Glanville's Wootton

18 GLANVILLE'S WOOTTON (6708)

(O.S. 6 ins. ST 60 NE)

The parish, covering 1,660 acres, rises gently from 250 ft. above sea-level at the Caundle Brook, which constitutes the N.W. boundary, to over 450 ft. in the S.E. The N. part of the parish lies on Oxford Clay; the central part is on Corallian Limestone and Gault Clay; the higher land on Dungeon Hill in the S.E. is Chalk, an outlier of the main escarpment. The land is drained by tributaries of the Caundle Brook, flowing N. and N.W.

The village, at the junction of the Oxford Clay and the Corallian Limestone, was probably once surrounded by open fields. Secondary settlements, Osehill and Newlands, now Round Chimneys Farm, (fn. 1) lie N.W. and N. of the village. In the E. part of the parish is an area which also bears the name Newlands, but here the regularity of the fields indicates enclosure of a very late date; the fields are not shown on the Tithe Map of 1839 and houses at Over Newlands and Pitt's Farms are dated 1847 by inscription.

Ecclesiastical

(1) The Parish Church of St. Mary stands to the E. of the village. The oldest surviving part is the 14th-century South Chapel, which presumably corresponds with an endowment of 17 Oct. 1344 (Cal. Patent Rolls, 1343–1345, p. 343) wherein Sibyl de Glaunvyll alienates certain lands to a chaplain, who is to say mass daily at the altar of St. Mary in the parish church of Wootton Glanville. The West Tower is of c. 1400. The Chancel and Nave were of the 15th century but the chancel was rebuilt and the nave was extensively restored in 1876; drawings of the antecedent buildings are preserved in the faculty petition (Salisbury Diocesan Archives, 1875); the South Porch is of the 15th century, with some restoration. The South Chapel has walls of knapped flint with Ham Hill ashlar dressings and bonding courses, and a copper-covered roof; the rest of the church is of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings and is roofed with stone slates.

The South Chapel is a notable example of 14th-century architecture, well preserved and not greatly altered from its original form.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (22 ft. by 15 ft.) retains nothing original except a very large squint from the S. chapel; it has a segmental vault with three chamfered ribs resting to the E. on two original head-corbels and one original leaf-corbel; some of the ashlar lining of the squint is original but the N. front with embattled cresting is of 1876. The chancel arch has been entirely rebuilt.

The N. wall of the Nave (37 ft. by 17 ft.) was rebuilt in 1876 but following the lines of the former structure, which appears to have been of the 15th century. Over the N. doorway is a reset 15th-century head-stop; the western window has two similar head-stops. Except where it incorporates the N. side of the S. chapel, the S. wall of the nave is also of 15th-century origin, to some extent rebuilt in 1876. The S. doorway has a chamfered two-centred head and continuous jambs; the rear arch is triangular and surmounted by a rough relieving arch in rubble. W. of the S. doorway the nave has a square-headed two-light window of 1876.

The South Chapel (21½ ft. by 14 ft.) has, externally, a massive plinth of two stages, weathered below and with a moulded capping. The E. wall has a low-pitched gable parapet with a weathered ashlar coping and a cross-gabled apex stone with an original floriate cross-finial. The S.E. corner is strengthened by three-stage angle-buttresses with moulded and weathered offsets; the weathered plinth returns around the buttresses but the moulded upper plinth stops against them. At the N.E. corner the remains of another buttress are embedded in the chancel wall. The pointed E. window is of three lights with curvilinear tracery; externally the chamfered and hollow-chamfered head and continuous jambs are surmounted by a moulded label with headstops; the tracery, chamfered inside and out, is restored but probably repeats the original. Of the three main lights the middle one is slightly wider than the other two and has a round head and cinquefoil cusping; the side lights have ogee heads and trefoil cusping. Internally the window has a splayed and ogeemoulded two-centred rear arch above square-set jambs which are decorated with half-round shafts with moulded caps and bases, the latter restored; splayed corbels carry the rear arch over the square-set jambs. The N. wall of the chapel has, at the E. end, the restored opening of the squint to the chancel. Further W. it is pierced by a large four-centred arch (Plate 138) which formerly spanned a tomb in the thickness of the wall; the arch was taken down and rebuilt in 1876 and the mouldings are of this period, but the chamfered and hollow-chamfered inner order rests to the E. on an original moulded corbel and to the W. on an attached half-shaft with a similar capital; parts of the label are also original. The doorway to the chapel, near the N.W. corner, has a hollow-chamfered two-centred head with continuous chamfered jambs; the rear arch is segmental-pointed and moulded.

