SAMBOURNE
Acreage: 2,218 (2,175a. or. 9p. according to local
information).
Population: 1911, 441; 1921, 431; 1931, 624.
Sambourne forms part of the ecclesiastical parish of
Coughton, though it has been a separate civil parish
at least since the 17th century. (fn. 1) It is divided from
Coughton by Cane Brook, and the Ryknield Street,
here known as Haydon Way, crosses the parish from
north to south. The village itself, about 1½ miles northwest of Coughton, is centred round a small triangular
green at the junction of four roads and contains several
timber-framed buildings of 17th-century date. The
Green Dragon Inn, a modern brick house, has a lower
east extension of 17th-century timber-framing, and a
tiled roof. A thatched cottage next east of it also has
framing, of c. 1600. North-west of the Green are four
other framed cottages of which only the northernmost
retains its timber front; and a modern cottage east of
the Green has a timber-framed outbuilding.
There are also several outlying farms of some antiquity; the oldest, Oak Farm, about a mile north of the
village, is of three periods. The original plan of T-shape
is built of fairly close-set studding, now mostly plastered,
and has one bay of the original roof of about 1550
with wind-braced purlins. The bottom of the T, the
west end, has a cross-wing of square framing, added
about 1600: this also is plastered externally, but wide
fire-places, chamfered ceiling beams, and wall framing
show inside. The head of the T was lengthened another
bay to the south late in the 17th century and afterwards
was refronted with red brick. The farm buildings are
also all of 17th-century framing. Sambourne Hall is a
mid- to late-17th-century building of square timberframing, now mostly covered with rough-cast cement.
It is of a modified T-shaped plan: the longer range
(the stem of the T) has an ancient rectangular chimneystack with square pilasters, and a wide fireplace.
Truslove's, a small farm-house, now two tenements,
a little to the north-west of the Hall, is the conjectural
site of the ancient Samborne chapel, but of this there
are no visible remains. The south part of the house
has two early-16th-century moulded ceiling-beams to
the lower story, with moulded curved brackets or
braces under the ends, springing from reeded corbels.
They divide the length from east to west into three
bays. The upper story has a contemporary roof with
curved wind-braces to the purlins. The staircase has
early-17th-century turned balusters. The remainder
of the house is obviously a later enlargement. A barn
is of early-17th-century framing with red-brick infilling.
The hamlet of Middletown, between Sambourne
Village and Studley, includes five cottages and a barn,
all with 17th-century timber-framing, some much
altered, others fairly complete. The roofs are tiled, but
some were formerly thatched.
Sambourne Warren, a farm-house about ¾ miles west
of the Green, is built of 17th-century framing with
plastered infilling and a tiled roof, and has a modern
brick wing. Two barns, joined endwise, and other
farm buildings are also of framing.
Reins Farm, ½ mile north-west of the Green, has
timber-framed walls covered with rough-cast cement
and a large square central chimney-stack of 17thcentury bricks, each face with a narrow pilaster.
Sambourne was one of the earliest centres of the
local needle industry, (fn. 2) and glove-sewing was also
carried on here, as at Coughton. There was also some
brick-making in the middle of last century. (fn. 3) The
principal occupation is now agriculture, though the
post-War increase in population may be attributed to
the growing importance of Redditch, now the chief
centre of the needle trade.
Geologically, Sambourne lies in the Triassic area of
Keuper red marls. (fn. 4) The sub-soil is clay and gravel,
the upper gravel, and there were formerly gravel- and
marl-pits. The land is mainly under grass.
The medieval history of Sambourne is largely bound
up with that of Feckenham Forest. The woodland of
the manor in 1086 measured a league by half a league. (fn. 5)
The whole village was taken into the Forest by King
John. (fn. 6) But the lord of the manor, the Abbot of Evesham, and his tenants assarted and inclosed a considerable area of the forest from time to time, with or
without leave. (fn. 7) The abbey claimed royal charters
making it quit of waste, regard, view of foresters or
verderers, and any interference by the king's servants;
in 1280, however, the abbot had to pay 50 marks to
recover his wood of Sambourne which had been seized
for the misdeeds of his woodward and many other
disputes between his bailiffs and those of the queen. (fn. 8)
In June 1459 an inquest held before the king's verderers
defined the bounds between the king's forest and the
demesne of the abbot. The lordship or manor of
Sambourne, they said, began at Thremorehulle in the
Ridgeway, continued by Abboteslone and the forks to
Ambisshok on Ridgeway, and so back to Thremorehulle. (fn. 9)
Inclosure was begun here by the abbots, (fn. 10) but the
chief movement came in the early 18th century. In
September 1707 the tenants commoners, 24 in number,
presented a petition to Sir Robert Throckmorton, lord
of the manor and of the waste ground called Sambourne
Heath: 'Being sensible not only of the mistakes and
obstinacy of our predecessors but also of our own backwardness and neglect in not readily consenting and
agreeing to the inclosure of Sambourne Heath, which
in all probability (if inclosed and tilled) will turn to
