SHINFIELD
Selingefelle (xi cent.); Shenyngfeld (xv cent.);
Shenfeld, Shyningfeild (xvii cent.); Shinfeild alias
Shineingfeild alias Shinwills (xviii cent.).
The parish of Shinfield is situated on the left bank
of the River Loddon between Stratfield Mortimer
and Earley, and consists of a central ridge of high
land sloping eastwards to the Loddon and westwards
towards the Kennet valley. The soil is almost wholly
London Clay with considerable spreads of valley gravel
about Hyde End and School Green on the east and
Grazeley and Three-Mile-Cross on the west side,
and some patches of plateau gravel on the hill-tops
near Spencer's Wood and Shinfield Lodge. There are
also some alluvial meadows near the Loddon. The
area of the parish is 4,313 acres, of which 1,426 are
arable land, 2,247 permanent grass and 75 woods
and plantations. (fn. 1) Recently a large part of the estate
of Shinfield Manor, the property of the late Captain
Cobham, has been sold, and numerous small houses
and cottages have been built.
A part of the parish on the west, comprising the
Diddenham estate, formed an outlying portion of
Wiltshire (see under hundred) until transferred to
Berkshire in 1844.
The liberty of Hartley Dummer in Shinfield parish
lies within the hundred of Theale. Although still in
the civil parish of Shinfield, it has been transferred to the
ecclesiastical parish of Lambwood Hill, formed out of
Shinfield in 1854. (fn. 2) To this parish were added in
1860 the tithing of Grazeley in Sulhamstead Abbots
and a portion of Sulhamstead Bannister, and it was
then renamed Grazeley. (fn. 3) A new ecclesiastical district
has recently been formed at Spencer's Wood, embracing parts of Shinfield, Grazeley and Swallowfield.
Part of Shinfield which has been included in
Reading municipal borough was added to the civil
parish of St. Giles's, Reading, in 1889. (fn. 4)
The church and manor-house of Shinfield lie on
the eastern side of the parish, not far from the River
Loddon. The manor-house, an 18th-century building,
formerly the rectory, belongs to Mr. Alex. Blyth
Cobham, son of Capt. Cobham. The old manor-house
was pulled down at the end of the 18th century by
Alexander Cobham, who purchased the estate from the
Earl of Fingal; its site is near a small farm-house in
an opening of the avenue on the east side of the road
leading from Shinfield to Reading. The modern
vicarage is on the north of the church. On the opposite
side of the road to the church is a modernized 17th-century farm-house of half-timber and brick. The
house contains a fine oak staircase of Jacobean date.
In a field to the east of this farm and on the same
side of the road is a small, deep moat. It is possible
that this may be the remains of the clay-pits dug for
the making of the bricks used in the 17th-century
church tower. A by-road runs past the church and
manor-house to the Reading road, a picturesque
highway lined with elms and oaks with a stretch of
common on the right, now inclosed and built over
with modern villas. On the left are Shinfield Lodge
and Shinfield Grove, until recently the property of
the Hulme family, who held them from the end of
the 18th century, and Goodrest, built in the
'ornamental Gothic' style, the property in 1843 of
Edward Willes, whose son William Willes sold it to
Mr. John Dawson Mayne. From the Black Boy Inn
a road leads past Shinfield Grange to Lower Earley.
The land south of this and to the east of the Reading
road is partly occupied by the Reading College experimental farm and has partly been cut up by new
roads for building purpose. The hamlet of Three-Mile-Cross, on the Reading road, is a picturesque
little village which figure in Miss Mitford's Our
Village. The house in which Miss Mitford lived for
thirty years is now used as a club-house. In 1851 she
moved to a small house in Swallowfield, still standing,
where she spent the last five years of her life and
from which she published in 1852 the Recollections
of a Literary Life.
School Green lies a little to the south of the church
and takes its name from the school-house erected here
in 1707 by Richard Piggott, citizen and cutler of
London. The original house still stands. It is a
two-storied building of brick with a tiled roof and
wooden modillion cornice. There is an attic story
in the roof, lighted by dormer windows. The windows of the ground and first floors are of the casement
type usual at the period, having a central unmoulded
mullion of wood, the upper third being divided from
the lower part by a transom. Over the doorway,
which is placed centrally, is a stone tablet inscribed
as follows: 'This school was | Built by Richard |
Piggott Citizen & | Cutler of London | son of
William | Piggott of this parish | Anno Domini |
1707.' Modern additions have been built on either
side of the main building.
