Parishes: Walton Cardiff

WALTON CARDIFF

Walton Cardiff is a small rural parish which adjoins Tewkesbury on the south-east. It was in fact part of Tewkesbury parish until the 17th century, when the inhabitants of Walton struggled for and won parochial independence. (fn. 1) The parish was 649 a. in area (fn. 2) and roughly square in shape, bounded on the west by the River Swilgate and on most of the north by the Tirle brook. (fn. 3) In 1935 the part of the parish north of the Tirle brook, between the stream and the main road running east from Tewkesbury, was transferred to Tewkesbury, reducing Walton by 44 a. (fn. 4) The account printed here relates to the whole of the former area of the parish.

The land of the parish is flat and low, lying between the 30-ft. and 60-ft. contours. It is drained by the Swilgate and the Tirle brook, and also by the Moor brook, (fn. 5) running north across the middle of the parish, and its tributary, the Dolmead brook, (fn. 6) which had partly stopped flowing by the 20th century. The soil is mostly the clay of the Lower Lias, but a wide strip of alluvium covers the northwest corner of the parish. (fn. 7) Although a limestone bed beneath the parish yields chalybeate waters, (fn. 8) most references to Walton Spa (fn. 9) apparently belong to the spa across the boundary in Ashchurch. (fn. 10)

The eastern and southern parts of the parish were mainly open-field land until the 16th century, and were thereafter permanent grass-land. (fn. 11) In the Middle Ages there was an extensive wood, called Waltons Wood, in the western part of the parish in the angle between the Swilgate and the Tirle brook. (fn. 12) In 1315 it covered 40 a. and was valued at 6d. an acre. (fn. 13) In 1369 it was a wood of great timber trees, of no regular annual value because the denseness of the oaks made it useless for pasture. (fn. 14) The wood was divided in two, with the manor, in 1419, (fn. 15) and one of the two parts comprised 30 a. in 1544, (fn. 16) when there was a woodward to look after it. (fn. 17) An estate of 30 a. pasture and 30 a. wood changed hands in 1594, (fn. 18) but no later reference to extensive woodland in the parish has been found.

The village of Walton Cardiff lies near the centre of the parish, and is a small, relatively compact group of farm-houses and cottages. The name Walton suggests a farmstead within an embankment, (fn. 19) and the allusion is likely to be to the enclosure round the large site of the manor-house at the southern end of the village. The site was described in 1419, and remained partly visible as earthworks in 1965. In 1419 it was agreed that one road in the village need no longer be maintained, and that another should be made. (fn. 20) The surviving arrangement of roads indicates that the former village street was replaced at some time by one further west. Except for the manor-house and one cottage, the houses of the village are all of brick and were built in the 18th century and later. At the north end of the village is a small, plain timber-framed cottage, much altered and with a roof of corrugated iron.

A minor road runs north from the village across the Tirle brook to the main road, where there is an early 19th-century turnpike cottage, one of the few isolated buildings of the parish. The lane from the village to Waltons Wood crossed the Moor brook by Wood Bridge, recorded in 1490 and 1545, and either the minor road to Fiddington or that to Tredington crossed the Dolmead brook by Broad Bridge. (fn. 21) The road to Tredington was known as the Ridgeway, (fn. 22) and it was presumably the bridge carrying it across the Moor brook that was called Elmore Bridge in 1553. (fn. 23)

In 1327 the population included 12 people who were assessed for tax on their movable goods, (fn. 24) and in 1419 the number of tenants and bondmen named, 22 or 23 in all, (fn. 25) suggests a fairly large population; so also does the figure of 19 able-bodied males in 1608. (fn. 26) In 1672 ten households were assessed for hearth-tax, (fn. 27) and in the early 18th century there were said to be 14 houses and 56 inhabitants. (fn. 28) Soon afterwards the population may have fallen, for from 1735 it was usually stated to be 30, comprised in 5 or 6 families. (fn. 29) By 1801, however, there were 62 inhabitants in 11 families. During the 19th century the population varied between 50 and 70; it fell to 43 in 1911 and rose to 57 in 1961. (fn. 30)

Manors and Other Estates.

