Parishes: Hampton-in-Arden

HAMPTON-IN-ARDEN

Acreage: 2,364.

Population: 1911, 1,084; 1921, 1,157; 1931, 978.

Hampton was originally a large parish of nearly 12,000 acres, including what are now the separate parishes of Balsall, Knowle, and Nuthurst, and the detached hamlet of Kinwalsey, included since 1895 in the civil parish of Fillongley. The present parish of Hampton-in-Arden consists of a roughly rectangular block, 3½ miles from east to west by about 1 mile, with an extension northwards at the north-east angle for a distance of about a mile, containing the hamlet of Diddington. The northern boundary, separating it from Bickenhill, is formed for the most part by a small stream which falls into the River Blythe, which forms the eastern boundary. Another such stream forms the eastern half of the southern boundary between Hampton and Barston, the western half, adjoining Solihull, being Lug Trout Lane. (fn. 1) On the west it is divided from Elmdon by a third stream. The country is open, mostly pasture, the only large block of woodland being Hampton Coppice, on the western edge of the parish. From this point, which rises to a little over 400 ft., the ground slopes gently to the east to about 275 ft. along the Blythe. The roads are small, the village lying centrally on a slight hill where two east-west roads are joined by one running north. At the north end of the village is Hampton Station, on the L.M.S. Railway from Rugby to Birmingham, with a branch north-east to Whitacre. At the south-east angle of the parish, crossing the River Blythe into Berkswell parish, is an ancient packhorse bridge, only 5 ft. wide between the low parapets. It dates probably from the 15th century and consists of five bays with ancient stone piers having pointed cut-water faces on the west side against the flow of the stream—and square projections on the east. The three northern arches are segmental-pointed, the southern two have been rebuilt with brick arches. East of the bridge is a ford.

There are seven or eight ancient buildings in the village. The most interesting is Moat Farm, west of the churchyard. It has a back or west wing which is partly of medieval masonry. The main block, facing east, retains late-16th-century timber-framing in the upper story, partly close-set studding and partly of herring-bone pattern. The lower story, a gabled south wing in line with it, and an addition behind the latter are of later red brick, the last on ancient stone foundations. A 16th-century stone chimney-stack at the north end of the back wall provides a wide fire-place for the hall and a smaller one to the stone back-wing. The hall has early-16th-century ceiling beams; one passes through into the back wing to the depth of the wide fire-place, where it meets a similar beam running north and south. The fire-place over the hall is of stone, carved with a crude grape pattern. The brick-faced wing has an upper room with late-16th-century panelling and door. Another door with ornamental straphinges, rehung at the back, belonged to the lower entrance doorway. Extending northwards is a later (17th-century) wing of square framing in two bays. A 12-ft. square building close to it was probably a pigeon-house of the same period. There are remains of the north and east arms of the moat, now dry; in parts it is 10 ft. deep.

Other buildings mentioned are of the 17th century unless otherwise dated. Church Farm, south of the church, is brick-fronted, but has old framing on the gable-ends. The White Lion Inn, north-east of the church, is plastered externally, but old beams are exposed inside. A cottage, now tenements, in a back lane parallel with the main road east of the church is of old framing, and another house near-by, on the south side of the road to the packhorse bridge, has a modern brick front and an old framed back wing.

Near the railway station is a house, now tenements, with a north wing of square framing. It is gabled on the east front, the head projecting on curved brackets. A wing extending to the south (making the plan T-shaped) has a modernized east front with a jettied upper story, but is of old framing at the back. Nearly opposite is a cottage of square framing, and there is another near-by on the road to Bickenhill. 'Old Farm', farther north on the south-east side of the road, is a complete house of square framing. The central chimney-stack in the main block has a wide fire-place and three diagonal shafts. The lower rooms have chamfered ceiling-beams and the upper show straight wind-braces to the roof purlins. North of it is an old barn.

