbey the living of Culham was not in charge in the King's books, probably because it was not of suffi- cient value. The patronage appears to have been shortly afterwards given to the Bishop of Oxford. The present value is 100^. a year, and the popvdation 404. A.D. 1644. Col. Gage, making an attempt to break down Culham bridge, near Abingdon, where he intended to erect a royal fort, that should have kept that garrison from that side of the country, was shot through the heart with a musket bullet. Prince Rupert was present at the action, having approved and been much pleased with the design, which was never pursued after his death ^. A.D. 1666. A note of the sum collected in aid of the sufferers by the great fire of London occurs in the parish register as follows : — " Oct. 10th. Collected for the poore of London, disabled by a dismall and lamentable fiere, £1. 3s. 8d.i" ^ Clarendon's Hist. Rebel., 1826, vol. iv. p. 595. ' For a full account of the arms and monumental inscriptions in Culham Church, A.D. 1660, see Antony k Wood's MS. E. I., p. 202, Ashmolean Mus. Oxf. CLIFTON HAMPDEN. PATRON. HENRY HUCKS GIBBS, Esq. 5t. iWidjacl. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF DORCHESTER. PLAN OF THE CHURCH. 374 CLIFTON HAMPDEN. <^^ f klf^Tl '.\4i CLIFTON BAMPDEN CH0RCH, from the River. tLl'MO n i. * HL A SMALL Church, of mixed styles, beautifully situated on a cliff at a bend of the river Thames. It has lately been restored, under the direction of Mr. Scott, architect, in ex- tremely good taste, by the present patron, Mr. Henry Hucks Gibbs, in pursuance of the wishes of his father, the late Mr. George Henry Gibbs, with whom the design of restoring the Church originated, and who left by will a considerable sum for this object. The Chancel. The east window is good Decorated, of three lights ; the side windows are lancet-shaped. On the south side are two sedilia and a piscina, and on the north side a fine tomb, with the recumbent effigy of the late Mr. George Henry Gibbs, above mentioned, is introduced in the place of the Easter sepulchre. The Nave has on the south side three transition Norman arches, pointed, with plain Norman caps and bases to the pillars. On the north side are three Decorated arches, with plain mould- CLIFTON HAMPDEN. 375 ings continuous to the bases. The roof is a restoration of the old Decorated one, but with additional ornament introduced; this roof is continued over nave and Chancel, there being no Chancel-arch. The nave is divided from the Chancel bj a screen. At the west end are two lancet-shaped windows, with foliated heads ; between them on the exterior is a tall buttress to carry the bell-turret, which is very elegant, and terminated by a small spire. The south aisle is transition Norman, with a smallDecorated chapel added at the east end ; in this aisle there is a transition Norman piscina; a good porch, in the Decorated style, has been added on the south side. The north aisle is Decorated, with a plain lean-to roof. A vestry has recently been added at the east end of this aisle. A handsome lich-gate of carved oak has been erect- ed at the entrance of the . -^^^^ Church-yard ; this adds con- siderably to the picturesque beauty of the scene, which, as a whole, is seldom equalled. For notes of the arms and monu- ments of the Church, taken A.D. 1600, see Harleian MSS., Brit. Mus., 4170. THE LICH-GATE. HISTORICAL NOTICES. Clifton, (cliff town,) so called from its situation as above described, (p. 374,) received the additional name Hampden from Myles Hampden^*, one of its chief Lords in the reign of King Henry VIII., to distinguish it from Clifton Ferry ^, which is on the other side of the water, in the parish of Long Wittenham. a " The Monastrie of Dorchester— of Clyfton yearly for ever, vjd."— Valor payde to Myles Hampden for a quit rent Ecc. ii. p. 171. d ibid., p. 2(J8 376 CLIFTON HAMPDEN. A.D. 1272. Richard de Clifton held of the Bishop of Lincoln, in chief, two knights' fees in Clifton and Baldon'^, which were soon after- wards held by Wilham de Baldon''. A.D. 1538. 29 Hen. Vlll. At the Dissolution the possessions of the Abbey of Dorchester in Clifton, and the adjoining village of Burcot, were, li s d Rent and farm, with rent of Assize in Byrcote . 2 10 4 The farm of the Rectory of Birdcote, with all tithes and oblations pertaining to the said Rectory, let at will to John Drabayn . . . . . 4 13 4 Rent of Assize, with rent of customary tenants in Clyftonne 7 2 10 The Rectory of Clyftonne, let to William Yong by in- denture under the seal of the Convent, dated 15 March, 17 Hen. VIII., for a term of sixteen years, at a yearly rent of^ . . . . . . 9 A.D. 1546. 37 Hen. VIII. The Rectories and Churches, with the Vicarages, Advowsons, &c., of Clyfton and Byrdcomte, which, after the suppression of Dorchester Abbey, had been granted to the Abbey of Oseney, in Oxford', on the occasion of its being made (A.D. 1542) the Cathedral Church for the Diocese of Oxford, were, on the 22nd of No- vember in this year, granted by the King to George Rythe, Gentleman, and John Pollard, Esq. On the 18th of December following, George Rythe made over all his share in the said Rectories, Churches, Vicarages, and Advowsons, to John Pollard, from whom these rights descended to his heirs. Burcot is no longer a benefice, and all traces of its Church are lost, except perhaps a mutilated piece of stone sculpture, which may have been the top of a church-yard Cross, representing on one side the Blessed Virgin and Holy Infant, and on the other a crucifix, with figures of the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Evangelist. The Rectory, under a commission of enclosure, A.D. 1775, was valued at 761. per annum, and lands assigned in lieu of tithes. The living of Clifton Hampden, late in the peculiar of Dorchester, is now a perpetual Curacy, value 107/. ; population by the last return 297. " Testa de Nevill, p. 120. Account of the Abbey Cliurch of Dor- -i Hundred Rolls, ii. p. 749. Chester." J. H. Parker, Oxford, IMti, e Records in the Exchequer, 29 Hen. pp. 79, 92, 157, !