CHURCHES.
There was apparently a church at
Eastington by 1092 when Winebaud de Ballon
granted tithes there to Bermondsey Priory, (fn. 20)
although no record of it has been found before 1291. (fn. 21)
It was presumably founded by Winebaud or another
lord of the manor. In 1305 the church was a rectory, (fn. 22)
which it has remained. The benefice was united
with the vicarage of Frocester in 1953. (fn. 23)
The advowson belonged to the lord of Eastington
manor in 1305, (fn. 24) and successive lords presented, with
an exception in 1387 when the Crown presented,
although the feoffees of Hugh, Earl of Stafford, had
made a successful presentation the previous year. (fn. 25)
Thomas Heneage, lord of the manor, presented in
1532, (fn. 26) but in the mid 16th century there was
confusion over the ownership of the advowson. In
1550 the Crown granted it to Sir William Herbert, (fn. 27)
and the Duke of Northumberland was later said
to have been patron in 1553. (fn. 28) In 1555, however,
Henry, Lord Stafford, leased the advowson to
Richard Stafford, later lessee of the manor, and in
1567 William Whitton presented under a grant from
Richard Stafford. (fn. 29) In 1566 Richard Stafford sub-let
the advowson to Richard Stephens, who with
others bought it from Ursula Stafford and her sons
in 1569. (fn. 30) Three of the purchasers presented in
1571, (fn. 31) but then or later they were disputing it
with other claimants, and in 1575 they bought it
from Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke; (fn. 32) Richard
Stephens alone was said to be seised of the advowson
at his death in 1577. (fn. 33) It then descended with the
manor in the Stephens family until 1812 when
Henry Stephens (formerly Willis) sold it to William
Veel who sold it in the same year to the Revd.
Richard Huntley of Boxwell Court. (fn. 34) Huntley
apparently sold it c. 1823 to John Laing. (fn. 35) In 1831
Abraham Hatherell presented and in 1837 Ralph
Peters. (fn. 36) In 1856 the advowson belonged to the
incumbent Thomas Peters (d. 1890), (fn. 37) from whom
it passed to T. E. Peters, whose trustees held
it in 1906 and 1931. In 1935 the advowson was
held by J. T. Chapple; (fn. 38) it was acquired c. 1939
by the Diocesan Board of Patronage (fn. 39) which in 1968
shared the advowson of the united benefice with
Lady Cooper of Frocester.
The church was worth £10 13s. 4d. and Bermondsey Priory's portion £1 in 1291; (fn. 40) the portion was
not recorded later. A portion of the tithes of Alkerton
owed to the Vicar of Frocester was being disputed by
the rector in 1367, (fn. 41) and in 1377 was commuted for a
rent of 20s.; (fn. 42) the payment to Frocester was recorded
until the late 18th century. (fn. 43) In 1674 a composition
was being paid to the rector for milk, but other
produce and animals including calves were tithable
in kind. (fn. 44) From 1818 the tithe-payers paid cash
compositions to the rector. (fn. 45) The tithes were commuted for a corn-rent of £525 in 1839. (fn. 46) The rector
had some glebe in 1341; (fn. 47) there were 45 a. in the
early 17th century, (fn. 48) and 64 a. c. 1820. (fn. 49) In 1680 a
house at Nupend belonged to the rectory. (fn. 50) The
rectory was valued at £32 14s. 9d. in 1535, (fn. 51) £57 in
the early 17th century, (fn. 52) £160 in 1650, (fn. 53) £130 in
1750, (fn. 54) and £552 in 1856. (fn. 55)
The rectory house, which was mentioned from
1572 when it was said to be in decay, (fn. 56) stood east of
the church on the site later occupied by the school. (fn. 57)
It had 7 hearths in 1672, (fn. 58) and in 1680 the house and
out-buildings comprised 28 bays. (fn. 59) It was a low,
gabled block with timber-framed out-buildings. (fn. 60)
One window contained coloured glass depicting
soldiers performing military exercises, thought to be
late-16th-century Flemish work. (fn. 61) In 1833 the
building of a new rectory was begun on another
site north of the road to Stonehouse. (fn. 62) The new
house, later called Oldbury, ceased to be the
rectory c. 1900, and shortly afterwards Eastington
Lodge was acquired as a rectory. (fn. 63)
By 1291 Eastington church had a chapel of ease
at Alkerton, (fn. 64) later described as standing at about a
crossbow-shot from the church; (fn. 65) it was dedicated
to St. Kenelm. (fn. 66) In 1340 services at the chapel had
been suspended for default by Alkerton parishioners,
some of whom refused to attend the parish church
instead and were ordered to be barred from neighbouring churches. (fn. 67) In 1400 the Rector of Eastington
was exempted from celebrating mass and other
offices in the chapel, which was then ruinous, (fn. 68) and
no later record of the chapel has been found.
