A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 6. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1965.
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'Parishes: Great and Little Barrington', in A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 6, ed. C R Elrington( London, 1965), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol6/pp16-27 [accessed 16 November 2024].
'Parishes: Great and Little Barrington', in A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 6. Edited by C R Elrington( London, 1965), British History Online, accessed November 16, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol6/pp16-27.
"Parishes: Great and Little Barrington". A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 6. Ed. C R Elrington(London, 1965), , British History Online. Web. 16 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol6/pp16-27.
In this section
GREAT AND LITTLE BARRINGTON
Great Barrington and Little Barrington, lying on the eastern border of the county three miles west of Burford (Oxon.) and six miles east of Northleach, were originally one parish that became two during the Middle Ages, and were re-united in 1935 to form the civil parish of Barrington. In the pages that follow, the history of both parishes is given in a single narrative because of the recurrent difficulty of distinguishing Great and Little Barrington in the records; for the names are used variously to describe parishes, estates (of varying extent at different periods), and villages with their farm-land, and in each instance the division between the two was usually different.
The modern parish of Barrington lies astride the River Windrush and covers an area of 4,257 a. The parish of Great Barrington included all the land north of the river and, after the inclosure of the land south of the river in 1759, the western part of that land; before 1759 the part of Great Barrington south of the river was apparently intermingled with Little Barrington. The area of Great Barrington parish was 2,990 a., excluding a field of 7 a. that formed a detached part of Great Barrington within Little Barrington and was transferred to Little Barrington in 1882. Little Barrington included an area of 150 a. at its southern tip separated from the rest by a narrow neck of Great Barrington parish; this area was transferred to Eastleach Turville in 1883, but was apparently all reunited with Little Barrington in 1935 when 154 a. of Eastleach Turville were included in the parish of Barrington. The area of Little Barrington between 1883 and 1935 was 1,113 a. For part of its course the boundary between Great Barrington and the parishes of Sherborne and Windrush on the west follows the River Windrush, as did the boundary between Great Barrington and Little Barrington. The south-east boundary of Little Barrington is marked in part by the road from Cirencester to Burford, and the boundary between Great and Little Barrington running south from the river followed roads for a way. For the rest the parish boundaries follow field boundaries. (fn. 1)
Part of Great Barrington parish was until 1844 (fn. 2) a detached part of Berkshire. This arrangement appears to have originated when one of the estates in Great Barrington became part of the royal manor and hundred of Faringdon (Berks.) in the late 11th century, (fn. 3) and this estate, though soon afterwards united tenurially with the rest of Great Barrington, remained a separate tithing. (fn. 4) In the 18th century 23 houses in Great Barrington village were said to be in Berkshire, (fn. 5) and in the early 19th a strip of land running the width of the parish along the north side of the Windrush and cutting through the village was distinguished as part of Berkshire. (fn. 6) Two inscribed stones visible in 1962 marked the course of the county boundary through the village.
The land rises from 350 ft. in the river valley to 650 ft. in the north and 550 ft. in the south. Most of the parish, the higher and more exposed part, lies on the Great Oolite; as the land drops down to the river it cuts through narrow belts of the Inferior Oolite, and the Upper, Middle, and Lower Lias, and in the valley bottom are deposits of alluvium. (fn. 7) The Inferior Oolite provides good building stone, (fn. 8) and extensive disused quarries were a feature of the landscape in 1962. Part of the farm-land north of the river was inclosed to form a park, perhaps in the early 15th century; the park, which supported a herd of fallow deer in 1962, was later enlarged, and the open land was gradually inclosed. South of the river the open fields and downland were inclosed under an Act of Parliament in 1759. (fn. 9) Apart from the park, several small areas of woodland were scattered among the arable and pasture fields in 1962.
North of the river are the sites of two Roman villas. One, on the eastern side of the parish near the river, has not been examined thoroughly, and the other, in the park, has never been excavated. (fn. 10)
The villages of Great and Little Barrington lie on either side of the river facing each other. Great Barrington, on the north side, is a compact double row of buildings along a village street running across the slope at 450 ft. The park closes its western end, and the position of the church within the park and beside the large manor-house called Barrington Park may indicate that the village contracted at its western end to make way for the park. The fact that this end of the village is called the Green, and the names of Overgreen House and Undergreen House, indicate the site of the village green there. The houses of the village survive from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries (the two farm-houses at the eastern end were built in the 19th century), and two new houses were built in 1949. In the mid-20th century the village was undergoing a gradual change, as cottages were combined to form bigger houses and were modernized.
Little Barrington village, on the south side of the river at 400 ft., is grouped round a triangular green in a fold in the side of the valley. The western half of the village was in the parish of Great Barrington and belonged to the owners of Great Barrington manor; to distinguish it as part of Great Barrington it was often known as the Lower Village. (fn. 11) The boundary between the two parts of the village ran across the green, roughly following the course of the Tight brook. On the south-west side of the green are 16th- and 17th-century cottages, and two 17thcentury farm-houses. Cottages on the north-west and east sides of the green were built in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century a few groups of cottages, including seven charity cottages, (fn. 12) were built in Minnow Lane, which leads eastward from the north end of the village. In the mid-20th century two houses were built at the northern end of the village.
Three hundred yards east of the green are Little Barrington church and Church Farm, and a quarter of a mile east again is Barrington Grove, the manorhouse of Little Barrington. There are several other houses away from the two villages. Manor Farm, on the north-west edge of Barrington Park, was built in the 17th century. Downs Farm and Downs Cottages were built south of the Cirencester-Burford road in the 18th century, and three more farm-houses in the 19th, including Home Farm, south-east of Barrington Grove, which is said to have been moved from a site immediately west of Barrington Grove. (fn. 13) The New Inn, on the Gloucester-Oxford road, was evidently not one of the two inns in Great Barrington in 1755 (fn. 14) and was built in the early 19th century. Cottages also called Downs Cottages, in the extreme north of Great Barrington parish, were built by 1841, and the cottages at Manor Farm and two houses on the Cirencester-Burford road later in the century. Paper Mill Cottages were built in the 19th century on the site of one of the water-mills. (fn. 15)
The main road from Gloucester to Oxford runs through the southern part of the Barringtons, a mile from the river and roughly parallel to it. This is probably the road called the Ridgeway in 1584 and 1664, (fn. 16) and it was a turnpike from 1751 to 1870. (fn. 17) The road from Cirencester to Burford was turnpiked for its length through the Barringtons in 1753. (fn. 18) The valley road that winds through the villages beside the river from Northleach to Burford passes through Little Barrington village; the main route to Burford ran along Minnow Lane until diverted (probably in the late 18th century) through the green and past the church. (fn. 19) The road from Stowon-the-Wold that runs from north to south through the Barringtons to meet the Cirencester-Burford road was unfenced north of Great Barrington in the 18th century (fn. 20) and remained partly so in 1962. Between the two villages this road crosses the river by Strong's Causeway, said to have been built by the mason Thomas Strong at the end of the 17th century; previously communication had often been prevented by flooding. (fn. 21) The bridge that existed by the early 16th century (fn. 22) is likely to have been further downstream by the mill, where a road between the villages existed in the early 19th century (fn. 23) and may have been the one known as the Kingsway from the 16th century to the 18th. (fn. 24) The bridge in Strong's Causeway was rebuilt in the mid-20th century. (fn. 25) Another minor road continues the line of Great Barrington village street through Taynton (Oxon.) to Burford.