()(». VIII., printed in Appendix C to " Some ' MS. of H. J. Hannam, Esq., of Burcot. PATRON. P. C. CORPUS CHRISTI COLL. OXFORD. WAEBOROUGH. 5t. Saurcncc. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OP EWELME. THE FONT, WARBOEOUGH. A Church retaining but few of its ancient features, with a modern tower at the west end ; the walls of the Chancel are Early English, the strings under the windows remain, and the inner arch of the east window, but the window itself is an insertion of the Decorated period, of three Hghts, with flowing tracery ; a shaft with foliated cap remains on the angle of each side : the side windows are also insertions, some Decorated, some Perpendicular, and there is a small Decorated piscina with the wooden shelf. On the south side is a small doorway of Early English character, on the wooden door of which is some of the original iron-work of the thirteenth century. 3c 278 W A R B O R O U G H. Hinie oo ibe Gb i The Chancel-arcli is destroyed, as arc also the last remains of a rood-loft : on the eastern side of the partition remaining between the nave and Chancel is painted the plume of feathers which forms the badge of the Prince of Wales, with the initials C. P. (Carolus Prin- ceps.) The walls of the nave are Deco- rated, with a doorway of the same date, but the windows are insertions of the Perpendicular style. The Tower is modern, rebuilt in 1666, with some old woi'k. The Font is of lead, and worthy of particular notice : the figures under the arcade round the base are repetitions of one type representing an archbishop raising the right hand in the attitude of blessing, and holding in the left a crozier. (See the woodcut on the preceding page.) There is one very similar to it at Long Wittenham, most of the ornaments are identical ; it is Early English work, but the pedestal is of stone Avith Perpen- dicular panelling, similar to that at Dorchester. On the south side of the Church is a small chapel projecting, of Decorated work ; the arch is of wide span, and plain. The south window is of two lights ; on the east side of this, in the south wall, is a piscina, and a single seat beside it. The east window is filled up and the Altar removed. The pewing is quite recent, all open, with poppies, but painted, and otherwise not in good taste, the backs of the pews being too high, and the poppies ill-executed. In the Chancel all the pews are turned with their backs to the Altar. The walls are wainscoted, and ornamented with rows of hat-pegs. The pul- pit, reading-desk, and clerk's seat, are in the regular modern gradation. At the Avest end is a singers' gallery, with garret windows at each end to light it ; these are disguised outside with barge-boards. There is a fine tower-arch, erected in 1666, now boarded up, and the interior of the tower is appropriated to the ringers, for WARBOROUGH. 379 whom a west entrance was made, A.D, 1844. The south porch is of modern hoarding, very bad. In the Church-yard there is the tall shaft of a Perpendicular cross. HISTORICAL NOTICES. A. D. 1272. 1 Edw. I. The Church of Warborough, Wardburg, or Warberewe, was originally a chapel to the Church of Benson^, and belonged to the Abbot of Dorchester, to whom the mother Church was given by the Empress Matilda^. A.D. 1538. 29 Hen. VIII. At the Dissolution the possessions of the Abbey of Dorchester in this place were, The Rectory of Warborowe, with all and singular tithes and profits belonging to it, let to John Holmes, by indenture, under the seal of the Convent of Dorchester, dated 4th day of May, 25 Hen. VIII., for a term of 21 years from the decease or resignation of Roger Smith, Abbot of the said Monastery. The lessee, at his own proper cost, to find bread and wine ; and at the feast of Easter, two wax lights on the High Altar, £24. Os. Od. Redd' assis' et oust' ten' in Warborowe'', . . £11. 17s. 4|d. Warborough was one of the twelve Churches in the late peculiar and exempt jurisdiction of Dorchester. The living is now a perpetual curacy in the patronage of Corpus Christi College in Oxford. The value is £350, and the population, according to the last return, 737. A.D. 1588. A suit was at this time carried on between Richard Spyer, AVilliam Hobbes, and other inhabitantsof Warborough, plaintiffs, and the President and scholars of St. John's College in Oxford, defendants, resjiecting the " Burylands" in Warborough. There is a collection of several documents relating to this suit in the parish chest, and among them are letters patent, granted 24th July, (29 Q. Eliz.,) rehearsing an inquisition, (16 King Hen. VI.), from which it appears that Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, (11 King Edw. I.,) gave to the chapel of St. Nicholas in his castle of Walingford 40/. annual rent in Warberewe and Scilling- ford, which was parcel of the manor of Bensinton, and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth was reduced to the yearly value of 24/. The rectory, parsonage, and chapel of Warborough, belonging to the late monastery of Dorchester, came into possession of Corpus Christi College by grant from King Henry VIII. in 1537, by way of exchange and purchase, the Crown reserving the tenth part of a knight's fee, viz., 3/. 9s. 3d., in lieu of all other services, rent, and demands, and discharged of first fruits and tenths. J. B. a Hundred Rolls, vol. ii. p. 751, quoted ford, 1845, p. 89. in Historical Notices of Benson. c Scg ii,ij.^ pp. yo, 112-3, 145, 150, ^ Abbey Church of Dorchester. Ox- 155. PATRON. P. C. CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD. BENSON. SbU ?i?clfu. