CHURCH.
The church at Westbury, recorded from
1100, (fn. 63) was probably an early foundation as it
formerly also served Newnham and Minsterworth;
both those places had chapels of ease by 1261,
which had become parish churches by 1309. (fn. 64)
Westbury church was a rectory in the patronage of
the lords of Westbury manor, (fn. 65) but by 1291 a
portion of the profits had been assigned to a vicarage (fn. 66)
to which the rectors presented. (fn. 67) In the early 15th
century, however, the rectory with the right of
presentation to the vicarage was appropriated by the
Vicars Choral of Hereford Cathedral. (fn. 68)
The advowson of the rectory was evidently
included in Henry II's grant of Westbury manor to
Roger de Mynors. (fn. 69) After the death of Henry de
Mynors a joint presentation was apparently made
c. 1220 by his three daughters and their husbands, (fn. 70)
but it was later agreed that Isabel, Elizabeth, and
Basile, and their heirs or assigns, should present in
turn. In practice, however, Isabel's assigns, members
of the Bath family, made all the presentations until
1320, usurping the turns of the other partners. (fn. 71)
Basile granted her share in the advowson c. 1260
to the Bishop of Hereford, (fn. 72) and it descended to
his successors, one of whom successfully presented
to the rectory in 1355 (fn. 73) although challenged by
Richard Talbot. (fn. 74) In 1383 the bishop granted that
share to three clerks, William Knight, John Earl,
and Edmund Field, who already had the Talbots'
right in Isabel's share by virtue of a grant from
Gilbert Talbot in 1371. Philip de Aune, the other
partner in Isabel's share, presented to the rectory
c. 1380. (fn. 75) The share of Elizabeth was divided among
the heirs of Nicholas de Gamage after 1349, but
in 1369 it became re-united in the possession of the
Bishop of Hereford and other assignees, (fn. 76) the survivor
of whom, Thomas Bushbury, granted it in 1387
to the three clerks, Knight, Earl, and Field. (fn. 77)
When a vacancy in the rectory occurred later that
year the right to present was disputed between
the clerks and Philip de Aune and the clerks were
successful. (fn. 78) In 1395 Philip joined with Edmund
Field, presumably the survivor of the three clerks,
and Thomas Bushbury in a grant of the advowson to
the Vicars Choral of Hereford Cathedral. (fn. 79) The latter
presented John Saunders in 1408 and, having been
licensed to do so in 1411, appropriated the rectory
on his death or resignation before 1442; (fn. 80) the vicars
choral retained the advowson of the vicarage (fn. 81)
until c. 1943 when their right was assumed by the
Dean and Chapter of Hereford. (fn. 82)
In 1291 the rectory including the chapels of
Newnham and Minsterworth was valued at £53 6s.
8d. and the vicar's portion at £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 83) The
rector's portion evidently included the glebe, which
was retained by the Vicars Choral of Hereford after
the appropriation; it comprised 27 a. in 1839. (fn. 84)
The vicars choral were awarded a corn-rent of
£628 for the great tithes in 1839. The small tithes
belonged to the vicarage; (fn. 85) tithable produce included
honey, fish, cider, plums, cherries, and walnuts. (fn. 86) In
the early 18th century the vicar received cash for the
tithes of most produce, (fn. 87) although the only established
moduses were apparently those for gardens, milk,
and cider, the validity of which the parishioners
successfully asserted in a legal action against the
vicar in 1736-7. (fn. 88) At that period some parishioners
made agreements for terms of a few years to pay a
fixed annual sum for all their tithes, (fn. 89) and in 1801
that system was apparently extended to all the tithepayers. (fn. 90) The small tithes were commuted for a cornrent of £291 in 1839. (fn. 91) The vicarage was valued at
£20 2s. 10d. in 1535, (fn. 92) £55 in 1650, (fn. 93) £120 in 1750, (fn. 94)
£206 in 1809, (fn. 95) and £296 in 1856. (fn. 96)
The vicarage house, south of Court Farm in
Westbury village, is apparently on the site of the
house of the medieval rectors, since it was owned
by the Vicars Choral of Hereford in 1839; (fn. 97) they
had presumably been allowed to retain it at the
appropriation because the vicar then possessed his
own house granted in 1352. (fn. 98) The house owned by
the vicars choral was included in their lease of the
rectory to Maynard Colchester in 1746, (fn. 99) but it was
evidently occupied by at least one vicar before 1777
when it was called the vicarage, (fn. 1) and it was presumably that house which the vicar Richard
Wetherall declared was too small for his family of
11 children in 1819. (fn. 2) It is a two-storied sashwindowed house of stone partly faced in rough-cast,
and apparently dates from a rebuilding in the earlier
19th century.
