CHURCH
The early history of the advowson of Little Laver is
not clear. It was certainly granted to the
priory of Rumilly, a Cluniac house in the
Pas-de-Calais, by a count of Boulogne after
the beginning of the 12th century. (fn. 17) It is probable that
the grant was made by Count Eustace during the reign
of Henry I. (fn. 18)
For some time in the 13th century, if not before, the
prior and monks of Rumilly found it impossible to
exercise their rights of presentation. (fn. 19) This led them
in 1279 to make an agreement with Queen Eleanor,
wife of Edward I. (fn. 20) The queen was to help the priory
to recover the advowson from usurpers. The prior and
monks were then to grant the advowson to the queen
for 50 marks but they reserved to themselves the pension of 16s. which they were 'wont to receive in times
past from the church'. Apparently the priory's claim
was successfully established, for in 1280 the prior
granted the advowson to the king and queen. (fn. 21) Thereafter the advowson remained in the Crown until late in
the reign of Henry VIII when it was granted to Richard,
1st Baron Rich. (fn. 22)
In 1559 Lord Rich conveyed the advowson with
the manor of Bourchiers Hall to John Collins who presented to the church in 1569. (fn. 23) Nicholas Collins
presented in 1599. (fn. 24) In 1607 James I presented
through lapse. (fn. 25) In 1609 Nicholas Collins conveyed
the advowson to John Adams. (fn. 26) In 1637 Benjamin
Oliver presented to the living. (fn. 27) In about 1654 Anne
Gilbert presented William Hiccocks who in 1655
presented Edward Whiston. (fn. 28) Presentations were
made by Richard Collins in 1662, Ann Bayn in 1670,
Samuel Burnet in 1690, and Maurice Hunt in 1697. (fn. 29)
Matthew Blucke held the advowson with the manor of
Bourchiers Hall before his death in about 1713. (fn. 30)
After this the advowson descended with the manor
until 1767. (fn. 31) In 1767 Robert Palmer came into possession of the advowson as well as the manor. (fn. 32) He
immediately sold the next presentation to Timothy
Earl for £525. (fn. 33) The right of presentation afterwards reverted to Palmer according to the agreement
of 1767. (fn. 34) The living then remained in the gift of the
lords of the manor of Bourchiers Hall until the manor
was sold to William Clark in 1801. (fn. 35) The advowson
was also offered for sale by Richard Palmer in 1801 but
did not find a purchaser. (fn. 36) It remained with the
Palmers or their trustees until 1910 when it was
transferred to the Bishop of St. Albans from Mary
Isabella, widow of the Revd. Henry Golding-Palmer,
grandson of Richard Palmer. (fn. 37) In 1914 the right of
presentation was transferred from the Bishop of St.
Albans to the Bishop of Chelmsford. (fn. 38) Since 1933 the
living has been united with that of Moreton in the
gift of St. John's College, Cambridge, who have first
and third turns, and the Bishop of Chelmsford, who
has second turn. (fn. 39)
In about 1254 the church was assessed at 6 marks. (fn. 40)
This sum did not include the pension of 16s. which
was at that time paid to the monks of Rumilly. (fn. 41) In
1291 the church was assessed at £8. (fn. 42) In 1428 it was
still taxed on this valuation. (fn. 43) In 1535 the rectory was
valued at £15 10s. 4d. (fn. 44) Its 'improved' value was £80
in 1604, £90 in 1650, and £140 in 1661. (fn. 45) In 1610
there were about 87 acres of glebe. (fn. 46) The tithes were
commuted in 1848 for £260; there were then 89 acres
of glebe. (fn. 47)
A terrier of 1610 described the rectory as 'a fair
dwelling-house, the greater part whereof was built by
John Oliver, rector of this parish in 1600' with 'an old
kitchen a little distant from the house, a great barn for
corn, and a barn for hay, with a stable at the east end
of it, two gardens, a little square green court, a great
old orchard, and other yards and easements for the most
part compassed about with a great ditch or small moat'. (fn. 48)
The separate kitchen was a medieval feature which
evidently survived when the house was rebuilt by
Oliver. The north side of the moat was still in existence in 1848 (fn. 49) but only short stretches now remain.
The house was rebuilt in 1831 at a cost of £2,000. (fn. 50)
It consists of a square two-story block with a pedimented
porch on the north side and a splayed bay to the south.
A large wing adjoins it on the west. It ceased to be
used as a parsonage after the living was united with that
of Moreton in 1933 and it is now a private house called
White Lodge.
The parish church of ST. MARY consists of nave,
apse, south porch, and combined north vestry and organ
chamber. The walls are of flint rubble. The porch is
of timber. In 1872 the church was largely rebuilt and
very little medieval work now remains.
Nothing is left of the pre-13th-century church
except the font (see below). The nave was probably
rebuilt in the 14th century. It retains two windows,
much restored, of this date. The south window has a
chamfered hood-mould externally and two muchdecayed head stops. The braced collar-beam roof
appears to be partly ancient. The only other original
feature is the trefoil-headed piscina, which is probably
of the 14th century and which has been reset in the
apse.
Drawings of the church before 1872 showed that it
had a square-ended chancel (fn. 51) with a doorway and a
15th-century window on its south side. (fn. 52) In about
1768 the church was described as 'small, of one pace,
and the same width, with the chancel, and the whole
tyled. The belfry stands in the middle of the church,
with a spire shingled, in which there is only 1 bell.' (fn. 53)
In 1872 the church was restored and enlarged at the
expense of the Revd. Richard Palmer in memory of
his brother, the Revd. H. Palmer. (fn. 54) The architects
were Messrs. Turner & Son of Wilton Street, Grosvenor Place (Lond.). (fn. 55) The west wall, the apsidal
chancel, the porch, and the vestry are all of this date.
In general the new work is a free interpretation of an
early-14th-century style. The apse has three-light
windows with an inner arcade resting on polished
shafts of pink-veined marble. The west window is
three-light and there are single-light lancets elsewhere.
The south doorway of the nave is 13th-century in style
with a Norman zigzag moulding superimposed on the
arch. The opening from the vestry to the nave has a
large trefoil-headed arch. In 1884 the floor of the
church was raised and relaid. (fn. 56)
There is one bell by Anthony Bartlet inscribed 'All
Glory Be To God' and dated 1674. (fn. 57) It has been
rehung in the stone cupola above the west end of the
nave.
The square font bowl is of the late 12th century
and is similar in character to those in some neighbouring parishes. (fn. 58) The base is an addition of 1872 (fn. 59) and
the carving of the bowl was probably recut at the same
time. The decoration includes the fleur-de-lis, crescent,
disk, and whorl found on other fonts of the type. (See
plate facing p. 184.)
There is a chair which has early-17th-century
carving and may have been made from a pulpit and
sounding board of this period. (fn. 60) The stone pulpit,
carved with niches and figures, dates from 1872. (fn. 61)
The carved stone reredos was given by the Revd. S. C.
Beauchamp in 1886 in memory of Miss S. Caroline
Palmer. (fn. 62)
The plate includes a silver cup with a bowl of 1562
which has a gilded band of foliage ornament, a silver
cup with a bowl of 1563 to which a stem with a
scalloped collar, probably of the 17th century, has been
added, and an undated silver paten of which the foot
possibly fits the bowl of 1562.