Before the Conquest Walton formed part of Brictric's manor of Tewkesbury, and was thus in the king's hands in 1086. Three hides in Walton were held by minor tenants, (fn. 31) and another three which had been held by a radknight were held by one Ralph, perhaps the Ralph who appears to have been the Crown's officer in charge of the Tewkesbury estate. (fn. 32) Later in the Middle Ages the land of the parish comprised the manor called successively WALTON CARDIFF and WALTON BASSET after the owners who belonged to the families of Cardiff and Basset. Like other parts of Brictric's Tewkesbury estate, Walton remained part of the honor of Gloucester: in 1166 it was held by William of Cardiff as 1 knight's fee of William, Earl of Gloucester, (fn. 33) and was held of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, at his death in 1314. (fn. 34) In 1331 it was held of William la Zouche and his wife Eleanor, one of the sisters and coheirs of Gilbert de Clare, (fn. 35) but in 1349 it was said to have been assigned to Hugh de Audley and his wife Margaret, another of the sisters and coheirs. (fn. 36) Afterwards the descendants of Hugh and Margaret, through their daughter Margaret who married Ralph de Stafford, Earl of Stafford, (fn. 37) were regularly recorded as the overlords of Walton. (fn. 38)

The William of Cardiff who held Walton in 1166 was apparently succeeded by others of the same surname, and Hamo de Valognes, who was in possession of Walton in 1194 and 1195, had only a temporary interest, (fn. 39) perhaps during wardship. Shortly before or shortly afterwards Robert of Cardiff gave to Tewkesbury Abbey tithes in Walton which his father had promised to give. Robert was succeeded by his son William of Cardiff before 1248, when William and the abbey were disputing a right of way in Walton. (fn. 40) In 1263 William of Cardiff, perhaps another of the same name, was holding ½ knight's fee in Walton; (fn. 41) by 1296 the heir of William of Cardiff had 1½ fee there. (fn. 42) Another William of Cardiff held what was reckoned to be ¼ knight's fee in Walton in 1303, (fn. 43) and died in 1308 or 1309. He was succeeded by his son Paulinus, (fn. 44) who during his father's lifetime had held land of the de Clares in Glamorgan. (fn. 45) Paulinus died in 1315 holding Walton as ¼ knight's fee, and was succeeded by his son William, aged 16. (fn. 46) In 1325 William of Cardiff granted Walton manor to Hugh le Despenser the younger, lord of Tewkesbury, (fn. 47) in exchange for the manor of Rockhampton, (fn. 48) but two years later, when Walton along with other lands of the Despensers was in the king's hand, (fn. 49) Hugh was said to have taken the manor from William in 1322. (fn. 50) William regained possession of the manor; at his death in 1331 he was holding it as 1½ knight's fee, and was succeeded by his daughter Joan. (fn. 51)

Joan married John of Wincot and died in 1349, when her heirs were said to be her daughters, Margaret, aged 11, Elizabeth, aged 9, and Eleanor, aged 7. (fn. 52) When the daughter Elizabeth died in the same year the heirs to her lands in Worcestershire were at first said to be her sisters Margaret, aged 8, and Juette, aged 5, but a second return named her mother's uncle, Edward of Cardiff, as her heir. (fn. 53) In 1363 a group of people including Robert Underhill and his wife Juette settled both the Worcestershire lands and Walton manor on Edward of Cardiff and his wife Joan; (fn. 54) Edward died in 1369, holding Walton jointly with Joan, and his heir was his son Paul or Paulinus. (fn. 55) It seems, however, that the son did not survive long and that the reversionary interest passed to Margaret and Juette, the surviving daughters of Joan of Wincot, or their representatives: in 1379 Robert Underhill and his wife Juette conveyed to a group of trustees the reversion of half Walton Cardiff manor, then held by Henry Greyndour and his wife Joan for the life of Joan, (fn. 56) who was presumably the widow of Edward of Cardiff. In 1382 Henry Greyndour and Joan conveyed their rights to three people who included one of the trustees of 1379 in return for an annuity payable to Joan. (fn. 57) The trustees granted the half-share of the manor to Tewkesbury Abbey in 1383, (fn. 58) and in 1386 the abbey kitchener accounted for pigs, capons, and fowls from Walton. (fn. 59)

The settlement of 1363 concerned John Baudrip and his wife Elizabeth; (fn. 60) Elizabeth is thought to have been identical with Juette's sister Margaret, and her grandson John Basset, who at his death in 1396 left as his heir his brother Thomas, (fn. 61) may have held the other half of the manor. Thomas Basset and his wife Elizabeth held half Walton manor in 1419, when they agreed a partition with Tewkesbury Abbey. (fn. 62) In 1482 and 1491 another John Basset held the Basset estate in Walton, (fn. 63) Elizabeth Basset held it in dower in 1505 and 1523, (fn. 64) and William Basset held it from 1528. (fn. 65) William Basset sold his estate in Walton to James Gunter in 1545, and in 1553 Gunter sold it to Thomas Berrow and his wife Margaret. (fn. 66) The Berrows were licensed in 1559 to grant the estate to their son John Berrow, (fn. 67) who in 1562 settled the estate in trust for himself and his wife Maud. (fn. 68)

