A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 8. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1968.
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'Parishes: Hinton on the Green', in A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 8, ed. C R Elrington( London, 1968), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol8/pp262-268 [accessed 22 December 2024].
'Parishes: Hinton on the Green', in A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 8. Edited by C R Elrington( London, 1968), British History Online, accessed December 22, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol8/pp262-268.
"Parishes: Hinton on the Green". A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 8. Ed. C R Elrington(London, 1968), , British History Online. Web. 22 December 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol8/pp262-268.
In this section
HINTON ON THE GREEN
Hinton on the Green lies in the vale 2 miles south of Evesham. It was transferred from Gloucestershire to Worcestershire in 1931. (fn. 1) The parish is fairly compact and comprises 2291 a. (fn. 2)
The land of the parish is flat lying at c. 100 ft.; there is one small hill — Blake's Hill in the east — which rises to c. 250 ft. The whole parish lies on the heavy clay of the Lower Lias. (fn. 3) The brook called the River Isbourne runs north through the centre of the parish to join the Avon. The amount of woodland is small but was formerly more extensive: 900 elms and oaks were planted in the 15th century, (fn. 4) and in the early 19th century there was a wood in the southeast of the parish. (fn. 5) In 1841 there were 58 a. of woodland. (fn. 6) The land has long been used for mixed agriculture; in 1966 it was intensively cultivated for market-garden produce.
In 1966 the village of Hinton consisted mainly of modern houses to the west of the Isbourne, but earlier the village lay mainly east of the river. In 1266 parts of the waste of the manor were said to have been occupied by squatters. (fn. 7) About 1300 there were several cottages east of the river, near the church and manor-house, standing among pasture closes; (fn. 8) it was probably the setting in pasture-land rather than the existence of a central village green that gave rise to the suffix 'on the green', which was used from the early 16th century. (fn. 9) There were 13 cottages on the land of the manor farm in 1791, (fn. 10) but in the 19th century some houses in the eastern part of the village were demolished. They stood in the Freemans, a meadow north of the rectory, in Lampitts Ashbeds, the copse on the road east of the church, (fn. 11) and possibly also south of the manorhouse. (fn. 12) The smithy was also in Lampitts Ashbeds. (fn. 13) The row of stone cottages opposite the church, known as the Street, was not built until the mid-19th century. (fn. 14) The cottage to the east of the Street, said to have been the house of the bailiff of the manor, (fn. 15) was built c. 1700 and is probably the oldest cottage in the village; dormers were added in the 19th century. The 19th-century house by the Isbourne was probably built for the miller. There are a few 19th-century brick and stone cottages in the village area to the west of the Isbourne; the Bevans, an 18th-century brick farm-house, (fn. 16) has been converted into cottages. Most of the houses in that part of the village, however, are modern houses built by the rural district council on land sold by Laslett's Trustees in 1933, 1939, and 1947. (fn. 17) All the farmhouses apparently occupy sites which date from inclosure in the 17th century. Ballard's Farm, built of stone apparently in the 18th century, has timberframed barns; Graville Hall, built in the early 19th century, is stuccoed, and the other 19th-century farm-houses are mostly of brick. Four fairly large brick houses were built in the 20th century for the market-gardeners on the east side of the river. A coarse blue Lias stone has been widely used for building in the village.
The Cheltenham-Evesham road through the middle of the parish was turnpiked in 1789. (fn. 18) The railway which ran through the parish to the west of the village was completed, and Hinton station opened, in 1864. The line was closed in 1963. (fn. 19) Minor roads cross the parish from east to west, and there are two single-arch bridges, one of brick and one of stone, across the River Isbourne near the village.
Hinton, described as barren and poverty-stricken when it was granted to Gloucester Abbey in 981, (fn. 20) was nevertheless supporting a fairly large population in 1086 when 49 inhabitants were enumerated. (fn. 21) There had been an increase by 1266 when there were over 60 tenants of the manor and new cottages were said to have been recently built. (fn. 22) In 1327 29 people were assessed for tax. (fn. 23) The population had decreased by the mid-16th century, when there were 100 communicants in 18 households. (fn. 24) In 1650 there were said to be 24 families in the village, (fn. 25) and in 1712 100 people and 25 houses. (fn. 26) There had apparently been no increase in population by 1779, (fn. 27) but in 1801 there were 196 people and 40 inhabited houses. (fn. 28) The population remained steady during the 19th century at a little under 200, but rose during the earlier 20th century to 268 in 1961. (fn. 29)
Tradition records a public house at the cottages called the Harrow near the entrance of the lane to Downrip Farm, (fn. 30) but if there was one it had closed down by 1891. (fn. 31)
Manor and Other Estates.