The S. wall of the chapel has a square-set buttress corresponding with the angle-buttresses described; at the eaves is a hollow-chamfered ashlar string-course. The S. windows are of the 14th century, each having three cinquefoil-headed lights below tracery in a two-centred head, with internal mouldings like those of the E. window but externally with deeper reveals. The tracery of the window to the E. is geometric while that to the W. is curvilinear (Plate 140). Internally the windows have ogee-moulded two-centred rear arches above half-round jamb shafts with moulded capitals and bases, as in the E. window. The window-sills are moulded and continue from bay to bay, forming an internal string-course. Below them are two tomb recesses each with a moulded segmental head; the mouldings die into chamfered jambs which end in broach stops above the tomb tops. The latter extend forward and continue from side to side in the form of a wall bench. The S.W. corner has angle buttresses as described before and the W. wall of the chapel has a gabled coping like that to the E.; the plinth continues inside the 15th-century S. porch. Internally, the moulded string-course formed by the sill of the S. windows continues across the W. wall, as does the wall bench. The 19th-century timber roof is supported on a transverse beam which rests, to the N., on an original head-corbel of a woman in a wimple and to the S. on a male head-corbel.

The West Tower (10½ ft. by 10 ft.) is of two stages outside and of three storeys inside. In the lower stage, diagonal twostage buttresses with weathered offsets strengthen the N.W. and S.W. corners and a square-set buttress stands at the S.E. corner; a square vice turret projects from the N.E. corner. At the base a moulded and chamfered plinth returns around the buttresses and turret; between the stages a hollow-chamfered string-course terminates against the buttresses just below their summit and a similar string-course with a gargoyle at each corner marks the foot of the parapet. The latter is embattled, with a continuous moulded coping, and each corner has a crocketed finial. The tower arch is of two two-centred orders, the inner chamfered and dying into the responds at the springing, the outer wavemoulded and continuing on the jambs. The vice doorway has a chamfered four-centred head with continuous jambs and run-out stops. The W. doorway is of the 16th century and has a chamfered four-centred head with continuous jambs and a chamfered segmental rear arch. Above it is a two-centred W. window of c. 1400 with two cinquefoil-headed lights below a quatrefoil; the label has square stops. In the lower stage, the S. wall of the tower has one small square-headed chamfered window, lighting the intermediate storey. In the top stage each face has a two-centred belfry window of two trefoil-headed lights below a quatrefoil; there are no labels. The windows are closed by latticed stone slabs with embattled tops, perhaps inserted later.

The South Porch (9 ft. by 8 ft.) is of the late 15th century and has a two-centred arch with double ogee mouldings, casement mouldings and hollow chamfers, uniform inside and out; the S.W. corner of the porch has small two-stage angle buttresses. In the W. wall is a narrow window with a chamfered trefoil head and sunk spandrels.

Fittings—Altar: In S. chapel, Purbeck marble slab (8 ft. by 3 ft.) with hollow-chamfered under-edge, 14th century, restored to embrasure of E. window and mounted on modern pedestals. Bells: four; 2nd, dated 1700, inscribed 'Thos. Knight, John Crake'; tenor, early 15th century, inscribed 'ave Maria' in Lombardic capitals; others modern. Brackets: In S. Chapel, N. of E. window, circular moulded corbel; S. of E. window, polygonal moulded corbel, both 14th century. Chairs: In chancel, of oak, one with turned and moulded front legs and arm uprights, scrolled arms, carved back-panel with arcading and fan ornament, arcaded rails and scroll cresting, early 17th century; another, similar, with moulded rails, arm uprights in form of columns, carved back-panel, top rail with scroll carving, and shaped cresting with rose at centre; mid 17th century. Chest: Of oak with moulded stiles and rails, panelled front and moulded edge to top; inside, locker with three locks, 18th century. Door: To tower vice, with vertical outer planks fastened to horizontal inner planks by iron studs, original strap hinges, late 15th century. Font: Octagonal Purbeck marble bowl, uniform with that of Cheselbourne (p. 75), on cylindrical Purbeck marble pedestal surrounded by eight detached cylindrical shafts; octagonal Purbeck marble base with chamfered edges; early 13th century. Glass: In S. windows of S. Chapel, tracery lights with small figures of angels, 15th century, also reset fragments, 15th and 16th century.

