Parishes: Long Compton

LONG COMPTON

Acreage: 3,806.

Population: 1911, 547; 1921, 525; 1931, 491.

The parish, in the extreme south of the county, is bounded on the east and south by Oxfordshire. On the north projects a narrow limb of the parish, nearly 2 miles from south to north with an average width of about ¾ mile, occupied by Weston Park, the site of the depopulated hamlet of Weston-by-Cherington (see below). The old seat of the Sheldon family was pulled down and a new Weston House was built by Sir George Philips about 1830 in the style of the Gothic revival by the architect Edward Blore. (fn. 1) The park, which covers about 900 acres and extends into Little Wolford parish, is bounded on the north by the River Stour, on which is Weston Mill, mentioned in 1535. (fn. 2) In this district the ground lies mainly between 260 ft. and 400 ft. but most of the parish is hilly, rising in the south-west to 725 ft. Just over the southern border, in Little Rollright, is the well-known prehistoric circle of the Rollright Stones, (fn. 3) but the isolated monolith known as 'the King Stone' is just in this parish and was traditionally the meeting-place of the witches for which Long Compton was notorious. (fn. 4)

The village stretches for nearly ¾ mile along the road that runs north from Chipping Norton through the centre of the parish. Near its northern end, just beyond the church, the road is carried by Crow Bridge over the Nethercote Brook, on which, ¼ mile west, Long Compton Mill stands, probably on the site of the mill mentioned in the Domesday Survey. (fn. 5) The road then turns to the north-west towards Shipston-on-Stour, dividing into two branches to encircle Harrow Hill.

The entrance to the churchyard, at its south-east corner, is under a 17th-century cottage that forms a quasi-lych-gate. The gabled east wall, towards the road, is of stone rubble but the upper north and south side walls have some timber-framing. The roof is thatched. A former pathway through the churchyard, farther west, was diverted some years ago.

The Vicarage on the east side of the road a little south of the church may date from the 17th century (fn. 6) in its north half; the south half is modern, all of stonework. Next north of it on the other side of a side-road is a thatched stone cottage of ancient appearance, probably 16th-century, and there are several others, mostly east of the main road, of similar appearance. The older buildings along the main road are of the usual stone-built type with no distinctive architectural features and with various roof coverings. Two bearing dates 1763 and 1766 are indicative of the ages of most of them. There are many modern buildings of brick. A cul-de-sac running east opposite the church has a stone house on its south side inscribed N & M.G. 1703 but more or less restored. It has an old malthouse and granary and near by was a Quaker burial ground.

On the west side of the main road opposite the vicarage is a modern drinking fountain, above which has been preserved the base of the medieval village cross. It is octagonal with lower ogee stops out to square, and a chamfered plinth above two steps.

The common lands of the parish, to the extent of 2,300 acres, were inclosed by an Act of 1811. (fn. 7)

Manors

In 1086 Geoffrey de Mandeville held [LONG] COMPTON. It was an important manor, being rated at 30 hides, and had been held in the Confessor's reign by Asgar the Staller. (fn. 8) Apparently Geoffrey's grandson Geoffrey, 1st Earl of Essex, enfeoffed Roger fitz Richard, husband of his wife's sister, (fn. 9) as in 1170 William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex, granted the manor of Aynho (Northants.) to the said Roger in exchange for Compton. (fn. 10) On the death of Earl William in 1189 the Mandeville estates passed to the descendants of the 1st earl's sister Beatrice. (fn. 11) Her son William de Say left two daughters, Beatrice and Maud; of whom Beatrice married Geoffrey fitz Piers and was mother of William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, against whom his aunt Maud de Say claimed half the manor of Compton in 1218. (fn. 12) When Earl William died in 1227 without issue his estates passed to his sister Maud, who was married first to Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and subsequently to Roger Dantsey. (fn. 13) The overlordship appears to have passed to her descendants by her first husband, as in 1405 the manor was held of the Earl of Hereford; (fn. 14) but in 1229 Maud and Roger Dantsey sold one moiety of the manor, including the manorhouse, to Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, (fn. 15) and the other moiety to William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. (fn. 16)