In the late 12th century Westbury rectory was one
of a number of preferments held by Walter Map,
the writer and satirist. (fn. 3) Thomas Foliot the rector in
1226 was licensed to hold an additional benefice. (fn. 4)
Edmund of Bath, evidently a relation of the patron
Nicholas of Bath, was licensed to study for three
years in Paris in the late 1270s. (fn. 5) In 1281 he held
two other benefices and was a canon of St. Paul's,
London. (fn. 6) William of Kingscote, then Chancellor
of Oxford, was instituted to the rectory in 1288, (fn. 7)
and in 1309 he was a doctor of canon law and also
held the deanery of Exeter and prebends at Exeter,
Hereford, and Wells. (fn. 8) The rector John Talbot had
leave of absence for study in 1312 as did his successor William Talbot in the following year; (fn. 9)
William Hodynet who had similar leave in 1319 (fn. 10)
was accused in the same year of hunting illegally
in the Earl of Pembroke's park at Painswick. (fn. 11)
Nicholas Butler, the vicar, complained c. 1400 that
members of the Staure family had forcibly taken
the profits of the vicarage and that he dared not
perform services in the church or reside in his
vicarage house for fear of them. (fn. 12) In 1518 the vicar,
William Bayse, was cited to answer charges of nonresidence and other deficiencies. (fn. 13) Richard Sheriff,
vicar from 1537 to 1558, (fn. 14) was pronounced to be
barely satisfactorily in doctrine in 1551. (fn. 15) Thomas
Yatton was non-resident in 1563. (fn. 16) Henry Mynde
(1566-80) was found in 1570 not to have preached
or caused sermons to be preached for three years
or given alms to the poor for two years, (fn. 17) and he
was non-resident, serving the parish by a curate, in
1576. (fn. 18) His successor John White was a minor
canon of Hereford and resided there. (fn. 19) John Osgood,
instituted in 1627, (fn. 20) was described as a preaching
minister in 1650. (fn. 21) Thomas Carpenter (1739-63)
was also Vicar of Sandhurst from 1753, (fn. 22) and John
Kidley (1765-98) was residing at Fownhope
(Herefs.) in 1790. (fn. 23) Richard Wetherell was instituted in 1798 and remained vicar for 60 years but
was non-resident from 1819 to 1835 or later; (fn. 24)
from 1810 he also held the rectory of Notgrove. (fn. 25)
The great size of Westbury parish, which may
have been a reason for having incumbent rectors
and vicars in the Middle Ages, continued to be a
problem. (fn. 26) In the mid 16th century the need for a
chantry-priest as an assistant to the vicar was
stressed. (fn. 27) In the late 1840s it was said that the parish
needed three new churches with the requisite
clergy. (fn. 28) Christopher Jay Jones, instituted as vicar
in 1858, gave Sunday afternoon lectures in the
remoter parts of the parish. (fn. 29) In 1885 services were
being held at Chaxhill House, the home of J. R.