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF EWELME. " '^'v EAST VIEW OF THE CHANCEL OF BENSON CHURCH. A PLAIN Churchj of mixed styles ; plan oblong, with aisles to the nave_, and a tower at the west end. The Chancel. — The original part is late Norman; two small round-headed windows and a round-headed doorway remain, they are quite plain, with the original dripstones. The Chancel-arch is transition from Norman, pointed, the edges chamfered, springing from imposts ornamented with a cluster of Norman mouldings, and a head for a corbel. In the fourteenth century the Chancel was lengthened ; the east window of three lights, and the buttresses at the eastern angles, belong to that period. The Nave has three pointed arches on each side, recessed, with the edges chamfered, the pillars round, with Early English caps and bases. Of these caps, three are moulded with deep BENSON. 381 hollow mouldings, and three sculptured with the stiff-leaf orna- ment. The aisles are both Decorated. The windows on the south side are of two lights, with quatrefoils in the head, lately well restored ; those on the north side have had their tracery cut out, but the dripstones remain. The south door is of the fourteenth century, but quite plain. The tower is modern, substantially built, but a very bad imitation of Gothic, The Font is plain, round. Early English ; the pewing is all modern, and very bad, and the Church is much spoiled by galleries. Under the stove in the middle of the nave is a monumental slab, defaced, but retaining the following portions of the in- scription in brass : — Vivimus incerti, nee spes est carcere clausis An vitam aut mortem labilis bora dabit. Dum proavum juvenis gressus colit, iude severa Mors sequitur juvenem, nee sinit esse senem. ON THE VERGE OF THE SLAB. (Freman filius atque beres Gulielmi Freman nuper de Preston-Cro- marsb,) qui quidem Gulielmus nupsit (unam liliaruni Jobaunis) Bigge gene- rosi, (et obiit sexto die meusis Junii anno^.) The bells, eight in number, are modern. HISTORICAL NOTICES. Benson, or Bensington, to which belongs the hamlet of Crowmarsh Battle, was a place of importance in very early times. The river Thames was here crossed by the old Roman road Akemanstreet, some remains of which are mentioned by Dr. Plot as running west of the Church, and still known by the name of" Medlers-bank." The town was taken and retaken in the Saxon period, and was a long time the court of the Mer- cian kings. A.D. 571. This year Cuthwulf (third King of the West Saxons) fought with the Britons at Bedford and took four towns, Lenbury & Aylesbury &c " Benningtun" k Eynesham ; and in this same year he died ^. ^ The words in brackets are supplied 1606; Elizabeth wife of Wm. Stompe, from Wood's MS., E.I. Ash. Mus.f. 205, of Cromarsh Battel], A.D. 1590: also where will also be found the inscriptions, of Ralph and Jane Welch, A.D. 16 . . formerly in Bensington church ; of Ste- ^ Saxon Chronicle, sub anno. Sec also phen Smith, of Turner's courte, A.D. Dr. Plot's Nat. Hist, of Oxon., p. 348; 382 BENSON. A.D. 775. This year Cynewulf King of the West Saxons and Offa (King of the Mercians) fought near " Bynsingtun," and Offa took the town'^ In a passion for its long defence, Offa dismantled the place; and for the reward of his victory was again possessed of this whole county. A.D. 1084. 18 William I. At the time of the Domesday survey the manor of " Besintone" belonged to the King, including the socage of the four hundreds and a half ^, which are still called the "• Chiltern hun- dreds," consisting of Pirton, Binfield, Langtree, Lewknor, and the half hundred of Ewelme or Benson. These being by privilege annexed to the Crown, and having their own courts, a steward of those courts is appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a salary of 20s., and all fees, &c. belonging to the office : this is deemed an appointment of sufficient profit to vacate a seat in Parliament. A.D. 1205, 6 John. By a charter dated at " Denecastre" the first day of March, King John confirmed to Eustace, Abbot, and his succes- sors, and the Canons of Dorkecestre, the Church of Besinton, which had been given to that house by his grandmother, the Empress Matilda, confirmed by his father King Henry the Second, and by his brother King Richard the First*^. A.D. 1244. 28 Hen. III. The manor of " Bensenton," which, with the four hundreds of " Ciltre," being of the value C^\ had been given by King John to John de Harecurt^, and had afterwards been held by Engelard de Atye, who died without heirs, was now bestowed by King Henry upon his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, on the occa- sion of his marriage with the Lady Senchia, sister of the Queen Consort*'. A. D. 1272. 1 Edw. I. Dicunt etiam juratores quod advocacio matricis ecclesie de Bensington' una cum capellis subscriptis scilicet Henlee, Netelbedd, et Wardburg' spectant ad predictum manerium de Bensington et quod Abbas de Dorkecestr' tenet matricem ecclesiam de Be'sinton' cum capeUis de Netelbedd et Wardburg. Et dominus Henri- cus de la More tenet ecclesiam de Henlee de dono domini Ricardi quon- dam comitis CornubieS. A.D. 1308. 1 Edw. II. The King granted the manor of Bensington, with all other lands which Edmund earl of Cornwall held at his death, as well in reversion as possession, to Piers de Gavestou''. A.D. 1416. 4 Hen. V. Lands and tenements in "Bensynton" Bp. Kennctt, i. 23, 33, 44, 4G ; and p. 118. Cainden, Mag. Brit. com. Oxon. ' Hundred Rolls, vol. ii. pp. 30-3, and " Domesday Book, vol. i. f. 1 54 b. 43. ^ See the charter at length, "Abbey « Ibid., p. 751. Church of Dorchester," p. 89. ■" Bp. Kennett, sub anno, from Dugd. ' Testa de Nevill., p. 107; see also Bar., vol. ii. p. 42 b. BENSON. 383 were held by Sir Richard, son of Thomas, Lord Camoys'. Other pos- sessions in Benson belonged to the Abbeys of Oseney and Thame, and to the Nunneries of Godstow and Littlemore*^. A.D. 1538. 