In the mid-16th century there were said to be 30 households in Great Barrington and 7 in Little Barrington. (fn. 26) The population rose in the next hundred years, for in 1650 there were 62 and 24 families respectively. (fn. 27) In both Great and Little Barrington numbers rose sharply in the 18th century (fn. 28) and early 19th. In Little Barrington the population reached a peak of 208 in 1841, but then fell to 67 in 1891 and thereafter remained around 100 until after 1931. In Great Barrington the population rose from 348 in 1801 to 545 in 1851 and then fell steadily to 330 in 1931. In 1951 the population of Great and Little Barrington was 396, (fn. 29) and it continued to fall in the next decade. (fn. 30)
Barrington Park had a private piped water supply, from a spring at Taynton, (fn. 31) which until c. 1958 was made available to the houses in Great Barrington village by standpipes in the street. From that time water was piped into the houses. From 1956 the private supply was supplemented from the main and in 1959 the houses began to be connected directly to the main supply. (fn. 32) Some houses at Little Barrington were connected to a private piped supply, but most of the water came from open springs or from the Windrush, (fn. 33) until the 1950's when main water became available. (fn. 34) Main electricity was available in both villages by 1940. (fn. 35)
In 1891 Mrs. Robert Hurst built a small brick building to be used as a parish hall for Little Barrington church, and by his will proved in 1948 Arthur Reginald Hurst gave it in trust for the use of the village along with £200 for its upkeep. (fn. 36)
All the houses in Great and Little Barrington, except for Leyes Farm, south of the GloucesterOxford road, which is brick, are built of stone and most have Cotswold stone roofs though a few cottages have thatch or Welsh slate. The cottages and farm-houses of the 17th and 18th centuries have the traditional Cotswold features of mullioned windows, dripmoulds, dormers, projecting gables, and moulded stone hoods. Many cottages and houses of the late 18th and early 19th century are Georgian in character, and have stone door-hoods on moulded brackets. Little Barrington village in particular, its cottages placed on banks above the green, displays the picturesque characteristics for which Cotswold villages are well known.
One 17th-century cottage in Little Barrington, formerly a smith's, has a reset window of two narrow lights with four-centred arched heads and a wide arched doorway with a dripmould, probably of the 16th century. On the east side of the green a row of 17th- and 18th-century cottages includes one with a 13th- or 14th-century arched stone doorway, but apparently contains no other medieval feature. A two-storied 18th-century house, which was a shop until 1959 and was the Dog Inn of the late 18th century, (fn. 37) contains both mullioned and sash windows. The 19th-century vicarage, a large twostoried house, has a hipped roof of stone, sash windows, and a stone porch with Doric columns. An 18th-century house in Great Barrington, the Hollies, has windows with mullions and dripmoulds, and a doorway with a broken entablature and pediment on brackets. Both villages contain rubble barns with Cotswold stone roofs.
Barrington Park is a large 18th-century house referred to by Pope in the line
At Barrington shall English bounty stand. (fn. 38) It replaced an earlier manor-house of Great Barrington, possibly the one called Bailiff's Chamber in 1514, (fn. 39) which at the beginning of the 18th century incorporated two courtyards and appeared to have been built in the early 16th century and early 17th. Its gabled west front, one end of which was embattled, overlooked a farm-house, stables, and farm buildings. (fn. 40) The house was damaged by fire in 1736, and a year or two later the new house was built a little further west, (fn. 41) the remains of the older house surviving as part of the stables and office buildings.
The new house may have been designed by William Kent, who is known to have designed a pair of gate-posts in the park. (fn. 42) The house is of ashlar, and has two stories with a shallow hipped roof of Cotswold stone. The ground floor windows on the south elevation have alternate segmental and triangular pediments. The north elevation has four pairs of Corinthian pilasters, an entablature cornice, and a pediment and balustraded parapet. The ground-floor windows have entablatures and the two on either side of the entrance have pediments. The whole stands upon a rusticated plinth. Later a heavy porch was added, perhaps c. 1873 at the same time as the two side wings (fn. 43) which are in keeping with the main part of the house.
The house is sited on a natural terrace, overlooking the River Windrush which has been diverted and widened to form a stretch of ornamental water crossed by a stone bridge of three arches of c. 1740. Among the carefully placed trees of the park are several small 18th-century buildings, including a Gothick folly south of the house and a dovecot which had an external spiral staircase and a lead cupola that was removed c. 1920. (fn. 44)
Manor Farm, north-west of Barrington Park, was built in the late 17th century and combined classical touches with the more usual Cotswold features. It is of ashlar with a Cotswold stone roof and has two stories and attics. Its main elevation has three gables, the middle one surmounting a projecting portion of the house. Each gable has a circular window; the large central gable is crowned with a sundial finial, the side ones with ball finials. The tall windows have stone mullions, architraves, and simple moulded hoods superimposed on a band-course.
Church Farm, immediately west of Little Barrington church, a two-storied house of rubble with a Cotswold stone roof, was built largely in the 17th century but includes some earlier parts. One room, known as the 'priest's room', (fn. 45) has a small reset 14th-century arched doorway, and on the east side of the house is a small two-light window with four-centred arches. The house is traditionally said to have been used by priests from Bruern Abbey (Oxon.) serving Little Barrington; Bruern Abbey had a house in Little Barrington (fn. 46) but is not known to have had any rights or duties in the church, and the house is more likely to have been connected with Llanthony Priory's estate. One of the barns incorporates a carved stone thought to have been part of the fabric of the church and other stones that may come from the church have been found in the wall between Church Farm and the churchyard. (fn. 47)
Barrington Grove, the manor-house of Little Barrington manor, was rebuilt in the late 18th century, probably after 1779, but incorporates parts of an older house. The house is of ashlar, is twostoried with attics, and has a Cotswold stone roof with a parapet. The central portion projects. The sash windows are in segmental-headed recesses on the ground floor, and the upper story has six Doric pilasters. The entrance, at the west end, has a portico with Doric columns and entablature.