In 981 Elfleda, the sister of King Ethelred, granted the manor of HINTON (fn. 32) to St. Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, which held it until the Dissolution. (fn. 33) In 1266 it was one of four manors assigned to the office of chamberlain of the abbey. (fn. 34)
In 1544 the Crown granted the manor to William Berners, (fn. 35) and in 1556 William settled it on his son, also William, and the son's wife Elizabeth. (fn. 36) By 1580 Hinton had passed to Sir Thomas Baker, (fn. 37) the husband of Elizabeth, daughter of William Berners. (fn. 38) Baker died in 1625 having settled the manor on his second wife Constance and his younger son Richard. (fn. 39) In 1645, however, the manor was apparently owned by the elder son, Thomas, (fn. 40) and in 1663 by Sir John Hanmer, the son of Thomas's sister, Elizabeth. (fn. 41) At some time after 1667 (fn. 42) Sir John sold the manor to Sir Robert Jason, Bt., who settled it by jointure on his wife Anne. (fn. 43) Sir Robert Jason was dead by 1675 when Anne married secondly Sir Christopher Aires, (fn. 44) and she married thirdly, in or before 1701, David Warren. (fn. 45) Warren died in 1708 and Anne in 1713, (fn. 46) and as Warren had purchased the reversion of the manor it presumably passed to their daughter, Anne, in her own right. (fn. 47) Anne, however, married Sir Robert Jason, 4th Bt., grandson, by an earlier marriage, of her mother's first husband. (fn. 48) By 1727 the manor had passed to their son, Sir Warren Jason, Bt., who died in the next year (fn. 49) when it passed to his brother, Sir Robert Jason, 6th Bt. (fn. 50) Sir Robert died in 1738 without issue, and in the same year his wife Mary married Joseph Swayne. (fn. 51) Swayne sold the manor in 1745 to Dr. James Stephens, (fn. 52) who devised it to his brother, Philip, who was lord of the manor in 1775. (fn. 53) Another James Stephens held the manor in 1783; (fn. 54) he sold it in 1793 to William Baker (d. 1806), from whom it passed to his brother, John Baker. (fn. 55) John Baker (d. c. 1820) (fn. 56) was succeeded by his cousin, Elizabeth Mary. Her husband, Addison John BakerCresswell, (fn. 57) held Hinton until 1868 when he sold it to William Laslett. In 1879 Laslett granted the manor and the whole estate, which comprised virtually all of the parish, to trustees to be used for charitable purposes mainly connected with the Church of England. (fn. 58) In the 1940's 200 a. of the estate, being part of Graville Hall farm, were sold by the trustees. (fn. 59)
Gloucester Abbey apparently had a house at Hinton in the early 14th century. (fn. 60) In the early 16th century the buildings included a large barn for the abbey's tithes. (fn. 61) A new manor-house, of which only the east wing survives, was probably built by Sir Thomas Baker in the early 17th century. During the Civil War it was burnt by royalist troops to prevent its use as a garrison. The shell of the house remained standing, (fn. 62) and was rebuilt by Sir Robert Jason c. 1670. (fn. 63) An 18th-century print of the house from the west (fn. 64) shows a large wing of nine bays and two stories with attics. It had sash windows, a row of dormers in the roof, and two flanking gables each containing an oval light. The whole wing was apparently pulled down in the early 19th century, (fn. 65) probably when the house became the farm-house of the manor farm on the death of the last resident lord of the manor, John Baker. (fn. 66) The surviving east wing is built mainly of coursed rubble and has mullioned windows with dripmoulds. The gables, like those of the demolished west wing, were formerly surmounted by ball finials. The interior was completely remodelled in the 19th century and at the same time the west wall, against which the demolished wing had stood, was faced externally with ashlar and given stone-mullioned windows. On the north side there is a 17th-century stone doorway with carved spandrels, perhaps reset; there is a blocked 17th-century doorway to the churchyard. The pineapple-finials of the gateposts which stood west of the house in the 18th century (fn. 67) survived by the south door in 1966. The gateway 90 yds. east of the house is probably contemporary with the early 17th-century building. It comprises a stone archway flanked by two dovecots, each surmounted by a wooden lantern. The west gables contain mullioned windows, and there is a blocked 17th-century doorway in the east wall of the northern dovecot. (fn. 68)
In 1086 a Frenchman held land in Hinton manor; (fn. 69) his estate was probably represented by the 4 yardlands held in 1266 (fn. 70) by Robert, son of Thomas of Hinton, and c. 1300 by Robert's son, Thomas, also called Thomas the Freeman. (fn. 71) The estate owed a rent of one mark, wardship, marriage, a heriot of the holder's horse and arms, and suit of court at both Gloucester and Hinton; the holder also owed the service of holding a towel for the abbot when he washed his hands on the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. (fn. 72) A house belonging to the estate was sold by Robert son of Thomas in the late 13th century. About 1300 there were apparently several tenants on the estate when Thomas the Freeman claimed that their animals should be impounded in his own pinfold and not in that of the Abbot of Gloucester. (fn. 73) The Margery Freeman who was assessed for tax at Hinton in 1327 may have held this land. (fn. 74) It was probably the plough-land sold to Gloucester Abbey c. 1350, (fn. 75) and no later record of a separate freehold has been found.