29 Hen. VIII. At the Dissolution, the Abbey of Dor- chester, besides divers messuages in Benson and Walynford, possessed the Rectory of Bensingtonn, with tithes and all profits, let to Henry Reybone, by indenture, under the seal of the Convent of Dorchester, dated 9th day of July, 4 Hen. VIII., for a term of thirty-one years', at a yearly rent of 211. Os. Od. The Rectory of Netelbed™, originally a Chapel to Benson Church, was let to Roger Hatcheman, at a yearly rent of 13s. 4d. The Parsonage of Benson, value 15/., was given by King Henry VIII. to the College which he founded in Oxford °, and the living, which was one of the twelve in the late peculiar and exempt jurisdiction of Dorches- ter, is now a perpetual Curacy in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, value £180. Population, according to the last return, 1254. J. B. ■ Borstal! Chartulary, quoted in His- torical Notices of Great Milton. " Hundred Rolls, ii. p. 31. ' "Abbey Church of Dorchester," 1845, pp. 142-3, 147, 163-4. "• Ibid., p. 168. n Dugd. Mon. N. E. ii. p. 170. PATRON. SIR H. P. WILLOUaHBY, BART. TOOT BALDON, 5t. Saurcnce. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OP BULLINGTON. Fc^t PLAN OF TOOT BALDON CHURCH 384 TOOT BALDON. WEST VIEW OF THE CHUECH. A SMALL Early English Church, plan oblong, with aisles to the nave, and a bell-gable for two bells at the west end. The Chancel on the north side has two lancet windows, small openings widely splayed within, and a small square locker close to the east end. On the south side another lancet window, and a Decorated window of two lights, without cusps ; the outer arch is pointed, with the roll-moulding for a label, inside there is a segmental arch ; this window is very clumsy work. There is another small square locker close to the east wall on this side also. The east window, inserted in the course of some repairs of the Chancel A.D. 1800, is extremely ugly, being of wood- work, with a shutter outside. The Nave has four Early English arches on each side, pointed, not recessed, but the edges chamfered off; the pillars on the north side have the caps sculptured with the stiif-lcaf ornament bold and good, very early in the style. The eastern respond, which is of this character, has a small trefoil-headed niche immediately above the cap, supposed to have been for the holy oil used in baptism by the Roman Church, and therefore to mark TOOT BALDON. 385 the original place of tlie font. The caps on the south side have mouldings also of very early cha- racter ; the hood-moulds of the arches are very simple, almost Norman. The north aisle has a Decorated two-light window, square-headed, with a dripstone, the lights have trefoil heads. At the west end of this aisle is a very small lancet window, not more than eighteen inches high, widely splayed within. The north door is Norman, round-headed, with plain imposts. cap on the Nonh side On the south side a small chapel has been thrown out in the fourteenth century, with a Decorated window of three lights, the mullions crossing in the head, without cusps, containing, in painted glass at the top, a head of our Saviour. The south door is very plain, with a segmental head of Avood, which seems to be work of the fourteenth century : the porch is modern, a fair imitation of the transition from Norman. The west window of the nave is Decorated, of two lights, with- out cusps. At this end there are two Early English buttresses, and a double bell- gable of very early character. The roofs are wide spreading, covering over nave and aisles under one span ; they are all hidden by ceilings, except the tie-beams and wall- plates, which are quite plain. The Font is plain round. Early English, standing on two round steps in the centre of the Church, towards the west end, nearly opposite the south door. There are a number of encaustic tiles in this Church, but they are much worn. In the Church-yard is the shaft of a Perpendicular cross, with part of the shaft remaining. The situation of this Church is very good, on the top of a small hill. 3d PATRON. SIR H. P. WILLOUGHBY, BART. MARSH BALDON. 5t. ^ctcr. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OP BULLINGDON. PLAN OF MARSH BALDON CHURCH A SMALL Church, which has a Tower at the west end, so much overgrown with ivy that little can be known of its style, but it appears to be Decorated, with a west window of two lights : the lower part is square, and the upper part octagonal. The Chancel. The east window has been removed to the north aisle, and its place occupied by a copy of a fine painting, representing the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, the gift of Sir Christopher Willoughby (A.D. 1794), whose arms are painted on a shield above it. On the south side is a good Per- pendicular piscina, and the window adjoining to it, of the same age, has a seat formed in the sill. In this window are some bits of old glass mixed with modern, the latter consisting chiefly of the armorial bearings of the families of Danvers and Pollard, successively connected with Baldon. The other window on the south side is also Perpendicular, with remains apparently of a low side opening, under it. MARSH BALDON. 387 The South Porch ■-wmM^z The Nave has on the south side one Perpendicular window, and two unsightly insertions of mo- dern days. The south door is small and plain, of the form called the square-headed trefoil ; it is probably of the fourteenth century, and the barge-boards of the porch appear to be of the same age. On the north side is an aisle, the pillars and arches of which are modern, of wood, and very bad; they ap- pear to have been cut out of deal board. The window on the north side, removed from the east end, is filled with fragments of paint- ed glass, of various ages. In the centre, under a canopy of De- corated work (temp. Ed. III.)j is a figure of St. Ann, in the costume of the fourteenth century, teaching the Blessed Virgin : the figures on each side of this subject are much later, one representing a female saint, and the other St. John the Evangehst. Above these are two coats of arms, early in the fourteenth century : \^ the first, (of which the wrong side is exposed 1 ^^\^^^ to the weather,) Gules, three lions passant Argent, being the coat of the Giff'ards, Earls of Buckingham, whose ancestor, Walter