Highlands, to the west of the Reading road, was
the residence of Miss Crowdy, who died recently,
and the estate is now about to be sold. Stanbury, a little
further north, is the seat of Mr. Frederick Allfrey
and was built in 1859–60. In Grazeley parish are
Grazeley Court, formerly known as Grazeley Lodge,
owned by Captain Drake, and Hartley Court, the
property of Mr. J. H. Benyon. The latter is an
ancient building with a modern front. It contained
in 1843, in the attics, a carved mantelpiece showing
the arms of Beke, wrought in inlaid coloured woods,
dated 1509. (fn. 5) This has been removed, but the study
contains an Elizabethan overmantel. (fn. 6)
There is a Baptist chapel in Shinfield, a Wesleyan
chapel at Three-Mile-Cross, and a Congregational
chapel at Spencer's Wood.
MANORS
In the time of King Edward the
Confessor SHINFIELD was held in alod
of the king by Sexi, and in 1086 formed
part of the royal demesne. It was an important
manor and had a mill worth 5s. and 150 eels and
five fisheries worth 550 eels. (fn. 7) It is not improbable
that although in the king's hands in 1086 the manor
had once formed part of the fee of William Fitz
Osbern Earl of Hereford (who gave the church to his
abbey of Lire) and had been forfeited by his son
Earl Roger in 1174 (see Swallowfield). Before 1166
Shinfield had been granted to one of the Earls of
Warwick, and in that year was held under William
de Newburgh Earl of Warwick by his tenants the
St. Johns. (fn. 8) The manor seems to have been regarded
as part of the St. Johns' manor of Swallowfield (fn. 9)
(q.v.), from which it was apparently not separated
until the middle of the 16th century.
In 1560 Queen Elizabeth granted the manor of
Shinfield to William Marquess of Winchester, owner
of Stratfield Mortimer. (fn. 10) This was probably in trust
for Edward Martin, who in 1561 settled it on himself and his wife Katherine and the issue of Edward,
with remainder to William Martin, his natural
brother. (fn. 11) Edward Martin's much mutilated monument in the church records that he was at one
time a royal surveyor. He died in 1604 seised
of the manor of Shinfield. (fn. 12) His daughter and
heir Anne had married William Wollascott of Woolhampton, (fn. 13) and the manor
afterwards followed the descent of Brimpton (fn. 14) (q.v.)
until about 1786, when it
was sold by the Earl of Fingal
to Alexander Cobham, who
was Sheriff of Berkshire in
1790. (fn. 15) He died suddenly
in 1810, owing to a fall from
his horse, and the manor
passed to his great-nephew
Alexander Cobham Martyr,
who afterwards took the name
of Cobham. He died in 1902,
leaving the property to his son
Captain Alexander William
Cobham, late of the 44th Regiment, who died in
1913. Captain Cobham took part in the Crimean
war and received the Order of the Medjidie (5th
class). His son Mr. A. B. Cobham is now owner.
Cobham of Shinfield. Gules a cheveron engrailed between three cinqfoils or with three lions sable on the cheveron.
The manor of HARTLEY DUMMER, which has
always been included in the hundred of Theale, is
not mentioned by name in the Domesday Survey,
but it may, perhaps, be identified with that hide in
Reading Hundred (out of which Theale Hundred
was afterwards formed) which belonged to Swallowfield and had been held, like the capital manor, by
Sexi in the time of King Edward. (fn. 16) In 1086 it was
held by the king. During the first half of the 13th
century Richard de Dummer held 1 hide in
Hartley (fn. 17) by service of a quarter of a knight's fee. (fn. 18)
He quarrelled with the Abbot of Reading over common of pasture in Grazeley, which he ultimately
quitclaimed to the abbey in return for a grant of the
land between Fulritham and the Trunkwell road. (fn. 19)
In 1249 Sir Richard de Dummer granted his land in
Hartley, except his meadows called Eldemed and
Niwemed and his free men and villeins and their
tenements, to Giles Bridport, then Archdeacon of
Berkshire and afterwards Bishop of Salisbury. (fn. 20) The
grant was confirmed by Sir Richard's daughter Alice
and her husband Luke Rop, (fn. 21) and Bridport bestowed
the land on his college of St. Nicholas de Vaux at
Salisbury. (fn. 22)
The college remained in the possession of this
estate till the Dissolution, (fn. 23) by which time it consisted chiefly of the manor called ERBAR or ARBOR,
described as situated 'in the vill of Hartley Dummer
in the parishes of Shinfield and Burghfield.' (fn. 24) It was
granted to Sir John Williams in 1543, (fn. 25) and afterwards
followed the descent of the manor of Burghfield,
appearing as a separate estate until as late as 1700.