Hubert de Burgh in 1231 obtained a grant of a market on Monday and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of SS. Peter and Paul at Compton. (fn. 17) When he fell into disgrace Maud, Countess of Hereford, obtained the escheat of the manor as being held of her, (fn. 18) but it was later restored to Hubert and passed to his son John de Burgh, who in 1249 acquired from Hubert's widow, the Countess Margaret, the third of the manor which she held in dower. (fn. 19) In 1274 John de Burgh granted the reversion of the manor after his death to King Edward, (fn. 20) who apparently visited Compton on 20–21 February 1276. (fn. 21) The manor was leased in February 1281 to Eustace de Hacche at a rent of £41, (fn. 22) but in May of that year it was granted for life to Sir Hugh de Plessey. (fn. 23) King Edward in September 1299 included the manor of Great Compton in the dower assigned to Queen Margaret, (fn. 24) but in November of the same year he granted the manor of Long Compton to Sir John de Mohun and Ada his wife to hold by service of a knight's fee, in exchange for lands in Ireland. (fn. 25) This John, Lord Mohun, settled the manor on his son John on his marriage with Christiane daughter of John, Lord Segrave. (fn. 26) The younger John predeceased his father, who died in 1330 and was succeeded by his grandson John, then aged 10. (fn. 27) This John, who became a prominent soldier and one of the foundation Knights of the Garter, in 1343 settled the manor on himself and his wife Joan. (fn. 28) He died in 1375 and Joan in 1404. (fn. 29) They had no son, and of their three daughters two died without issue, so that the manor came to the son of the youngest daughter Joan, Richard, Lord Strange, (fn. 30) who died in 1449, having settled it on himself and his wife Elizabeth, who survived him. (fn. 31) Their granddaughter Joan, Baroness Strange, married Sir George Stanley and on her death in 1514 was found seised of what is, for once, correctly called a moiety of the manor of Long Compton; (fn. 32) the reversion was said to be to John Dyneley, (fn. 33) presumably in trust for her son Thomas, Earl of Derby. It then descended in the family of Stanley, until about 1600, when it was sold by William, Earl of Derby, to William, Earl of Northampton, (fn. 34) who already held the other manor or moiety.

The moiety of the manor acquired in 1229 by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, passed to his brother Richard. (fn. 35) It probably came into the hands of Sir Robert (son of Ralph) fitzNicholas, who joined Simon de Montfort against the king, as in 1265 he held £30 of land in Great Compton; at which time John de Burgh had £40 there. (fn. 36) His lands there were bestowed on Walter de Langley, and in 1269 Sir Robert, with Sir Ralph Pippard, agreed to pay Walter 200 marks for their redemption. (fn. 37) This was evidently done, as when Robert fitzNicholas died in 1272 he was seised of the manor of Great Compton, including 7 virgates of arable in demesne and 28 virgates in villenage and a share in a water-mill. (fn. 38) His heir was Ralph Pippard, his brother's son, (fn. 39) who in 1285 claimed to have view of frankpledge and other franchises in Great Compton jointly with Hugh de Plessey, life tenant of the other moiety (see above), but was found to have used these privileges separately, (fn. 40) which points to the two moieties being treated as independent manors. Sir Ralph Pippard died in 1309 and the manor, held of the king as 1 knight's fee, passed to his son John. (fn. 41) He in 1310 sold the manor, retaining a life tenancy, to Edmund le Boteler, (fn. 42) who died in 1321, (fn. 43) when the manor passed to Edmund's son James Butler, Earl of Ormond, who died in 1338 seised, jointly with his wife Eleanor, (fn. 44) who survived him, of the manor of COMPTON IN HENMARSH, (fn. 45) held of the Earl of Hereford as ¾ knight's fee. (fn. 46) On the death of the Countess Eleanor in 1363 she was said to have held ¾ of a moiety of the manor of Great Compton of the king by service of ¾ of ½ knight's fee. (fn. 47) When her grandson James, the 3rd earl, died in 1405 the estate is called the manor of Long Compton and is said to be held of the Earl of Hereford, (fn. 48) which title had by that date been absorbed into the Crown. When James, Earl of Wiltshire and 5th Earl of Ormond, was attainted in 1461 this moiety of the manor was forfeited, (fn. 49) and shortly afterwards it was granted to Sir Walter Devereux, Lord Ferrers. (fn. 50) The attainder, however, was reversed and the estates restored to the earl's brothers Sir John (d. 1478) and Sir Thomas Butler. (fn. 51) The latter died in 1515, leaving two daughters coheirs, Anne wife of Sir James St. Leger and Margaret wife of Sir William Boleyn, and Compton seems to have been assigned to Margaret and sold by her and her husband to Sir William Compton of Compton Wyniates, (fn. 52) as his son Peter died in 1544 seised of a moiety of the manor of Long Compton 'late Bulleynes'. (fn. 53) It descended to the Earl of Northampton, who about 1600 acquired the other moiety (see above), and the two moieties continued in the same hands, though distinguished as Long Compton Bulleynes and Stanleys, (fn. 54) with the manor of Compton Wyniates (q.v.), until about 1820 when the Marquess of Northampton sold it to Sir George Philips, bart., who died in 1847. He left three daughters, of whom the eldest married Adam, 2nd Earl of Camperdown, and inherited this property.