John Berrow successfully resisted a claim by the Exchequer for arrears of rent: (fn. 69) it was said that Sir Thomas Heneage and William Willoughby, Lord Willoughby, who in 1548 had granted their estate in Walton to the Crown, (fn. 70) had bought half of the manor from James Gunter, (fn. 71) but in fact their interest in Walton appears to have been limited to a farm of the estate. (fn. 72) In 1578 Berrow sold the larger part of his estate to the occupier, Nicholas Smithsend. (fn. 73) Nicholas was the son of Richard and grandson of Nicholas Smithsend, who was constable of Walton in 1505, (fn. 74) received manumission from the Abbot of Tewkesbury in 1528, (fn. 75) and held a copyhold estate from William Basset in 1530. (fn. 76) John Smithsend had held a house and 6 a. in Walton as a customary tenant of Tewkesbury Abbey in 1419. (fn. 77)

The estate remained in the Smithsend family until 1832, and was enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries. (fn. 78) The Nicholas Smithsend who had bought it in 1578 died in 1614 and was succeeded by his son, another Nicholas, who died in 1627. (fn. 79) The estate passed from father to son: Nicholas Smithsend, who disclaimed arms in 1683, (fn. 80) died in 1697, his son Nicholas in 1727; the next Nicholas died in 1746 and was succeeded by Nicholas Smithsend, of Worcester, who died in 1790. (fn. 81) The last Nicholas was succeeded by his widow, Mary, (fn. 82) and four daughters of whom the survivor, Elizabeth, owned the estate in 1826. (fn. 83) Elizabeth, who died in 1833, by her will gave it in trust for a cousin, Robert Phelps, (fn. 84) subject to the life interest of Nicholas Smithsend; (fn. 85) Nicholas may have been connected with Edward Smithsend, of London, who after 1790 claimed the estate as heir male under an entail made by the Nicholas who died in 1627. (fn. 86)

In 1841 the Walton Cardiff estate of 205 a. was put up for sale by order of the mortgagees, (fn. 87) and was bought by Edward Dangerfield. Dangerfield sold it in 1853 to Mary Anne Capper (d. 1861). The estate was sold in 1869 to John Edward Hyett (d. 1870), who was succeeded by his widow Anne. (fn. 88) In 1889 and 1906 the estate, known as Manor Farm, belonged to the trustees of W. Kettlewell. N. P. Milne owned it in 1914 and was described as lord of the manor, as in 1923. In 1923 the house, then called the manor-house and formerly Manor Farm, was occupied by William Shakespeare, who was afterwards described as lord of the manor. (fn. 89) In 1948 Shakespeare sold the house to Mr. E. Furley, the owner and occupier in 1965. (fn. 90)

The house retains part of a 17th-century timberframed building, which was cased in brick in the early 18th century. In the 19th century the western end was rebuilt and enlarged with a stuccoed front, and the south front was given a brick porch with the arms of, apparently, S. P. Peacock, the occupier in 1856. (fn. 91) In 1875, when it was up for sale, the house was described as a substantial family residence, being the old manor-house modernized. (fn. 92) It is presumably to be identified with the house with 5 hearths, the largest in the village, occupied by Nicholas Smithsend in 1662, (fn. 93) and it may incorporate some of the fabric of that house.

The site of the manor recorded in 1419 comprised an enclosure of 10 a. immediately west of the modern manor-house. At the partition the larger, southwestern part was allotted to the Bassets and contained a hall, chambers, kitchen, and byre; the abbey's part contained a granary and byre. (fn. 94) The south-western part in 1965 included an apparently moated area within which were the church and the grass-covered remains of what is likely to have been the hall. (fn. 95)