It probably lay not far from Amners in Burghfield,
but the name Erbar now seems to be lost. (fn. 26)
In 1656 Montagu Earl of Lindsey and Bridget
his wife, daughter of Edward Wray and Elizabeth
Norreys, conveyed the site of the manor to Anne
James, widow. (fn. 27)
Another hide of land at Hartley was held in the
early part of the reign of Henry III by the Abbot of
Battle. (fn. 28) This holding, which was afterwards known
as HARTLEY BATTLE, (fn. 29) is not mentioned in
Domesday. Possibly it still belonged in 1086 to the
king's manor of Shinfield or to Ralph de Mortimer's
'Hurlei,' (fn. 30) or it may have been assessed, as it was in
the 15th century, (fn. 31) with the abbot's capital manor of
Brightwalton, 15 miles away. The tenants of Hartley
Battle did suit at the view of frankpledge held at
Brightwalton Court at least as late as 1503. (fn. 32) In
1424 Robert Woodcock seems to have been holding
a large part of this estate, for he was then paying 8s.
yearly to the abbey for himself and his tenants. (fn. 33)
There is no mention of Hartley in the Ministers'
Accounts of Battle in 1479, (fn. 34) and no grants of the
land have been found at the Dissolution, but apparently the lordship which the abbey had held persisted, for in 1709 a 'manor and liberty of Hartley
Battle,' parcle of the manor of Brightwalton, is said
to have been conveyed by its owner, John Westmoreland, to Sir Owen Buckingham, (fn. 35) and thereafter
to have descended with Moor Place (q.v.).
Early in the reign of Henry III there were 2 hides
in Hartley, of which one was held by Amys de
Pellitot and the other by Matthew de Burghfield,
who seem to have been kinsmen. (fn. 36) Their lands,
which are described in a late inquisition as being held
of the lord of Stratfield Mortimer, (fn. 37) are not entered
separately in Domesday Book, unless they may be
identified with the 2 hides in 'Hurlei,' (fn. 38) entered
under Reading Hundred in the Domesday Survey,
which had been held of Edward the Confessor by
Rachenild and formed part of the fee of Ralph de
Mortimer in 1086. (fn. 39)
The descent of these holdings, distinguished in the
14th century as HARTLEY AMYS and HARTLEY
PELLITOT, (fn. 40) is extremely difficult to trace, but it
seems probable that they early came into the same
hands. About 1255 an Amys de Pellitot, probably
the above-mentioned Amys or his heir, was holding
in Hartley; he was then in great difficulties and
granted several rents out of his lands to Reading
Abbey in return for money to meet his debts. (fn. 41) The
second hide came to Richard son of Matthew de
Burghfield, (fn. 42) who was probably the same as the
Richard son of Matthew de Pellitot mentioned in
the Vaux chartulary. (fn. 43) Richard de Burghfield granted
land in Hartley to Nicholas de Diddenham. (fn. 44)
Both holdings seem to have come to John son and
heir of John de Burghfield, who possibly bought them
from a descendant of Matthew de Burghfield mentioned above. (fn. 45) John in 1361 released all right in his
lands of Burghfield, Hartley Amys and Hartley Pellitot
to Hugh de Segrave, John de la Huse and John atte
Beche. (fn. 46)
In 1441 the lordship of 'Hartley Abys' was still
held with the manor of Burghfield. (fn. 47) Hartley Pellitot
afterwards came to the Woodcocks, (fn. 48) and is generally
treated as an appurtenance of Moor Place, though it
is distinguished as a separate manor in 1540 (fn. 49) and
again in 1630. (fn. 50)
The early descent of the so-called manor of MOOR
PLACE is obscure. In 1540 it is described as lying
in Hartley Dummer, (fn. 51) Hartley Amys, Hartley Pellitot,
Hartley Battle, Hartley Regis, Shinfield and Burghfield. It may have been composed of part of Sir
Richard Dummer's holding (see above) and of that
part of the Battle Abbey estate held in 1424 by
Robert Woodcock (see above), and probably of other
holdings. Richard Woodcock dealt by recovery with
the manors of Moor Place, Hartley Pellitot and
Diddenham in 1540. (fn. 52) He was succeeded by George
Woodcock, (fn. 53) who married Anne daughter of William
Hyde of South Denchworth. (fn. 54) Robert Woodcock (fn. 55)
died seised of the manor in 1630, leaving a widow