Of the outlying buildings four are of importance. Walford Hall Farm, 1 mile west of the church, is of 15th-century origin; it had a great hall of two bays, 15 ft. and 9 ft., with cross-wings making the plan H-shaped. When, in the 16th century, the great chimneystack was built in the western 9-ft. bay and an upper floor inserted, the hall-roof was raised to the same level as those of the wings, but the original wall-plates were left in position. The north and south fronts show some of the original rectangular framing, the former also retaining a curved brace below the former wall-plate. Inside, forming part of the inner wall of the east wing, are principal rafters of the earlier hall-roof, and above them the later principals of the 16th-century roof. The main roof-truss between the two bays had a cambered and chamfered tie-beam supported by curved braces; the tie-beam was raised subsequently and the braces removed. The east wing has been partly refaced with brickwork but has most of the original rectangular framing on the north front and a curved cambered tiebeam in the gable-head. The roof has a medieval truss with a braced and cambered tie-beam and the purlins have curved wind-braces. The west wing, probably rebuilt when the other 16th-century alterations were made, is mostly of the old square framing; the south gable-head projects on a moulded bressummer and shaped brackets. Inside, the lower room has a good stop-moulded ceiling beam. The central chimneystack has two 9½-ft. fire-places back to back, and above are three square shafts with V-shaped pilasters.

Hampton Lane Farm, near Walford Hall, is mostly of 18th-century brickwork but has some earlier framing in the east gable-head and also a late-16th-century central chimney-stack with a shaft like that at Walford and two diagonal shafts. West of it at the corner of the Bickenhill road is a cottage of framing with halfdormers in the roof, and close to it is a framed outbuilding.

Diddington Hall is a house of c. 1580, of two stories, attics, and a cellar. The walls are of red brick with red sandstone dressings, on a moulded plinth. The plan is E-shaped, facing east. The recessed middle block is narrow (about 18 ft.) compared with the wings (about 21 ft.) and has a two-storied porch wing. The front has stone angle-dressings, but not the back. Most of the windows are of original stonework with hollowchamfered mullions and (excepting the attic windows) with transoms. The front entrance has a round head with plain imposts and keystone. Low modern additions have been built in between the porch and side wings, the heads of the original windows in the main wall appearing above them. The cellar in the south wing has an outer doorway and windows in the plinth. The hall has a moulded stone fire-place in the back (west) wall, and that in the room above has a moulded shelf. The south wing has nearly similar fire-places on both floors, and the north wing has a 7-ft.-wide fireplace (to the former kitchen) with an oak lintel with sockets for a roasting-jack. The staircase, a 17th-century insertion, has newels with moulded and ball heads, and twisted balusters. On the walls are reset several pieces of 17th-century carving, &c., apparently from former overmantels. A stone stair leads down to the cellar. The roofs have plain trusses, and straight windbraces to the purlins. In the attics are three original doors with moulded battens, and there is one at the top of the cellar stairs. Modern additions to the north contain the present kitchen and offices. A forecourt has steps leading up to the entrance. North of it are 18thcentury and later stables, &c.

Diddington Farm, ¼ mile to the north-west of the Hall, is of the same style, material, and date. The plan is H-shaped, facing west. The recessed middle block, of about the same size as that at the Hall, has no porch. The front entrance instead is next to the north wing and has moulded jambs and a flat-arched head. Another doorway (into the kitchen) contains a nail-studded door hung with ornamental strap-hinges. All the windows and doorways have moulded drip-stones. The fire-places resemble those at the Hall. A space by the side of the kitchen fire-place, next to the side entrance, entered by a trap-door above, was probably a hiding-hole. The staircase is in the north-east quarter of the south wing; it has square newels with moulded and ball heads, turned balusters, and plain handrail. The cellar is below this wing. The chimneystacks have original square shafts with square pilasters.

Mouldings Green Farm, ³/8 mile south-east of Diddington Hall, is a house of c. 1600 with walls almost completely of rectangular framing on stone foundations. Some of the ancient wattle-and-daub infilling remains, but most of it has been replaced with bricks. The plan is L-shaped, facing east: the gabled north wing projects about one yard on the front. The front has another gable at the south end, and the south wall is also gabled, its head projecting on a moulded bressummer and shaped brackets. The four main windows of the front are original oriels. The front entrance has a moulded frame and a nail-studded door hung with ornamental strap-hinges and having an original handleknocker. The windows of the north wing are modern. Two internal chimney-stacks are original, the northern having one and the southern three square shafts with V-shaped pilasters. The roofs are tiled. A barn also has old framing.