The half of the manor belonging to Tewkesbury Abbey was granted by the Crown to William Read in 1553. (fn. 96) Read died holding half the manor in 1558, and his son and heir Giles, (fn. 97) described as lord of the manor in 1608, (fn. 98) died likewise in 1611. By his will Giles Read gave his chief house and a farm in Walton to one of his younger sons, Edward, and his other lands there to another younger son, Fulk. The eldest son, John, (fn. 99) assigned an estate in Walton to Fulk in 1611, in accordance with the will. (fn. 100) Fulk Read, by his will dated 1658, gave his lands in Walton and elsewhere in trust for the children of his sister Elizabeth, wife of Richard Brent, and by an agreement of 1661 the Walton lands were assigned to three of the sons and two of the daughters of Elizabeth. (fn. 101) Fulk Read's estate has not been traced afterwards, and is likely to have been divided. (fn. 102) It may have included the land owned by Mrs. James in 1824, which was farmed from Walton Farm. (fn. 103) In 1927 Mr. R. A. Morgan bought Walton Farm, with c. 150 a., which in 1965 belonged to his son, Mr. A. J. Morgan. (fn. 104)

Edward Read sold his estate of 75 a. in Walton to Sir Baptist Hicks in 1614. (fn. 105) It later passed with Hicks's estate in Tewkesbury, (fn. 106) and was enlarged: it included 112 a. in Walton in 1632, (fn. 107) was valued at ²/5 the total for Walton c. 1640, (fn. 108) and amounted to 186 a. in 1824 when Lord Essex sold it. (fn. 109) It appears then to have been divided. The house belonging to the estate stood opposite the church, west of Manor Farm, and was pulled down soon after the sale of 1824. (fn. 110)

The tithes of Walton, which had belonged to Tewkesbury Abbey and were accounted part of Tewkesbury rectory, (fn. 111) were divided among various owners after the Dissolution. Fulk Read gave his share of the tithes as an endowment for the church in 1658, (fn. 112) and some tithes belonged to the owners of the land from which they arose. When the tithes were commuted in 1842 there were three other tithe-owners, who were awarded rent-charges of £51 10s. 6d., £26, and £2 18s. (fn. 113)

Economic History.

In the early 14th century nearly half the area of Walton belonged to the lord of the manor's demesne, which comprised 240 a. of arable land, 30 a. of meadow, and 40 a. of woodland. (fn. 114) The proportions were mostly the same in the early 15th century, although the acreage of demesne meadow was much larger; (fn. 115) the demesne lands may already have been let to tenants by then. In the 14th century there were both bond and free tenants, the bond tenants producing the higher total of rents; (fn. 116) the tax-list of 1327 indicates a fairly uniform level of prosperity among the eleven tenants assessed. (fn. 117) The agreement of 1419 for the partition of the manor did not specify any free tenants, but the land of the other tenants did not account for more than a quarter of the whole area of Walton, while the land of the demesne accounted for about half. There were 12 customary tenants, one who held either by indenture or by copy of court roll, one tenant at will, and 9 bondmen. (fn. 118) The existence of bondmen was recorded up to 1528, when Nicholas Smithsend received his manumission. (fn. 119)

In 1540 there were 10 tenants of Tewkesbury Abbey's half of the manor, all holding at least some land as customary copyhold; (fn. 120) the Bassets' half of the manor in 1546 was held by four tenants, (fn. 121) and at that period the demesne of both halves was apparently let to tenants. On the Bassets' half copyholds were sometimes granted in reversion, (fn. 122) but the abbey's successor would not acknowledge that this could be done. (fn. 123) A widow had the right to hold by freebench so long as she remained chaste. (fn. 124) The typical holding was one of a house and c. 25 a., (fn. 125) 25 a. being the average size of a yardland. (fn. 126) The copyholders of the Bassets' half of the manor bought their freeholds in 1578; (fn. 127) those of the abbey's half may have become freeholders or yearly tenants about the same time, but anyhow the traditional structure of the manor was broken in 1590 when the major landholders made a series of exchanges for the purpose of consolidating their lands. (fn. 128)