Margaret and a son Thomas, (fn. 56) who was succeeded
before 1657 by Samuel Woodcock. (fn. 57) Samuel together
with his wife Hannah was dealing with the manor in
that year, but he seems to have died before 1666, for
the Woodcock estates were then in the hands of
Edmund Ansley, the guardian of another Samuel
Woodcock. (fn. 58) The younger Samuel probably died
without issue, for the manor seems to have come to
Mary Spier née Woodcock, wife of John Spier of
Huntercombe, apparently daughter and co-heir of
the elder Samuel. In 1676 she as Mary Spier,
widow, was settling the manor in conjunction with
Richard and Edward Taylor, (fn. 59) and it seems to have
descended to her three co-heirs. (fn. 60) In 1702 William
Gibbons, M.D., and Elizabeth his wife, daughter
of Mary Spier and apparently widow of Robert
Huntington and Samuel Danvers, John Touchett
and Martha his wife and Robert Breedon the younger
released their right in the manors of Moor Place and
Diddenham to Sir Owen Buckingham. (fn. 61) The estate
descended with Earley Bartholomew in Sonning (q.v.)
to Elizabeth Manley, wife of Sir John Powell Pryce.
In 1752 she with her husband quitclaimed the manor
to Alexander Whitchurch. (fn. 62) The estates afterwards
passed to H. Plant, (fn. 63) whose devisees sold them before
1806 to Mr. William Dearsley. (fn. 64) His son Mr. William
Hanson Dearsley died seised of them in 1825, (fn. 65) after
which they were held by his widow, who married as
her second husband Mr. Thomas Owst, and was still
in possession of them in 1843. (fn. 66) They were afterwards bought by Mr. Richard Benyon, whose nephew
Mr. James Herbert Benyon is the present owner.
The so-called manor of DIDDENHAM COURT
was parcel of the manor of Sheepbridge (q.v. in
Swallowfield), (fn. 67) and in the early part of the reign of
Henry III was held of Ela Countess of Salisbury by
Roger de Didenham. His brother John afterwards
held under Henry de Mara, who was enfeoffed of
the rights of overlordship by William Longespée, son
of the Countess Ela. (fn. 68) John was probably succeeded
by Nicholas de Didenham, whose name appears in
several deeds of the latter half of the 13th century. (fn. 69)
The descent of the holding after this date is not clear,
but ultimately it came with Hartley Pellitot to the
Woodcocks, and was in the possession of Richard
Woodcock in 1540. (fn. 70) It then follows the descent of
Moor Place (q.v.).
A reputed manor of Hartley was in the 16th century in the possession of Thomas Vachell of Coley.
To judge from certain of the place-names (fn. 71) it seems
to have been formed in part out of lands in the manor
of Hartley Battle. The Vachells held land in the
parish in the 13th century. (fn. 72) The Vachell estate
followed the descent of Coley until as late as 1611, (fn. 73)
but its history after this date is not known.
Another manor of Hartley, called also HARTLEY
COURT, is mentioned in 1525, at which time it was
held by Sir Edmund Bedingfield and Grace his wife
in right of Grace, who was daughter and heir of John
Russell (fn. 74) ; they quitclaimed their interest in it to
John Baldwyn and others, (fn. 75) who conveyed it to
Thomas Beke of Earley Whiteknights, (fn. 76) the descent
of which manor (q.v.) it followed till 1832. (fn. 77) It
was afterwards bought by Mr. Benyon.
The capital messuage of Hartley Court was held in
1609 by Sir Thomas Smyth, who left it by his will
to his son Robert, with successive remainders to his
daughter Margaret for life and to his brother Richard. (fn. 78)
Robert died childless in 1625, and was succeeded by
his sister, then only seventeen, the wife of Thomas
Cary. (fn. 79) Richard Smyth conveyed it by fine to Thomas
Fisher in 1652. (fn. 80) In 1659 it was held by Margaret
Herbert, widow, and Alexander Thayne and his wife
Anne, Anne being apparently an heiress. (fn. 81) Margaret
Herbert dealt with it in 1668. (fn. 82) Hartley Court was
bought by 'Deane a pinmaker and haberdasher of
Reading.' He died about 1795 and his daughter Anne
married her cousin Charles M. Deane. (fn. 83) They were
living there in 1805, (fn. 84) and in 1843 Mrs. Cooper
occupied it. (fn. 85) Later Mr. Richard Benyon bought it.