In 1338 the Rector of Eastington was given leave
to be absent in the service of the Earl of Gloucester. (fn. 69)
John Wells, rector in 1397, was given dispensation
to hold an additional benefice; (fn. 70) he was farming the
demesne of the manor in 1402 (fn. 71) and 1409. (fn. 72) In
1457 and 1468 the rector, John Sudbury, was one of
the lessees of the manorial warren and fishery. (fn. 73)
In 1475 dispensation to hold an additional benefice
was granted to William Blamyre (fn. 74) (d. 1501). (fn. 75)
William Dickinson, rector from 1532, (fn. 76) was apparently non-resident in 1551 when the church was
being served by a curate whose doctrinal knowledge
was found unsatisfactory. (fn. 77) Dickinson was temporarily suspended in 1553 for brawling with a
parishioner in the church; (fn. 78) he was said to be resident
in 1563, (fn. 79) but in the same year the churchwardens
complained that they had only an old curate who
could not read distinctly. In 1570 the curate serving
the parish was indicted for not wearing a surplice,
failing to read the royal injunctions, and using
common white bread for the sacrament. (fn. 80) Richard
Syrell, the rector, was absent in 1572, (fn. 81) and had
another benefice in 1576. (fn. 82) In 1579 Thomas Barker
was instituted on the presentation of Edward
Stephens, but Syrell claimed that Stephens had
ousted him from the living by means of a forged
document, obliging him to resign when required,
because he refused to lease the rectory to Stephens
at a small rent; Stephens said that Richard Stephens
had secured the obligation when he presented
Syrell because he was anxious to recoup some of the
money he had recently spent in litigation over the
advowson. (fn. 83) Robert Ball (1581-1613) (fn. 84) was a
preacher and a graduate. (fn. 85)
From 1613 the living was held by Richard Capel,
a noted Puritan divine; in 1619 he was presented
for not wearing a surplice, not making the sign of
the cross in baptism, and for other omissions, (fn. 86) and
in 1633 he refused to read the Book of Sports in
church and resigned the living. (fn. 87) William Pemble,
another Puritan divine, died at Eastington in 1623
while visiting Capel his former tutor. (fn. 88) Both Capel
and his successor, William Mew, were evidently
presented because their opinions coincided with
those of the patron, Nathaniel Stephens. (fn. 89) In 1640
Mew was said to have been a lecturer in London
and to stand 'affected as most lecturers do'; (fn. 90)
he preached before the House of Commons in
1643, and was a member of the assembly of divines. (fn. 91)
In 1650 he was described as a constant preacher. (fn. 92)
After a last-minute change of mind he subscribed
to the Act of Uniformity in 1662, (fn. 93) and apparently
held the living until 1669 when Samuel Mew was
instituted. (fn. 94) Robert Stephens, instituted in 1760,
was also Rector of Shellingford (Berks.), and later
became lord of the manor. (fn. 95) His successor, William
Davies (1776-1817), resided, (fn. 96) but Wadham Huntley
(1817-31), (fn. 97) the brother of the patron, resided on his
benefice at Aston Blank. (fn. 98) Huntley's successor, James
Hatherell, who rebuilt the rectory, had leave of
absence for reasons of health in 1836; he was succeeded in the next year by Thomas Peters, (fn. 99)
who gained a high reputation during his 45 years'
incumbency. (fn. 1) In the 1760s a parishioner was paid
a small salary 'for preserving good order in the
church during divine service'. (fn. 2) A rent-charge of
15s. was given to the rector for a sermon on
Ascension Day by Richard Clutterbuck of Nupend
(d. 1735), (fn. 3) and the rector still preached the sermon
in the late 1960s, although the bequest and 5s. given
at the same time for the parish clerk then went
towards general church purposes. (fn. 4)
A chantry, endowed with two houses and 58 a. of
land, was founded in Eastington church in 1336 by
the lady of the manor, Iseult de Audley, (fn. 5) and priests
were instituted to it in 1338 and 1386. (fn. 6) The chantry
priest was presented for hunting with greyhounds
in the lord's warren in 1377. (fn. 7) The chantry perhaps
lapsed in the early 15th century, as the rents from
its lands were paid to the manor in 1439 and later,
and in 1457 a house and yardland, formerly held
by the chantry priest, were leased by the lord of the
manor to a tenant. (fn. 8) No later reference to the chantry
has been found, unless the chaplain recorded in
the parish in 1498 served it. (fn. 9)
The parish had a church house by 1468 when
the tenants of Eastington manor petitioned the
Duchess of Buckingham for a piece of land for its
enlargement, (fn. 10) and the manor was receiving a
nominal rent for the site of the church house within
the outer court of the manor in 1491. (fn. 11) A new
church house was under construction in 1524, (fn. 12)
and a building called the Church House was sold
with the advowson by the Staffords in 1569. (fn. 13)
The church of ST. MICHAEL, formerly St.