Gif- fard, a follower of the Conqueror, held nine lordships in Oxfordshire » : the other coat is Gules, two lions passant gardant Argent, name De la Mare. The family of De la Mare^ Avere lords of Marsh Baldon, and patrons of the Ciiapel and Vicarage, in the thirteenth and fourteenth " See Domesday Survey, f. 157 b,and Dugdale's Baronage. " Dugd. Bar., ii. p. 28 Wall-plate in the Porch 388 MARSH BALDON. centuries'^. The next coat in the order of time is one at the bottom of the window, of the Royal Arms of England in the time of King Henry the Eighth. The arms above and to the right of the figure of St. Ann, which belong to the seven- teenth century, are, Argent, a cheveron Azure, between three scallops Gules (Pollard) : quartering Argent, a cheveron Sable between three mullets Gules, pierced (Danvers). To the left is another coat of the same date. The Font is modern and diminutive ; and there are two very bad imitation Gothic monuments against the north wall of the Chancel, one to the memory of friends of Sir Christopher Wil- loughb}^, Bart., the other to the memory of relations. On the opposite side is a monument with twisted columns, figures of cherubs, and a long Latin inscription, to the memory of Ann, daughter of John Pollard and Susanna Danvers, of Baldon. This lady was the wife of John Crawley, D.D., and deceased A.D. 1 701: above are the arms of Crawley ; impaling. Pollard. On the floor of the Chancel are two less ostentatious monu- ments, consisting of stone slabs inlaid with brass ; one of which, marking the burial-place of John Danvers, has above the inscription the fol- lowing coat, quar- terly, 1. a cheveron between three mul- lets of six points (Danvers) ; 2. on a bend, three mart- lets; 3. chequee, a "IIkke lyeth enjt.kiu.d y*^ body of Ioun Dan- „] • f ^ i-J. ' . 4 f . f VERS LATE OF MaRCII BaLDEN, IN Y^ COVNTY OF ° ' ' OxoN, Esq., who deceased the 26 of April, A" tee of six : in fess i65i." mm !'iiii!i:«IlT!! ^ v*% ''5$v^ v" " ^ ^' A.D. 1241 -4. Petrus do la Marc preseiitavit ad capcllani de Mershe Bald- ington et ad vicaviam de Merke baudinton anno vj". et ix". Hob. GrostiJte. K. Dods- worth, AIS. Bodl. Lib., vol. 107. f. 78 b. A.D. 1294. Magistcr Will, de Monte- foiti dccanus Sci I'auli Loiulun, ratioiic custodic tcrraruin ct liercdis fjiiondaiTi Domini Petri Delaniare, prcsentavit ad ccclesiam Mcrsbaldiiulon, anno xiiij". Oliver Sutton. Ibid., f. 1G3 b. A.D. 1305. Robertus Delaniare pre- sentavit ad capellam de Mcrsbaldindoii, anno v°. .1. Daldcrbv. Ibid., f. 200. MARSH BALDON. 389 point a mullet of difference. The other monument^ to the memory of Bishop Bridges, has a shield, upon which are engraved the arms of the Bishop- ric of Oxford, im- paling three owls within a tressure counter- fleuree ''. — (Bridges.) " Here vnder lyeth bvried y^ body of y^ Reverend Father, Iohn Bridges, late Bishopf OF OXON, WHO DEP'TED THIS LYFE Y^ XXVI DAY OF March, An" D'ni 1618." HISTORICAL NOTICES. The name Baldendone, Baldington, or Baldon, has from very early times been common to several townships lying within the boundaries of Baldon ^e/f/, consisting cliiefly of Toot Baldon, with its hamlets Baldon St. Laurence, and Little Baldon ; and Marsh Baldon, which is a sepa- rate parish Avithout any hamlet annexed. The Roman road called Akemanstreet, says Dr. Plot, passed by the two Baldons in the way from Shotover to Wallingford^. From the mention of "beald dun" (bold down) in the boundaries of Sandford, A.D.I 050, it would appear that the shorter form of the name prevailed even in Saxon times*". A.D. 1084. 18 William I. At the Norman survey the principal land- owners here were, in Baldendone, within the half hundred of Besenton, Svain, the sheriff (vicecomes), who held six hides of the King and Hugh of him?. In Baldendone, within the hundred of Dorchester, the Bishop of Lincoln, under whom Iseward held five hides, and Bristeua two hides and a half**. A.D. 1255. 9Hen. Ill.i Bullenden'. In Baudendon sunt xxx hide terre quarumWillielinus de Baudendon' tenet vhidas et dimidiam de Episcopo Lincolniensi per servicium unius feodi militis et sequitur hundred '.^^ <= Nat. Hist. Oxf., ch. 10. § 27, 28, quoted by Bishop Keniiett, vol. i. p. 23. f Cot. MS. Brit. Mus. Claud. B. vi. f. 114, 115. ^ Domesday Book, vol. i. p. IGO. ^1 Ibid., 155 b. See also 156 bis, 157, d See Harleian MS., 4170. The upper part of the dexter side of the shield being now defaced on the brass plate, the en- graving has been completed from the obituary window of Robert Kynge, first Bishop of Oxford, put up in Christ Church Cathedral by his descendants, A.D. 1630. See also the engravings of bishops' arms prefixed to Bishop Spar- row's collections, and those in Guillini's Treatise of Honour, p. 124. 159 b. ' Hundred Rolls, vol. ii. p. 3!). '^ These five hides were in Little Bal- don, (I'arva Baldindon'.) See ibid., p. 724. 390 HISTORICAL NOTICES. Item Robertus de la INIare tenet x liidas per servicium unius feodi militis tent' de domino Ricardo comite Cornubie et est de honore Walingford non sequitur hundr'.' — Item dominus Episcopus I.incolni- ensis tenet ij hidas et dimidiam pertinentes ad baroniam de Dorkecestre non sequitur hundr"."^ — Item Johannes de Mortayn tenet unam hidam et dimidiam teiTe de Burgbfond per servicium quarte partis unius feodi militis et sequitur hundr'." — Item Georgius de Luches tenet iij hidas terre de Priore de Nuiun ad feodi firmam pro Ixs, per annum et sequi- tur hundr'. — Item Robertus de Luches tenet unam hidam et dimidiam per servicium trium parcium dimidii feodi unius militis de baronia sci Walerici non sequitur hundr'.° — Item Johannes de Scaccariis, Walterus filius Rogeri, Willielmus de Scropes tenent vi hidas pro equalibus por- cionibus de Ada Dispensatore per servicium unius feodi militis et seq' hundr'. — Dominus Robertus, Persona capelle de Baldindon', (so. Marsh Baldon) tenet unam virgatam terre de eodem feodo (sc. Petri de la Mare) que pertinet ad predictam capellam faciendo inde servicium domini Regis quantum pertinet p. A.D. 1316. 