The Barringtons have been renowned for the quality of the building-stone mined and quarried there, and this has led to associations with several successful masons, and particularly with members of the Strong family. (fn. 48)
Manors and Other Estates.
Four estates in Barrington were enumerated in the Domesday Survey. The largest, eight hides, had been held in 1066 as two manors by Turstan and Edwin, and was held in 1086 as one manor by Walter son of Roger. (fn. 49) Walter gave half this estate to Llanthony Priory (fn. 50) before 1129, (fn. 51) and his son Miles, Earl of Hereford, gave the other half to the priory for the support of 13 lepers. (fn. 52) Another estate, of four hides, had been held in 1066 by Tovi Widenesci and was held at farm of the Crown by Elsi of Faringdon in 1086. (fn. 53) This estate became part of the royal manor and hundred of Faringdon, (fn. 54) but it was held c. 1141 at farm of the Crown by William of Buckland, who with the Empress Maud granted it in fee to Llanthony Priory for a rent payable at Woodstock manor. (fn. 55) A third estate, also four hides, which was held in 1066 by Aylmer and in 1086 at farm of the Crown by Godwin of Stanton, (fn. 56) was granted by the Empress Maud in free alms to Llanthony Priory. (fn. 57) The fourth estate, of two hides, was held in 1066 by Alvin, and in 1086 by William Goizenboded, and of him by an under-tenant Ralph. (fn. 58)
The estates of Llanthony Priory in Barrington formed the manor of GREAT BARRINGTON, (fn. 59) which the priory retained until the Dissolution. The priory was granted free warren there in 1292. (fn. 60) The Crown granted the manor in 1540 to John Guise of Elmore, (fn. 61) who sold it in 1553 to Richard Monnington of Barrington and his son-in-law, Reginald Bray of Northmoor (Oxon.). (fn. 62) The manor descended in the male line of the Bray family until 1735, passing from Reginald to his son Edmund (fn. 63) (d. 1620), to Edmund's grandson Sir Giles (fn. 64) (d. 1641), to Giles's son (fn. 65) Sir Edmund (d. 1684), to Sir Edmund's son Reginald (fn. 66) (d. 1688), to Reginald's son Edmund (fl. 1720), (fn. 67) and to Edmund's son Reginald Morgan Bray, who sold the manor in 1735 to Charles Talbot, the Lord Chancellor, for his son and daughter-inlaw, Mary, (fn. 68) daughter and eventual heir of Adam de Cardonnel. (fn. 69) Lord Talbot died at Great Barrington in 1737; his son William, created Earl Talbot and Baron Dynevor (d. 1782), was succeeded in his estate at Barrington and his barony of Dynevor by his daughter Cecil who married George Rice. Their son George Talbot Rice, Baron Dynevor, was succeeded in 1852 by his son George Rice RiceTrevor, Baron Dynevor, on whose death in 1869 (fn. 70) the Barrington estate passed to Edward Rhys Wingfield, the son of one of his daughters. Edward Rhys Wingfield was succeeded in 1901 by his son Mervyn Edward George Rhys Wingfield, (fn. 71) who was in turn succeeded in 1952 by his eldest surviving son, Mr. C. T. R. Wingfield, the owner of the estate in 1962. (fn. 72)
The manor of LITTLE BARRINGTON may have derived from William Goizenboded's Domesday estate. In 1205–6 John Crosson held a free tenement in Barrington, (fn. 73) in 1265 another John Crosson and his wife Olive held land there, (fn. 74) and in 1303 John Crosson, Thomas of the Houndmill, and others held half a knight's fee in Little Barrington. They were said to hold of Guiting manor, (fn. 75) as tenants of the Templars. The Templars' estate passed to William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, in 1340, when it included land in Barrington, (fn. 76) and in 1508 Little Barrington manor was held of the Clinton family. (fn. 77) On other occasions the same estate was said to be held in chief (fn. 78) and of Llanthony Priory, (fn. 79) but these seeming errors would have been easy to make.
John Crosson and Thomas of the Houndmill, perhaps the same two as in 1303, were returned as holding the half knight's fee in 1346, (fn. 80) and the heirs of J. Crosson were said to hold it in 1402. (fn. 81) John Vampage of Pershore (Worcs.) was lord of the manor (holding it of the Clintons) at his death in 1508, and his son Robert (fn. 82) died seised of it in 1516. Robert's son John (fn. 83) died without issue in 1548, (fn. 84) when his property was divided between his three sisters. (fn. 85)
Mary Vampage sold a third of the manor in 1557 to William Reed, (fn. 86) and about the same time Stephen Matthews (fn. 87) and Humphrey Smith (fn. 88) each held a third of the manor. Stephen Matthews bought William Reed's third from Giles Reed in 1570, (fn. 89) and in 1652 William and Katherine Matthews sold their share to Robert Jordan (d. 1677), whose sister and heir Anne married Samuel Mince in 1679. Jordan Mince inherited a share of the manor from William Mince in 1756, and sold this estate in 1759 to John Greyhurst, (fn. 90) who sold it soon afterwards to Joseph Ellis of Ebley in Stonehouse. (fn. 91) Humphrey Smith's share of the manor was held by Thomas Smith in 1702, when he made a settlement on his son Humphrey, and was sold by another Thomas Smith to William Stead in 1770. Two years later Stead sold it to Thomas Ellis, the nephew of Joseph Ellis, and in 1779 Thomas Ellis sold the whole manor to Giles Greenaway. (fn. 92) The manor passed to Giles's son Charles, and to Charles's widow Charlotte, whose nephew, Robert Hurst of Horsham Park (Suss.), inherited the manor in 1873. Robert's son, Arthur Reginald Hurst, inherited the manor in 1905 and died in 1948, when it passed to his grandson, Mr. R. H. Y. Mills, the owner in 1962. (fn. 93)
The rectory estate of Great Barrington, which belonged to Llanthony Priory until the Dissolution, (fn. 94) included in the late 16th century two-thirds of the great and small tithes, a house called Prior's House, two yardlands and 6 a. of arable, a meadow, and woodland. (fn. 95) The Crown retained the rectory until 1607 when it was granted to Richard Lydall, who sold it the next year to Edward Hungerford of Windrush. Another Edward Hungerford of Windrush held it c. 1700, (fn. 96) but in 1735 it was included in the sale of Great Barrington manor. (fn. 97) Afterwards it remained part of the Barrington Park estate, to which an allotment for part of the tithes was made in 1759 (fn. 98) and a tithe rent-charge for the rest in 1841. (fn. 99)
Llanthony Priory also owned Little Barrington rectory estate, which in 1535 comprised only the advowson and the great tithes, which were then let at farm to the vicar. (fn. 100) The tithes were divided in the 17th century among several grantees of the Crown, at farm and at fee farm, (fn. 101) but most of them were owned by John Greyhurst at the end of the 17th century, (fn. 102) and at inclosure in 1759 an allotment was made to another John Greyhurst for nine-tenths of the great tithes. (fn. 103) This land was later sold to Giles Greenaway (fn. 104) and formed part of the Little Barrington estate in 1962.
