Parishes: Windrush

WINDRUSH

The parish of Windrush, lying about half-way between Northleach and Burford (Oxon.), south of the River Windrush which forms its northern boundary and from which the parish takes its name, (fn. 1) is 1,834 a. in area (fn. 2) and regular in shape. The land rises from the river in the north, at c. 400 ft., to 600 ft., and slopes down again gradually in the south. The parish is almost wholly on the Great Oolite, though the village stands on the Inferior Oolite, and along the river valley there are Fuller's Earth and alluvium. (fn. 3) A notable feature is the number of disused quarries, (fn. 4) often overgrown with trees. There are several small plantations of trees, and others were cleared for an airfield, which was a reserve landing ground from 1939 and was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1960. (fn. 5) The land seems to have been always used mainly for corn-growing, and the parish had many water corn-mills at one time.

On the west, south of the Cheltenham-Oxford road, which bisects the parish, there is an ancient earthwork, Windrush Camp, dating possibly from the early Iron Age. It is at the highest point of the parish, nearly 600 ft. above sea level, and consists of a small inclosure formed by a narrow rampart in which an opening can be traced on the south side. The rampart was surrounded by a ditch two feet deep, (fn. 6) which, however, was no longer visible by 1914. (fn. 7)

The two main roads crossing the parish, the Cheltenham–Oxford and Cirencester–Oxford roads, were turnpiked respectively under Acts of 1751 (fn. 8) and (the part passing through Windrush) 1753. (fn. 9) Two roads connect the village with the CheltenhamOxford road, and other roads, dating from inclosure in 1777 at the latest, (fn. 10) lead from the village west into Sherborne and east to Great and Little Barrington.

The village of Windrush, a compact settlement in which most of the houses stand around the green where the four roads into the village converge, lies in the north part of the parish near the river. The green is a small uninclosed triangle of grass, sloping down slightly to the west, with the church standing above it on the east side. In the 18th century most of the cottages around the green and Le Mary Farm on the west side of the green were built. To the northwest of the green Windrush Manor was built mostly in the 17th century and opposite it two groups of cottages were probably built about the same time. The village extended, also in the 17th and 18th centuries, along the road to Sherborne. In the 19th century a few cottages were built behind the church and at the junction of the two roads which connect the village with the main road, and a group of cottages on the road to Barrington probably replaced 17thcentury cottages, of which one remains. On the same road not far from the village Pinchpool Farm and two cottages belonging to it probably represent, although they are mainly 18th-century buildings, an ancient centre of habitation and the site of the medieval Pinchpool manor. (fn. 11) A group of cottages on the same road were pulled down between 1902 and 1921. (fn. 12)

Between the village and the main road Glebe Farm and a few other houses were built in the 19th century, and in the late 19th century cottages were built near the earthwork called Windrush Camp. During the Second World War an R.A.F. camp was established between the Cheltenham–Oxford road and Windrush Camp. After the war the buildings were occupied by private families until c. 1950 when they were allowed to fall into decay. (fn. 13) By 1961 no 20th-century houses survived in the parish.

The village has a number of springs and there is a pump on the green. In 1945 water was supplied from the Windrush Mill supply and largely from the private piped supply of the Sherborne Estate, (fn. 14) and though the village had main water by 1961 private supplies were still in use. (fn. 15) Main electricity was made available after the Second World War. (fn. 16)

The population may have decreased between 1327, when 12 people were assessed for tax, (fn. 17) and 1563, when there were 12 households. (fn. 18) The number of households had increased to 26 in 1671 (fn. 19) and the population was c. 183 in 1735. (fn. 20) The population had increased to 317 by 1801 and remained fairly constant, with a slight increase, to 1851. It subsequently decreased gradually until 1931 when the population was 164. The population had doubled by 1951 (fn. 21) but had probably decreased again by 1961.

All the buildings in the village are of stone with roofs of Cotswold stone or (especially on the barns) Welsh slate. Windrush Manor, a stone house with a Cotswold stone roof, is two-storied and of various dates. The west wing has a Tudor-arched doorway flanked by carved stones, probably reset, bearing the arms of the Hungerford family and the date 1570. Near-by is a mullioned and transomed window with round-headed lights; this part of the house may well date from the 16th century. Part of the north wing is an addition of c. 1700; it has an ashlar front with mullioned and transomed windows and hipped dormers. There are various extensions to the house, one of which is of 1919 (fn. 22) in a style similar to the older part of the house. A stone cross on a wall in the garden behind the house is possibly ancient.