The manor of WESTON-BY-CHERINGTON seems to have been formed out of the Earl of Pembroke's moiety of Long Compton, as in 1279 John de Weston was lord of Weston, where he had 2 carucates of land in demesne and 8 virgates in villenage, and a water-mill, held as 1/14 knight's fee of Ralph Pippard, who held of the heirs of the Earl Marshal, and they of the Earl of Hereford. (fn. 55) John de Weston in 1299 conveyed the manor to John de Broughton and Katherine his wife, retaining a life tenancy. (fn. 56) John de Broughton in 1301 had a grant of free warren in his demesnes here. (fn. 57) It seems then to have come to John de Segrave, who in the reign of Edward II settled it on his younger son John. (fn. 58) This John de Segrave, of Folkestone, or his son, apparently granted his own life interest in the manor to Walter de Chiriton, with reversion to certain persons whose interests William de Peyto subsequently acquired. The younger John de Segrave died in 1349, when his property passed to his uncle's son John, Lord Segrave. (fn. 59) Walter de Chiriton's lands were seized for his debts to the Crown, and the manor of Weston, which he was falsely alleged to hold in fee simple, was assigned, in spite of the protests of William de Peyto, to Sir William de Windsor, husband of Edward III's favourite Alice Perrers. (fn. 60) From him it was transferred to his sister Christiane and her husband Sir William de Murrers, in whose favour William de Chiriton son of Walter renounced his right. (fn. 61) In 1390, however, Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshal and Nottingham and later Duke of Norfolk, grandson of John, Lord Segrave, sued Sir William and Christiane (fn. 62) and evidently recovered it, as he died in 1399 seised of the manor of Weston, held of the Earl of Ormond, which he had granted for life to Richard de Bourgh, (fn. 63) who survived until about 1410. (fn. 64) In that year ²/3 of the manor were assigned to the support of John Mowbray, Earl Marshal, then in ward to the king; (fn. 65) the remaining ⅓ came to him on the death of his mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk, in 1425. (fn. 66) He or his son John, Duke of Norfolk (d. 1461), apparently granted the manor to Richard Waller, whose son Richard in 1461 conveyed his estate therein, subject to the life interest of Eleanor, Duchess of Norfolk, to Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth his wife and their daughter Eleanor. (fn. 67) From them it came into the hands of Henry Keble, alderman of London (Lord Mayor in 1510), who inclosed all the arable, except 80 acres attached to the manor-house, amounting to about 300 acres, destroying 7 houses and leaving 38 persons homeless and destitute. (fn. 68) His grandson and heir George Keble sold the manor in 1535 to William Sheldon, (fn. 69) who in 1545 had licence to impark 300 acres here. (fn. 70) His son Ralph Sheldon rebuilt the manor-house (fn. 71) and Weston became the chief seat of the family for eight generations. (fn. 72) About 1820 Ralph Sheldon sold the manor and estate to Sir George Philips, bart., (fn. 73) after which the manor seems to have been absorbed into the main manor of Long Compton.

The nuns of Studley Priory in Oxfordshire received a grant of an estate in Long Compton in about 1250 from Godfrey de Craucumbe, who had bought it from the Earl of Hereford. (fn. 74) This seems to have been semimanorial; (fn. 75) it yielded £7 2s. 6d. in 1535, (fn. 76) and was included, as the manor of Long Compton, in the grant of the estates of the priory to John Croke in 1540. (fn. 77) He at once sold the manor to Richard Ingram, (fn. 78) who settled it in 1551 on his wife Anne (Lyngen) and died in 1562 holding the manor of Long Compton of the queen and leaving a son Anthony. (fn. 79) In 1599 Anthony Ingram and Dorothy his wife conveyed this manor with Little Wolford to Thomas and Edmund Williamson, (fn. 80) probably for settlement on the marriage of his son John Ingram with Cecily daughter of Robert Williamson. (fn. 81)