Bruern Abbey (Oxon.) had a tenement in Little Barrington which was granted by the Crown to Edmund Powell in 1544. (fn. 105) Land belonging to the Hospital of St. John, Burford, was granted to Edmund Harman in 1543. (fn. 106)
Economic History.
In 1086 the four estates in Great and Little Barrington, assessed at 18 hides, supported 26 ploughs in all. On the demesne estates there were 8 ploughs, with a recorded servile population of 25 distributed unevenly both among the estates and in relation to the number of demesne ploughs on each. The other 18 ploughs were shared among 31 villani, 10 bordars, and a priest, and again there was no correlation in the proportion of ploughs to tenants. Three of the four estates had remained unchanged in value since 1066, while one had fallen a little; the values of three of the estates were directly proportionate to their size as assessed in hides. (fn. 107)
The smallest of the Domesday estates, identifiable with the later manor of Little Barrington, appears to have been entirely demesne, (fn. 108) and it may have remained so. The manor was divided between four people or more in 1303; (fn. 109) in 1327 only five people were assessed for tax in Little Barrington, all at relatively large amounts, and the two highest assessments were of members of the Crosson family (fn. 110) which held part (perhaps the largest part) of Little Barrington manor. No reference to copyhold or customary tenants of Little Barrington manor has been found except retrospectively in 1734. (fn. 111)
The demesne of Llanthony Priory's manor of Great Barrington included in 1291 two plough-lands and two dovecots. (fn. 112) Up to the late 14th century the priory's demesne was administered by a bailiff. (fn. 113) In 1514 the demesne, excluding certain pasture grounds that may have contained the park, was held of the priory at farm and included the bailiff's house as the chief building. (fn. 114) In 1314 Barrington seems to have been the centre for the shearing or collection of the priory's Cotswold wool; (fn. 115) in the early 16th century the prior visited Great Barrington manor every year for the shearing, (fn. 116) and nearly 2,000 sheep were sheared there in a year. (fn. 117) In 1535, however, the pasture, for 400 sheep, was farmed along with the arable of the demesne. (fn. 118)
The number of customary tenants of Great Barrington manor in the early 14th century may be indicated by the list of 21 taxpayers in 1327. (fn. 119) In 1539 there was one free tenant of Great Barrington manor, but he held little land and what he did hold may have been in another parish. At the same date there were 31 customary tenants with holdings that appear from their descriptions to have been held earlier by some 50 tenants. Several tenants in 1539 held two or more holdings, though none had more than three yardlands; nine tenants held one messuage and one yardland, and this seems to have been the most usual size of holding at an earlier date. (fn. 120) Twenty-five years later the customary tenants were fewer, but some of the former copyholds had become freeholds. The copyholds were granted for one, two, or three lives, and might be retained by widows as freebench. Rents were mostly in cash but partly in kind, and at least some heriots were paid in kind. Labour-services at hay-harvest were still due, but some tenants paid cash instead. (fn. 121)
The number of free tenants of Great Barrington manor was six by 1570 and had risen to nine by 1624, when the number of copyholders had shrunk to 15. (fn. 122) The copyholds were apparently being enfranchised gradually, and at the same time the average size of the estates was getting larger. The reference in 1648 to lands in Little Barrington (i.e. south of the river) that had once been copyhold of Great Barrington manor (fn. 123) is the last mention that has been found of copyhold tenure in Great Barrington.
In the mid-17th century c. 35 people, including the owners of freeholds that had never been part of Great Barrington manor, held land in the open fields of Great and Little Barrington. (fn. 124) The open fields north of the river were two in the 16th century, called Combe field and Slowe field, (fn. 125) and were supervised by two overseers. (fn. 126) Barrington Park had apparently been formed out of the open fields by 1412, when there were complaints by the copyholders that the Prior of Llanthony had deprived them of land and animals. (fn. 127) There may have been a deer-park as early as 1327, when an inhabitant of Great Barrington was surnamed 'at the leapgate'. (fn. 128) One tenant was inclosing land in Great Barrington in 1567, (fn. 129) and there appears to have been piecemeal inclosure during the next century and a half, including (to judge from the lines of former walls) the enlargement of the park. In 1704 there were still two open fields, (fn. 130) but the process of inclosure was completed fairly soon afterwards.