9 Edw. II. By a return made in this year it appears that the lordship of the Baldons was shared as follows'!: — Hundredum de Bolinden est Domini Regis. Villa de Baldinden sci Laurencii cum^ /Ricardus de Louches' Totbaldinden, Mershbaldinden, et Parva V Dni ■; Lucia de la Mare Baldinden. j vJo' Bradele. A.D. 1437. 15 Hen. VI. Thomas Baldington, and his wife Agnes, besides Baldyndone's manor, and various other possessions in Thame, North Weston, Aldebury, Ruycote, were seized of one messuage, one virgate of land, two acres of meadow, and two acres of feedings in Bal- dyiigdone*. The lady here mentioned was the daughter of Sir John Danvers of Banbury, Cothorp, and Ipwell, Oxon, by his first wife. Their daughter and heir Agnes, was married to William Brome*, Esq., the restorer of Holton church in the fifteenth century, and founder of the ' These ten hides are the same wliich don St. Laurence, as did also the tenants were afterwards hukl hy Peter de La Mare of Despenser. Ibid., pp. 724, 725. in " Mershaldindone." See ibid., p. 721'. p Hundred Rolls, vol. ii. p. 724. ni These two hides and a half are men- q Tarl. Writs, voh ii. div. 3. p. 351. tioned ibid., p. 72 1. Hence, perhaps, r For furtlicr particulars of Kichard arose the name " Bishop's Baldon," a de Louches and liis family, see the his- part of St. Laurence Baldon. Sec Hay- torical notices of Great Milton, ner on Tithes, p. 597. » Esch. 15 Hen. VI., No. 28. n Sir John de Mortoyn held in Baldin- t Ccmipare Bp. Kennctt, Par. Ant., vol. don' sci Laurencii. See ibid., p. 724. ii. p. 414, with Esch. 21 Ed. IV., No. 3(i. " G. and R. de Louches held in Bal- TOOT AND MARSH BALDON. 391 south chapel, where his brass effigy still remains (A.D. 1461), which was formerly accompanied'^ by a coat of arms similar to that cut in stone on the east gable of the nave at Holton, viz. (Sable,) on a cheveron within a border (Argent) 3 broom-slips (Vert) (Brome) ; quartering (Argent,) on a chevron (Sable,) between 3 pellets, as many roses (of the field.) (Baldington.) This coat of the Baldingtons of Bal- dington was quartered for several generations by the Bromes of Holton, and afterthemby the Whorwoods'^. A.D. 1509. 24 Hen. VH., April 2. The manor of Baldington St. Laurence, Oxon., with all its appurtenances, whether they be in the villages of Baldington St. Laurence, Tutbaldington, Marshbaldington, Parva Baldington, and Garsingdon, &c. were given to Queen's College, in Oxford, by Edward Hilton, Fellow, and Edward Rigge, Provost of the College. The manor of Tutbaldington Avas within two days after- wards given to the same College, by Christopher Bainbrigge, sometime Provost of Queen's College, and afterwards Archbishop of York^. A.D, 1538. 29 Hen. VHI. At the time of the Ecclesiastical Survey, the clear receijits of Queen's College were, — From the manor of Bal- dington St. Laurence, and its appurtenances, in Marsh Baldington, Tot Baldington, and Garsington, per ann. 171. 19s. lid. From the manor of Tot Baldington and its appurtenances, and parcells in Marshebalding- ton, and Stanton St. John, 10^. 6s. 8d. The manors of Toot Baldon, and Baldon St. Laurence ^, still belong to " Wood's MS. Ash. Mus. E. 1. and D. 14. " See monuments in Holton Church. y Wood's Hist, and Antiq. Oxon. ed. Gutch, vol. iii. p. 144. ^ It is remarkable, that all the Bal- dons keep as their feast of dedication the festival of St. Laurence. And there is much reason to suppose that originally the only parish of Baldon was attached to a Church of St. Laurence, built at Baldon under the care of the bishop and convent of Dorchester. The name Tot, Tut, or Toot, at first used to distinguish a small part of it, was derived from some early proprietor, or possibly from Tota, whom Bp. Godwin mentions as bishop of Dor- chester about A.D. 787. In the thirteenth century (see above, pp. 388, 390) Peter de la Mare, or Mere, built and endowed a chapel, dedicated to St. Peter, in a part of the parish which, from its being the residence of his family, was called Mers- baldindon, Mare's Baldon. This chapel, as early as A.D. 1341, (Inquisit. Nona- rum, p. 135,) was called a parish Church, and is said not to have been subject to Toot Baldon as the mother Church. For a full view of the ecclesiastical history of the Baldons, see " Cases at large con- cerning Tithes," by John Rayner, of the Inner Temple. London, 1783; Mich, term, 11 Geo. IIL, A.D. 1770, pp. 574 —621. At the Dissolution, A.D. 1538, the rectory of Baldon was let at will to Thomas Bysseley, at a rent of £7, and the king, by letters patent, granted a lease of the said rectory to Dionysius Toppis. " Account of Dorchester Abbey Church," pp. 92. 168. 392 COWLEY Queen's College, Oxford, and that of Marsh Baldon is possessed by Sir H. P. Willoughby, whose predecessor, Sir Christopher Willoughby of Baldon House, Oxon., Avas created a Baronet, Dec. 8, 1794=*. Toot Baldon, formerly in the peculiar of Dorchester Abbey, to which house the Rectory was impropriate, is now a Vicarage, the advowson belonging to Sir H. P. Willoughby, who is the lay rector. Value, £30. Population 270. Marsh Baldon is now a Rectory, also in the gift of Sir H. P. Willoughby : Value, £93 ; population, 300. j. b. COWLEY. PATRON. DEAN AND CHAPTER OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD. DEANERY OF CUDDESDEN. HUNDRED OF BULLINGTON. :^:f<) SOUTH-EAST VIEW O? COWLEY CHDBCH. The Church of Cowley consists of a Nave and Chancel, with a very low western tower and a south porch, rebuilt in a debased style. The structm-e comprises several dates and styles, the Chancel being of Early English, and the tower of Perpendicular character, with Decorated windows in the nave. ^ Betham's Baronetage, iv. p. 202. C O W L E Y 393 Both the north and south doors of the nave^ and the priest's door in the north wall of the Chancel, are round-headed. mm^'^-" In the east wall is a f^jood window, of three lancet-lights, which have dripstones on the