During a lawsuit in 1729 Henry Beighton of Griff, F.R.S., deposed that in 1723, 'purposing to make a map of the county' (that published in 1730 in Thomas's edition of Dugdale), he ascertained the exact bounds of Hampton and its members, from which he found that Knowle contained 2,500 acres, Balsall 3,500, and Hampton with Diddington 1,500, exclusive of roads and waste. (fn. 2) In 1652 there were four common fields:— Shirley, Mill Field, Innfield, and Innedge Field; of which Shirley Field lay by the road from Solihull to Coventry and near the Shadow Brook. (fn. 3) The first three of these fields still existed in 1773, but a good deal of inclosure had already taken place, as there is mention of the 'Old Inclosure' of 113 acres, bounded on the north by Busted Lane and Heath Lane, on the west by Sir Harry Goff's Old Inclosure, and on the east by the churchyard. (fn. 4) In 1805 an Act (fn. 5) was obtained for the inclosure of another 600 acres, but the Award was not made until 1812.

MANOR

In 1086 the manor of HAMPTON-INARDEN was held by Geoffrey de Wirce. It was rated at 10 hides and included a mill and woodland 3 leagues long and as much broad. (fn. 6) With Geoffrey's other lands it came to Niel son of Roger d'Aubigny, who took the name of Mowbray, (fn. 7) and the overlordship descended in that family. (fn. 8) When Roger Mowbray died in 1297 half a knight's fee in Hampton was held of him; (fn. 9) in 1376 the manor was held of the heir of Lord Mowbray, a minor in ward to the king, (fn. 10) and in 1387 of Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham. (fn. 11)

About the middle of the 12th century Roger Mowbray is said to have enfeoffed Ralph de Haia, who subsequently sold the manor to Robert de Arden, or Arderne. (fn. 12) Robert's father Ralph (identified by Dugdale with Ralph de Hamtona who in 1130 was pardoned 10s. danegeld in Warwickshire) (fn. 13) had bought lands at Chadwick in Balsall from Roger Mowbray. (fn. 14) From Robert, who became Archdeacon of Lisieux, the manor of Hampton passed to his brother Roger de Arderne, (fn. 15) whose grandson Sir Hugh (son of William) held the half-fee about 1230 (fn. 16) and in 1242. (fn. 17) Hugh received in 1251 a grant of free warren in Hampton and Knowle, and the right to hold a weekly market on Tuesday and a fair on the eve, feast, and morrow of St. Luke. (fn. 18) His son William died in 1276 (fn. 19) and the manor passed to his brother Richard, who was insane; it was therefore taken into the king's hands and entrusted to Bartholomew de Sudeley. (fn. 20) On the death of Richard the manor was divided between the descendants of his father's two sisters, Olive and Hawise. Olive had married Robert le Megre, (fn. 21) and her granddaughter Amice with her husband John le Lou conveyed her moiety to Queen Eleanor in 1284 in return for an annuity of £30. (fn. 22) The other moiety was in the hands of Hawise's son John Peche, (fn. 23) who acquired Queen Eleanor's portion (fn. 24) and was holding Hampton as ½ knight's fee in 1299. (fn. 25) His grandson Sir John Peche died in 1376, (fn. 26) leaving a son John, then 15, who died in 1387 and left a widow Katherine and two daughters, Joan aged 2¾, and Margaret, who was only one day old. (fn. 27) In 1411 Katherine held the manor for life, with remainder to Sir William de Mountfort of Coleshill and the said Margaret his wife. (fn. 28) It then descended in the Mountfort family until the attainder of Sir Simon Mountfort in 1495, (fn. 29) when it was forfeited to the Crown. Next year it was granted in tail male to Richard Pudsey and Joan his wife, (fn. 30) but evidently reverted to the Crown, as in 1512 the manor was granted to Sir Henry Guldeford and Margaret his wife. (fn. 31) He died without male issue, and in 1553 a lease of the reversion of the manor after the death of Margaret, who had married Gawen Carew, was made to Thomas Lysley for 31 years at a rent of £55. (fn. 32) In 1572 the manor was granted in tail male to Robert, Earl of Leicester, (fn. 33) but on his death in 1588 it reverted once more to the Crown. A number of leases seem to have been made of the lands of the manor, and these were acquired by Henry Martin, the Queen's trumpeter and a soldier of some distinction, who in 1602 tried to purchase the whole. (fn. 34) The lordship, however, continued in the Crown until the first half of the 19th century, when it was bought by Isaac William Lillingston, who sold it to Sir Robert Peel. (fn. 35) He died in 1850, leaving the manor to his younger son Sir Frederick Peel, after whose death in 1906 it was acquired by James Rollason; his widow has recently sold the property to the Gooch Estates.