The land south of the river was also divided into the two fields of Little Barrington, called the East field and the West field in the 13th century. The yardland then contained c. 44 field-acres, (fn. 131) and was roughly the same size in the 18th century (fn. 132) when, at inclosure, the yardland was the equivalent of c. 30 statute acres. (fn. 133) Although part of Little Barrington fields belonged to Great Barrington manor, the lands of Great Barrington manor and of Little Barrington manor lying intermingled, Little Barrington fields formed a separate agricultural unit. (fn. 134) In 1624 two overseers of Little Barrington fields were chosen in Great Barrington manor court; (fn. 135) this was perhaps because Little Barrington manor, being divided, was ineffective as an organ of local government. Little Barrington fields were comprehensively inclosed under an Act of Parliament in 1759. (fn. 136)
Sheep-and-corn husbandry is likely to have been practised in Great and Little Barrington in the early Middle Ages. Reference has already been made to sheep-farming on Llanthony Priory's demesne, and it is perhaps significant that in 1327 the most highly assessed taxpayer in the two villages was surnamed Shepherd. (fn. 137) The retention of sheep-pastures by Llanthony Priory when the demesne arable was let in the early 16th century suggests a separation in husbandry, between sheep-farming on the one hand and more concentrated arable farming on the other. The suggestion is supported by the relatively low number of sheep-commons, a mere ten, that were allowed in the 16th century for each yardland held by the tenants. (fn. 138) It is possible, however, that while the produce of the land was divided (the tenants producing mainly cereals while the lord produced wool) the raising of sheep and of corn remained complementary, the stubble and fallow affording feeding for the sheep, and the sheep giving manure for the cornfields. The land of the two parishes contained good meadow by the river, partly held in common and administered by the overseers, and partly held by lot. (fn. 139)
At inclosure in 1759 the land south of the river was mostly divided between the owners of the two manors. The land inclosed comprised 42 yardlands of arable and c. 600 a. of downland; the allotments totalled 1,832 a. Fifteen freeholders received allotments: John Greyhurst's was 558 a., Thomas Smith's 452 a., and Lady Talbot's 325 a., the last two including allotments for land held by lessees; six others received between 15 a. and 160 a., and another six received less than 10 a. The commissioners allotted 100 a. to four corporate owners, much the largest allotment being the 82 a. of the Little Barrington Church and Poor Trustees. (fn. 140)
After inclosure most of the land in Great and Little Barrington was arable. In 1801 Little Barrington had over 1,000 a. sown, of which 250 a. was sown with turnips. (fn. 141) Great Barrington was said to be mainly arable c. 1790, (fn. 142) and was two-thirds arable in 1841. (fn. 143) Also after inclosure most of the small estates were swallowed by the large ones. North of the river the Barrington Park estate absorbed nearly all the smaller estates in the late 18th century. (fn. 144) The process was completed c. 1935 when M. E. G. R. Wingfield bought from the Church Commissioners the 37 a. of glebe, the last piece of land to remain outside the Barrington Park estate. (fn. 145) South of the river some of the land belonged in 1759 to the same estate, and most of the rest was acquired by the owner of Little Barrington manor (the Barrington Grove estate) who in 1779 owned 1,230 a. (fn. 146)
Most of the land in Great and Little Barrington was divided between six large farms in the 19th century (fn. 147) and in 1961. At that time Manor farm included c. 1,100 a., there were five farms of 300600 a., and several much smaller holdings. The land was mostly devoted, in 1961, to growing corn, sheep, and beef. (fn. 148)
The good building stone from the Inferior Oolite south of the river has provided employment for masons in the two parishes. Barrington stone was used for New College, Oxford, in 1396–7, St. George's Chapel, Windsor, (fn. 149) and the Divinity Schools, Oxford, in the 15th century, Hampton Court Palace (fn. 150) and Christ Church, Oxford, in the 16th, the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, and Coleshill House (Berks.) in the 17th, (fn. 151) and Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, in the 18th. (fn. 152) Llanthony Priory had a quarry in Barrington in 1535, (fn. 153) and masons of Barrington are recorded in the mid-15th century and early 16th, (fn. 154) throughout the 17th century, (fn. 155) and in the mid-19th. (fn. 156) The most distinguished of these were members of the Strong family: Timothy Strong (d. 1635) moved to Little Barrington in the early 17th century, his son Valentine worked there from 1632 until his death in 1662, and Thomas Strong, though he did not live there, owned quarries in Little Barrington from which he took stone for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. (fn. 157) The River Windrush was used for transporting the stone. In the 19th century the stone was mined underground; the mines were closed by the early 20th century, and quarries still in use then (fn. 158) had been closed by 1961.
There are indications of a small woollen industry in the Barringtons. The fulling-mill that was working from the 14th century is mentioned below. (fn. 159) In the late 18th century it was said that the weaving industry that had once flourished in Great Barrington had declined; (fn. 160) there were at the time two clothiers living in Little Barrington, (fn. 161) where there was a weaver in 1817. (fn. 162) The former fulling-mill provided occupation as a paper mill in the early 19th century. (fn. 163)
Other non-agricultural occupations recorded are those of smith in the 16th century, (fn. 164) of smith, baker, and carpenter in 1608, (fn. 165) and of carpenter (fn. 166) and cordwainer in the 18th century. (fn. 167) An ale-seller figured in 1639; (fn. 168) there were two inns in Great Barrington in 1755 (fn. 169) and one in Little Barrington in the late 18th century, (fn. 170) but the New Inn is the only one known in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the early 19th century about a quarter of the population in each parish was supported mainly by trade or manufacture. (fn. 171) Great Barrington had a smith, a baker, a carpenter, a wheelwright, and a shoemaker in the mid-19th century. (fn. 172) In 1961 there was still a baker and a smith, and also a shop and post office. Most of the inhabitants then worked on the land; an unusually small number travelled out of the parish to work, and only one resident (a clergyman) had moved to Great Barrington after retiring. (fn. 173) Little Barrington in the 19th century had a butcher, a carpenter, and two shopkeepers, (fn. 174) but in 1919 there was only one shop (fn. 175) which closed in 1959. In 1961 the greater part of the working population was employed in agriculture, though several were employed in trade or industry outside the parish and there was a number of retired and professional people. (fn. 176)
Mills.
Barrington Mill is likely to be the successor of the mill valued in 1086 at 10s., (fn. 177) and the mill held in demesne by the Prior of Llanthony in 1291. (fn. 178) In 1360, when it was known as Canon Mill, it was let for a corn-rent, (fn. 179) and it was presumably one of the two mills sold with the manor in the 16th century. (fn. 180) It remained in use as a mill, on a diminishing scale, until c. 1948, when the building was converted for use as a cottage. (fn. 181)
Dodd's Mill, in the north-west corner of the parish, is perhaps to be identified with the Domesday mill on Tovi Widenesci's estate. (fn. 182) It also became part of Llanthony Priory's manor of Great Barrington, and in 1542 was sold to the men who bought the manor eleven years later. (fn. 183) It remained in use until c. 1900, but soon afterwards became derelict and was demolished. (fn. 184)
The mill on William Goizenboded's estate in 1086 (fn. 185) was presumably the later Hound Mill, which was so called in the early 13th century, when it comprised two mills. (fn. 186) Clement Bonpas gave the mills to Llanthony Priory c. 1226. (fn. 187) In the 13th and 14th centuries the priors leased them to members of the Houndmill family: (fn. 188) one of its members was returned as joint lord of Little Barrington in 1303. (fn. 189) By the late 14th century the Hound Mill was held freely of the priory with 24 a., and was described as a fulling-mill. (fn. 190) In the early 17th century, when Richard Reed sold it to William Clevely (fn. 191) of Alvescot (Oxon.), the Hound Mill included two corn mills; in 1674 it belonged to John Godfrey, whose grandson, John Goldsmith, sold it in 1700 to Isaac Heming. There were then said to be three corn mills, but at about the same time there appear to have been two corn mills and a fulling-mill. Heming conveyed the Hound Mill to his son-in-law, William Minchin, in 1710, and the Minchin family retained it until the late 18th century, when it was apparently a fullingmill only. (fn. 192) From 1816 to 1846 it worked as a paper mill, and then went out of use. (fn. 193) The buildings became part of the Barrington Grove estate and were partly converted to cottages, called Paper Mill Cottages, and in 1962 some of the buildings of the paper mill remained visible.
