Parishes: Hampton Lucy

HAMPTON LUCY

Acreage: 3,160.

Population: 1911, 393; 1921, 367; 1931, 381.

The parish of Hampton Lucy lies on the left bank of the Avon, which forms its south and east boundary. The country has the undulating character common to the neighbourhood, but in the main the land slopes gently southward down to the flat meadows bordering the river. The village lies in the bend of the river, and the higher ground to the north of it terminates abruptly in the precipitous Scar Bank overlooking the river and, still farther north, shoots out the long easterly ridge of Copdock Hill. The latter, at 271 ft. above Ordnance datum, is the highest point in the parish, and the clump of Scotch firs at its farther end is a landmark for some miles round. The site of the depopulated village of Hatton, now occupied by two farms, lies about a mile to the west of Hampton Lucy village. The hamlet of Ingon comprises the most westerly portion of the parish, which here extends to the ridge dividing the Avon valley from the Forest of Arden.

The main road from Warwick to Stratford crosses the parish on the west, down Packsaddle Hill and Rhine Hill. Branching off it on the east side there are, or were, three by-roads. The first runs from the top of Windmill Hill almost due south, near to Hatton Rock Farm, whence it continues as a field track down to the Avon at Alveston Ford. On the right, at the point where it enters the fields is a hollow, known locally as Sal's Grave from the tradition of a witch's burial. From here a turn to the left leads to Hampton Lucy—no doubt the road referred to in the 17th century as Hatton Way. (fn. 1) The second turning from the main road ran from the bottom of Windmill Hill up to the first at Hatton Bank Farm, half a mile north of Hatton Rock. Though now an almost obliterated field path, it seems to have been a road in the early 18th century. (fn. 2) The third, running from the top of Packsaddle Hill into the first beyond Hatton Rock, is now the main road from Stratford to Hampton Lucy, but it does not appear as such before about 1820. (fn. 3) Northwards from Hampton Lucy village runs the road to Hampton Woods and Fulbrook. It is described as the way from Fulbrook to Bishop's Hampton in 1461. (fn. 4) In 1575 it appears to be referred to as the Redde Waye (fn. 5) and a field on the east side of it near the top of Copdock Hill is still called Redway Ground. As it ran through the open fields it was liable to be encroached upon by the tenants of the adjoining lands. In 1631 the jurors of the manor court were ordered 'to set great mere stones' along the road so that these holdings 'may be perfectly known and distinguished'. (fn. 6) And in the following year two of the tenants concerned were ordered to 'make a sufficient coachway leading through their closes towards Hampton Wood soe that a coach may sufficiently passe that way without danger'. (fn. 7) In 1641 John Dolittle was presented for 'ploughing upp part of the way leading to Hampton Wood whereby the way is streyhtned'. (fn. 8) At Sandbarn Farm, ¼ mile north of the village, a fork to the left leads to the Warwick-Stratford road at the top of Windmill Hill. The existence of this road in the 16th century is indicated by references, in 1575, to land belonging to the farm as situated 'between the two Highways'. (fn. 9) In the hollow beyond Copdock Hill a lane leads off to the right from the Fulbrook road to Grove Field Farm. There it forks, each branch ending within a short distance at an ancient ford over the Avon.