Gloucester Abbey's share of the tithes of Hinton were granted to the new bishopric of Gloucester at the Dissolution. In 1576 they were leased to Anne Daston and Anthony and Walter Savage. (fn. 76) In 1603 the tithes, then worth £35 a year, were leased to Sir Thomas Baker, (fn. 77) and afterwards were usually leased to the lords of Hinton manor. (fn. 78) In 1841 the tithes were commuted for a rent-charge of £236. (fn. 79)
Economic History.
In 1086 there were two teams and 11 servi on the demesne of Hinton manor. (fn. 80) In 1266 there were 3 plough-lands in demesne, which were apparently cultivated wholly by labour-service; only two of the yardlanders on the manor had any works commuted, (fn. 81) and the same was true in 1291. (fn. 82) In the 13th century the lord's meadow, (fn. 83) and in the early 16th century, the Newlease — apparently a several pasture — were mentioned. (fn. 84)
There were 30 villani and 7 bordarii with 16 teams at Hinton in 1086. (fn. 85) In 1266 there were 35 yardlanders — a yardland was 40 a. — and 6 yardlands each held jointly by two men, and there were c. 20 smaller holdings. Labour services owed by the yardlanders included ploughing, harrowing, reaping, threshing, weeding the cornfields, washing and shearing sheep, and carrying produce to market. The yardlanders also owed tunnage on any ale they sold, fines for children leaving the manor and for animals sold, and heriots of the best beast. The smaller holdings owed rents or services or both. All the customary tenants had to carry millstones to Buckland, and haycocks to the abbey's grange at Hinton. (fn. 86) In the 1530's several customary tenements were leased in reversion for terms of years, with heriots still payable. (fn. 87) All the copyholds had been replaced by leaseholds or yearly tenures by the early 18th century. (fn. 88)
In 1266 most of the parish lay in open arable fields. (fn. 89) An open field in the north of Hinton was mentioned in the early 14th century, (fn. 90) and in 1966 surviving ridge and furrow showed that there had also been a large open field lying south of the road between the Isbourne and Ballard's Farm. The custom of inhook prevailed, by which part of the land in the fallow field was retained for growing crops each year; in the early 14th century it led to a dispute between the tenants and Thomas the Freeman, who complained that he was prevented from preparing his land in the fallow field because part of it was under corn. (fn. 91) A several meadow belonged to Thomas the Freeman's estate at the time. (fn. 92) The tenants had rights of common in pasture closes in the centre of the village in the early 14th century, (fn. 93) and a piece of land in the south-east of the parish, known as Sheep Hill in the 19th century, may earlier have been a common pasture. (fn. 94)
Crops grown in the 13th century included wheat, pulse, barley, and oats, (fn. 95) and in the 16th century wheat, barley, and beans. (fn. 96) Sheep were important in the 13th century when there was a shepherd on the manor, and the labour-services of the tenants included 2 days' sheep-washing and shearing; the two yardlanders who had most of their services commuted by 1266 were still required to do that service. (fn. 97) In 1587 one of the tenants on the manor had a flock of 22 sheep. (fn. 98)
The parish was inclosed in the mid-17th century and inclosure was said to have improved the value of the land. Inclosure did not bring about the formation of fewer and larger farms; several years afterwards only one of the 33 tenants had a farm of considerable size. (fn. 99) By the late 18th century the estate was divided into 7 large farms; the largest comprised 570 a., and another was 416 a. (fn. 100) During most of the 19th century there were the same 7 or 8 large farms, which existed in the mid-20th century. (fn. 101) In 1779 it was said that the parish consisted almost entirely of pasture, (fn. 102) which was probably an exaggeration as only 13 years later it was said to comprise arable and pasture in almost equal parts. (fn. 103) The amount of arable in the parish grew during most of the 19th century. In 1801 there were 824 a. of arable, (fn. 104) in 1841 977 a., (fn. 105) and in 1868 c. 1,020 a., almost half the area of the parish. (fn. 106) By 1901, however, the arable had been reduced to 740 a. (fn. 107)
In 1801 the crops included potatoes and turnips, (fn. 108) and a few years earlier flax was also grown. (fn. 109) In 1853 the leases of three farms amounting to c. 800 a. stipulated a four-course rotation: fallow or turnips; barley, oats or spring wheat; clover, trefoil, beans, or vetches; and in the fourth year, wheat. (fn. 110) From the late 19th century there was a steady increase in the amount of land used for market-gardening; there was one market-gardener in the parish in 1885, three in 1897, and eight in 1931. (fn. 111) In 1966, when the land of the parish was almost entirely arable, most of the farms had a large acreage growing market-garden produce; there was also a considerable acreage of corn, some stock-rearing, and one dairy herd.