Waleran Earl of Warwick, chief lord of the Shinfield fee, granted to Piers Blund and his heirs about
1190 all the land in Shinfield and Trunkwell held of
him by Walter Luffant and Richard, Walter's nephew. (fn. 86)
This seems to have been the estate afterwards known
as the manor of GARSTON, which was held by the
Blounts of the Earls of Warwick, (fn. 87) and which followed
the descent of Sheepbridge (see Swallowfield).
A park called Moregarston is mentioned in the
13th century among the boundaries of a certain moor
held by Luke de Grazeley of Amys de Pellitot. (fn. 88)
Certain lands in Shinfield and Burghfield, including
the 'chief tenement called Elyns,' were granted by
Amys de Pellitot and his under-tenants the Mores to
Reading Abbey in the 13th century. (fn. 89) These remained
in the possession of the abbey till the Dissolution,
when they were leased to John Beke for a term of
twenty-one years, on surrender of a lease made to
him in reversion after Richard Alsey by the last
Abbot of Reading. (fn. 90)
CHURCHES
The church of ST. MARY THE
VIRGIN consists of a chancel 32 ft.
7 in. by 17 ft. 3 in., south chapel
19 ft. 1 in. by 13 ft., nave 56 ft. 3 in. by 22 ft.,
south aisle 56 ft. 3 in. by 15 ft. 8 in. and west tower
13 ft. 4 in. by 13 ft.
The church appears to date from the last half of
the 12th century, to which period the north doorway
belongs. The nave arcade having been rebuilt in
modern days, it is impossible to say when the south
aisle was added. Two early 14th-century windows
which still survive in the north wall of the chancel
point to a rebuilding at that date. There are windows
of similar character at the east end of the south wall
of the south aisle and at the east end of the north
wall of the nave, though both have been much
restored. Late in the 15th century several new
windows were inserted in the nave and south aisle.
In 1596, as recorded by a tablet set in the exterior
of the east gable, the south chapel was built, no doubt
to contain the Martin pew. The west tower was
rebuilt of brick c. 1630. In 1857 the church was
restored, when the south arcade of the nave was
rebuilt and the chancel walls were very considerably
repaired.
In the east wall of the chancel is a modern window
of three lights. In the north wall are two 14th-century windows. The eastern is of two acutely
pointed cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoiled spandrel
within a two-centred head. The western window
is also of two cinquefoiled lights, with tracery of a
flamboyant type within a similar head. At the
north-east of the chancel is a modern credence
table niche. In the eastern part of the south wall is
a modern window copied from the corresponding
window in the north wall. Westward is a roundarched opening of two chamfered orders into the south
chapel, and probably contemporary with it. The
chancel arch is modern and of two orders, designed
in the style of the early 14th century. The exterior
of the chancel is faced with flint, and at the north
and south-east angles are angle buttresses of two
offsets.
The east window of the late 16th-century south
'chapel' is of three pointed lights, uncusped, their
mullions being carried up into the two-centred containing head. On the north side is a small modern
doorway with a four-centred head. Between is a
small buttress of one offset, and at the south-east are
angle buttresses, also of one offset. The south window
is square-headed and of three plain transomed lights.
In the exterior of the east wall, high up in the gable,
is a stone panel, inscribed 1596 M/EM. A four-centred
arch divides the 'chapel' from the south aisle. The
walls are plastered externally.
The nave has three north windows; the easternmost is similar to the easternmost window in the
north wall of the chancel, the other two are late
15th-century windows of three cinquefoiled lights
within square heads. Between these last is the late
12th-century north doorway. This is externally of
two semicircular hollow-chamfered orders. The jambs
of the outer order are shafted, and those of the inner
order moulded with a small roll. The head stop of
the label on the east side appears to have come from the
original nave arcade, the stone being the double
skew-back of an intersecting label. The west head
stop may be in situ. At the east and west ends of the
north wall of the nave, which is plastered externally,
are buttresses of two offsets. The south arcade of the
nave is modern and of four bays. The north porch
is also modern.