Le Mary Farm, a large L-shaped farm-house, was built in the 18th century of stone with a Cotswold stone roof. It has two stories and hipped dormers; the windows have mullions and moulded stone architraves. The large stone barn beside the house was built in 1832 and the barn beyond it probably earlier. The house, which in 1961 was part of the Sherborne Estate, (fn. 23) belonged to the Bradshaw family in the 18th century. (fn. 24)

Pinchpool Farm, built in the late 17th century and extended in the 19th century, is of stone, faced with ashlar, with a Cotswold stone roof. It has two stories and a gable-end facing the road with moulded stone copings and kneelers. On the older part of the house there is a continuous dripmould over the groundfloor windows which have mullions and plain architraves. The doorway has a plain beaded architrave and a stone hood. A house called Pinchpool by the end of the 16th century (fn. 25) was possibly on the same site as the present house, in which a 16thcentury fireplace was uncovered c. 1955. Two cottages, one dated 1719, belonging to Pinchpool Farm were largely rebuilt in the 1950's, until when one of them had a thatched roof. (fn. 26)

Mill Farm, built as a corn-mill in the 17th century and extended in the 18th, is a stone house with mullioned windows and dripmoulds; the door has a moulded wooden architrave and a moulded stone hood. The mill buildings, in 1961 used as barns, have buttresses. The vicarage, built in the early 19th century perhaps incorporating part of an earlier house, was later enlarged; it has a plain Georgian front, with a pedimented porch supported on slender Doric columns. The cottages in the village are all built in the traditional Cotswold style, of stone with stone roofs, mullioned windows, and dripmoulds. One of the 18th-century cottages facing the green has an arched doorway of the 14th century, almost certainly reset.

The parish has always been closely associated with the neighbouring parish of Sherborne and with the Dutton family. All the land, except Pinchpool Farm, and most of the houses have gradually been added to the Sherborne Estate, which in the Middle Ages included the largest estate in Windrush. The benefices of the two parishes have been united since 1776.

Manors and Other Estates.

In the mid11th century Ulric, Tovi, and Lewin held land in Windrush as three separate manors which Bolle gave to Winchcombe Abbey before 1086 when Elsi of Faringdon held them of the abbot as one manor. The Winchcombe Abbey manor was the largest estate in Windrush in 1086. (fn. 27)

The manor later became part of the abbey's manor of Sherborne (fn. 28) with which the estate was reckoned in 1535 when the land in Windrush was not distinguished. (fn. 29) It was held with Sherborne by Christopher Allen in 1551 and sold to Thomas Dutton in 1552, (fn. 30) and remained part of his manor of Sherborne, though the Dutton estate in Windrush was sometimes called WINDRUSH manor. (fn. 31) Sir John Dutton of Sherborne bought the Hungerford estate (see below) in 1741 (fn. 32) and the Dutton property was further increased in 1826 by the purchase of the land owned by the Bradshaw family of Windrush (fn. 33) since the 16th century. In 1961 Lord Sherborne still owned most of the parish, which formed part of the Sherborne Estate. (fn. 34)

Of two estates in Windrush held by Roger de Lacy in 1086, one, formerly held by Ulric (fn. 35) (perhaps the man who held part of the Winchcombe Abbey estate), may have passed to Robert Marsh, who claimed two hides of land in Windrush in 1198, (fn. 36) which he had received from Hugh of Buckland. (fn. 37) In 1303 another Robert Marsh held a tenth of a knight's fee of the Crown (fn. 38) and he was described as one of the lords of Windrush in 1316. (fn. 39) At the beginning of the 15th century a Robert Marsh still held the estate. (fn. 40) This may have been the estate acquired by the Hungerford family of Down Ampney, which in the 16th century had manorial rights associated with it. (fn. 41) By the late 15th century Sir John Hungerford (d. 1524) held land in Windrush (fn. 42) which he settled on his younger son Edward (d. 1531). (fn. 43) The HUNGERFORD manor was held successively by Edward's son George (fn. 44) (d. 1597), George's son Edward (fn. 45) (d. 1611), Edward'sson Edward (d. 1644), and the latter's son Edward (fn. 46) (d. 1705). In 1685 the last-named Edward Hungerford conveyed the manor to his son Edward (d. 1749) in consideration of the payment of his debts by his son. (fn. 47) The manor was sold to Richard Biggs of Wallingford (Berks.) in 1718 and two years later it was sold again to Charles Askill (fn. 48) from whom Sir John Dutton bought it in 1741. (fn. 49)