DIDDINGTON and KINWALSEY

DIDDINGTON and KINWALSEY, though occasionally referred to as manors, are more often correctly termed hamlets. They were given to the nuns of Markyate Priory (Beds.), probably by Roger de Mowbray, and were leased by the convent c. 1190 to William de Arden, whose son Hugh bought them c. 1231 for 30 marks. (fn. 36) After this they descended with the manor of Knowle (q.v.).

CHURCH

The parish church of ST. MARY AND ST. BARTHOLOMEW has a chancel, nave with narrow aisles, west tower, south porch, and north vestry. The chancel is of about mid12th-century date. It is comparatively long and narrow for the period, in a church of this size, and it has an unusual north doorway near the west end; it is possible that it represented the complete church, at least for a short time. The nave, if not coeval, was built soon afterwards and had a late-12th-century south aisle, of which the arcade remains. Possibly the nave was of the same width as the chancel, but was widened to the north about 5 ft. about the middle of the 13th century and a narrow north aisle and arcade added. The chancel arch was widened at the same time to the utmost limits permitted by the width of the chancel.

For some reason, probably weakness, the north aisle was rebuilt late in the 14th century on the old foundations of the narrow aisle. This was followed by a similar rebuilding of the south aisle early in the 15th century, again without widening it. About the same time the west tower was begun, but carried up only a short way, the completion being delayed until late in the century.

The last medieval alteration was the building of the clearstory in the 16th century in place of the old steeply pitched roof indicated by the lines on the tower.

The tower bore a tall spire 'till by the extraordinary violence of Lightning and Thunder, hapning on St. Andrew's day at night, in the year 1643, it was cloven, and fell to the ground: at which time the whole fabrick, with the tower, were torn in divers places'. (fn. 37)

The south porch and north vestry are modern, and various repairs and restorations have been executed to other parts. The chancel was rebuilt in 1879 with the old material. All the roofs are modern.

The chancel (about 41 ft. by 17 ft.) has a modern east window of four lights and tracery, set in a modern wall which is thinner than the 12th-century lower part; there are 4-in. setbacks below the sill on both faces. In the north wall are two small 12th-century roundheaded windows, the jambs of two orders outside, the outer chamfered, the inner square. The head is of two pieces. The inner splayed reveals and arches are plastered and have angle-dressings and voussoirs. Between the windows is a modern doorway to the organ-chamber and vestry. West of the second window the wall is thickened outside nearly up to the eaves and contains a 3-ft. doorway of the 12th century now blocked: it is of two orders outside, both with small chamfers, and has grooved and hollow-chamfered impost stones. The inner order forms a segmental arch, the outer a semicircular arch with a hood-stone chamfered on both edges. The tympanum is of rubble, but one of the stones is part of a 13th-century coffin-lid with an incised cross-head. This position is an unusual one for a doorway in a thickened wall and indicates either that the chancel was originally the complete church or that it has been re-set here from elsewhere.

In the south wall is a modern window (fn. 38) in the east half resembling the 12th-century windows; in the west half are two windows; the eastern, of the late 13th century, is of two trefoiled lights and a trefoiled triangle in a two-centred head with an external hood-mould and with a moulded segmental-pointed rear-arch; all the foils have soffit-cusps. The other, of the 15th century, mostly restored, is of three cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights and foiled spandrels under a square head with an external hood-mould. About midway in the wall is a 13th-century priests' doorway with chamfered jambs, moulded imposts, and hollow-chamfered two-centred head with a hood-mould.