Bennett (fn. 30) who in 1894 gave a site by the main road
at Chaxhill for a mission chapel; the chapel, a brick
building in the Gothic style, was completed in the
same year and dedicated to St. Luke. (fn. 31) Services were
held in a loft at Frocester House at Northwood from
1903 until 1916 when a small chapel was built at
Northwood Green. (fn. 32) Another mission chapel, of
corrugated iron, was built at Rodley in 1908. (fn. 33)
A buildino put up at Elton in 1891 and described as a
lecture room (fn. 34) later served as a village hall, but
services were held there for a time in the 1950s. (fn. 35)
In 1969 the chapels at Northwood, Rodley, and
Chaxhill were each used for at least one service a
month, although Chaxhill chapel was threatened with
demolition for road-widening. (fn. 36)
A chantry dedicated to St. Mary was founded at
Westbury church before 1407; (fn. 37) it was endowed with
a tenement and land which gave its chaplain an
income of £3 1s. 6d. in the 1540s. (fn. 38) The Crown made
a lease of its property in 1563. (fn. 39) Another chantry,
known as Fulcher's or St. Nicholas's chantry, was
founded in 1458 when 10 messuages, 160 a. of land,
and 5s. rent in the parish were acquired with money
left for the purpose by Richard Fulcher. (fn. 40) In the 15th
century chaplains were presented to Fulcher's
chantry by the bishop. (fn. 41) At its dissolution the chaplain had an annual income of £8 2s. 2d.; (fn. 42) its lands
were granted to Sir Nicholas Arnold in 1563 and
they later descended with Boseley manor. (fn. 43)
The church of ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL (fn. 44)
is of Lias stone and comprises chancel, clerestoried
nave, north and south aisles with porches, south
vestry, and a detached tower and spire standing
on the north-west. No part of the church which stood
on the site by the 11th century (fn. 45) apparently survives;
presumably it lacked a tower and the detached
tower and spire were built in the late 13th century,
the body of the church being rebuilt in the 14th
century. (fn. 46)
The massive buttressed tower is of three stages
and has a staircase turret on the north-west; the
windows are plain or cusped lancets or two-light
windows with single trefoils in the heads. The tall
broach spire, which rises to a height of 153 ft., (fn. 47) is
built entirely of wood and covered with wooden
shingles; a row of lucarnes at the bottom was
apparently removed in 1762. (fn. 48) The spire has undergone considerable restoration: in 1664 and again in
1680 it was repaired with the wood from large
numbers of casks; (fn. 49) further repairs were ordered
in 1793 and 1900, (fn. 50) and a thorough restoration was
carried out in 1937. (fn. 51) A medieval chapel standing
against the east face of the tower was demolished
in 1862; (fn. 52) presumably it was the St. Mary's chapel
mentioned in 1524 (fn. 53) and housed the chantry of that
dedication. (fn. 54) Its windows were said to have been of
the 14th century, (fn. 55) and the surviving doorway which
led from it into the tower is of the 13th or 14th
century; two weather-mouldings remain on the side
of the tower, one apparently resulting from the reroofing of the chapel in 1779. (fn. 56)
The body of the church, which is long and high,
appears to be basically of the 14th century although
it has been much restored. The aisle arcades, each
of seven bays with alternating octagonal and clustered piers, some of the aisle windows, and the west
door date from that period, as did also the original
south clerestory windows. The chancel had two
tall 14th-century windows on each side, but one
on the south was removed when the vestry was
added. (fn. 57) The former west window of the nave
was apparently added in the 15th or early 16th
century. (fn. 58) A seat for the singers added c. 1710 (fn. 59)
was probably the gallery at the west end of the church,
which was altered c. 1723. (fn. 60) In 1776 it was decided
to replace the lead on the church roof with tiles
and to put in a ceiling. (fn. 61) In 1862 a major restoration
was carried out under the firm of Medland and
Maberley of Gloucester. A new chancel arch and
east window were made, the clerestory windows
were replaced with quatrefoils, and a vestry was
built on the south side of the chancel; the ceiling
was removed and the nave and chancel were reroofed, the gallery was taken out, new seats were
made in the chancel, and the pulpit and readingdesk were re-sited. (fn. 62) In 1864 a new west window was
put in, (fn. 63) and a further restoration in 1876-8
included the re-roofing of the aisles, the provision
of a reredos, the replacement of the west window of
the north aisle, and the restoration of the stonework
of the other old windows. (fn. 64)
The pews in the nave date from the 16th century
and have linen-fold panelling on the ends. The
pedestal of the font, carved with the royal arms and
other devices, is dated 1583; the bowl is not original. (fn. 65)
There is a calvary carved in relief in a 14th-century
cinquefoil niche above the west door, and a piscina
drain in the form of a rose in the sill of the south
chancel window. Two 18th-century brass chandeliers
hang in the chancel. (fn. 66) The church had five bells c.
1703; (fn. 67) they were recast by Abraham Rudhall in 1711,
and a sixth was added by John Rudhall in 1825. (fn. 68) One
bell was recast in 1886. (fn. 69) The plate includes an Elizabethan chalice, a dish of 1672 given in 1738 for use
either as an alms-dish or as a paten, and a paten of
1719 apparently acquired in 1731. (fn. 70) The registers
are virtually complete from 1538. (fn. 71)