Manorial rights were associated with a third estate, called PINCHPOOL, which may have derived from one of the estates held by Roger de Lacy in 1086. (fn. 50) William Pinchpool was one of the lords of Windrush in 1316 (fn. 51) and the family still owned an estate there in 1501 when John Pinchpool, at his death, held in chief a manor in Windrush, described as the 'court place'. It passed to his daughter Joan wife of Edmund Bury; (fn. 52) by 1509 they were no longer living in Windrush (fn. 53) and the manor may have been sold by that time.

In 1522 Robert Poyntz of Iron Acton was said to have held a manor of Windrush, (fn. 54) which may have been the Pinchpool estate. Edmund Hanswell of Besford (Worcs.) was dealing with the manor in 1588, (fn. 55) and in 1595 he leased the capital messuage called Pinchpools Place to Thomas Broad of Aidsworth, (fn. 56) whose family seems to have acquired the freehold of the estate, which was known as Pinchpool farm by the early 19th century, when the Broad family sold it to William Macey. (fn. 57) The estate was for sale in 1835 and 1838 (fn. 58) and by 1859 it was owned by Lord Dynevor, (fn. 59) becoming part of the Barrington Park estate until 1954 when it was sold to Mr. H. J. Hewett, who owned it in 1961. (fn. 60)

An estate of five yardlands, held in 1066 and 1086 by Chetel, the king's thegn, (fn. 61) by the middle of the 13th century was held by sergeanty as part of the manor of Alvescot (Oxon.) by Gunnora Delamare. (fn. 62) John Delamare held the same land, of Cecily de Mucegros, at his death in 1280, (fn. 63) and his son, Robert, held it in 1293. (fn. 64)

It was probably the Delamare estate or part of it which became the property of a family called Bradshaw who were holding land in Windrush by the middle of the 16th century. (fn. 65) The name Lammaris was associated with their estate (fn. 66) and the house which in 1961 was called Le Mary Farm was the capital messuage of their estate. The Bradshaw family continued to hold the estate until c. 1810, when it was owned by William Bricknell. Before 1820 it had passed to Ralph Ricardo, (fn. 67) who sold it to Lord Sherborne in 1826, (fn. 68) and it was still part of the Sherborne Estate in 1961. (fn. 69)

Llanthony Priory, which by the 12th century had appropriated the rectory, (fn. 70) had pasture for 200 sheep in Windrush in 1296 and pasture valued at 50s. 4d. in 1535. In 1412 the priory was granted a messuage and 60a. in Windrush by Thomas Corne. (fn. 71) In 1550 Ralph Sadlyn and Lawrence Wennington purchased the rent of two yardlands, called Sollers land, which had belonged to the priory, and which, it was said, did not belong to any manor and were the only lands the priory held in Windrush. (fn. 72) A sheep-walk which had belonged to the priory was sold in 1666 to William Dutton. (fn. 73) The rectory was leased by the Crown to Thomas Dutton in 1575, (fn. 74) and Ralph Dutton was the impropriator in 1681, when the rectory included a house, half a yardland, and tithes. (fn. 75) It descended with the other estates of the Dutton family, and at inclosure James Dutton received 163 a. for tithe and glebe. (fn. 76) The rectory still belonged to Lord Sherborne in 1961.

Economic History.

The four estates in Windrush in 1086 amounted to 8 hides. The 3½ hides belonging to Winchcombe Abbey, which had risen in value from £3 to £8, had 6 ploughs (a considerablyhigher number in proportion to the number of hides than on the other estates in the parish): 5 on the demesne where there were 10 servi, and one shared by one villanus and 7 bordars. The other three estates had between them 3 demesne ploughs with 10 servi and there was one tenants' plough shared by 3 villani and 2 bordars. (fn. 77) The arable is likely to have increased between 1086 and 1220 when there were 13 carucates in Windrush. (fn. 78)