There is evidence in 1182 that a two-field system of cultivation was followed at Hampton, (fn. 10) and the names of the common fields are given in 1299 as the Overfelde and Netherfelde. (fn. 11) The common pasture appears from later deeds to have lain to the south of the village, along the river, and no doubt gives its name to Old Pasture Farm. North of the village the wood called Hampton Gorse, the gorse fields to the east of it, and the fields called Edwards Heath and Big and Little Heath on the south side of the Snitterfield road indicate the position of the medieval heath and waste. Inclosure began early, owing, as seems probable, to the development of sheep farming. An assart at the Grove is mentioned in 1182. (fn. 12) In about 1282 there were 400 sheep on the manor, and in 1299 there was pasture for 540. (fn. 13) The village of Hatton had been wholly depopulated and inclosed by about 1480. (fn. 14) Nether Ingon Farm was consolidated by 1570, and a particular of the lands in Ingon in that year shows no trace of the common field system. (fn. 15) In Hampton 5 holders of land were summoned before the Inclosure Commissioners in 1517 and charged with having pulled down houses, evicted the tenants, and converted arable land to pasture. (fn. 16) As a result of their activities, 6 houses and a cottage had been destroyed and 195 acres had gone out of tillage; 24 persons are stated to have been evicted from 5 of the holdings, and the total depopulation may be estimated at about 36. (fn. 17) The inclosers included 2 ecclesiastics; Simon Turneur and John Brogden, Prior of Thelsford and Vicar of Newbold Pacey, who farmed the manor from the Bishop of Worcester. (fn. 18) A considerable extent of open fields, however, still remained. In a conveyance of Sandbarn Farm in 1575 nearly all the land appears to have been held in strips, (fn. 19) and in Charles I's time the fact that the road to Fulbrook ran through uninclosed land gave rise to disputes that have already been mentioned. But by 1685 Old Pasture, Hatton, and Black Hill Farms seem to have been consolidated; (fn. 20) 50 years later the Heath had been inclosed and the process was complete. (fn. 21) The fact that nearly all the land belonged to the lord of the manor would render a Parliamentary Act superfluous.

An early-19th-century writer remarks of Hampton Lucy that 'A considerable degree of neatness marks the appearance of the cottages and each is distinguished by its particular number'. (fn. 22) Most of the cottages must then have been newly built, and they give the place rather the air of a model village, but there are several older houses still remaining. The rectory, south-west of the church, is a late-17th-century house of red brick with stone plinth, string-courses, rusticated angledressings, and parapet with a moulded stone cornice and balusters. The middle entrance in the north front has a round pediment; the tall narrow windows of brick have stone key-blocks and are fitted with (modern) sash-frames. The roof is tiled. Several of the rooms have fielded panelling and ornamental plaster ceilings, and the staircase has original turned balusters.

The old rectory was the largest in the neighbourhood. It comprised, according to an Elizabethan terrier, 26 bays of building (fn. 23) and is assessed at 7 hearths in the Hearth Tax returns of 1662–74.

'Avonside', formerly known as the Old Grammar School, stands east of the church. It is of much the same character as the rectory, but some windows at the back have their original oak mullions and transoms. There is a good contemporary staircase with turned balusters. This is presumably the 'newly erected messuage' given by George Lucy as a residence for the schoolmaster in 1710. The original schoolhouse of 1636 stood partly in the churchyard and seems to have been used as a schoolroom for some time after this date. (fn. 24)

At the east end of the village an iron bridge of single span crosses the river towards Charlecote. It was cast at the Horseley Ironworks in Shropshire (fn. 25) in 1829 at the expense of the Rev. John Lucy, then rector, who also contributed largely to the rebuilding of the church (fn. 26) and, in all probability, built many of the cottages. It replaced 'a ford and wooden causeway for foot passengers', but that there had been an earlier bridge here is evident from the statement in the inventory of church goods, 1552, that the parishioners had lately sold a bell for the maintenance of their bridge. (fn. 27)

Near the bridge is a 17th-century timber-framed cottage (No. 6) with a thatched roof: the end gable walls and the foundations are of later brick.

Four picturesque cottages, from 200 to 300 yards north of the church on the east side of the Snitterfield road, date from the 17th century. They have timberframed walls with brick infilling, on stone or brick foundations, and thatched roofs. They are conjoined in two pairs and each is divided into several tenements: most of them have wide fire-places or remains of them, some of stone: the southernmost has a projecting chimney-stack of brick with stone angle-dressings and a plain rectangular shaft of thin bricks. Other chimneyshafts have been rebuilt. Most of the ceilings are opentimbered. All are said to be condemned to early destruction as being considered past repair.