In the south wall of the south aisle are three
windows. The easternmost is similar to the corresponding window in the north wall of the nave and
has been much restored. The other two windows are
each of three cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery
within a square head, and are of the same date as those
in the north wall of the nave. Between them is a
built-up doorway with a four-centred head, probably
also of the same date. On the exterior of this wall
are three buttresses, placed there in the 17th century. In common with the wall they support, these
are plastered, and where the plaster has fallen away
they appear to be of brick. In the east wall is a
modern window of two trefoiled lights.
The west tower is built of brick in three stages
with octagonal angle buttresses and an embattled
parapet. The two-centred tower arch is modern,
and has been stuccoed. The west doorway has a
semicircular head with a projecting brick key, and is
surmounted by a moulded brick entablature, supported by heater-shaped corbels of brick. Above the
doorway is a window of five lights within a square
head. Externally a string-course of fanciful brickwork, which marks the division between the ground
and first stages, is broken upwards over this window
to form a label. The ringing chamber is lighted on
the north and south by square-headed windows of
two plain lights having two-centred heads and flat
brick mullions. The jambs of the lights, which are
set back slightly from the face of the wall externally,
are stuccoed. The labels are of unmoulded brick,
arranged in a simple pattern. The belfry is lighted by
similar two-light windows on all four faces. Above and
below this stage are string-courses formed in the same
manner as the labels described above. The walls of
the belfry stage are slightly recessed in the centre of
each face.
The roofs of the nave, south chapel and south aisle
are original. The nave roof probably dates from the
latter half of the 14th century, and is a fine specimen
of an uncommon type. It is supported by four trusses
having collars, plain king-posts and cambered tiebeams, supported by wall-posts and short curved
braces resting on stone corbels. On the king-posts,
and braced by curved struts springing from these, rests
a longitudinal beam supporting the collars of the
principal and intermediate rafters. These collars are
braced by straight struts abutting against the lower
part of the rafters. The king-posts themselves are
strutted from the tie-beams by curved struts. The
aisle roof, which is probably a 17th-century reparation, is supported by rough queen-post trusses. The
second truss from the east is, however, in all probability of earlier date. The rafters are braced by
curved braces, starting at the feet of each rafter and
crossing in the centre, a two-centred arch being thus
formed. The roof of the south chapel has a pentagonal
wooden ceiling, with moulded ribs and carved bosses
at their intersections. The ribs appear to be modern.
The main part of the ceiling, however, is probably
contemporary with the erection of the chapel. The
altar table is of Elizabethan date and has large baluster
legs of the 'melon' type. This was at one time in
the vestry, but has been replaced in its original position. A large Jacobean chest with three locks is
also preserved.
On the west wall of the nave is a Purbeck marble
tablet sculptured with a shield of twelve quarters,
and on a scroll beneath the following inscription:
'Huico (?) filio suo hic humato Marcus filius Simionis Steward armig: de | Lakingheth in com: Suff:
posuit.' Below the inscription is a broken sword,
and on the hilt the date 1576. On the west wall
of the south aisle is an elaborate mural monument
of marble to Edward Martin, who died 5 June 1604,
aged seventy-nine, and his wife Mary, who died
1 October 1607, aged seventy-one. He was probably
the builder of the south chapel, the initials corresponding with those carved on the tablet, mentioned
above, in its east gable. The monument appears to
have been much disturbed at some period, the figure
of Edward Martin having disappeared, those of his
wife and daughter alone remaining. The monument
is framed by Corinthian columns supporting an entablature, surmounted by a shield, Argent a bend
sable cotised ermine with three cinqfoils or on the
bend and a ring for difference, impaling Gules a saltire
between four sheaves or, for Reade. The figures of
the two women are of alabaster and are kneeling
in prayer. On the base of the monument are two
panels containing the inscription, which seem to have
been transposed, the second half of the inscription
being on the dexter panel and the first half on the
sinister. On the north wall of the nave is a marble
tablet sculptured with a shield to Henry Beke, who
died in 1580. His arms were Or two bars dancetty
sable and a chief azure with three rings argent
therein. Above is his crested helm. Below are two
smaller shields, Beke impaling Lewknor, and beneath
is the inscription. On the south wall of the south
aisle is an elaborate marble monument to Henry
Beke. On a projecting base are the kneeling figures
of himself, his wife and daughter. Two female
figures support an entablature, surmounted in the
centre by a pedimented superstructure, on which is
sculptured a shield of his arms with a crested helm.