Winchcombe Abbey's estate may have continued to be held partly in demesne, although in the early 13th century William of Windrush and his family held a tenement of the abbey by customary service and the half hide granted to the abbey by John of Windrush was leased to a tenant by the abbey. (fn. 79) By 1355 there were eight tenants of the abbey in Windrush, two holding a messuage and yardland and the others smaller estates; three of them were free tenants. (fn. 80) The Delamare estate was divided between three tenants in 1250, who held respectively ½, 1, and 3½ yardlands. (fn. 81) In 1280, however, John Delamare held the 3½ yardlands in demesne, the other two parts being held by free tenants. (fn. 82) Twelve people were assessed for tax in 1327, of whom two paid 3s. 7d. and 3s. 6d., one 2s., and the others, including Robert Marsh and William Delamare, 1s. 6d. or less. (fn. 83)

Arable land in the 13th century lay in two fields at least, called the East and West fields, and there may have been two more fields, as in the 17th century. Sheep-farming was evidently important by the 13th century, when Llanthony Priory had 200 sheeppastures, (fn. 84) and in 1535 tithes of wool and lambs accounted for a large part of the vicar's income. (fn. 85)

During the 16th century most of the land in Windrush was concentrated in the estates of the Dutton and Hungerford families. By 1661 the Dutton estate included four leasehold farms of from two to four yardlands, and four freeholders. (fn. 86) The Hungerford estate during the 17th century was divided into a number of leasehold farms, most of them not more than half a yardland. (fn. 87) By 1713 the Dutton estate included ten farms paying rents varying from £2 8s. to 11½d. (fn. 88) The leaseholds of the estate owed rent in cash and kind and heriots, (fn. 89) but labourservice, though mentioned in 17th-century leases, seems to have ceased before 1355. (fn. 90) Of the tenants of the Hungerford estate, one, by a lease of 1706, (fn. 91) owed a specific labour-service, but the others owed only rent in cash and kind. (fn. 92)

At the end of the 17th century much of the land was arable (fn. 93) as, perhaps, it had always been. There seems to have been no uniformity in the number of sheep-pastures to a yardland; (fn. 94) one farm of two yardlands included pasture for 200 sheep, called the Ranging Flock. (fn. 95) Most of the arable was in four open fields, called Windrush field and the South, East, and West fields, and there was common pasture and meadow on Windrush Downs, Long Mead, Broad Mead, and Stone Mead. (fn. 96) There was possibly some private inclosure during the 17th and 18th centuries; in 1706 a lease of land by Edward Hungerford included the condition that the lease should agree to any proposed inclosure of common land. (fn. 97) Some time before inclosure there were a few exchanges of open-field plots, possibly in order to consolidate holdings. (fn. 98)

In 1777 nearly 1,400 a. of land was inclosed. James Dutton received 163 a. as impropriator and 690 a. for his other estates, Thomas Broad and Edward Bradshaw received 258 a. and 247 a. respectively and, apart from the vicar's allotment, there were 5 others, each less than 20 a. (fn. 99)

After inclosure the land seems to have been used mainly for arable farming, (fn. 100) although Pinchpool farm, when it was for sale in 1835, included a large area of sheep-pasture also. (fn. 101) In 1961 the farming was mixed, but still predominantly arable.

During the 19th century the division of the parish into a few large farms and a number of small ones, all, except Pinchpool, belonging to the Sherborne estate and run by tenant farmers, persisted. (fn. 102) In 1919 four farms, (fn. 103) and in 1935 three, were over 150 a. (fn. 104) By 1961 Pinchpool farm, then 304 a., was still the only farm not belonging to the Sherborne estate; (fn. 105) there were three other farms of c. 500 a. and one of c. 48 a. (fn. 106)

The large number of quarries in the parish have provided employment from the 15th century at least. Windrush provided stone for St. George's Chapel, Windsor, in 1478. (fn. 107) In 1665 there were old quarries in the parish. (fn. 108) In 1708 a lease of land to Nathaniel Newman by Edward Hungerford included permission to open up quarries, (fn. 109) and Anthony Newman was described as a mason in 1741. (fn. 110) Joseph Jackson was a mason in Windrush in the early 18th century (fn. 111) and Roland Jackson was granted an acre of land with quarries in 1722. (fn. 112) Members of the Jackson family continued to work as masons in Windrush (fn. 113) until 1815 when Anthony Jackson assigned a shop and house at Windrush Quarries to Mary Smith. (fn. 114) There was one quarryman in Windrush in 1863, (fn. 115) and members of the Wright family were masons in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (fn. 116) In the 19th century some of the stone was mined; the mines were closed c. 1900, and quarrying continued until 1911. (fn. 117)