Before 1590 the arable land of Walton had lain scattered in open fields. In 1419 the arable of the demesne lay in 17 different furlongs, (fn. 129) and pieces of open-field land were usually identified only by the furlongs in which they lay. The furlongs were, however, grouped into fields which were specified in a mid-16th century survey: to the east and northeast of the village was Tirle field, to the south-east was Elm field, to the south was Lyde field, and to the south-west was Wood field. Tirle field was divided into north and south parts, Wood field into east and west, (fn. 130) so that there were six main parts of the open fields. The division may correspond with a three-course rotation of crops, suggested by an undated terrier recording open-field land divided nearly equally between the furze field, the barley field, and the wheat field. The terrier, which records a much greater amount of inclosed than of uninclosed land, (fn. 131) appears to have been made after the exchanges of 1590, and later references to yardlands (fn. 132) also suggest that the consolidation effected by the exchanges was not comprehensive. No evidence has been found, however, that open-field land survived after the mid-17th century. The small size of the ridges in the open fields, which were often as small as ¼ a., (fn. 133) and the suitability of the flat and wellwatered land for meadow and pasture provided sufficient stimulus for inclosure; before inclosure the proportion of meadow had been fairly high, and the tenants' common of pasture had amounted to 20 sheep and 10 beasts for each yardland. (fn. 134) In the early 18th century the parish was said to consist of rich meadow and pasture, (fn. 135) and in the early 19th was mainly in pasture. (fn. 136) In the 19th century the arable was much less extensive than the grass-land, (fn. 137) and by 1901 only 89 a. were arable. (fn. 138) In the early 20th century the decline of arable continued, (fn. 139) and there was none in 1933. (fn. 140) In 1965, however, nearly half the land was arable, and the farms raised corn, dairy-cattle, sheep, and pigs.

Four estates accounted for ¾ of the total value of the lands in Walton c. 1640, (fn. 141) and in 1775 ⁷/8 of the land-tax was paid on 4 holdings. (fn. 142) In 1831 there were 4 agricultural occupiers, each of them employing labour. (fn. 143) There were four farms up to the late 19th century, but for most of the early 20th Walton Cardiff has been divided mainly between three farms. (fn. 144)

Agriculture has been almost the only economic activity of Walton. A windmill that produced 6s. 8d. rent for the lord of the manor in 1315 (fn. 145) is not otherwise recorded, though it gave a name to the mill acre in 1419 (fn. 146) and to Windmill Hurst furlong in 1590. (fn. 147) In 1608 two weavers were living in Walton, (fn. 148) but in the early 19th century no men were employed there other than in agriculture. (fn. 149) In the early 20th century a coal-merchant had premises in the village. (fn. 150) Walton remained a small agricultural community in 1965, although the housing estate on the main road at Newtown was only ¼ mile from the village.

Local Government.

Draft rolls of the court held for the abbey's half of the manor survive for the years 1545–6, (fn. 151) and there is a transcript of a court of survey held in 1553 after that half had been granted to William Read. (fn. 152) The only known records of a court for the other half are copies of court roll of 1530 and 1565. (fn. 153) Neither court is likely to have survived the agricultural and tenurial changes, described above, of the late 16th century.

Walton Cardiff achieved the status of a separate parish in the 17th century. Earlier, it was a hamlet within Tewkesbury parish, (fn. 154) and the appointment of constables or tithingmen for it at the hundred court in the early 16th century (fn. 155) made it in no way different in status from the hamlets that remained part of Tewkesbury parish. (fn. 156) From 1647, however, the inhabitants of Walton refused to pay rates to Tewkesbury, and it was suggested that the building of Walton church in 1658 and the acquisition of rights of burial at Ashchurch resulted from an unwillingness to share in the parochial burdens of Tewkesbury. (fn. 157) It may be significant that Fulk Read, who built the church, represented the inhabitants of Walton in an agreement with the bailiffs and burgesses of Tewkesbury in 1651 which temporarily settled the dispute about whether Walton was rateable to Tewkesbury. For 11 years, without prejudice to legal action thereafter, the inhabitants of Walton were to maintain their own poor and not pay rates to Tewkesbury, and the officers of Tewkesbury and Fulk Read and Nicholas Smithsend were to be reimbursed by a levy on Walton for what they had spent on the poor there in the preceding year. (fn. 158) From 1678 there were repeated attempts to make Walton rateable to Tewkesbury, but they were abandoned in 1683. (fn. 159)

Afterwards Walton's parochial officers were one churchwarden or chapelwarden and one overseer: no more than one of each signed the rate-assessments of 1675, 1699, and 1706, (fn. 160) the terriers of 1807 and 1828, (fn. 161) the overseer's accounts from 1826, (fn. 162) and the petition for a faculty of 1866. (fn. 163) The parish became part of the Tewkesbury Poor Law Union in 1835, (fn. 164) and was transferred to the Cheltenham Rural District in 1935. (fn. 165)

Church.