In 1266 there were two mills at Hinton, a water corn-mill and a fulling-mill. (fn. 112) In 1535 there was only the corn-mill, (fn. 113) which had a continuous working existence until c. 1906. (fn. 114) In the mid-19th century the miller was also a baker, (fn. 115) and in 1868 farmed 40 a. (fn. 116) In 1966 the mill, a stone and brick building on the Isbourne, still had all its machinery, including a wooden wheel, in position.
In 1266 one of the millers on the manor was also a maltster, (fn. 117) and one of the tenants had a malt-mill in 1587. (fn. 118) There was a smith's shop at Hinton in the early 14th century, (fn. 119) a smith was mentioned in 1608, (fn. 120) and a smithy in 1868. (fn. 121) In 1824 there was a small brickworks near the southern boundary of the parish on the main road, (fn. 122) and in the mid-19th century the area was known as the Brick Ground. (fn. 123) A coal-merchant traded from the railway station in the late 19th and early 20th century. (fn. 124) In 1801 191 inhabitants of Hinton were supported by agriculture, and only 2 by trade. (fn. 125) In 1966 about half the population of the parish, including many of the women, worked on the farms and market-gardens, which also employed gipsies. The remainder of the villagers worked in Evesham or at Dowty's works at Ashchurch. (fn. 126)
Local Government.
No court rolls are known to survive for Hinton manor. In 1287 the Abbot of Gloucester had view of frankpledge at Hinton, and gallows, assize of bread and ale, and all internal pleas. (fn. 127) In 1156 the shire court confirmed that the manor was quit of murdrum fines. (fn. 128) In 1535 the valuation of the manor included profits of the manor court. (fn. 129) View of frankpledge was claimed for the manor in 1544, (fn. 130) but later reference to it has not been found.
No records of parish government are known to have survived. The parish had two churchwardens from the mid-16th century, (fn. 131) and there were two overseers of the poor in the early 19th century. (fn. 132) In 1791 the parish officers were paying the rents of most, if not all, of the cottages in the village. (fn. 133) There was a sharp rise in the cost of relief in the last twenty years of the 18th century, and yearly expenditure stood at c. £150 in the first 15 years of the 19th century. (fn. 134) In 1836 Hinton became part of the Evesham Union; (fn. 135) it was transferred to the Pebworth Rural District in 1894, and back to the Evesham Rural District on becoming part of Worcestershire in 1931. (fn. 136) A parish council was formed in 1966. (fn. 137)
Church.
There was apparently a church at Hinton by the late 11th century, (fn. 138) but the earliest documentary reference is of 1200, when the church belonged to Gloucester Abbey. (fn. 139) The incumbents were called rectors from the early 14th century, (fn. 140) and the living has remained a rectory.