The fourth mill recorded in 1086 perhaps passed with the rest of the estate then held at farm by Godwin of Stanton (fn. 194) to Llanthony Priory. It is possible that this was the mill held for a cash rent in the 14th century, (fn. 195) and also the mill belonging to the estate of Stephen Matthews in 1568, (fn. 196) but no later evidence of it has been found unless it was in fact one of the three mills comprised in the Hound Mill.
Local Government.
In the Middle Ages the Barringtons were divided into four tithings, corresponding to the four Domesday estates. In only one of the tithings, which was apparently coextensive with Little Barrington manor and corresponded with William Goizenboded's Domesday estate, did the view of frankpledge belong to the lord of the hundred. (fn. 197) Great Barrington manor comprised three tithings. Canons' Hold corresponded to the estate held at farm in 1086 by Godwin of Stanton, and Sick Men's Hold to the Domesday estate of Walter son of Roger; (fn. 198) view of frankpledge in these two tithings belonged to the Prior of Llanthony, who in 1316 was said to hold the view in half of Barrington. (fn. 199) The tithing called Kings' Hold comprised the estate that became part of the manor and hundred of Faringdon in Berkshire. (fn. 200) In the 13th century three men made suit for the tithing at the court of Faringdon hundred and the court held view of frankpledge at Barrington once a year. (fn. 201) Although this tithing remained part of Faringdon hundred and of Berkshire until 1844, view of frankpledge in it appears to have passed to the Prior of Llanthony by 1389 when he was said to hold the view for all his land in Barrington. (fn. 202) In 1505 the view of all three tithings in Great Barrington manor was taken in the manor court. (fn. 203) In addition to the four tithings mentioned, the Templars claimed view of frankpledge in their lands in Barrington in the 13th century. (fn. 204)
Court rolls for Great Barrington manor survive for 1505–6, (fn. 205) 1563, (fn. 206) 1567, (fn. 207) 1569, (fn. 208) 1570, (fn. 209) 1571, (fn. 210) and 1624. In 1624 each of the three tithings had still its own constable and tithingman. (fn. 211) The only surviving record of Little Barrington manor court is an abstract of a court roll of 1779, defining the bounds of the manor and making orders about animals; (fn. 212) the owner of each part of the manor is said to have held a court in the 17th century. (fn. 213)
Churchwardens' accounts of Little Barrington survive from 1747, and of Great Barrington only from the 19th century, but there are overseers' papers for Great Barrington, including a large number of removal orders, from 1714. Between 1775 and 1803 expenditure on poor relief increased fourfold in Little Barrington and sixfold in Great Barrington. (fn. 214) In the next ten years expenditure in Little Barrington fell although the number of people being regularly relieved rose from 12 to 32, while in Great Barrington, where in 1815 there were 37 people regularly and 34 occasionally relieved, expenditure was again doubled. (fn. 215)
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 Great Barrington became part of the Stow-on-theWold Poor Law Union, and Little Barrington part of the Northleach Union. Under the Public Health Act of 1872 they thus became parts of the Stow-on the-Wold and the Northleach rural sanitary districts respectively, and from its formation in 1935 the new civil parish of Barrington was in the Northleach Rural District. (fn. 216) The parish council met regularly in 1962.
Churches.
In 1086 the tenants at Barrington of Walter son of Roger included a priest, (fn. 217) and in the early nth century Walter gave tithes in Barrington to the church of St. Owen, (fn. 218) in Gloucester, which was itself given to Llanthony Priory shortly afterwards. Walter's son Miles confirmed his father's gift of the church of Barrington to the priory. (fn. 219) The church of Great Barrington was dedicated by Alfred, Bishop of Worcester, c. 1159, when there belonged to it the dependent chapels of Little Barrington and Windrush. (fn. 220)
Apparently at about this time the two chapels and the mother church were appropriated to Llanthony Priory, (fn. 221) and a vicarage was established in Great Barrington by the mid-13th century. (fn. 222) The rights of Great Barrington church over the chapels of Little Barrington and Windrush, from which tithes and a pension were paid, were challenged on several occasions, and although repeatedly confirmed (fn. 223) they were apparently lost by the early 14th century. The vicarage of Great Barrington was united with the vicarages of Little Barrington and Taynton in 1929. (fn. 224) The advowson of Great Barrington descended with the rectory estate and (from 1735) the manor, (fn. 225) the patron in 1962 of the united benefice being Mr. C. T. R. Wingfield. (fn. 226)
In 1291 the Vicar of Great Barrington's portion was £4 13s. 4d.; (fn. 227) it had increased to £6 14s. by 1535. (fn. 228) The value of the vicarage in 1650 was £53 a year, (fn. 229) and £75 in the mid-18th century. (fn. 230) In the 16th and 17th centuries the vicar's glebe included a house, one yardland, a meadow called Vicar's Ham, a few small closes, and common of pasture for 6 cows and 50 sheep. (fn. 231) In 1691 the vicar built a new glebe house, (fn. 232) which was exchanged in 1742 for a house and close belonging to Lord Talbot. (fn. 233) In 1535 the vicar received one-third of the great tithes and part of the small tithes; the small tithes belonging to the rectory were leased to him, and a modus was paid for the tithes of the demesne; a pension of 10s. was owed by the vicarage to Llanthony Priory. (fn. 234) The vicar's share of the small tithes was evidently only one-third, for in 1561 the Crown leased two-thirds of them. (fn. 235) At the inclosure of Little Barrington in 1759 the Vicar of Great Barrington received a rent-charge for the tithes of land inclosed, (fn. 236) and in 1828 the vicar had in addition a house, 36 a., one-third of the tithes arising north of the river, and a modus for the tithes of Barrington Park. (fn. 237) In 1841 all the remaining vicarial tithes were commuted for a corn-rent of £190, (fn. 238) and the vicarage, including 41 a. of glebe, was valued at £222 in the 1850's. (fn. 239)
Dr. Guy Eaton, vicar in 1540, had formerly been a friar at Oxford. (fn. 240) His successor in 1551 was said to be satisfactory in religious knowledge, (fn. 241) but by 1563 the parish was served by a curate, the vicar being a pluralist and non-resident. (fn. 242) From 1604 to 1661 the living was held by John Hicks, whose incumbency was apparently not interrupted by the Interregnum. (fn. 243) John Bradley, who was vicar from 1689 to 1741 and built the new glebe house, was probably resident at first, but by 1710 he held another benefice also and provided a curate to serve Great Barrington. (fn. 244)