There was a chapel of Walton Cardiff by 1249, when the chantry belonging to it was disputed between Tewkesbury Abbey and William of Cardiff. (fn. 166) When the abbey and Thomas and Elizabeth Basset partitioned the manor in 1419, it was agreed that the chapel, which lay in the Bassets' part of the manor-house precinct, on the south side of the road, should be in common. (fn. 167) The medieval chapel was not endowed, and no later evidence of it has been found. In 1658 Fulk Read built a new chapel of ease, (fn. 168) and gave the tithes that he owned in Walton to Richard Wilkes, clerk, for his life and afterwards to the minister who should from time to time be appointed to officiate in Walton chapel by the Warden and Fellows of All Souls', Oxford. (fn. 169) In the late 17th century the inhabitants of Walton were afforded burial rights at Ashchurch, (fn. 170) and thereby became independent of Tewkesbury in ecclesiastical as in civil affairs. The living came to be regarded as a perpetual curacy, and the patronage passed from All Souls' to the Bishop of Gloucester in the 1890's. (fn. 171) In 1928 the living was merged with the vicarage of Tewkesbury, (fn. 172) by whose successive incumbents it had been held since 1847. (fn. 173)

The living was valued at £17 10s. a year, with no house, in 1743, (fn. 174) and the income came presumably from offerings and the curate's share of the tithes. In 1753 and 1801 Queen Anne's Bounty augmented the living with capital sums of £200, (fn. 175) and in 1851 the income comprised £18 a year from land and £48 from tithes, (fn. 176) commuted in 1842. (fn. 177) In 1895 Queen Anne's Bounty gave £400 to match £384 raised by subscription to augment the living. (fn. 178) Because of the poorness of the living Walton got only a small share of the attention of its incumbents. The first, Richard Wilkes, was also master of the grammar school in Tewkesbury; many of his successors employed stipendiary curates to officiate at Walton, and the stipendiary curates usually lived in Tewkesbury and had other churches in their care. (fn. 179) The last perpetual curate who was not also Vicar of Tewkesbury was William Prosser, master of the grammar school there, who also had two other ecclesiastical livings near-by; (fn. 180) in his early years he did duty at Walton, but afterwards employed curates to serve Walton along with other churches. (fn. 181) The church had services once a month in 1743, (fn. 182) once a fortnight in 1750, (fn. 183) and once a week in 1825 (fn. 184) and 1851. (fn. 185) Monthly services were held up to 1963, (fn. 186) when the church was closed.

The church of ST. JAMES, (fn. 187) stands in a meadow apparently on or near the site of the medieval chapel. There is no burial ground, and the fence round the church, evidently not put up until 1892, (fn. 188) is within a few feet of the walls. The church built in 1658, described in the early 18th century as small, like a chapel, with a little western turret, (fn. 189) may have incorporated some of the medieval fabric, for in 1865 it was thought to have been built in the early 14th century. (fn. 190) It was subject to flooding, (fn. 191) and, although the interior had recently been entirely repaired, (fn. 192) by 1863 it was so dilapidated that the roof and some of the walls collapsed. Services continued in a house in the village, and in 1869 a new church was built on the same site to designs by John Middleton (fn. 193) as a Gothic building of brick entirely faced with stone on the outside and rendered on the inside, with a tiled roof, and comprising small apsidal chancel, nave, and bellcot. A cusped opening over a pillar piscina may survive from the medieval chapel. In 1908 and 1909 Miss Jessie Steward of Northway gave an oak pulpit and reredos, richly carved by herself. (fn. 194) Until c. 1963 the church had the Elliott organ on loan from Tewkesbury Abbey. (fn. 195) The bellcot contains one blank bell. (fn. 196) There is a chalice of 1699, a paten-cover of the same date, and a paten of 1720, (fn. 197) which in 1965 were kept at Tewkesbury. (fn. 198) The registers begin in 1677 for baptisms and 1697 for marriages. (fn. 199)

Nonconformity.

Between 1735 and 1750 Walton contained a family of six Baptists, (fn. 200) but no record has been found of a meeting there. (fn. 201)

School.

No school has been recorded in the parish; in the 19th and 20th centuries the children went to school in Tewkesbury. (fn. 202)

Charity.

By her will proved 1833 Elizabeth Smithsend gave £50 to be invested in stock, the income to be spent on blankets for the poor. (fn. 203) In 1856 the income was £1 13s., distributed in blankets. (fn. 204) Up to c. 1950 the income was distributed in cash, but thereafter, for want of suitable recipients, was allowed to accumulate. (fn. 205)