The advowson was not granted with the manor after the Dissolution; although William Berners, lord of the manor, was described as patron in 1551, (fn. 141) the Crown presented in 1560. (fn. 142) In 1572 a presentation was made by Anthony Daston, (fn. 143) one of the family leasing the site of the manor from Gloucester Abbey in the early 16th century. (fn. 144) In 1575 and 1582 Anthony Savage, lessee of the impropriate tithes with Anne Daston and Walter Savage, (fn. 145) presented, (fn. 146) and in 1584 Anne Daston was patron. (fn. 147) In 1596 there was a double presentation by John Savage and Sir Thomas Baker, the lord of Hinton manor, and Savage's presentee was instituted. (fn. 148) In 1603, however, Sir Thomas was said to be patron; (fn. 149) his son presented in 1645, (fn. 150) and Sir John Hanmer, lord of the manor, in 1667. (fn. 151) In 1671 the bishop collated to the living by lapse, and seems later to have claimed the patronage, for David Warren presented in 1701 by virtue of a grant from the bishop. (fn. 152) In 1727 the bishop again collated, but his rector resigned after only a few months in favour of the presentee of Sir Warren Jason. (fn. 153) Thereafter the advowson passed to successive lords of the manor, and in 1879 it passed with the estate to the trustees of Laslett's Charity, who were patrons in 1966. (fn. 154)
In 1291 the rector was receiving half of the total annual revenue of £12 from the church; the other half was retained by Gloucester Abbey. (fn. 155) In 1535 the rector's portion was worth £8 9s., and the abbey's tithe portion, which was leased to the farmer of the site of the manor, £8. (fn. 156) In 1704 the rector received one-third of the great tithes and all the small tithes, the impropriator the remaining two-thirds of the great tithes. (fn. 157) The two portions appear to have been of equal value, and the same division may have been the medieval arrangement. In 1841 the rector's tithes were commuted for a rent-charge of £239. (fn. 158) In 1704 the rector had 12 a. of glebe, (fn. 159) and in the late 18th century 32 a. (fn. 160) The 32 a. of glebe still belonged to the rectory in 1966. (fn. 161) The rector was apparently farming the glebe himself in 1506 when he was allowed pasture for 8 oxen and 2 cows on the manorial demesne, (fn. 162) and the rectory was in hand in 1540; (fn. 163) in 1572 it was being farmed. (fn. 164) The rectory was valued at £60 in 1650, (fn. 165) but at only £40 c. 1710. (fn. 166) It was valued at £60 in 1743, (fn. 167) £120 in 1791, (fn. 168) and c. £150 in 1802. (fn. 169) In 1864 the rectory was worth £200 (fn. 170) and in 1887, when the living had been augmented under the provisions of Laslett's charity, (fn. 171) £258. (fn. 172)
The rector presented in 1441 agreed to allow his predecessor the use of a lower room in the rectory house. (fn. 173) In 1662 the house had 3 hearths, (fn. 174) and in 1704 was a building of 3 bays. (fn. 175) In the mid-19th century the house was a long, low Georgian building; it was replaced by a new rectory, further from the road, (fn. 176) built between 1870 and 1874 while the rector, Robert James Baker, lived at Beckford. (fn. 177)
In 1321 the rector was licensed to be absent for study for one year. (fn. 178) John of Buckland, instituted in 1335, (fn. 179) was probably the rector who had a horse stolen from him in 1354. (fn. 180) Master William Goodrich, presented in 1515, was a doctor of theology; (fn. 181) he had another living also in 1540. (fn. 182) He was succeeded in 1541 by his curate, Simon Southern, (fn. 183) whose knowledge of the Commandments was found unsatisfactory in 1551. (fn. 184) In the same year Southern informed Bishop Hooper that the altar and other 'superstitious' things in Hinton church had been destroyed. (fn. 185) Southern was deprived in 1560. His successor, William Lynsecombe, was a pluralist, (fn. 186) but lived at Hinton in 1563 when it was complained that the youth among his congregation left church before the end of the services. (fn. 187) William Willis, rector in 1593, was said to be a scholar but no preacher. (fn. 188) William Peyton was recommended for his preaching on his institution in 1646. (fn. 189) Most later rectors held other livings also, though sometimes of near-by parishes: in 1667 and 1701 Sedgeberrow, (fn. 190) in 1772 Aston Somerville, (fn. 191) and in 1814 Willersey. (fn. 192) In 1786 Francis Mills was resident at his other living at Barford (Warws.), (fn. 193) in 1802 Thomas Gresley also held the rectory of Polesworth (Warws.), and London King Pitt, presented in 1805, was also Rector of Hanwell (Oxon.). (fn. 194) Benjamin Preedy was absent from both of his benefices, Hinton and Willersey, between 1820 and 1824 on the grounds of his wife's illness. (fn. 195) Robert James Baker between 1869 and 1877 introduced changes in ritual, including a choral communion service and the use of a surpliced choir. (fn. 196)
An estate of 1¾ yardland for which Henry the chaplain was paying a nominal rent to Gloucester Abbey in 1266 was probably the endowment of a chantry in the church. (fn. 197) Henry of Hinton was the chantry priest in 1310, (fn. 198) and a chaplain who paid the subsidy in 1327 was perhaps his successor. (fn. 199) No later record of the chantry has been found.