Apart from quarrying there is evidence of several people engaged in occupations other than agriculture. In 1608 there were two carpenters, a tiler, and a miller. (fn. 118) There was a glass-dealer in 1615 (fn. 119) and a silk-weaver in 1663. (fn. 120) In 1720 there was a carpenter, (fn. 121) and tailors in 1649, (fn. 122) 1708, (fn. 123) and 1744. (fn. 124) The first known shop was that of Anthony Jackson in 1815, (fn. 125) and in 1816 Anthony Weatherstone opened a shop which was still functioning in 1928. (fn. 126) There was a victualler in 1741, (fn. 127) and 1755; (fn. 128) reference to the sign of the Red Lion was made in 1759. (fn. 129) The Fox Inn, which was still there in 1961, was opened some time before 1835. (fn. 130) It is traditionally said to have been called the Fox Wharf Inn and to have owed its prosperity to barges on the river beside which it stands. (fn. 131) In 1801 there were 91 people engaged in trade, manufacture, and industry, and the number of families so occupied rose from 14 in 1811 to 22 in 1821, compared with 45 and 43 respectively in agriculture. By 1831 the number had decreased to 16. (fn. 132) Towards the end of the 19th century there were two bakers, a shoemaker, and until 1914 a blacksmith. (fn. 133) In 1961 most of the people in the parish were engaged in agriculture though some worked in nonagricultural occupations outside the parish. (fn. 134)

Mills.

Three estates in Windrush in 1086 had between them three and a half mills. (fn. 135) A mill passed to the Dutton family in the 16th century with the Winchcombe Abbey land, and in 1652 the estate of John Dutton in Windrush included a mill. (fn. 136)

A mill was held by Stephen de Parco before 1204, when his daughters claimed that he had been seised of it. (fn. 137) The Marsh estate included more than one mill. (fn. 138) A mill held in 1280 of the Crown by William of Minety, who was supplied with timber from Wychwood Forest for it, (fn. 139) was granted in 1487 to Llanthony Priory (fn. 140) which had also held a mill in the late 14th century. (fn. 141)

A mill belonged to the Pinchpool manor in 1588 (fn. 142) and in the 17th century the Hungerford estate included two mills, (fn. 143) one of which was leased with a messuage and half yardland in 1726. (fn. 144) A mill referred to as Windrush Mill in 1618 was apparently a tuckmill. (fn. 145) In 1655 Viscount Falkland granted a mill in Windrush to Edmund Bray of Great Barrington, (fn. 146) whose family still owned it in 1702. (fn. 147) There was one miller in Windrush in 1863 (fn. 148) and the mill was still in use in 1882. (fn. 149) It was disused by 1935 (fn. 150) and by 1939 had been converted into a farm-house, (fn. 151) called Mill Farm, which was part of the Sherborne Estate in 1961.

Local Government.

Windrush was divided in the Middle Ages between four tithings, in which view of frankpledge belonged to the lord of Slaughter hundred but was taken locally instead of at the general view at Salmonsbury. (fn. 152) The tithing of Windrush apparently included the tenants of Winchcombe Abbey; by the early 14th century the estates of the Marsh and Delamare families formed the separate tithings of Maris and Lammaris; (fn. 153) and from the mid14th century Pinchpool manor was often represented as a separate tithing. (fn. 154)

The part of Windrush that belonged as part of Sherborne manor to Winchcombe Abbey attended the manor court at Sherborne, and the court rolls rarely distinguished the land and inhabitants of the two parishes. Court rolls survive for the period 1341 to 1466, a few for the late 17th century, and one for 1763. (fn. 155)

No court rolls survive for the part of Windrush outside Sherborne manor, nor are there any early churchwardens' or overseers' accounts for the parish. In 1803 poor relief, the cost of which had risen from £73 in 1776 to £299, was received regularly by 23 people and occasionally by 12; (fn. 156) by 1815 the numbers had changed little though expenditure had risen to £391. (fn. 157) The amount expended decreased considerably during the next 15 years, but rose again between 1830 and 1834. (fn. 158) Windrush became part of the Northleach Poor Law Union under the Act of 1835 and of the Northleach Rural Sanitary District under the Act of 1872. (fn. 159) In 1961 parish meetings were not held regularly.