The lower part of the east wall and the north wall are of 12th-century squared rubble with wide joints, and have a plinth of two chamfered courses and a doublechamfered string-course below the windows. The east wall also has a chamfered course below the window inside. At the angles are pairs of shallow buttresses up to the eaves, and there is another low one under the east window. The south wall, rebuilt in 1879, has the 12thcentury masonry reused. An intermediate shallow buttress is half cut back in the lower part for the priests' doorway. Another 4-ft. shallow buttress at the west end is the original nave-angle but stops below the chancel-eaves level. The walls inside are plastered. The splays of the south-east window are continued down to the floor in modern masonry to form a sedile recess. East of it is a modern or renovated piscina with a trefoiled two-centred head and a quatrefoil basin.

The chancel arch (fn. 39) is of the 13th century and has responds of two chamfered orders with moulded capitals, carved on the south side with stiff-leaf foliage and on the north side with a human head and foliage. The two-centred arch is of two chamfered orders with rather small voussoirs. The bases are not original. In order to obtain as great a width as possible to the north the inner face of the reveal only just clears the face of the north wall of the chancel and the east side of the arch dies on to the wall.

The nave (about 61 ft. by 22 ft.) has its south wall in line with that of the chancel, the extra 5 ft. of width being to the north. The north arcade is of mid-13thcentury date; the pillars are cylindrical with moulded bases, the middle base of 'hold-water' section, on chamfered square sub-bases. The circular capitals are moulded and the middle one is carved with vertical leaves about 4 in. apart. The responds are semi-octagonal, with moulded uncarved capitals, but the capitals of the square outer angles are carved with foliage like the south of the chancel arch: the bases are modern. The arches are two-centred and of two chamfered orders with mixed medium and small voussoirs, and hood-moulds towards the nave; they have probably been rebuilt and heightened at some later date with the original material. The south arcade, of four bays, is of late-12th-century date. The pillars are cylindrical. The easternmost has a moulded base and scalloped capital—from round to square—and a moulded abacus. The third capital is also scalloped and carved with incipient foliage. The second was scalloped, round to square, but it was crudely altered in the 14th century to a circular plan, the angles being changed into carvings of human heads, singly or in groups of three; another human face was carved on the north side, and the west side was plain-moulded: the east and south sides retain some of the original scallops. The moulded abacus is roughly circular. The east respond is square, with a small middle half-round shaft which has been restored but retains the original capital, round to square, with shell-like leaves carved at the angles, and a chamfered abacus. The west respond has a similar shaft and a scalloped capital. The arches are two-centred and of two orders with small chamfers; the hood-mould has head-stops over the pillars and east end. The voussoirs are mostly small, but larger stones have been used in repairs, especially in the western part, where there appears to have been mutilation for former galleries. The arcade leans a little to the south. The walls above are plastered up to the clearstory. All the masonry is red sandstone. The clearstory, built mostly of grey ashlar, has four windows each side with chamfered jambs and plain square heads. The parapets are embattled.

The north aisle (about 6 ft. wide) has an east window of two trefoiled pointed lights and a trefoiled tracery light in a two-centred head with an external hoodmould and chamfered rear-arch; the jambs are moulded outside and include small rolls or shafts with moulded bases; the internal splays are plain. In the north wall are two two-light windows of similar detail, but with plain spandrels, in three-centred heads and four-centred rear-arches. All probably of late-14th-century date. The north doorway has moulded jambs and two centred head with an external hood-mould and threecentred rear-arch. In the west wall is a narrow single light with red sandstone jambs of a single chamfer, with a square head having a lintel of cream-white Arden sandstone like the north and east windows: it is evidently a 13th-century window altered: the internal splays are plastered and have angle-dressings.