exterior, termi- nated by the ornaments called masks, so characteristic of this period. The side windows are long and narrow like the usual lancet windows, but are square at the top, a very unusual feature in work of the 13th century, as these evidently are, and at the south-west of the Chancel is one of those singular openings, called bv Rickman low side-windoivs, of which the object, though often dis- cussed, is not yet ascertained. The one at Cowley is square-headed and divided by a transom, the part below the transom (which as usual is blocked up) being somewhat narrower than that above it. The Chancel-arch is I,ow .side-Wmdow. a handsome one of Early Eng- lish or transition date. In the north and south walls of the Chancel are niches (perhaps aumbryes) with square trefoil heads, and a pointed trefoiled piscina on the south. On the east gable are the remains of a good cross : and under the windows is a very good string of the form called the roll or scroll moulding. The Font is plain and rude, the plug and chain remain- Tower of Cowley Chvircli. 3 E 394 COWLEY. ing. The bench-ends and poppies in the nave bear the date of 1632, and are very creditably carved for that period. A stone bench runs round the greater part of the Church. A north and west gallery (the former of which has scarcely any visible support) produce a very unsightly effect. The Tower is Perpendicular, and bears so much resemblance to that of Horsepath in design, situation, proportion, and detail, that there can be little doubt this was copied from it. That of Horsepath is perhaps somewhat earlier. (See wood engraving on previous page.) PLAN OF COWLEY CHURCH HISTORICAL NOTICES. Temple Cowley and Church Cowley have been so called from a very early period'''. The former was, at the time of the Conquest, held by Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, whose daughter, the Empress Matilda, gave it to the Knights Templars, and the grant was shortly afterwards con- firmed by King Stephen''. The Preceptory established here was removed to Sandford at the beginning of the reign of Edward 1.*=, and upon the suppression of the Knights Templars, A.D. 1312, their possessions in this place were given to the Knights Hospitalars of St. John of Jerusa- lem''. Church Cowley, so called from its having a parish Church, while the other Cowley only had a Church or Chapel attached to the Precep- a Hundred Rolls, ii. A.D. 1272, and Lieger Book of Sandford, A.D. 1274. Bodleian Library, MS. Wood 10. '' See the Charters at length in Dug- dale's Monasticon, N. E. vol. vii. p. 842, IVoni Wood's MS. 10. c See Historical Notices of Sandford. d See the Rent Book of the Knights Hospitalar.s of St. John, A.D. 1512. C. C. C, Oxon., MS. Davis. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHAPEL AND HOSPITAL. 395 tory of Knights Templars'^, was given to Oseney Abbey, in Oxford, by Robert D'Oyley the founder ^ At the Dissolution of the Abbey the advowson of the Church was given by King Henry VHL to his new College, now Christ Church, in Oxford^. The living is now a per- petual curacy, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, value 04/ ; population by the last return 606. ST. BAllTHOLOMEW'S CHAPEL AND HOSPITAL. ST. BARTHOL0M.EWS CHAPEL. In the parish of Cowley are the remains of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, situated about half a mile from Magdalene Bridge, on the borders of Cowley Marsh, with tlie small desecrated chapel of transition character between Decorated and Perpendicular, dedicated to St. Bartholomew. In form it is a parallelogram. ^ A.D. 1113, 8, 9 King Stephen. Robert de Oiley and Edith his wife granted to the Knights Templars (besides what they had before given to them) laud to the value of 6s. 'id. per annum, toward the dedication of their Cliurch of Covele or Cowley, near Oxford, whicli was now consecrated by the Bishop of Hereford, with consent of tlie Bishop of Lincoln. Bp. Kennett, Par. Ant, vol. i. p. 136. See also ibid., 91, 197, 275, 519, 511 ; ii. 140, 252. f Dugdale's Monasticon, art. Oseney Abbey. Prior de Osen. presentavit ad vicariam dc Cowley. Ext. Line. Reg. An. 22, Hugh Wells, II K. lien. IIL Dods- worth, MS. CVIL f. 42 b. K Ibid., art. Christ Cliurch, in Oxford. 396 ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHAPEL AND HOSPITAL. without tower or bell-gable : the opening for the bell in the west gable is now blocked up, and has the appearance of an upper window; it is marked more distinctly on the woodcut than it really appears. At the west end is a door and over it a small window and niche ; on the north side a smaller door and one elegant window ; an inferior window at the east without hood-moulding, and two windows on the south, of which the hood-mouldings are very good. Two altar-steps remain in the interior, and an oak roodscreen, bearing the late date of 1651, and the letters O. C, probably for Oriel College, to whom this Hos- pital was attached from a very early period, and at whose ex- pense the domestic buildings of the Hospital were rebuilt in 1649, after their destruction in the civil wars. The roof is plain, of open timber-work, probably of the same age as the screen. On each side of the west door is a cross patee in a circle, painted in dark fresco, and traces of painting may be found in other parts of the Chapel. It appears from an estimate lately taken, that a chapel may be built on the model of St. Bartholomew's at the small cost of 280/., not including the fittings, and supposing materials to be as abundant as in this neighbourhood. It would be well suited for a chapel to be attached to a burial ground, aiul working drawings of it have lately been published by our Society Avith a view to that object. The Kast Wiudovi. ST. BARTHOLOMEWS CHAPEL AND HOSPITAL. 