In 1750 Great Barrington and Taynton were held by a single incumbent, (fn. 245) and later in the 18th century the vicar lived at Cheltenham, Great Barrington being served by a curate who also lived outside the parish. (fn. 246) In 1810 Edward Rice, brother of Lord Dynevor, became vicar. From 1812 he lived at Barrington Park, serving the cure himself though there was a curate also in 1815. (fn. 247) From 1820 to 1873 the parish was entrusted to curates who lived in the glebe house while the vicar, Thomas Lewes, lived at Taynton. (fn. 248) Two of the early 20th-century vicars were also vicars of Taynton, (fn. 249) and after the union of the benefices the vicar lived at Taynton until 1956 when he lived at Great Barrington. (fn. 250) 'Full services' were held in 1750 (fn. 251) and 1825, (fn. 252) and from 1929 services were held regularly in the morning and occasionally in the evening. The living was vacant for nearly two years in the mid-1950's and at the end of 1961 had been vacant for a similar period. Services were at the time taken by a retired clergyman living in the village. (fn. 253)
There was a chaplain serving Little Barrington in the mid-12th century when the chapel there was confirmed to Llanthony Priory along with the mother church of Great Barrington. (fn. 254) After the appropriation to the priory a vicarage of Little Barrington was instituted, (fn. 255) so that Little Barrington church had the same status as Great Barrington. It continued to be described as a chapel of Great Barrington until c. 1300; (fn. 256) afterwards, though sometimes called a chapel, (fn. 257) Little Barrington church seems to have been independent of Great Barrington until 1929, when the Barringtons and Taynton became a united benefice. (fn. 258) The advowson of Little Barrington belonged to Llanthony Priory until the Dissolution, and to the Crown from then until 1929, (fn. 259) when, after a dispute taken to the House of Lords, the whole patronage of the united benefice was vested in M. E. G. R. Wingfield. (fn. 260)
The vicarial glebe of Little Barrington included c. 1200 one yardland which was said to have belonged to the chapel for a long time, and the vicar also received the small tithes and offerings, and the farm of two yardlands belonging to Llanthony Priory. (fn. 261) A little later, perhaps, it was said that two yardlands had anciently been assigned to the chapel and that the vicar had a third yardland from the demesne of Bertram Crosson. (fn. 262) In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £4 19s. 1½d., arising from 27 a. in the open fields, ½ a. of meadow, a house, a sheep-house, and tithes. At the time the tithes of wool and lambs belonged to the vicar. (fn. 263) A few years later part of the small tithes were held by the Vicar of Great Barrington and, after the Dissolution, passed to the Crown with the rectory estate. (fn. 264) By the 18th century the vicarage was worth £35, (fn. 265) and the glebe comprised 48 a. of arable and meadow, with common of pasture for 8 cows and 70 sheep, and two small houses. (fn. 266) At inclosure in 1759 the vicar received 45 a. for glebe and a £30 rent-charge for tithes, which were said to have included one-tenth of the great tithes and all the small tithes except two-thirds of the tithes of wool and lambs. (fn. 267) In 1841 the vicarage was valued at £98, (fn. 268) and in the same period the glebe house was said to be unfit for the vicar to live in (fn. 269) and was let to a cottager. (fn. 270)
John Lane, Vicar of Little Barrington in 1535, (fn. 271) may have belonged to the local family of that name and was apparently resident. Richard Edmunds, instituted in 1554, was allowed to hold two benefices from 1560, (fn. 272) and although he served the cure of Little Barrington himself he lived elsewhere. (fn. 273) Fulk Jones, vicar 1572–1622, was neither a graduate nor a preacher (fn. 274) but he was said to be satisfactory although it was complained in 1572 that he had neglected the glazing of the chancel and the repair of the vicarage. From 1622 to 1669 the living was held by Lewis Jones, without interruption during the Interregnum. (fn. 275) William Chadwell, vicar 1669–75, belonged to the Chadwell family which held land in Little Barrington and the neighbourhood. (fn. 276) William Goodenough, instituted in 1735, (fn. 277) was also Rector of Broughton (Oxon.); the cure was served c. 1738 by a curate who received the whole income of the vicarage. (fn. 278) In 1750, morning and afternoon services were held on alternate Sundays, (fn. 279) and services were the same in 1825. (fn. 280) Until the mid-19th century the vicars were normally non-resident, sometimes serving the cure in person (from Eastleach Turville, Sherborne, or Taynton) and sometimes providing a curate. (fn. 281) The curate in 1829 was Isaac Williams, the poet and theologian. (fn. 282) The vicar from 1866 to 1902 was Richard Rice, who lived in the parish. His successor was also Rector of Westwell (Oxon.), where he lived, (fn. 283) and since the union of Little Barrington with Great Barrington and Taynton no incumbent has lived in Little Barrington. (fn. 284)
The church of ST. MARY, (fn. 285) Great Barrington, stands on the edge of Barrington Park. It is a building of stone, roughcast on the south front of the nave, with a Cotswold stone roof, and comprises chancel, nave, north aisle and porch, and embattled west tower flanked by vestry and boilerhouse. Part of the 12th-century fabric of the church survives in the wide chancel arch, which is of three orders with rich chevron and billet mouldings supported on plain rounded jamb-shafts with scalloped capitals. The nave of four bays was rebuilt in the early 13th century, with an arcade to the north aisle of two chamfered orders on plain cylindrical columns with deeply moulded octagonal capitals and 'water holding' bases. It is possible that there was also a south aisle and a west tower. (fn. 286) In the late 15th century the nave and north aisle were rebuilt with square-headed windows of three lights and tracery (the south aisle, if any, being demolished), and a clerestory was added with similar windows, giving the church a regular appearance. The aisle has a lean-to roof, but retains the corbel-heads of an earlier ridged roof. The panelled timber ceiling of the nave has carved bosses and bears the date 1511. The 15th-century west tower is of four stages, with battlements and crocketed pinnacles. It has a west door with a canopied image-bracket above it on the inside. There is a narrow window on each exposed face of the second stage, two louvred lights on each of the third, and a single louvred light on each face of the top stage. In the early 19th century a south porch was removed (its position is marked by a buttress), and in 1873 the north porch and chancel were rebuilt, (fn. 287) the chancel in the style of the 14th century. Up to the late 18th century one of the windows of the church retained fragments of ancient painted glass. (fn. 288)
