Parishes: Tidmington

TIDMINGTON

Tidelminc Tune (x cent.); Tidelintun, Tidelmintun (xi cent.); Tydamintun (xiii cent.); Tydilmynton, Tydlemynton (xiv cent.).

The parish of Tidmington, which was formed out of the parish of Tredington in 1719, (fn. 1) is one of the outlying parishes of Worcestershire, being surrounded by Warwickshire on the east and west and by Gloucestershire on the south, with the parish of Shipston-on-Stour, another of the detached parishes of Worcestershire, on the north. The River Stour forms the southern and the greater part of the eastern boundary, while Pig Brook, a small tributary, forms the northern boundary of the parish.

The area of Tidmington is 774 acres, of which 4 are covered with water, 2 are woodland, 64 arable and 630 pasture land. (fn. 2) The soil is stiff loam on a subsoil of Lower Lias.

The village, which consists of a few scattered houses, mostly modern, is situated on the high road from Woodstock to Shipston-on-Stour, on the left bank of the Stour. Near the church to the east of the high road is Tidmington House, the residence of Miss Staunton, a large three-story stone building of c. 1600, much altered and added to in the Queen Anne period, and refronted on the west later in the 18th century. The three gables on the east with their stone-mullioned windows are of the early date, while there is a Queen Anne brick addition on the north and a wing at the south-east with a semicircular termination. The wooden balustraded verandah on the south side of the house is of the same date as these additions. The later west front has projecting wings at either end, the recessed central space being occupied by a Tuscan portico, over which is a Venetian window. The village is about 250 ft. above the ordnance datum. To the west the land rises to 300 ft. or more.

MANORS

TIDMINGTON, which was a member of the manor of Tredington, was probably granted with that manor to the church of Worcester by Eanberht. (fn. 3) In 977 Archbishop Oswald (fn. 4) gave five manses at Tidmington to Alfward for three lives. (fn. 5) In 1086 the Bishop of Worcester held Tidmington as a member of his manor of Tredington, (fn. 6) and the bishop's overlordship was recognized in 1636, when he still received a rent of wheat from the manor. (fn. 7)

The family of Croome were under-tenants of the bishop in this manor from very early times. Bishop Samson (1096–1112) gave 3 hides at Tidmington to Adam de Croome with Earl's Croome. (fn. 8) Ellis de Croome held it about 1182, (fn. 9) but it must soon after have passed to Simon son of Adam de Croome, who was probably an elder brother of Ellis, for Simon is returned as holding the manor in a survey of about the same date. (fn. 10) Early in the 13th century it was held by Adam de Croome of Earl's Croome. (fn. 11) Adam obtained a grant of free warren there in 1252. (fn. 12) The manor then passed with that of Earl's Croome to Adam's grandson Simon, who in 1291 granted it to Geoffrey de Hambury. Geoffrey in the same year regranted it in free marriage to Simon and his wife Maud daughter of Alexander de Escote. (fn. 13) Simon settled it in 1314–15 upon himself and his wife Joan, (fn. 14) and, as Sir Simon, granted it in 1328–9 to his son John and his wife Joan daughter of Richard Hawkeslow, and to their eldest child, with reversion to the donor. (fn. 15) John de Croome and Roger de Ledbury were joint owners in 1346. (fn. 16) It is not known whether John's son Richard (fn. 17) ever held the manor, which passed under the above grant to John's brother Godfrey son of Simon de Croome and Maud de Escote. (fn. 18) On his death without issue the manor was claimed by Thomas Corbett in right of his wife Joan, but in 1364 Reginald de Hambury instituted a successful claim against them, on the ground that the manor had been granted by his grandfather Geoffrey de Hambury in frank marriage to Simon and Maud de Croome, and by the form of the gift ought to revert, on the failure of Godfrey de Croome's issue, to the heir of the donor. (fn. 19) In 1366 the manor was given by Richard Patty, who was evidently acting for Roger (fn. 20) de Hambury, (fn. 21) to the Abbot of Evesham. (fn. 22)

It remained in the possession of successive abbots until the dissolution of the abbey in 1540. (fn. 23) It was granted by the king in 1545 to Richard Ingram and Anthony Foster. (fn. 24) Richard died seised of the manor in 1562, and was succeeded by his son Anthony, (fn. 25) who settled it in 1565 on himself and his wife Dorothy and their heirs. (fn. 26) In 1596 Anthony settled the manor on his son John on his marriage with Cecily daughter of Robert Williamson, but John predeceased his father, (fn. 27) on whose death in 1600 the reversion of the manor on the death of Cicely, then wife of Simon Clifford, passed to Hastings son of John Ingram. (fn. 28) Hastings and his wife Katherine conveyed the manor in 1626 to William Baldwin. (fn. 29) In 1636 George Savage and his wife Eleanor conveyed it to Edward, Richard and John Walker. (fn. 30) Richard Walker was still in possession in 1650, (fn. 31) but after this date the history of the manor is very obscure. In 1716 Thomas Wentworth (fn. 32) of Wentworth Woodhouse, co. York, settled it on himself and his wife Alice Proby for their lives. (fn. 33) The manor afterwards passed to the Snow family, (fn. 34) and in 1794 was held by Thomas Lambert Snow. (fn. 35) He was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Lambert Snow, probably his son, whose eldest daughter Mary Ann married John Staunton of Longbridge. On the latter's death in 1888 (fn. 36) the Tidmington property was divided between his two daughters Anne Elizabeth, now Mrs. Thomas Tufnell Staunton, and Caroline Standert Staunton, who are at present joint owners of the manor. (fn. 37)