The walls are of Arden sandstone ashlar with some later repairs at the top; the plinths are chamfered and there is an oversailing chamfered course at the eaves. Old narrow buttresses divide the north wall into three bays, the doorway and a window occupying the middle bay. From the doorway to the east end inside is a stone wall-bench. The door is of oak, dated 1758. At the south part of the west wall is a 9-in. red sandstone buttress to the north arcade.

The south aisle (5 ft. 9 in. wide) has an east window similar to that of the north aisle, but with mouldings of later section. In the south wall are three windows of two cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights and foiled piercings in square heads with labels, and segmental rear-arches. The jambs are chamfered and have plain internal splays of ashlar. All are of Arden sandstone much restored. The south doorway has moulded jambs of light and dark red sandstone and a four-centred head: the external hood-mould has been cut away. In it is an ancient nail-studded oak door with modern ribs planted on to make five panels: it has plain strap-hinges, an iron plate, and ring-handle. West of it is the outline of a former small doorway, now walled up, of uncertain age: it is a shallow recess with an elliptical head. The west wall is unpierced. The walls are of Arden sandstone ashlar, with one larger course above the chamfered plinth. The west end has a shallow buttress to the arcade of red stone like the northern. The south wall has an old buttress of two stages at each end. Inside, east of the doorway, is about 17 ft. of stone wall-bench. A piscina, east of the south-east window, has chamfered jambs and a trefoiled pointed head: in the sill is a quatrefoil basin (the outer half restored) and behind it the incised lines for another abandoned quatrefoil.

The stone porch is modern.

The west tower (about 12 ft. square) is built of Arden sandstone and is of one stage unbroken outside by string-courses. The plinth is of two chamfered courses; the parapet embattled. At the west angles are deep diagonal buttresses of three stages. On the south side near the aisle is a stair-turret of half-octagonal projection in the lower part but changing to a half-round in the upper and stopping about midway in the second story with a semi-conical stone roof. It is entered by a pointed doorway inside; an external doorway to it has been abolished. The lower part of the tower up to the level of the top of the semi-octagonal turret is of widejointed masonry, but above it is of later fine-jointed ashlar. On the east wall below the bell-chamber window is the weather-course of the earlier roof of the nave, proving that the whole tower is older than the clearstory.

The archway towards the nave has jambs and a twocentred head of two chamfered orders with moulded bases and imposts. (fn. 40) Random scratchings indicate the existence of a former gallery front. The west window is of three trefoiled lights and vertical tracery in a twocentred head with an external hood-mould having head-stops. The second story has three trefoiled windows with two-centred heads. The bell-chamber has four windows, each of two trefoiled four-centred lights and a plain spandrel in a four-centred head, of late15th-century date. The jambs of all the windows are double-chamfered.

In the two-light south window of the chancel are some mixed fragments of 15th-century glass, mostly yellow foliage.

The font is a curiously clumsy round one of uncertain age: the base may be an ancient bowl reversed, but the bowl with hollowed sides and rounded top edge is probably much later; it shows no traces of staples for a lid.

At the east end of the south aisle is a stone altar of which the lower courses are ancient.

In the chancel floor are about 90 14th- or 15thcentury inlaid tiles of various designs: several have a fleur de lis, one a charge, apparently three martlets quartering a lion passant, but all reversed; another a part of a pattern of lozenges and rosettes. By them, against the north wall, are remains of 13th-century coffin-lids or slabs with incised crosses with trefoiled or fleur de lis ends.

In the south wall of the chancel, east of the priests' doorway, and close to the floor, is a 21-in. recess with moulded and shafted jambs and trefoiled pointed head with moulded foils. In it is a carved half-figure of a man and a heater-shaped shield: the last has some slight traces of a charge, perhaps two leopards. It is probably part of a monument of the late 13th century: all of white stone.

Before the chancel step is a grave slab with a 14-in. brass of an early-16th-century civilian, also indents of figures of his wife and two groups of children and an inscription. (fn. 41)

A chest with fielded panels and three locks is of the 18th century.

In the south aisle is a disused clock with an iron frame having three standards with moulded bases and offsets and spurs at the tops with ball-heads: probably late-17th-century.

In the churchyard, east of the chancel, is a square base and part of the stem of a medieval cross.