Sandbarn Farm, ½ mile north of the village, is a mid-17th-century house facing south. The front main block has cemented walls, but two parallel gabled wings at the back show square timber-framing. The chimneystacks have plain square shafts. The deeds of the property go back to 1548, (fn. 28) when Thomas Denton of Besselsleigh, Berkshire, released his right to lands in Hampton to John Brogden. Brogden died in 1564, (fn. 29) and it then passed to Alice Bradshaw (presumably his daughter, and wife of Robert Bradshaw) for her life, with reversion to Thomas Brogden, draper, of Stratford. In 1575 Thomas granted his reversion to Bradshaw and George Gecock (who had married Joan Brogden). (fn. 30) The property then consisted of two messuages and land in the common fields, held as of freehold. Gecock sold his rights to Bradshaw in 1590, when it was known as Brogden's Lands. Shortly afterwards Bradshaw made a second marriage, to Isabel Carpenter of Bromsgrove, in whose favour he executed a settlement. Isabel was still in occupation in 1624, but the property then belonged to William Bradshaw (probably her son), who had a son Robert. It subsequently came to Richard Pidgeon and in 1652 was divided under the title of Bradshaw's Farm between the husbands of his two daughters and coheiresses, John Rogers, rector of Hampton Lucy, and Timothy Venner of Ashorne. There were then two messuages, known as the Old and the New House, the latter being apparently the present building. Venner sold the Old House to Rogers in 1657, and in 1718 it was stated to have been long since demolished. In that year William son of John Rogers sold the New House and lands belonging to it to William Parker of Salford (q.v.), whose grandson Robert sold the freehold to George Lucy in 1781.

Hatton Bank Farm shows some 17th-century framing. Grove Field Farm, in the north-western extremity of the parish, has a late-18th-century front of three stories, but behind it are two brick gabled wings, apparently of late-17th-century date. In a field near the farm is a medieval gravestone which was discovered about a century ago on the supposed site of the neighbouring chapel of Fulbrook (q.v.).

The Grammar School, founded in 1635, (fn. 31) has long been closed and the endowments are now devoted to the provision of scholarships for boys of the parish to the Grammar School at Stratford. In 1905 the Lucy Scholarships were controlled by Magdalen College, Oxford, and the income of the Grammar School foundation was devoted to the provision of exhibitions of £5–£15 a year up to 6 years for boys of 11–14 years of age whose parents resided in the four parishes of Hampton Lucy, Charlecote, Wasperton, and Alveston. The Board of Governors included representatives of each of these parishes and of the Warwickshire County Council and Stratford Rural District Council. In 1933 the income of the foundation amounted to £136 9s. 3d., out of which four scholarships of £15 and one of £9 were provided and a sum of £25 10s. a year was devoted to the maintenance of the school buildings. (fn. 32)

During the Napoleonic invasion scare a corps of volunteers was raised in Hampton Lucy. It included also men from Wellesbourne and Loxley, and the County Treasurer's Accounts during 1805 (fn. 33) contain several entries of payments for the maintenance of the force.

Manors

At the Synod of Brentford, 781, Offa, King of Mercia, confirmed to Bishop Hathered and the monks of Worcester 17 hides in HAMPTON which they claimed to hold of Ethelbald his father. (fn. 34) Later in the same year Offa freed these lands of all secular services. (fn. 35) From this latter charter it appears that 12 of the hides were in Hampton and the remainder in 'Faehhaleage' (fn. 36) and that Hathered—since his appointment to the see early in 781—had granted them to the king's kinswoman, the Abbess Eanburga, to hold of the church for her lifetime. The bishops of Worcester continued lords of the manor until 1549 and it thence became known as BISHOPS HAMPTON, a name still in common use as late as the 17th century. (fn. 37) The manor is rated at 12 hides in Domesday, (fn. 38) and a survey of 1182 gives 12 hides, 3½ virgates. (fn. 39) That the bishops had a house here is evident from the mention in 1182 of land that had formerly been held by the service of providing nine lights to burn in the various apartments whenever the lord should be in the manor. (fn. 40) It appears, too, that in the 14th century the bishops occasionally resided here. (fn. 41) In 1255 Bishop Walter de Cantilupe obtained a grant of free warren in his demesne of Hampton, (fn. 42) a privilege which was confirmed to Bishop Giffard 30 years later. (fn. 43) In 1299 the manor was valued at £41 15s. 9½d. (fn. 44)