Another Oxfordshire house, Wroxton Priory, held in 1276 a plough-land in this parish bought from Geoffrey de Langley, who held it of Gilbert, Earl Marshal, and he of the Earl of Hereford, after the battle of Evesham (1265). (fn. 82) This estate, which was worth £1 6s. 8d. in 1535, (fn. 83) was granted in 1537 to Thomas Pope. (fn. 84)

William de Compton, priest, gave to the Hospital of St. John outside the East Gate of Oxford 2 carucates here which he had acquired of William de Mandeville. (fn. 85) In 1262 Brother Henry, Master of the said Hospital, granted 3 messuages and 2 virgates in Compton to John de Compton to hold by render of ½d. yearly. (fn. 86)

Church

The parish church of SS. PETER AND PAUL is a large edifice, about three-quarters of the length of Brailes Church, and consists of a long chancel, with a small south chantry-chapel now the vestry, nave, north aisle, south porch, and west tower.

The building dates from the 13th century, the nave being probably early and the west tower later in the same century. Very early in the 14th century the north aisle was added and new windows like those of the aisle were inserted in the south nave-wall. It is quite likely that the chancel was rebuilt and enlarged about the same time, but most of its history in stone has been lost in modern restorations. The south porch is probably of the late 14th century. The clearstory was raised in the first half of the 15th century and a new roof provided. The carved corbels are interesting. Later in the 15th century the tower was heightened by another stage and the tiny chantry or sacristy south of the chancel was built.

There have been several modern restorations, the greatest being in 1862–3, when the chancel was very drastically restored, the western gallery removed, and the roofs repaired or reconstructed. Another reparation was done in 1900 and the tower was repaired in 1930.

The chancel (about 42 ft. by 20½ ft.) has an east window of three trefoiled lights and tracery in a twocentred head, of 14th-century design but all modern. In the south wall are three windows and in the north wall two, similar in design but of two lights. These are also of modern restoration except the middle south window, which is covered by the small chantry and has a plain doorway below it opening into the chantry. Under the easternmost window is a piscina and sedile of modern masonry. West of the westernmost window is a trefoiled recess, inside which was presumably a late-13th-century low-side window: the splays and head have a keeled edge-roll. The masonry appears to be ancient but retooled. There is no trace of it externally. A modern vestry, north of the east half of the chancel, was planned but never completed. Its doorway remains in the chancel wall, now blocked. The walls are of small grey cream and yellow rubble with some larger stones: the south-east angle has ancient quoins of Hornton stone. The roof, covered with stone tiles, is modern. The pointed chancel arch resembles the north arcade in its details but is of modern stonework.

The 15th-century chantry or sacristy south of the chancel is only 8½ ft. long by 6 ft. inside. It is entered only from the chancel and is lighted by an east window of two trefoiled lights and vertical tracery in a twocentred head and two south windows, each of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and tracery in a square head. The walls are of grey ashlar and have a moulded plinth and a south embattled parapet. This side is divided into two bays by three buttresses with moulded offsets. The east and west walls are high-pitched half-gables and the sloping roof is of stone slabs. On the south-east buttress is scratched a half-round sundial, with the stump of the iron gnomon.

The nave (about 62½ ft. by 24 ft.) has a north arcade of c. 1300 of four 15½-ft. bays with octagonal pillars and semi-octagonal responds. They have moulded capitals and bases on chamfered square subbases. The easternmost pillar is modern, the original having been damaged for a former gallery called the Camperdown pew. The pointed arches are of two chamfered orders that die on single splays rising above the capitals (tas-de-charge). The stone is a hard coarsegrained material and the courses and voussoirs are large.

In the south wall are three tall and narrow windows of c. 1300, each of two cinquefoiled pointed lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred head of one chamfered order with an external hood-mould. The rear-arch is chamfered on two edges. The south doorway is of the early 13th century or a later reconstruction re-using earlier material. The jambs are of two chamfered orders, the inner continued in a trefoiled head: the outer is brought to a square arris by a trefoiled stop below a chamfered abacus; the outer order of the semicircular head has a large edge-roll and outer hollow. On the top stone of the west jamb is a scratched sundial antedating the porch. The tall clearstory has five windows on each side, each of two trefoiled ogeeheaded lights and vertical tracery in a square head with an external label that has diamond-shaped volute stops.

The lower masonry of the south wall is of irregular rubble of large and small stones and with greyish-cream dressings. At the west angle is the only buttress of old ashlar, probably added to resist the thrust of the tower archway. The clearstory sets back a little above a double weather-course and is also of irregular rubble with grey stone dressings. The ashlar parapet is embattled, with returned copings to the merlons, and of later repair. Above the low-pitched east gable is a restored bell-cote with open sides with ogee heads, hood-moulds, and crocketed pinnacles: over all is a tall pyramidal pinnacle with a foliated finial.

