BENTLEY
Acreage: 1,967.
Population: 1911, 272; 1921, 253; 1931, 257.
The hamlet and chapelry of Bentley, which is
separated from Shustoke by the parish of Over Whitacre, forms a narrow strip 3½ miles from north-east to
south-west by about a mile broad. It stands high, being
mostly above the 500 ft. contour line and reaching
580 ft. in the north, but dropping steeply to 360 ft. at
the north-east angle. The soil is a stiff clay and the land
is heavily wooded, Monks Park and Bentley Park
Woods, containing 600 acres, and Hoar Park on its
southern boundary being the largest blocks of woodland.
The modern church of St. John, erected in 1837, is
a red brick building consisting of chancel, nave, and
tower. It stands in the north of the parish on the road
from Coleshill to Atherstone, and north-west of it is
the rectangular moat which is said to mark the site of
Bentley Manor House. One mile due south of this is
the ruined chapel of the Holy Trinity, which was
already 'decayed' in 1589, (fn. 1) and was but a 'carcasse'
when Dugdale wrote (c. 1640). (fn. 2)
Only the east wall and a little of the north and south
walls are standing, the remainder being entirely cleared
away and grassed over. It was 15½ ft. wide inside. The
wall is of rubble faced outside with ashlar in orange,
yellow, and red sandstone, with a chamfered plinth on
footings, and low diagonal buttresses. The gable-head
has the original copings and a gable-faced apex-stone.
The narrow east window was of two cinquefoiled
lights and tracery in a square head, probably of the
14th century; the mullion is missing. In the stump of
the south wall is a small piscina with an ogee-head to
the niche and a round basin, and south of the window
is a plain image-bracket.
On the road skirting Monks Park Wood, north-east
of the church, are three or four old thatched cottages.
Two show remains of 17th-century timber-framing.
A third is partly of local stone and partly red brick with
stone dressings and has a 17th-century central chimneystack of bricks.
MANOR
Ansgot the priest held 1 hide in Bentley
in free alms of Geoffrey de Wirce in 1086. (fn. 3)
There was woodland ½ league long by 3 furlongs broad. It passed with Shustoke to the Camviles, (fn. 4)
being divided between two of the sisters of Roger de
Camvile, namely Maud wife of Thomas de Asteley and
Pernell wife of Richard de Curson. (fn. 5) Their descendants
Thomas de Asteley and Henry de Curson certainly held
BENTLEY PARK in moieties in 1265, when they
were respectively killed and taken prisoner at the battle
of Evesham. (fn. 6) Nothing further is
heard of the Curson share of the
park, except that William de
Belne died in 1347 holding a
messuage and 2 virgates in Bentley from Thomas 'le Courson', (fn. 7)
but Thomas de Asteley's heir
was Andrew, whose park was
broken into in 1296. (fn. 8) Andrew
de Asteley died in 1300, when
his possessions in Bentley were
found to be 30 acres of wood
held of the heirs of Roger de
Mowbray by service of 1/30 knight's fee and two
attendances yearly at his court. (fn. 9)
Astley. Azure a cinqfoil ermine.