The entablature is broken forward over the heads of
the supporting figures, and crowned by small obelisks
standing on pedestals. On the dexter pedestal is a
shield quarterly, (1) and (4) a double headed eagle,
a crescent for difference, (2) and (3) a fesse engrailed
between three eagles, for Crooke, impaling Beke. On
the sinister pedestal is a shield charged with Beke,
impaling three cheverons, a crescent for difference.
A black marble panel on the base of the monument
is inscribed with the following:—
Hic pater Henricus, mater Jana, et filia Eliza |
Eminguntur, adest urnula sola patris. |
Beake nomen patrum, domus Hartley-Curia, mater |
Rogero Lewkener milite nata fuit |
Georgius extruxit monumenta (enatus Eliza |
Filius Hugonis Speke) pia jussa matris.
Above is inscribed 'Ano DnĈ: 1627.'
There is a peal of six bells: the treble, inscribed
'David Headland c.w. 1730 i.w.f.'; the second,
'Honour the Kinge 1664'; the third, 'Hope in
God 1664'; the fourth (in upper hand), 'Dainell
Headland Thomas Hollyer Churchwardens' (below,
in lower hand) 'Henry Bagley Made Mee 1722';
the fifth, 'Reioice in God 1664,' and the tenor, by
Thomas Mears of London, 1805.
The communion plate consists of an almsdish
bearing the date letter of 1761, a chalice and cover
paten, a small plated paten, a chalice bearing the date
letter of 1855 and a flagon of 1854.
The registers previous to 1812 are as follows:
(i) baptisms 1649 to 1757, burials 1653 to 1757,
marriages 1653 to 1754; (ii) baptisms 1757 to 1812,
burials 1757 to 1812; (iii) marriages 1754 to 1777;
(iv) marriages 1777 to 1796; (v) marriages 1797 to
1812.
The church of ST. MICHAEL AND ALL
ANGELS at Spencer's Wood consists of a chancel, south
vestry, nave and south porch, and was built in 1908.
The materials are red brick with stone dressings, and
the design is in the 14th-century style. Over the
west gable of the nave is a brick bellcote.
ADVOWSON
The earliest notices (fn. 91) extant of
Shinfield Church and its attached
chapel of Swallowfield show that in
the 12th century they belonged to the abbey of Lire
in Normandy and had been obtained by grant from
William Fitz Osbern Earl of Hereford, the founder of
the abbey. Doubtless the abbey of Lire experienced the
usual difficulties of alien priories in dealing with their
English property, and by the reign of Edward I the
advowson had passed to the lord of the manor, (fn. 92)
though a pension of £2 a year was still retained by
the monks. (fn. 93) In the year 1294 the advowson of
Shinfield with Swallowfield chapel was transferred (fn. 94)
to the Dean and Chapter of Hereford by the patron,
Sir John St. John. In 1320 licence was granted to
the dean and chapter to devote the proceeds of the
two churches to the rebuilding of the cathedral
church so long as the work should last. (fn. 95) and in the
same year the Dean and Chapter of Hereford paid
5 marks for licence to appropriate both mother church
and chapel. (fn. 96) In or about the year 1327 they
granted (fn. 97) the church to Adam Orlton, Bishop of
Worcester, for life, in consideration of his efforts in
forwarding the canonization of St. Thomas Cantelupe.
The rectory and advowson have remained with the
Dean and Chapter of Hereford, (fn. 98) by whom the rectory
has been leased out from time to time. (fn. 99)
The ecclesiastical affairs of Shinfield were in a
deplorable state during the Commonwealth period
and at the Restoration. In 1661 Bishop Humphrey
of Salisbury issued an order requiring William Cosens,
vicar of Shinfield and Swallowfield, to do the duties
of his parish, forbidding William Stanley, a mechanic,
who had been permitted for a year, to perform any
ministerial acts. The parishioners were ordered to
put him out quietly, if they could. It appears that
the Rev. William Cosens had been ejected for lewd
living fifteen years before, but had returned and
appointed Stanley, an Anabaptist minister, to act for
him. The orders of the bishop were contemned by
Cosens, Stanley and certain factious parishioners,
who disclaimed the authority of bishops. The
justices were appealed to, but refused to interfere
without the king's order. Stanley, who was a cordwainer by trade, refused to cease from preaching,
stating that he had been chosen by a majority of the
parishioners, and that he would stand by them if they
stood by him. He spoke contemptuously of the
bishop's order, praising the good old times and condemning the spirit of Antichrist reigning in the
land. Subsequently he brought sixty stout fellows
from Reading to support him. The settlement of
the disturbance is not recorded. (fn. 100)
CHARITIES
The following charities are distributed together by the churchwardens as one charity, namely:
Nicholas Russell's, will, 1611, being 20s. a year
charged on a farm formerly known as Blackhouse
Farm, but now as the Grovelands; Reynold Butler's,
will, 1614, trust fund, £11 10s. consols, arising from
redemption in 1871 of annuity of 6s. 8d.; John
Reynolds's, will, 1646, trust fund, £35 consols,
arising from redemption in 1868 of annuity of 20s.