In 1549 the bishop conveyed the manor, as part of an exchange of lands, to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. (fn. 45) By another exchange in the following year it passed to the king, (fn. 46) who, however, granted it again to Dudley, by yet a third exchange, a few months later. (fn. 47) On Dudley's attainder and execution it escheated to the Crown, and in 1555 John Swifte obtained a lease of it for 61 years at an annual rent of £33 15s. 3½d. (fn. 48) On 12 June 1557 Queen Mary granted this rent and the reversion of the manor to Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, to hold as 1/20 of a knight's fee. (fn. 49) The manor has since descended, with Charlecote (q.v.), in the Lucy family, and thus acquired its modern name of HAMPTON LUCY. Sir Henry Fairfax-Lucy of Charlecote was lord of the manor at the time of his death in 1944.

The descent of the manor of HATTON follows that of the main manor throughout. In 1182 there were 3½ hides in Hatton held by 8 tenants, and ½ hide held of the manor of Hampton by Laurence son of Wido. (fn. 50) There were 16 tenants in Hatton in 1299, (fn. 51) and 17 persons were assessed to the lay subsidy of 1332. (fn. 52) But the village, as already mentioned, was depopulated for inclosure during the 15th century.

In 1182 Walter de Turre held a hide in the Grove; (fn. 53) and a knight's fee in Ingon and the Grove was held by Nicholas de Warwick in 1299. (fn. 54) Lands in 'a field called Grove Field' in the tenure of William Lucy are specifically mentioned in the grant of the manor to Thomas Lucy in 1557. (fn. 55) The property gives its name to the present Grove Field Farm. In the early 18th century there was a second farm here called Cobank, Cobdyke, or Copduck Farm. (fn. 56) It was farmed together with Grove Field in 1732 (fn. 57) and must soon afterwards have been absorbed into it.

At some time between 704 and 709 Aedilheard and Aedilweard of the Hwiccas granted to Cudsuida 5 hides in INGON for a consideration of 600s. (fn. 58) Ingon is not mentioned in Domesday, being probably included, as Dugdale suggests, in Stratford. (fn. 59) But in 1182 Thomas de St. John was holding 5 hides here as of the manor of Hampton, (fn. 60) and the overlordship remained with the Bishop of Worcester at least until the 14th century. (fn. 61) It must have been before the end of the 12th century that the bishop granted the manor to one of the family of de Croome, (fn. 62) for in 1200 Adam de Croome granted 5 hides in Ingon to Thomas de Croome to hold of him in exchange for lands in Earls Croome, Worcestershire. (fn. 63) Another Adam de Croome occurs in the time of Bishop Walter de Cantilupe (1236–66) and had a son Simon. (fn. 64) The latter is no doubt the Simon lord of Ingon who occurs in Edward I's reign (fn. 65) and may also perhaps be identified with the Sir Simon de Croome who in 1329 sold the manor to Robert de Stratford, then vicar of Stratford, (fn. 66) and afterwards Bishop of Chichester. It was then held by William Harewell for the life of Joan his wife, both of whom did fealty to Robert. In 1330 Robert bought out their interest (fn. 67) and in the following year conveyed the manor to his brother John, Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 68) John thereupon granted it to his newly founded Chantry in Stratford Church, (fn. 69) which afterwards became a college of priests. In 1337 he added to the endowment a messuage and 2 carucates of land in Ingon, (fn. 70) and in 1348 Adam de Stevynton of Stratford granted a further 4 acres of land which he held of the Bishop of Worcester. (fn. 71) In 1535 the lands and tenements of the college in Ingon were valued at £16 6s. 8d. (fn. 72) The manor remained in the possession of the college until the Dissolution of 1546, when it fell to the Crown. In 1548 it was granted to Richard Palladye and Francis Foxhall, citizen and mercer of London, (fn. 73) being then valued at £17 1s. 8d. (fn. 74) But in the following year another grant of it was made to Thomas Hawkins alias Fisher (fn. 75) of the Priory Warwick, who sold it in 1553 to William Clopton. (fn. 76) Releases to Clopton of claims in the manor were made by William Porter of Aston Sub-Edge in 1568 (fn. 77) and Edward Hawkins, the son of Thomas Hawkins above-mentioned in 1580. (fn. 78) The Cloptons were still holding Ingon in 1663, when the manor apparently consisted only of 3 closes, altogether 120 acres in extent. (fn. 79) But they afterwards sold it to the Cokeseys, who, before 1730, divided the property, selling the Upper Farm to one Farrein and the Lower Farm to Thomas Woolmer. (fn. 80) The Lower Farm afterwards came to John Cap, maltster, and to John Azlewood, whose son Richard was holding it in 1790. (fn. 81)