Monuments and Floor-slabs. Monuments: In chancel, reset on N. wall, (1) of Rev. Humphrey Evans, 1813, wall monument with urn and arms, by T. King of Bath; reset on S. wall, (2) of Thomas Mew, 1672, rector, plain stone slab with bold Roman lettering. In S. Chapel, below S.E. window, (3) tomb recess described above, with recumbent stone effigy of man clad in long military-like surcoat with short sleeves, tippet and hood (Plate 14); feet spurred and resting on dog or lion; at left side dagger and sword slung from belt buckled over the hips; late 13th century, face restored; before 1876 this effigy lay in archway in N. wall of S. Chapel. In S. Chapel on W. wall, (4) of Barbara Henley [1727], white marble monument with lozenge of arms (dismantled); (5) of John Every of Cothay, Somerset, 1679, and his mother Anne (Williams) Hurding [1670], large wall monument of painted clunch (Plate 35) with grey marble inscription tablet; console brackets flanking a panelled base with a scrolled apron support free-standing Corinthian columns on each side of the main panel, enclosed in a shaped surround with architrave mouldings; the columns support an entablature with masks, above which in an attic storey are two oval panels, one with a text, the other commemorating Anne Hurding; above, a broken curved pediment flanked by a male and a female kneeling figure in 17th-century dress has, at the centre, an achievement-of-arms of Every and Williams quarterly impaling Every and Trenchard paly; the crest is missing. In tower, on N. wall, (6) of James Dale, 1833, by Knight of Blandford; (7) of Anne Hurding [1670], painted stone panel with coarse scroll-work border and shaped apron, surmounted by four shields in strapwork cartouches: to left, (i) Hurding of Long Bredy; to right, (ii) Every; in middle, (iii) large shield with (i) impaling Williams; at top, (iv) small shield of Williams; (8) of Mary Williams [1654], round-headed wall monument of painted clunch with largely obliterated inscription on square panel in moulded border, with repainted shield-of-arms: quarterly (i) Williams, (ii) Delalynde, (iii) Herring, (iv) Syward, impaling quarterly Carent and Every; (9) of John Leigh, 1752, and Elizabeth Leigh, 1783, white marble tablet; on S. wall, (10) of [John Every, 1658], painted clunch tablet with obliterated inscription (Hutchins III, 747) in Corinthian architectural surround above which are the following arms: to left and right lozenges of Every and Williams; in centre, achievement of Every impaling Williams, with crest of Every; (11) of [George Williams, 1660], wall monument uniform with foregoing, with obliterated inscription (Hutchins, l.c.) and, at top, achievement-of-arms of Williams. In churchyard, 11 paces S. of tower, (12) of Mary Gillingham, 1737, table-tomb; 2 paces from N. doorway, (13) of Elizabeth Harben, 1746, and her mother Elizabeth, 1735, double headstone; 3 paces from vice turret, (14) of Mary Mayo, 1729, headstone. Floor-slabs: In chancel, underneath communion table, (1) of Margaret Allen, 1662, with additional inscription of Nicholas Rickard, rector, 1707, with incised architectural framework and arms of Coles impaling six lions. At foot of sanctuary steps, (2) of Elenor Williams, 1627. In centre of chancel, (3) of Katherine Williams, 1645, with incised architectural decoration. Under tower arch, (4) of Mary Williams, 1631. In tower, (5) of John Pine, 1643; (6) of Ursula Pine, 1639.

Piscinae: two; one reset in S. wall of chancel, with double-chamfered cinquefoil ogee head and quatrefoil basin with drain outlet, 14th century; another set obliquely across S.E. corner of S. chapel, with ovolo-moulded ogee head with trefoil cusping and continuous moulded jambs, trefoil basin on splayed bracket with male head corbel, stone shelf dividing recess at half height (Plate 24), 14th century. Plate: includes silver cup and cover-paten without hallmarks, inscribed 'Kiddle, 1689, Churchwarden'; also silver paten of 1704 with inscription of 1755. Sundial: On W. buttress of S. wall of S. Chapel, scratchdial with iron gnomon. Tiles: In S. Chapel, near E. wall, and in W. tomb recess, 6 ins. square, with white slip decoration depicting: hart and huntsman with bow, arrow and dogs (see p. 98); shields-of-arms of England, of Eleanor of Castile, of two keys in saltire below 'deo grac', perhaps See of Exeter, and vair (see p. 317); two tiles from a set of four depicting a rose with 'deo gracias'; shield-of-arms of Clare, Earl of Gloucester; also tiles with foliage, griffins, etc. (see p. xx); all 14th century.