The carved octagonal bowl of the 15th-century font is similar to those at Windrush and Oddington. The aisle was used as a burial-place by the Bray family (fn. 289) and contains two large monuments, one an effigy apparently of Captain Edmund Bray (fn. 290) (d. 1620), and the other a sculptured monument by Christopher Cass (fn. 291) to Jane and Edward Bray, who died young in 1711 and 1720 respectively. (fn. 292) In the chancel a floorstone commemorates Philip Parsons (d. 1653), President of Hart Hall, Oxford, and also in the chancel, where Lord Chancellor Talbot was buried, (fn. 293) there are several monuments, including one to Mary, Countess Talbot, by Nollekens, to members of the Talbot and Rice families. Of the six bells four are of 1733 and two are undated. (fn. 294) The plate includes an almsdish of 1672 and a chalice and paten-cover of 1676 given in 1684. (fn. 295) The registers begin in 1547 and are virtually complete. In 1682 the church was the scene of some drunken destructiveness by guests staying at Barrington Park. (fn. 296)
The church of ST. PETER, Little Barrington, stands slightly removed from the village on the road to Burford. It is of rubble with a Cotswold stone roof and comprises chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch, north-west tower, and a sanctus bellcot over the chancel arch. Four steps descend to the porch and three more to the nave. Of the late 12th-century church there survives the south doorway, with volute capitals, arch of three orders deeply cut with chevron and lozenge ornament, and a hoodmould of dog-tooth ornament broken at the centre by a monstrous head; the nave arcade of two circular arches supported on cylindrical pillars with scalloped capitals; a corbel-head reset in the splay of one of the south windows; and the tympanum of, apparently, the north doorway, carved with a Christ in Majesty in bold relief, built into the north wall of the aisle. At the east end of the aisle are traces of mural painting of the 13th century and perhaps of the 12th. (fn. 297) In the 14th century the chancel, the west end of the nave, and the aisle were rebuilt, and the tower was built at the west end of the aisle; of this work the two south windows of the chancel, and one of the north windows of the aisle, and the bottom stage of the tower, with the marks of a former lean-to aisle roof on the east wall, survived in 1961, and there were fragments of 14th-century glass in the east window of the aisle. (fn. 298)
In the 15th century new windows were put in the south and west walls of the nave, the east and north walls of the chancel, and in the north and east walls of the aisle. A west doorway to the nave was later blocked. The south porch was added, with stone benching and a small niche in the north wall, and chancel, nave, and aisle were re-roofed, the trussed rafters of nave and chancel surviving in 1961. The tower was rebuilt, of three stages and battlemented, the top stage having windows of two louvred lights on each face. Three image niches in the east wall of the aisle and a rectangular piscina in the south wall of the chancel, all uncovered during restoration in 1954, (fn. 299) are also likely to be 15th-century. The chancel was extensively repaired in the early 19th century, when a north doorway and a squint from the aisle were blocked. The chancel arch bears traces of stonework that are thought to have belonged to a stone screen. (fn. 300)
The font is 15th-century, and the furniture of the sanctuary is early 17th-century. On the south wall are two scratch dials. There are memorial tablets to members of the Greenaway and Greyhurst families and, on the outside of the porch, one with standing figures in deep relief to the Taylor family. Two of the bells are dated 1638 and 1659 and the third is of the 19th century. (fn. 301) The registers begin in 1682. The repair of the church has been, since the 17th century, one of the two objects of the principal parochial charity of Little Barrington. (fn. 302)
Nonconformity.
In the late 17th century there was a family of Quakers in Great Barrington, (fn. 303) and 15 Independents lived there in 1735. (fn. 304) In 1804 a group of Baptists registered a house in Great Barrington for religious worship; in 1839 two other houses in Great Barrington and in 1840 a house in Little Barrington were similarly registered, but for what denomination is not stated. (fn. 305) There is no evidence of later nonconformist meetings in Great or Little Barrington.
Schools.
In the early 19th century day and Sunday schools in Little Barrington were supported partly from the surplus revenue of the Church and Poor's Estate, (fn. 306) and by 1856 a day school for poor children was maintained by the Greenaway family. (fn. 307) By 1885 this school had closed and the children went to school at Great Barrington, (fn. 308) where a C. of E. school had been started by Lord Dynevor in 1823. (fn. 309) In 1873 the Great Barrington school, with an attendance of 79, occupied three buildings owned by E. R. Wingfield, who subsidized the school, (fn. 310) and from 1877 the school had a certificated teacher. (fn. 311) Attendance was 113 in 1904. (fn. 312) It became a 'controlled' school in 1959, and in 1961 was attended by some 50 children up to 11 years old from Great Barrington, Little Barrington, and Windrush; the older children went to Bourton-on-the-Water or Northleach. (fn. 313)
Charities.
Before 1704, when the combined endowment amounted to £15 stock, Thomas Strong, William Matthews, and Thomas Patten made gifts to the poor of Great Barrington, (fn. 314) but the endowment had been lost by 1828. Three other gifts, of John Taylor, of Thomas Bridges by will dated 1758, and of Thomas Bridges his son by will dated 1795, were then said to be void. Mrs. Jane Bray, by will dated 1715, gave £1 a year and Mary, Countess Talbot (d. 1787), gave £400 stock, both for clothing the poor of Great Barrington; (fn. 315) these charities were distributed in cash to old age pensioners in 1961. (fn. 316) Before 1683 Katherine Hall and Robert Trinder each gave a small estate for the upkeep of the church and for the poor of Little Barrington, (fn. 317) and in 1719 John Greyhurst conveyed what was apparently the same property to trustees. (fn. 318) The three estates together produced £14 a year in 1750, (fn. 319) and in 1759 under the inclosure award the trustees received 82 a. (fn. 320) In 1859 the Church and Poor's Estate included 84 a. of arable, some meadow, and seven cottages, and in 1959 it produced £200 a year used partly for the repair of the church and partly for distributions to the poor. Before 1700 Joan Dorset gave stock to the poor of Little Barrington which amounted to £10 worth in 1959. (fn. 321)