charged on land at Wokingham; William Wollascott's
(Williscott), trust fund, £101 13s. 4d. consols, redemption of annuity of £3 3s. 4d. charged on manor
of Somerford Bowles; and an annuity of 8s. charged
by a donor unknown on the 'Swan' public-house at
Three-Mile-Cross.
The sums of stock are held by the official trustees.
The annual income of these charities, amounting
together to £5 1s. 8d., is distributed in coals.
The charity of Richard Piggott for clothing,
founded by will proved in the P.C.C. 12 June 1731,
consists of two cottages and gardens containing
together about an acre, let at £16 a year. The rents
are being accumulated to form a rebuilding fund.
By an order of the Charity Commissioners of
14 August 1903 the legal estate was vested in the
official trustee of charity lands.
In 1842 Richard Body, by will proved at London
13 July, bequeathed £100 for the annual distribution
of blankets, subject to the repair of tablet and monument in the church. The legacy is represented by
£104 0s. 7d. consols with the official trustees.
In 1856 a piece of land containing 1a. or. 36p.
was awarded to the churchwardens in lieu of 3r. 29 p.
found by an inquisition taken at Reading in 1654 to
belong to the church, the rent of which is applied
towards the church expenses.
Educational charities.
—The free school was founded
by Richard Piggott, by deed, 1724, and augmented
by will of William Edward Francis Feilde, proved at
London 10 February 1851. (fn. 101)
The endowments consist of a rent-charge of £12
issuing out of property known as Lauds Place in
Broad Street, Reading; an allotment of 26 p. in
Pond Green, Grazeley, let at 5s. a year; £1,621 5s. 1d.
consols, Piggott's charity, and £1,063 9s. 2d. consols,
Feilde's charity, with the official trustees, who also
hold £1,332 11s. 10d. consols and the credit of an
investment account, accumulating.
The school is now regulated by a scheme of the
Board of Education, dated 13 May 1903. The
income, amounting to about £80 a year, is applicable,
subject to the payment of £1 1s. a year to the vicar
for a sermon and 1s. to the clerk, in the education and
clothing of twenty-six children in respect of Piggott's
charity and of six children in respect of Feilde's
charity, the residue being paid to the Berkshire Education Committee in the relief of the education rate.
Charity of Mary Spicer. (fn. 102) —The endowment consist of two allotments containing together 3 a. 0r. 20 p.,
acquired under an award of 1858 in lieu of an old
inclosure called Charity Pightle, and £400 consols
with the official trustees.
The annual income of £15 is applied in aid of the
public elementary school of Grazeley.
Ecclesiastical parish of Grazeley.
—Charity of
Mrs. Mary Spicer for school. (fn. 103) The educational
foundation of John Merry consists of school buildings,
teacher's house and grounds, conveyed by deed, dated
2 September 1862 (enrolled), and £1,566 16s. 8d.
consols, arising under the donor's will, proved at
London, 10 March 1873. The stock is held by the
official trustees, who also hold £155 11s. 2d. like
stock as a repair and insurance fund, producing
together an annual income of £43 1s., of which
£20 is applied for clothing poor children attending
the school, which is situated in that portion of the
parish of Grazeley formerly in the parish of Sulhamstead Bannister, Lower End.
Merry's eleemosynary charity, founded by the abovementioned John Merry of Spencer's Wood, consists
of an alms-cottage, part of the school buildings and
garden attached, occupied by the parish nurse, and
£1,557 12s. 2d. consols with the official trustees,
producing yearly £38 18s. 8d., which is applied partly
in payment of the nurse's stipend and partly in fuel
and lighting for her and other necessaries for her and
her patients.
In 1906 there was an accumulation fund amounting to £133 9s. 3d.