Secular

(2) Bridge (67160875) over the Caundle Brook, ²/3 m. N.W. of the church, is of the late 18th or early 19th century. It is of coursed rubble, with two semicircular arches and a central pier with a cutwater; the coping is of weathered ashlar.

(3) The Manor House (68150853), ¼ m. N. of the church, is of two storeys with attics and has walls of rubble with ashlar dressings and slated roofs. The main part of the house was built in 1804 as an addition to a smaller 17th-century house.

The 19th-century wing has a symmetrical three-bay S.W. front with large sashed windows, and a round-headed doorway sheltered by a later glazed porch. The mansard roof has three dormer windows behind a parapet with a moulded cornice and ashlar coping. The older wing, to the N.E., has a symmetrical two-storied N.W. front of three bays with a central doorway, which has a chamfered four-centred head and continuous jambs. The ground-floor windows are square-headed and of four lights with hollow-chamfered stone mullions and jambs; those of the first floor are of three lights. The N.E. gable has a mullioned two-light attic window with a label. Continuing the line of the N.W. elevation, a single-storied extension has a doorway with a moulded four-centred head with continuous jambs and run-out stops. Inside, the rooms of the 19th-century wing have moulded plaster cornices with acanthus enrichment, and the doorways and window openings have reeded architraves with angle paterae; the stairs have open strings, plain balusters and a moulded mahogany hand-rail. The 17th-century wing has, in the S.W. room, a chamfered ceiling beam, and an open fireplace with ashlar quoins, brick sides and back and a chamfered timber bressummer; the same room contains some reset 17th-century oak panelling and an 18th-century round-headed niche with fluted pilasters, coved head and shaped shelves.

(4) The Rectory, 100 yds. W. of the church, is of two storeys with attics and has rubble walls partly rendered, with ashlar dressings; the roofs are slated, with stone-slate verges. The L-shaped house was built at two periods; the N. range, now at the back, is of c. 1780 and the main S. range is of c. 1800. The symmetrical five-bay S. front of the later range has sashed windows and a round-headed central doorway with a moulded architrave and a delicate festooned metal fanlight. The windows have moulded stone architraves and the corners of the façade have rusticated stone quoins, but apart from these features the wallface is rendered. The end walls of the S. range are of rubble with ashlar gable copings above shaped kneelers. The N. range, also of rubbel, and with the roof at a lower level, has one four-light casement window with square-section stone mullions and jambs on each storey of its E. front. An early 19th-century brick cottage continues the line of the N. range.

(5) Church Farm, house, 100 yds. N.E. of the church, is two-storied and has walls of coursed rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings. The house was built in the 16th century but the S. front was remodelled in the 19th century and rendered and fitted with sashed windows; the slated roofs are modern. The W. wall has, on the ground floor near the S.W. corner, but perhaps reset, a blocked doorway with a hollow-chamfered four-centred head, continuous jambs with run-out stops, foliate spandrels and a casement-moulded square surround. On the first floor, near the N.W. corner, is a small blocked window of one light with a hollow-chamfered four-centred head, continuous jambs, sunk spandrels, and a chamfered surround; when open, this window lit the upper part of a rectangular projection on the N. side of the house, perhaps a stair turret. The N. front has the presumed stair turret to the W. and a projecting N. wing to the E., both with heavy ashlar quoins. On the ground floor, in the middle, is a square-headed two-light window with hollow-chamfered jambs and mullion, and on the first floor towards the E. is a window of two four-centred lights with double hollow-chamfers. A small single-light four-centred window opens on the first floor of the N. wing. (Entry to this interesting 16th-century building was denied.)

(6) Round Chimneys Farmhouse (68200946), nearly ¾ m. N. of the parish church, is now of two storeys (Plate 56), but drawings reproduced by Hutchins (III, opp. 744) show that the main block formerly had a gabled and dormer-windowed third storey. The walls are of rubble with ashlar dressings, but are rendered on the S.E., S.W. and part of the N.E. fronts; the roofs are partly of stone-slate and partly tiled. Hutchins (III, 745) records that the date 159– was formerly seen.