The church of ST. PETER (fn. 200) comprises nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch. The north and south doorways, which probably date from the late 11th century, are the earliest substantial part of the fabric; each has a bold roll-moulding on the angle of the arch and single shafts with scalloped capitals. The tympanum of the blocked north doorway is roughly scored with intersecting diagonal lines. A stone fragment with Norman decoration is set internally in the north wall of the chancel. The consecration of the high altar at Hinton in 1315 (fn. 201) suggests a rebuilding of the church at that time, and the chancel arch and two nave windows may date from the 14th century. Extensive rebuilding in the 15th or early 16th century included the 3-stage embattled and pinnacled tower. All three nave walls are embattled, and both tower and nave have gargoyles. Square-headed Perpendicular windows were inserted on each side of the nave near the east end.
For many years the church had no chancel. Despite a tradition of its destruction by fire before the Reformation, (fn. 202) the chancel survived in 1572. (fn. 203) It had apparently been destroyed, however, by c. 1700 when the church was described as consisting of 'one entire aisle'. (fn. 204) Evidence of a fire is said to have been found. (fn. 205) Before the rebuilding of the chancel the chancel arch was blocked and contained a window possibly added in the 1860's. (fn. 206) A new Perpendicular chancel was built in 1895 to designs by J. D. Sedding; the work cost c. £600 of which £150 was contributed by Laslett's trustees. (fn. 207)
The church was restored and re-roofed in the 1860's; (fn. 208) the earlier roof had a low pitch. (fn. 209) The south porch and the windows of the nave were apparently renewed at the time. The 15th-century font, removed from the church before the late 19th century and for a time in the garden of the manor-house, was later moved to Bretforton Manor and returned to the church in 1911. (fn. 210) A 13th-century piscina in the south wall of the nave, was perhaps used by the chantry priest; (fn. 211) an aumbry in the opposite wall was probably made after the destruction of the chancel when the altar was at the east end of the nave. The rood staircase survives on the south side of the chancel arch and the slots for the rood screen are visible on the north side of the arch. In the north wall of the chancel, the tombstone of William of Halford (d. c. 1490), Abbot of Bordesley (Worcs.), is incised with the figure of the abbot bearing a pastoral staff under a canopy. (fn. 212) The stone was found in 1740. (fn. 213) Other medieval tombstones in the church were mentioned c. 1700; two of them were for farmers of the manor. (fn. 214) The nave of the church is largely paved with tombstones, said to have been removed from the churchyard by a rector to make a pathway in the village. (fn. 215) Fragments of medieval tiles kept in the church may have come from the medieval chancel.
The church had 4 bells, re-cast as 5 in 1705 at the expense of David Warren; in 1931 three lighter bells were added. The village has given its name to a method of change-ringing known as Hinton Surprise Major. (fn. 216) The plate dates from the 1860's. (fn. 217) The registers begin in 1735. The church has received several grants from Laslett's charity trustees, the latest in 1966 for heating. (fn. 218)
Nonconformity.
In 1735 one family of dissenters was recorded at Hinton, (fn. 219) and in 1743 a family of Presbyterians and another of Baptists. (fn. 220) No other record of early nonconformity in the parish has been found.
Schools.
In 1833 there was a day-school at Hinton with an attendance of 21, maintained at the parents' expense, and a Sunday school attended by 52 children and taught by a mistress whose salary was paid by Addison Baker-Cresswell, lord of the manor. (fn. 221) One school or both had been in existence in 1825 when 39 children in the parish were attending school. (fn. 222) In 1846 there was a Church of England school supported by subscriptions; it taught 10 day and 16 evening pupils and had a schoolroom and teacher's house. (fn. 223) In 1874 a school board was formed for Hinton, (fn. 224) but was apparently superseded in 1883 when Laslett's trustees started a Church of England school in new buildings. (fn. 225) In 1894 the school had an average attendance of 42, and in 1910 of 50. (fn. 226) It was closed in 1965 when c. 9 children were attending; in 1966 the children went to school at Sedgeberrow. (fn. 227)
Charities.
No eleemosynary charities for the parish are known.