There are six bells of 1725 by Joseph Smith of Edgbaston.

The registers begin in 1599, but the early years are largely illegible.

ADVOWSON

The Domesday Survey shows that there was a priest, and therefore a church, at Hampton in 1086. (fn. 42) During the episcopate of Bishop Roger of Chester (1129–49) Roger Mowbray gave to the Priory of Kenilworth the church of Hampton-in-Arden, with its chapels and other appurtenances, including 2 virgates of land and certain crofts, messuages, and meadow. (fn. 43) This was confirmed by his tenant Roger de Arderne, (fn. 44) whose brother Robert apparently held the living at the time; (fn. 45) later, between 1161 and 1175, Bishop Richard of Coventry confirmed a grant made by the canons of Kenilworth to Roger's other brother Peter of the church with its chapels and endowments, paying 10s. yearly. (fn. 46) Bishop Richard also confirmed an agreement between the Priories of Kenilworth and Monks Kirby, (fn. 47) a cell of St. Nicholas of Angers, to which abbey Geoffrey de Wirce had given ⅓ of the tithes of his demesnes in Hampton. (fn. 48) Roger de Arderne presented his son William to the living, but on Roger's death William renounced his orders and became a knight and his brother Roger became vicar. (fn. 49) This Roger died in 1215 or 1216 and Sir William asserted his right to present his other brother Walter, which the Prior of Kenilworth denied. (fn. 50) Eventually (1221–4) Sir William renounced all claim to the advowson, and the convent agreed that in future he and his heirs should choose a fit clerk for vicar and the convent should present him to the bishop; at the same time a vicarage was ordained, to which were assigned all the small tithes and obventions, and the tithes belonging to the chapels of Baddesley (Clinton) and Nuthurst; the vicar was to pay 20s. yearly for support of the chaplain at Balsall. (fn. 51) The benefice was valued at £26 13s. 4d. in 1291, (fn. 52) and in 1535 the rectory was farmed for £9 6s. 8d. (fn. 53) and the vicarage, with the chapel of Nuthurst, was assessed at £15 6s. 8d. clear, the pension of 20s. being still paid to Kenilworth. (fn. 54)

After the Dissolution the advowson was retained by the Crown until 1573, when it was granted to the Earl of Leicester and became part of the original endowment of Leicester's Hospital at Warwick, the master and brethren of which had the patronage until 1862, when it was sold with the consent of the Charity Commissioners. (fn. 55) It was acquired by the lord of the manor, Sir Frederick Peel, whose widow held it in 1915. (fn. 56) It subsequently passed into the possession of the Guild of All Souls, the present patrons. (fn. 57) The Hospital, however, has retained the great tithes and the Master is still lay rector. (fn. 58)

CHARITIES

Henry Marsh in about 1617 gave to poor of Hampton-in-Arden a yearly payment of £1 charged upon land at Pearsall End. The charge was redeemed in 1916 under an Order of the Charity Commissioners for £40 Consols. The income amounts to £1 per annum.

Town Lands. In the year 1686 several sums amounting to £102 3s. were given by various donors and expended in the purchase of Hampton Town Land lying in Balsall, the rent being applied in apprenticing poor boys in the parish. The endowment now consists of 12 acres (approx.) let at an annual rent of £15. The income is applied with that of Fentham's Charity.

George Fentham by will dated 24 April 1690 gave to trustees all his property, after payment of certain legacies, to pay an annuity of £30 as follows: £20 a year to a schoolmaster for teaching poor male children, £5 for the relief of 10 poor families, and £5 for apprenticing the son of a poor inhabitant. After giving another annuity of £20 to the poor of Birmingham, he gave a moiety of the residue of his estate for the benefit of the poor inhabitants of Hampton. The endowment now consists of various properties containing 49 acres or thereabouts, together with several sums of stock, the whole producing a yearly income of £2,000 (approx.). By a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 23 December 1907 a body of 10 trustees was appointed. The scheme directs that, after payment of a yearly sum of £500 for educational purposes, the yearly income of the charity shall be applied for the benefit of the poor of the parish as set out under various heads, including the payment of pensions to poor persons of good character.