On the S.E. front, the main block has a hollow-chamfered ashlar plinth; at first-floor level is a moulded and weathered string-course, returned over the window heads as a hood-mould; under the eaves is a similar string-course which formerly marked the second floor. On the ground floor, in the western part of the front, is a mullioned and transomed three-light, square-headed window with ovolo mouldings. Next to this is a doorway with a moulded architrave and a moulded stone hood; above the hood are two lights, uniform and level with the upper lights of the adjacent three-light window. Next to the doorway is a two-light mullioned and transomed window uniform with the first; a precisely similar window occurs at the eastern end of the façade, and midway between these is a two-light window with no transom but with its flat head level with the transoms of the other openings. As one of the drawings in Hutchins shows, the last mentioned window and the doorway have been transposed and the S.E. façade originally had, from S.W. to N.E. on the ground floor, a three-light window, two two-light windows, a doorway and another two-light window; the windows were all transomed and of equal height; the doorway originally had no lights over it. All the first-floor windows are transomed; to the S.W. a three-light window corresponds with that of the ground floor and a two-light window opens above the present doorway; to the E. a similar three-light window opens above the place where the doorway originally was, but joints in the rendering show that it was formerly of five lights, as the drawing in Hutchins confirms. To the N.E., the S.E. front of the service wing is set back 2 ft. and although of two storeys it rises little higher than the first floor of the main block.

In the gabled N.E. wall of the service wing there is, on the ground floor, a doorway with moulded jambs and a shallow four-centred head; on the first floor, to the N.W., is a blocked three-light square-headed window, and in the attic are two blocked two-light windows, uniform with those of the S.E. front. The gable has a moulded coping above a shaped kneeler on the S.E. side and a cylindrical stone chimney-stack at the apex; on the N.W. side the gable coping continues down to the level of the first floor. On the gabled N.E. wall of the main block, which stands higher than the service wing, the two string-courses of the S.E. front continue. The gable has a coping like that of the service wing and on the apex is a slightly smaller round chimney-stack; it must have been transferred from one of the original gables when the second storey was removed; in Hutchins's drawings every gable culminates in a chimney-stack. As with the service wing, the N.E. gable of the main block continues down on the N.W. side to the level of the first floor, the entire N.W. side of the house being single-storied. In the main block the N.W. wall is of rubble with a hollow-chamfered ashlar plinth at the base; to the S.W. is a square-headed doorway with moulded jambs and in the N.E. part are two casement windows. One of the drawings in Hutchins shows that this elevation was originally three-storied with irregularly disposed windows, including two lofty mezzanine windows which apparently lighted a staircase. In the N.W. wall of the service wing is a doorway with a shallow four-centred moulded head and continuous jambs.

The S.W. front of the main block is gabled like the N.E. front and again has a round chimney-stack on the apex of the gable. The moulded string-courses continue from the S.E. front at both levels, but are cut away at the northern end. On the ground floor at the S.E. end is a mullioned and transomed two-light, square-headed window; to the N.W. is a two-light opening from which the mullion has been removed; the first floor has a single light near the N.W. end, with moulded head and jambs.

Inside, the original layout is obscure. A thick longitudinal wall divides the main block into two nearly equal parts, and a thick cross-wall defines a room in the south corner of the block. The four eastern openings of the S.E. front probably lit a single room and this room appears to have been closely linked with the part of the house to the N.W., in which a staircase was probably located (see above) since the thick longitudinal wall is pierced by two wide and richly decorated round-headed archways. The jambs of the archways have two orders of mouldings, a double ovolo and an ogee; these are capped by moulded imposts, above which are archivolts with the same mouldings as on the jambs; at the top are projecting keystones with pendant pyramidal soffits and fluted fronts.

Early and mid 19th-century monuments include the following— Court Farm, house, 400 yds. S. of the church, of one storey with attics, has rendered walls and a thatched roof and is of the early 19th century. Wootton Glanville Farm, house, 400 yds. W. of the church, is two-storied with coursed rubble walls and a tiled roof, and is of the mid 19th century; the openings of its symmetrical three-bay E. front have pointed heads. Baskett's Farm, house, 500 yds. N.W. of the church, is two-storied with rendered walls and a slated roof; it has a symmetrical three-bay S.E. front with large sashed windows and is of the mid 19th century. Over Newland Farm (69480845), house, Pitt's Farm (69220867), house, and Blackmore Cottages (68370959) are all two-storied, of coursed rubble with squared rubble dressings and slated roofs, and are similar to one another in constructional details.

Mediaeval and Later Earthworks

(7) Cultivation Remains. There is no evidence for open fields in the parish and they were certainly enclosed by 1770 (see two maps of Glanville's Wootton, by I. Taylor, 1770; copies in D.C.R.O.). Traces of ridge-and-furrow around the village can be seen on air photographs (R.A.F. CPE/UK 1974: 1190–94; 1975: 2043–6, 4042–6); where it remains, ridges are from 5 yds. to 7 yds. wide with headlands 6 yds. wide, all lying within existing field boundaries.