397 HISTORICAL NOTICES. A.D. 1128, or 1132 — 3. King Henry I., induced by its vicinity to his palace at Beaumont, erected a Chapel on this site to the memory of S. Bartholomew, and an edifice adjoining for leprous folk, with a house for a friar or chaplain who should govern them, and for his pains receive yearly six marks ; and both he and they should daily pray for the health of the King and Queen's souls : which Hospital, raised by the overplus of the materials necessary for the King's building his palace at Beau- mont, was finished about 1 126, from whence, at the times of the Royal abode at the palace, with alms and broken meat from his table, it suffi- ciently sustained itself^. A.D. 1279. " Domus Sancti Bartholomei extra Oxon, fundata fuit a Domino Rege Henrico veteri, qui bonam Reginam Matildam duxit in uxorem, et assignata fuit ad hospitationem et sustentationem infirmorum leprosorum, et constituit conventum, viz., 12 Fratrum et unius Capellani ad quorum sustentationem assignavit idem Dominus Rex 23 libras argenti et 5d. de redditu Oxon, de Maiore et Ballivis Oxon, etc.''" Various benefactions to this Hospital are recorded, for which it may be sufficient here to refer to Ant. Wood's History of the City of Oxford, published by Sir John Peshall, 4to. p. 274. A.D. 1329. King Edward III., in the second year of his reign, granted to Oriel College this Hospital and all that belonged to it, on certain conditions, for the use of wholesome air in times of pestilential sicknesses *=. " The Chapel, originally erected by King Henry I., and dedicated to St. Bartholomew, being in a manner run to ruin in King Edward the Second's time, Avas then rebuilt; for which pious end, John, the son of Lawrence Serthe, a person of a religious turn, gave 18 marks, upon this condition, that though at that time he lay under no bodily infirmities, he might be elected to the Hospital on a vacancy. This con- dition was accordingly observed, the King himself peremptorily, and by a charter, commanding it''." A.D. 1336. "H. Burghwersh, Bishop of Lincoln, by his writing dated at Cudelington (Kidlington,) in this county, 2 cal. Jun., granted 10 days' indulgence to all who would devoutly come to the Chapel of ••> Wood's History of the City of Loud, anno G, 7, EiUv. I. Oxford, by Tesliall, p. 27o. •" Vide Mon. Ang., vol. ii. p. lo7. *> Rot. Hand, dc Bolcndon in Uurc -^ Peshall, p. 278. 398 ST. BARTHOLOMEWS CHAPEL AND HOSPITAL. S. Bartholomew's Hospital, on the feast of the said Saint, or eight days after, and then with prayers, oblations, and gifts, worship him ; and also of their charity contribute relief towards the leprous almsfolk thereof. Upon the publication of which, multitudes of people resorted there, and per- formed that which the Bishop required, to the great benefit of the priests and poor ; and to honour this Saint the more, they set up his image in the windows, and on the wall of the Chapel, which was celebrated also for the relics of Saints, afterwards removed to St. Mary's in Oxford. A procession was afterwards made annually to this Chapel, and this custom was continued until the Reformation of religion : when Queen Elizabeth's act against Images, Sec, appeared, this image was pulled down. Whence this custom for a Avhile slept, and the alms-folk were by degrees reduced to poverty, and became the objects of compassion. But the worthy Fellows of New College principally, among others, changing the former day to May-day, and Holy Thursday, used the same way as before ; and this was in A. Wood's time their laudable and constant custom, till the Presbyterian times totally abolished it." In tlic time of Ant. a Wood, " Divine service was performed in this chapel a few times in the summer, when the almsmen could walk thither ; a Presbyter of Oriel College was appointed to officiate, at 40s. per annum '^." If we are to believe the present Chapel to be in its main features the same with that erected in 1336, it affords a remarkably early instance of the change from the Decorated to the Perpendicular style. That the repairs after the civil wars did not affect the main fabric is clear from the account of Wood, who was an eye witness. He says, " This Chapel was formerly covered with lead, but in the late rebellion it was torn off for making bullets. It suffered greatly, having been put hij the saints to base uses. They stole also the bell, which used in those times to be rung to call the members of the Hospital to prayers." " In 1643 the Hospital House was occupied by people who had the plague, and became a pest-house ; but about the time of the siege of Oxford was quite demolished. It was re-edified by the College anno 1649." The Chapel is not here included, but the Hospital -house only. e Peshall, p. 279. INDEX OP PLACES. Albury Arabrosden Bartholomew's Chapel Beckley Begbroke Benson Bicester Bladen Blechingdon Bucknell Cassington Caversfield Charlton-on-Otmoor Chesterton . Chiselhampton Clifton Hampden , Culham Coombe Cowley Cuddesden Drayton Dunstew Elsfield Ensham Forest Hill Garsington Glympton Godstow Hampton Gay Hampton Poyle Handborough Headington Holton Horsepath Horton Islip . Kiddington Kidlington Kirtlington Marsh Baldon PAGE PAGE 269 Marston .... . 185 19 Merton .... 15 395 Middleton Stoney . 43 205 Great Milton . 302 111 Little Milton - 319 380 Newington .... . 321 23 Noke . 201 114 North Aston . 85 51 North Leigh . 162 34 Nuneham Courtney . 364 131 Oddington .... 7 30 Rowsham .... . 77 9 Sandford, near Woodstock . . 90 38 Sandford .... . 355 330 Shipton-on-Cherwell . . 72 373 Southleigh .... . 167 367 Stadhampton . 329 153 Stanton Harcourt 170 392 Stanton St. John . . 223 289 Steeple Aston 79 326 Steeple Barton . 94 88 Stonesfield .... 157 193 Studley .... 219 139 Tackley 73 274 Toot Baldon 383 332 Warborough 377 124 Water Eaton . . . . 69 100 Water- Pery 248 56 Waterstock 365 53 Wendlebiiry 42 143 Westcott Barton . . . . 93 276 Weston-on-the-Green . 47 242 Wheatley 301 348 Wilcote . . . . . 160 218 Wood Eaton . . . . 189 1 Woodperry 233 125 Woodstock 115 57 Wolvercot 98 48 Wootton 122 386 Yarntoii 104 OXFORD : PRINTED BY I. SHRIMPTON. 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