CHURCH

The church, the invocation of which is unknown, is a small one, and consists of a chancel, nave, west tower and south porch.

The building dates from about the year 1200, and was then probably of the same size and plan as at present except that the chancel may have been shorter. This was rebuilt at the beginning of the 16th century. The nave windows have all been restored with modern stonework and the early 13th-century tower has been repaired. The south porch is modern. The east window of the chancel has three lights under a traceried square head. On either side is a plain stone bracket and below the southern a small recess. The side walls are pierced by three windows of two lights under square heads, one on the north and two on the south. To the east of the south-east window is the bowl of an early 13th-century pillar piscina, with a part of the shaft re-used. The chancel arch is pointed and of two chamfered orders, dying on to the jambs, the lower parts of which may be of the early 13th century. The north-east window of the nave and the two south windows are modern and of two lights each; the north-west window appears to be a restored and widened single light. The north entrance is modern, but the south doorway is early 13th-century work; the head is round within and square outside, with a tympanum above it, on which is an incised cross. An acute arch of three chamfered orders, the inner springing from octagonal corbels, opens into the tower from the nave.

The tower is of three stages, the lowest having a small square-headed west window and being strengthened by clasping buttresses at the angles. A later buttress has been added in the middle of the south wall. The second stage is lighted by plain square-headed loops on the north, south and: west. The belfry windows are apparently original, each being of two lancets with a common semicircular label and divided by a semi-octagonal shaft with moulded base and capital. The pyramidal roof rests on the original corbel tabling, the corbels being moulded or carved with heads. The lowest stage of the tower is of ashlar, the upper stages of rubble with quoin stones. To the north of the tower is a small modern vestry. The font is round and tub-shaped and quite plain.

There are a few old seats with traceried ends, and a good chest, with the initials and date 'R B 1692,' is preserved in the church.

There are four bells, (fn. 38) one of which is a sanctus bell. The first was cast by Robert Atton of Buckingham, 1619; the second is inscribed '+ Bartelmew Aton' (crown), with the lettering and marks used by the Newcombes of Leicester, and was cast there about 1580 (Atton, who afterwards set up a foundry at Buckingham, was then acting as foreman to the Newcombes); the third is inscribed in black letter 'Sancte Petre ora pro nobis,' with a shield bearing a cheveron between three laver-pots, originally used by W. Dawe of London (1385–1420). As some of his stamps went to Reading and occur on other bells cast there in the 16th century, probably this bell is the work of William Welles of that town about 1550. The sanctus bell has an unintelligible inscription in early Roman capitals, and probably dates from the reign of Elizabeth.

The plate consists of a silver cup of 1753 and a paten of 1845.

The registers (fn. 39) before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1691 to 1803, burials 1691 to 1801 and marriages 1693 to 1777; (ii) baptisms 1804 to 1811 and burials 1806 to 1812; (iii) a smaller book, of which the first page is missing, containing marriages 1762 to 1773, banns 1762 to 1771 and a baptism of 1790. There are also some churchwardens' accounts from 1704.

ADVOWSON

Tidmington was a chapelry annexed to the church of Tredington until 1719, when Tidmington and Shipston-on-Stour were formed into a separate parish and endowed with a third of the rectory of Tredington. (fn. 40) Tidmington is still a chapelry annexed to the rectory of Shipston-on-Stour.

Towards the end of the 13th century the Croomes seem to have had a manorial chapel at Tidmington, for the advowson of the chapel of Tidmington was included in conveyances of the manor in 1291 (fn. 41) and 1328–9. (fn. 42)

CHARITIES

This parish is entitied to an eighty-fourth part of the dividends arising from several sums of stock forming the endowment of Richard Badger's charity, founded by will proved at London 7 December 1907. This is applicable for church purposes. In 1910 a sum of £9 6s. was received.

The parishes of Tidmington and Burmington, in the county of Warwick, are also entitled to receive a forty-second part of the dividends arising from the endowment of the same charity for distribution to the poor in coal. In 1910 a sum of £18 12s. was received. (See under Shipston-on-Stour.)