From this time it appears that Bentley Park descended
with the manor of Astley in Knightlow Hundred, and
as Bentley Wood (Boscus) it was granted in August
1484 by Richard III to Edward, Viscount Lisle, (fn. 10) after
the attainder in January of Thomas Grey, Marquess of
Dorset, who had previously held it. (fn. 11) After the attainder
of Henry, Duke of Suffolk, Bentley Park, along with
the manor of Astley, was sold by Queen Mary to Edward
Chamberlain in 1554. (fn. 12) He died in 1557 leaving a
young son Richard, (fn. 13) who was still living in about
1607. (fn. 14)
Meanwhile Sir Thomas de Asteley, some time before
1265, is said to have granted land in Bentley, outside
the limits of the park and outwood, to John de Wilmcote of Aston Cantlow at a fee farm rent of 5 marks. (fn. 15)
This rent was reduced by Sir Andrew de Asteley to
40s. (fn. 16) and in 1388, being described as rent from
BENTLEY manor, was given by his great-nephew Sir
William de Asteley (fn. 17) to the collegiate church at
Astley. (fn. 18) The manor was settled by John de Wilmcote
on his daughter Joan and her husband Henry de Lisle
of Moxhull (fn. 19) before 13 July 1315. (fn. 20) Henry was dead
by the end of 1336, when the manor, which had been
demised by Joan to a younger son Henry for the term
of her life, was confirmed to him and his heirs by his
elder brother Philip, rector of Cavendish. (fn. 21)
From this time the manor appears to have descended
with Moxhull (q.v.) (fn. 22) to Sir Andrew Hackett and his
wife Mary (Lisley), who with their son Lisle Hackett
were dealing with it in 1689. (fn. 23) In 1722 Lisle Hackett
and John Roland conveyed the manor to Edward
Homer. (fn. 24) In 1739 Jane Holbeche was apparently
lady of the manor, (fn. 25) as in 1752 was Lettice Adderley, (fn. 26)
widow of Bowyer Adderley of Hams Hall and mother-in-law of Andrew Hackett of Moxhull. (fn. 27) But from
1755 to his death in 1762 Thomas Moore of Appleby
(Leics.) held the manor. (fn. 28) He was succeeded by his
son the Rev. Thomas Moore, after whose death in
1793 it went to his half-brother the Rev. John Moore. (fn. 29)
He still held it in 1812, as did Mary Moore, either
his widow or his daughter, in 1821. (fn. 30) By 1850
William Stratford Dugdale was lord of the manor, (fn. 31)
and Sir William F. S. Dugdale, bart., is the present
lord.
Part of his woods in Bentley was given by Walter
de Camvile in the second half of the 12th century to the
abbey of Merevale (q.v.). (fn. 32) In 1399 the abbot and
convent made an agreement with Maxstoke priory
concerning tithes from the 'wood, park or grove
vulgarly called Bentele park', (fn. 33) afterwards known as
Monks Park. (fn. 34) In 1540 the priory lands in Bentley
and elsewhere were granted to Sir Walter Devereux,
Lord Ferrers of Chartley. (fn. 35)
ADVOWSON
The chapel of Bentley is presumed
to have been originally in the patronage
of the lords of Shustoke (fn. 36) and by 1250
enjoyed an annuity of 4 marks from the heirs of Roger
de Camvile, viz. 3½ marks from the farm of a mill in
Shustoke, and ½ mark from Ouston Grange (in Lea
Marston). (fn. 37) At some time between 1248 and 1262
presentation (fn. 38) was made by the guardian of Robert de
Esseby, lord of Shustoke, and in 1311 by Sir Nicholas
de Asteley, son of Andrew de Asteley of Bentley Park
(q.v.). In 1331 presentation was made by John de
Mowbray, (fn. 39) lord of Shustoke, and in 1343 when the
church of Shustoke passed into the possession of the
canons of Maxstoke (fn. 40) the grant specified the advowson
of the chantry in the chapel of Bentley, and the canons
presented to a chantry there in 1347. (fn. 41)
According to a statement made in about 1570, divers
closes or pastures in Bentley, called Symon in Blythes, (fn. 42)
had been given about 200 years earlier in trust to
provide a chaplain to celebrate daily in the chapel of
Bentley; and their profits were so used until chantries
were abolished by Edward VI. (fn. 43) This may refer to the
grant of a tenement and half a yardland in Bentley
made to trustees in 1413 by Sir William de Clinton,
lord of Maxstoke, and John Boteler of Exhall near
Coventry for an identical purpose. (fn. 44)
The chapel or chantry was appropriated to Maxstoke
and in 1483 there is evidence of an appointment of a
priest, to perform divine service there on Sundays and
double festivals only, and for the rest of the time, at
least 3 days a week, at the altar of St. Catherine in
Maxstoke priory, but always, apparently, for the souls
of the founder and benefactors of the chantry. (fn. 45) Immediately before the Dissolution the priory of Maxstoke
was paying 4 marks to a priest for celebrating once a
week in the chapel of Bentley. (fn. 46) This corresponds to
the original endowment, and also to the annual farm of
tithes of corn from Bentley. (fn. 47)
In 1536, among the servants of the priory were
included two priests 'to serve the church of Maxstoke
and sing mass in the chapel of Bentley in the parish of
Shustoke'. (fn. 48)
The advowson and rectory of the free chapel of
Bentley was granted by the Crown in 1538 to Charles
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. (fn. 49)