The Red Book of Worcester contains two unusually full surveys of the manor of Hampton with Hatton, the first taken about 1182 and the second in 1299. There is also a more fragmentary survey which may be dated c. 1282. (fn. 82) In 1182 the customary tenants of both places owed three days work in a week, throughout the year, besides ploughing and harrowing on a fourth. Every tenant was obliged to perform three bedrips—and a fourth if required—with all his household except his wife and his shepherd—an early indication of the importance of sheep-farming here. In 1299 more than two-thirds of the rent was still due in services or their monetary equivalents.

The bishop had a PARK in Hampton, the pasturage of which was worth 20s. a year in 1299. It was then stated that the underwood was worth nothing, because there was barely enough wood to fence the park. (fn. 83) Commissions to inquire into trespasses in the park were issued in 1299 (fn. 84) and 1339. (fn. 85) The park was conveyed, with the manor, to the Duke of Northumberland in 1549. (fn. 86) As it is then described as one of the Bishop of Worcester's woods it was probably more or less identical with Hampton Woods (fn. 87) which were included in Fulbrook Park when the latter was remade and extended by Sir Thomas Lucy early in the 17th century. (fn. 88)

There was a mill in Hampton in 1086, valued at 6s. 8d. (fn. 89) It was worth 20s. in 1182, (fn. 90) when the miller is included among the customary tenants of the manor. (fn. 91) In 1299 it was let at farm to Geoffrey de Fineburgh at a rent of 36s. (fn. 92) The 4 mills which are mentioned in a conveyance of the manor in 1678 (fn. 93) probably include two or three mill-wheels under one roof and also the mill at Fulbrook. The present mill, which is still in use, is situated just above the bridge.

In 1299 the manor included a fishery, worth 18s. yearly. (fn. 94) In 1667 the fishery was said to extend 'from a stone in the Ham to Hatton's stile in the parish of Hampton Lucy' and was then held by William Combe. (fn. 95) 'Hampton fishery' was let at £3 in 1732. (fn. 96)

Church

The parish church of ST. PETER dates from 1826 and is interesting as being one of the earliest and best examples of the work of the 19th-century 'Gothic revivalists'. It was designed by T. Rickman and consists of a chancel, nave with a clearstory, north and south aisles, north porch, and west tower. In 1858 the east end was remodelled by Sir Gilbert Scott, who provided the chancel with an apsidal end: he also refurnished the church.

The medieval church, which stood 'not exactly on the same site' as the present building, (fn. 97) was completely demolished in 1826. A drawing made a few years before its destruction (fn. 98) shows that it consisted of a chancel, nave with clearstory and south porch, south chapel, and western tower. The chapel appears to have been of 13th-century date, and the visible details of the rest of the church belong to the 14th and 15th centuries. The tower is finished off with a plain parapet and the roofs are leaded and low-pitched.