Church.

The church of Windrush in the mid-12th century, the earliest date at which there is documentary evidence of it, was a chapel of Great Barrington church, belonging to Llanthony Priory. At that time the cure was served by a chaplain (fn. 160) but by the end of the 12th century both churches had been appropriated to Llanthony and a perpetual vicarage established at Windrush. The vicar paid an annual pension to Llanthony Priory which presumably received the great tithes, and part of the tithes belonged to the mother church of Great Barrington. About the end of the 12th century, following a dispute over the chapel of Windrush, the prior granted the tithes belonging to Great Barrington church to the vicar for an annual payment during his lifetime, after which they were to revert to the mother church. (fn. 161) It may have become customary, however, for the vicar to have these tithes, and by the 16th century the Vicar of Great Barrington apparently had no rights in Windrush. (fn. 162) In 1776 the bishop united the benefice and cure of souls with those of Sherborne, which became the mother church. (fn. 163)

Although its right was challenged in the late 12th century (fn. 164) and in 1283, (fn. 165) Llanthony Priory retained the advowson until the Dissolution, (fn. 166) when the patronage passed to the Crown which retained it until the early 17th century. (fn. 167) In 1617 William Dutton and George Tite were patrons, (fn. 168) and the advowson subsequently descended with the Dutton estates in Windrush. In 1961 Lord Sherborne was the patron. (fn. 169)

The value of the vicarage in 1535 was £4 18s. 5½d. (fn. 170) and in 1650 it was said to be worth £30 a year. (fn. 171) The value was reputedly the same in 1776 when the vicarage was united with that of Sherborne, and thereafter the united benefice was valued at £100. (fn. 172) The vicar's glebe amounted to 34 a. of arable and a parcel of meadow in 1535; (fn. 173) by the end of the 17th century it included 17½ field-acres of arable, a few small parcels of meadow, and a house, barn, stable, and garden. (fn. 174) The vicar's house was very small and was rented by a labourer in 1776. (fn. 175) The vicar's tithes were valued at £4 3s. in 1535. (fn. 176) At inclosure the vicar received 97 a. for tithes and 67 a. for his glebe. (fn. 177) The united vicarage included in the early 19th century a house and 330 a. of arable and pasture in Windrush (fn. 178) which was exchanged for 455 a. in Upper Slaughter in 1852. (fn. 179) The value of the vicarage continued to rise during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (fn. 180)

At least one of the medieval vicars of Windrush, Henry Warin, was persistently non-resident and neglected his duties; he was deprived of his living in 1374. (fn. 181) Another of the medieval vicars was publicly punished at Stow for keeping a concubine (fn. 182) and an early 16th-century vicar was indicted for heresy. (fn. 183) Thomas Rawling, vicar from 1554, though resident, seems to have neglected his parochial duties. He had not preached for four years in 1563 and the churchwardens complained that an alehouse was kept in the churchyard. (fn. 184) In 1572 quarterly sermons were demanded, as were the tiling and glazing of the chancel which the vicar had neglected. (fn. 185) The vicar presented in 1572 was reported to be 'well seen' in Latin and divinity. (fn. 186)

Robert Rawden, described as a preaching minister in Windrush in 1650, was apparently ejected from the rectory of Notgrove in 1654. (fn. 187) Michael Mills, vicar from 1662, (fn. 188) may have been related to a family of that name which held land in Windrush, and in 1684 was buried in Windrush church. (fn. 189) In 1687 there was a request for the Vicar of Sherborne to be licensed to hold Windrush vicarage also, (fn. 190) but, if it was allowed, he held it only until the following year. (fn. 191) John Fifield was licensed to be absent from his cure in 1714, and during the 18th century the vicarage was usually served by a curate. (fn. 192) There were 'full services' in 1750, (fn. 193) but by 1776, when Windrush and Sherborne were held by the same vicar, as they had been since 1758, services were held alternately, in the morning at one church and in the evening at the other. The congregation in each was small, and the vicar lived at Sherborne vicarage. (fn. 194)