The low-pitched roof is of the first half of the 15th century but reconstructed with the old material. It is of five bays with moulded cambered tie-beams, moulded braces, and wall-posts with hammer-heads. The trusses are carried on semi-octagonal moulded capitals with concave sides and carved corbels, 12 in all. Of these 5 are angels and 2 are conventional foliage. The second from the east on the north side is a mitred bishop's head with a horseshoe, pincers, and smith's hammer, probably St. Eloy, perhaps the patron saint of the donor, who may be represented by the opposite figure of a man wearing a large scalloped chaperon (head-dress) of c. 1440. A lady in a large horned head-dress is next west of the bishop and opposite her a man with another form of chaperon. The westernmost south figure is that of a priest with a chalice and book. The roof is covered with lead.

The south porch (about 14 ft. north to south by 12 ft.), probably of the 14th century, has a pointed entrance of two continuous chamfered orders. The head may be of 17th-century repair. In it is a pair of oak doors, each leaf ribbed to form five long panels divided by a middle rail. On the west leaf is the date 1620 in lead numerals. It has a massive oak lock. In the side walls are blocked small windows forming recesses inside. The interior has stone benches. The walls are of small unsquared rubble work roughly coursed and without angle-dressings except in the upper parts. The south gable-head is steeply pitched and is coped. The east kneeler has an ancient scratched massdial and near the apex is a 17th- or 18th-century sundial. The roof is modern and covered with stone tiles.

The north aisle (about 11 ft. wide) has a modern east window of two cinquefoiled pointed lights and a foiled spandrel in a two-centred head. The three north windows resemble those in the south nave-wall. The north doorway has jambs and a segmental head (which is of only one stone) of one order with a 13thcentury large edge-roll. The head has been altered: above the segmental lintel is the filling in of a former round arch. The walls are of coursed rubble with light-tinted dressings. The lean-to roof is modern.

The west tower (about 12 ft. north to south by 13 ft.) is of three stages, the middle stage embracing two stories, and the top stage being subdivided into two by a string-course below the bell-chamber windows. The walls are of small irregular rubble and have widesplayed plinths. At the west angles are 15th-century diagonal buttresses of ashlar with narrower and higher moulded plinths. At the east angles are original shallow square buttresses, their sides flush with the east wall; their lower halves are broader and deeper than the upper, but as the original plinth is carried round them they are evidently part of the 13th-century work: there is also a later buttress on the north side against the aisle wall. An inscription on the south side, aw 1930, marks the date of the restoration of the tower, when the walls were found to be very loosely grouted with mud, &c., and even some human bones. The walls are now reinforced with iron bolts and straps. At the south-west angle is a stair-vice entered by a modern south doorway and with the blocked original doorway in the same wall inside the tower. It is lighted by west loops and is carried up the top stage as a shallow projection. The top stage has many larger stones in the walling and ashlar quoins. The parapet is embattled with returned copings to the merlons, which are pierced by cross loops such as might have been used by archers in the 15th-century civil wars. Above the angles are octagonal pinnacles with tall crocketed finials. In the stringcourses are two north and two south carved gargoyles.

The pointed archway to the nave is of three chamfered orders, the outer two dying on the responds, that are of one order, and the innermost carried on corbelcapitals of semi-octagonal plan carved on the underside with stiff-leaved foliage and rosette soffits and having plain chamfered abaci. The southern is 13th-century, the northern a modern copy.

In the west wall is a 13th-century lancet with a plain hood-mould and below it a blocked modern doorway with a round head. The lower story of the second stage has west and south lancets with relieving arches. The upper story has the former bell-chamber windows, of two chamfered orders, the inner with two pointed lights and a solid spandrel in the segmental-pointed outer order, which is of square section and has a plain hoodmould. The mullion is treated as an octagonal shaft with a moulded capital and base. Most of the lights are blocked and there appear to have been transoms. The 15th-century bell-chamber has windows, each of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and foiled piercings in a square head with a hood-mould, and a transom below which the lights have depressed trefoiled heads.

The font and other furniture are modern.

In the porch is set an ancient recumbent effigy of a woman, now very badly worn. The features have been obliterated, but there are traces of the reticulated sidehair coiffure and flat cap of the early 15th century on the head, which rests on a cushion. The dress appears to have been a close-fitting bodice and loose-flowing skirt. The hands were in prayer on the breast and the feet rested on a dog. It is of reddish sandstone. Above the figure are remains of a canopy.