Mary, (fn. 14) comprises nave, chancel, south aisle, west
tower, north porch, and north vestry and organchamber. No part of the fabric is obviously earlier
than the 14th century, but the Norman font,
which has a plain bowl and a pedestal encircled by
a broad shelf scalloped on the underside, (fn. 15) presumably survives from the earlier church. (fn. 16) The dedication of the church in 1340 (fn. 17) may have marked the
completion of a 14th-century rebuilding. The
tower is probably wholly of that period; it is
of three stages with battlements and gargoyles and
a square staircase-turret on the north, and has
14th-century windows at each stage. Windows of the
same period survive in the north wall of the nave, in
the side walls of the chancel, and in the south wall
of the aisle, the latter apparently reset. In the later
15th or early 16th century the nave was largely
rebuilt and a south aisle added or rebuilt. The nave
was made higher and three tall arched windows
divided into two stages by a thick transom (fn. 18) were
made in the eastern part of the north wall, and a
smaller one was inserted above the 14th-century
window at the west; three clerestory windows were
made above the new arcade on the south side. The
aisle was given an east window with a hood-mould
enriched with angel-stops and carvings of dogs and
a knight holding a shield, and a west window with
internally a cusped ogee hood on foliated stops;
three square-headed windows and a doorway were
made in the south wall. The doorway has a square
dripmould, crowned head-stops, and decorated
spandrels bearing the initials SB for one of the
Staffords, Dukes of Buckingham, who perhaps
paid for the rebuilding. (fn. 19) Nave and aisle were
given low-pitched panelled ceilings ornamented
with bosses. At the rebuilding or later a doorway
with a dripmould was made in the north wall of the
chancel. (fn. 20)
The chancel was said to be ruinous in 1570. (fn. 21)
In 1652 a gabled north porch with a round-headed
entrance was built (fn. 22) replacing a slightly higher one.
A gallery for the Clutterbucks of Millend and
Nastend was built under the tower in 1760. (fn. 23)
In 1832 a vestry was built on the south side of the
chancel, (fn. 24) and in 1851 when a restoration was
financed by Charles Hooper the nave was lengthened
towards the east by building a new chancel arch, a
new ceiling was made over the east part of the nave,
and a gallery was removed from the east end of the
aisle and the arcade there renewed. (fn. 25) Later the
windows were restored, (fn. 26) and in 1885 further
restoration included the addition of an organchamber west of the vestry replacing one bay of the
aisle, the removal of the west gallery, the insertion
of a low screen to separate nave and chancel in
the position of the former chancel arch, the replacement of pews, pulpit and reading-desk, and
the addition of choir-stalls. (fn. 27)
Several windows retain fragments of medieval
painted glass, including a figure of St. Matthew in a
north window, the only survivor of a set of apostles
holding creed scrolls; (fn. 28) other glass with the cypher
of the Duke of Buckingham in the window west of
the organ-chamber was moved from the nave
window destroyed in 1885. (fn. 29) A brass to Elizabeth
Knevet (d. 1518) (fn. 30) is set in the east wall of the organchamber. Against the west wall of the aisle is a
tomb with the recumbent effigies of Edward Stephens
and his wife Joan (both d. 1587); it was in the
chancel until 1850 and under the tower until
1954. (fn. 31) The plate includes a chalice given in 1684
by the rector, Samuel Mew; another dated 1622
has disappeared since 1906. (fn. 32) The church had one
bell from the early 17th century; (fn. 33) tradition records
the removal of a full peal. (fn. 34) The bell was recast at
Frocester by James Whitmore in 1652, (fn. 35) again in
1699 by Abraham Rudhall, (fn. 36) and again by John
Rudhall in 1826. (fn. 37) In 1953 the peal of six bells from
St. Peter's church at Frocester was acquired;
four were cast by William Whitmore in 1639, one
by Abraham Rudhall in 1743, and another by John
Rudhall in 1794; two were recast in 1892. (fn. 38) The
registers are complete from 1558. (fn. 39)