The vicar and the curate were both living in Northleach in 1790. (fn. 195) Two of the early 19th-century curates were Thomas Keble (in 1817), the brother of John Keble and himself a noted theological writer, (fn. 196) and Isaac Williams (in 1829), a close friend of John Keble, a poet and theologian, and a Tractarian. (fn. 197) In 1825 the curate was resident but the vicar was living more than 50 miles away. (fn. 198) From c. 1840 the vicar lived in Windrush. (fn. 199) Services were the same in 1825 as had been laid down in 1776, and the congregation was c. 40–50, (fn. 200) but in 1851 the average congregation was said to be 120. (fn. 201) In 1961 there were two services each Sunday and the congregation was between 30 and 40. (fn. 202)

Before 1700 an unknown donor gave, for the repair of the church, land (fn. 203) that amounted to 10 a. in 1828 (fn. 204) and yielded £12 in 1935. (fn. 205)

The church of ST. PETER, of stone with a Cotswold stone roof, comprising nave of three bays, chancel, narrow south aisle, south transept, and embattled west tower, is of 12th-century origin. The chancel arch has ornate jamb-shafts with scalloped capitals of the 12th century, and the aisle arcade has cylindrical columns with moulded capitals and bases of c. 1200. The 12th-century south doorway is decorated with a double row of beaked heads and above it is the roof-line of a former porch, perhaps of the same date. The west wall of the aisle, in which a blocked 12th-century window can be seen, belongs to the same period. The south transept, separated from the aisle by an arch which rests on the south wall without a respond, was built in the 14th century and contains a cinquefoil-headed piscina. The north side of the nave, the south side of the aisle, and the tower were rebuilt with square-headed windows of two, three, and four lights in the 15th century, when a north entrance and porch, the roof-line of which can still be seen, were built. The 15th-century rooftimbers of the nave rest on 12th-century corbelheads. The tower is of two stages (the upper one being two-thirds of the total height), with an external stairvice at the south-west angle; a blocked arch, probably earlier than the rest of the tower, is visible in the west wall, and has a 15th-century window lighting the west end of the nave. Each side of the upper stage of the tower has a window of two louvred lights. The chancel, which retains a trussed rafter roof, was rebuilt, in the style of the 14th century, in 1874, when a vestry and organ-chamber were added. (fn. 206)

Scratch dials can be seen east of the south door and near the west corner of the transept, (fn. 207) and over the south window of the transept there is a sundial. In 1839 the perfect condition of the church impressed the Royal Commission choosing stone for the new Houses of Parliament. (fn. 208)

The church contains several monuments to the Broad family from the 16th to the 19th century. The transept, known as the Hungerford chapel, belonged to the Hungerford estate, and it was sold with that estate in 1718, on condition that the gravestones would remain and members of the Hungerford family be allowed burial there. (fn. 209) One of the gravestones, for George Hungerford (d. 1597), and several coffins, were uncovered during the rebuilding of 1874. (fn. 210) The 15th-century font, which is similar to those at Oddington and Great Barrington, (fn. 211) has an ornamented octagonal bowl.

The church plate includes a plain silver chalice of 1632, with an inscription and the date 1678 round the rim and a second inscription in the middle of the bowl. (fn. 212) Of the six bells two are undated, three are of 1707, and one of 1863. An organ was installed in 1889. (fn. 213) The parish registers start in 1586, with a gap for 1732–55.

Nonconformity.

A community of Methodists in Windrush, with five members in 1857, registered a house for worship in 1862 and in the same year acquired property there. (fn. 214) The small stone chapel, standing behind the cottages on the road to Little Barrington, was built by 1882. (fn. 215) In 1961 the chapel, in the Witney circuit, served Windrush and Little Barrington; services were held on Sunday evenings. (fn. 216)

School.

A Church of England school was opened c. 1840 in a building belonging to Lord Sherborne. In 1874 there were 40 pupils and two teachers, and the school was supported out of fees and voluntary subscriptions. (fn. 217) From 1877 it had a certificated teacher. (fn. 218) It was closed in 1913 (fn. 219) and efforts to reopen it were apparently unsuccessful. (fn. 220) In 1961 the younger children attended school at Great Barrington and the older at Northleach and Bourton-on-theWater. (fn. 221)

Charity.

At inclosure in 1777 10 a. was allotted for fuel for the poor. (fn. 222) The Poor Lots, which were recorded in 1828, (fn. 223) were held by the parish in 1962 when they were administered by three trustees, and the proceeds from them were used to buy coal for old-age pensioners. (fn. 224)