There are six bells. The treble and second are of 1652, the third, fifth, and tenor by Henry Bagley 1731, and the fourth by Taylors 1823. There is also an undated sanctus bell. (fn. 87)

The communion plate includes an Elizabethan cup of the usual pattern of 1571, with floral band ornament, a paten given in 1742, and a tankard-shaped flagon. (fn. 88)

The registers begin in 1670.

Advowson

There was a priest, indicating a church, here in 1086; (fn. 89) and a monastic legend of a miracle performed in the church of Compton by St. Augustine, (fn. 90) though of no historical value, does suggest that the site had traditionally been occupied by a church from early times. The church was given by Geoffrey de Mandeville in about 1140 to his foundation of Walden Abbey in Essex. (fn. 91) The earlier Geoffrey, the Domesday tenant, when he founded the Priory of Hurley (Berks.) in about 1086 had bestowed on that house one bond tenant with 8 acres of land and also certain proportions of various tithes in all the manors which he then held in demesne, (fn. 92) including by implication Long Compton. In 1285 Reymund de Reading as rector made an agreement with the convent of Hurley concerning tithes here; (fn. 93) and in 1291, when the abbey of Walden received £8 yearly from the benefice, the church was valued at £15 6s. 8d. including 'a portion (payable) to the Prior of Hurley and the chapel of Pleshy (de Placeto) which have been combined (consolidantur)'. (fn. 94) In 1316 the abbey of Walden had licence to appropriate the rectory. (fn. 95) The rectorial manor was valued in 1535 at £8, with a fee of 6s. 8d. to the bailiff. (fn. 96) In the same return are two entries concerning the parish church of Long Compton: in the first it is said that the Abbot and Convent of Walden 'receive all issues and profits both of rectory and vicarage' and no value is therefore given; (fn. 97) but in the other the perpetual vicar is named and the vicarage endowment of glebe, tithes, and so forth is put at £12 15s. 6d. (fn. 98) In 1538 the rectory, manor, and advowson of Compton were surrendered with the other estates of the abbey to King Henry VIII, (fn. 99) and were at once made over to Sir Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor, (fn. 100) who exchanged them for other lands with the Abbot of Colchester. (fn. 101) On the forfeiture of the latter abbey they fell to Thomas Cromwell and on his attainder came to the Crown, by whom they were granted in 1547 to Eton College. (fn. 102) The college retained both rectory and advowson until 1907, when the advowson was conveyed to the Bishop of Worcester, from whom it passed in 1918 to the Bishop of Coventry, (fn. 103) who now holds the patronage.

Charities

Richard Badger's Charity. The share of this charity applicable for the parish of Long Compton consists of 1/42 part of the income of the charity, amounting to £17 16s. 9d. annually, and is applied by the rector and churchwardens towards keeping the parish church in proper repair and maintaining divine service. A similar amount representing the poor's share is also received and applied for the benefit of deserving poor residents.

Mary Brain's Charity. The Rev. Robert Brain by will proved 28 August 1847, bequeathed to the vicar the sum of £45, the income to be applied for the benefit of poor widows on Christmas Day. The dividends, amounting to £1 3s. annually, are so applied.

Richard Fowler by will left £20 to the poor of the parish in 1712. The £20 was invested and is now represented by £20 9s. 3d. 2½ per cent. Consols, the income from which is applied for the benefit of the poor.

George Hirons by will proved 25 February 1942 gave £500 to pay the income thereof to the Parochial Church Council for the maintenance of the church and churchyard at Long Compton so long as the graves of his father and mother are kept in good order and repair.

Rawlings's Charity. According to an inscription on a monumental tablet in the church at Long Compton John Rawlings, who died in 1778, left to the poor of the parish £20, the interest to be given to them in bread on 14 April yearly. The endowment now consists of £20 9s. 3d. 2½ per cent. Consols and the income is applied for the benefit of the poor of the parish.

The Rev. Francis Ellis Jervoise by will proved 11 August 1865 gave £200 to be applied at the discretion of the vicar for the time being amongst the most deserving poor of the parish at Christmas. The charity is now regulated by a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 19 February 1907 which appoints a body of trustees to administer the charity and provides for the yearly income to be applied in making payments under various heads for the poor of the parish generally. The endowment produces an annual income of £5 6s. 4d.