There is one bell dated 1826. The old church, how ever, had 6 bells in 1750. (fn. 99) Three of the bells were recast at Woodstock—presumably by Richard Keene—in 1671–3 at a cost of £104 14s. 7d., of which nearly half was contributed by the rector, John Rogers. (fn. 100)

The register of baptisms begins in 1553 and of marriages and burials in 1556. The earliest volume contains the entry 'md. the note of those yt. were bapt. 1646 was torne by the souldiers'. The registers and other parish records are now deposited at the Shire Hall, Warwick. (fn. 101)

The only ancient feature preserved is two squares, each of four inlaid 4½ in. tiles, probably of the 14th century, in the south aisle. One is a set forming a complete quatrefoil and foliage pattern. The other has three shields of arms; two are charged checky white and red and have oak leaf and acorn designs above them; another has a lion and is flanked by monsters. The fourth tile has a quatrefoil of pointed lobes, one has a running hound, chasing a hare on the opposite lobe, and the other two have human-faced monsters.

Also in the south-aisle floor is a small brass inscription to Richard Popham, gentleman and steward to the Lucys, died 1730, aged 45.

A leaden seal of Pope Innocent VI was found in a grave in the new churchyard in 1934 and is now preserved at the west end of the church. It has been suggested that it was perhaps attached to the licence issued in 1356 authorizing the rector, Simon de Gaynesburgh, to exchange livings with Thomas Mershton.

Advowson

There was a priest at Hampton in 1086, (fn. 102) and the advowson has descended with the manor down to the present day. The Rev. William Lucy, who was both rector and patron 1721–4, was said to have directed that the living should 'be always enjoyed by one of his own name', (fn. 103) and his wishes appear to have been followed in most of the presentations during the succeeding century.

In 1291 the church was valued at £26 13s. 4d., out of which a pension of £1 was payable in tithes to the Prior of Coventry. (fn. 104) According to the 1341 returns £10 13s. 4d. represented the value of the glebe. (fn. 105) The valuation in 1535 was £51 6s. 8d., including a pension of £4 to the vicar of Wasperton. (fn. 106) In 1182 the church holding in the open fields was said to be allotted annually, consisting of one carucate in one year and two the next. (fn. 107) In the early 17th century it comprised 5 yardlands, besides sundry closes. (fn. 108) Thus the incumbent must have been, even in medieval times, one of the most considerable persons in the parish.

The rector of Hampton Lucy had formerly a peculiar jurisdiction which included, besides his own, the neighbouring parishes of Charlecote, Alveston, and Wasperton (of the two latter of which he held the advowson). The Peculiar is first mentioned in 1593 and was abolished in 1858. (fn. 109) The parish registers contain a record of the appointment as Public Notaries of the Peculiar of Anthony Nicholls of Lichfield in the late 17th or early 18th century and of Charles Hinckes of Worcester, after an interval, in 1724. Several of the early-18th-century burial entries are accompanied by notes relating to the estate of the deceased.

Charities

The Rev. John Lucy the younger by will proved 24 Nov. 1874 bequeathed to the rector £500, the interest to be applied to five of the most deserving parishioners.

George Hammond by will dated 3 Feb. 1755 gave to the rector and churchwardens £400, the income thereof to be divided amongst eight poor men or women communicants of the Church of England.

Alice Hammond, widow of George Hammond, by will dated 23 Jan. 1778 gave to the rector and churchwardens the interest of £100 to be given to the poor of the parish.

The above-mentioned charities are administered together, and the income, amounting to £27 5s. 7d. per annum, is applied for the benefit of the poor of the parish.

Charities of Dr. W. Lucy and the Rev. J. Lucy. The Rev. William Lucy, D.D., by will dated 28 Jan. 1723 gave to the poor of Hampton Lucy a rent-charge of £5 to be paid out of the Manor of Charlecote and distributed by his heirs or trustees every Christmas. The Rev. John Lucy by will dated 21 July 1821 gave to the trustees of Dr. Lucy's Charity a further annuity or rent-charge of £5. The two rent-charges of £5 now issuing out of the Charlecote Estate are administered by Sir Henry Fairfax-Lucy.