more than double the profit and advantage made thereof
as it is now used, the same common or waste ground
being now run over and ate up with a great warren of
conies and by the cattle of neighbouring parishes intercommoning there by reason of vicinage, and the commoners there now putting on cattle without stint,
thereby rendering the said common, though containing
near 1,000 acres of waste ground, yet of small profit',
they asked that the common might be inclosed and
divided into three or four large fields, then subdivided
by mounds or marks so that the lord and tenants might
have their due proportions. They offered to pass all
necessary by-laws at the manor court within twenty
years, and consent to any order, decree, or Act of
Parliament which Sir Robert might procure. An agreement was drafted as between him and the customary
tenants. It was estimated that the annual value of the
land when inclosed and tilled would be about £400,
i.e. more than double its then value. Sir Robert would
provide the necessary ways, gates, stiles, &c., at first,
but thereafter boundaries were to be maintained by
the owners. Not more than 60 acres were first to be
set apart for the benefit of the poor persons who then
lived in cottages on the waste. This land was to be
settled on trustees, and any not required for cottages
was to be held as to one half for the poor of Sambourne,
the other to augment the 'poor stipend' of the vicar of
Coughton.* Unfortunately there were recalcitrant
tenants and Sir Robert was not able, even by Bill in
Chancery, to 'break the chief head of the serpent
Hydra and facilitate the inclosure of the common',
as his steward put it.* The Act was finally passed in
1773. (fn. 11) There were twenty persons concerned in the
Award, including the then Sir Robert Throckmorton,
who was heavily compensated for the loss of a large
warren. Certain dues also went to the vicar of Coughton. The total area was said to be 569ac. or. 32p. (fn. 12)
Manor
The manor of SAMBOURNE was part
of the original, or at least a very early, endowment of the abbey of Evesham. (fn. 13) It
appears as such in Domesday, where it is assessed at 3
hides, (fn. 14) and so remained until the Dissolution. In 1285
the abbot claimed view of frankpledge, sac and soc,
tol and teme, infangthief, weyf, assize of bread and ale
and a gallows here which served for all the neighbouring manors. (fn. 15) In 1535 the manor was valued at
£30 13s. 6d. (fn. 16) In March 1538 the abbot, perhaps
in hope of saving something for his house out of the
approaching wreck, demised the
manor to Robert Throckmorton
for 70 years. (fn. 17) After the Dissolution, in 1540, the manor was
granted to him by the Crown
for £455 2s. 6d., to be paid in
instalments, and the service of 1/10
knight's fee. (fn. 18) Sambourne has
since followed the descent of
Coughton (q.v.) and in 1631 was
valued annually at £64, excluding woods and perquisites of
court.*
Evesham Abbey. Azure a chain with its padlock set cheveron-wise between three mitres argent.
The custumal of the manor was
revised in the manor court on 1 July 1583 by comparison
with the 'ancient records and court rolls' back to 1433.
It was confirmed by decree in Chancery on 16 Nov. of
the same year and by Letters Patent on 18 April 1593.
There were sixteen tenants called 'half-yard-men' (who
held a half-yardland of ground, to be kept by them in
several on condition that they kept the mounds or
banks in repair). The custom of the manor was
Borough English. (fn. 19) The courts were mainly court
baron and view of frankpledge, and the lord had free
warren, woods, and fishery. (fn. 20)
Domesday makes no mention of a mill here, but
about a century later it is recorded that the mill of
Sambourne was let to farm. (fn. 21) In 1433 the Abbot of
Evesham demised to John Throckmorton for 90 years
'the Mullemede' and other land in Sambourne, bounded
by the present demesne land, Cane Brook, the highway
to Studley, and the River Arrow. (fn. 22) A confirmation of
this grant to John's son, Robert Throckmorton, for
10 years, includes also the river and fishing from
Spernall to the site of the manor of Coughton.* Mills
and fisheries are enumerated among the appurtenances
in the demise of the manor to Robert Throckmorton
in 1538. (fn. 23)
Church
There is a chapel-of-ease with a graveyard, built in 1892 and served by the
vicar of Coughton. Before the Reformation there was a chapel of St. Andrew here, in which
one of the canons of Studley celebrated Mass thrice a
week. The Priory of Studley had tithes of corn and
hay in Sambourne as of their parish of Coughton, and
by ancient agreement (fn. 24) with the abbey of Evesham
they provided for its spiritual welfare, as the two
villages were over a mile apart and the ways between
often impassable by reason of overflowing brooks in
wet weather. The last canon who officiated was Dom
William Farr, a yearly payment of 40s. to whom
appears among the charges of the priory at the Dissolution. The tithes had been demised to one John (or
Richard) Parsons, who continued to provide a priest,
but when they were granted to Sir George Throckmorton in 1546 (fn. 25) he said that the Prior of Studley
had done so as a favour and not by right. Some of the
inhabitants of Sambourne, where there were 'forty-four
householders at the least', objected and withheld their
tithes until a priest should be provided, (fn. 26) but their
protest was in vain and the chapel fell into disuse. (fn. 27)
The Abbots of Evesham, as lords of the manor, also
held a small portion of the tithe, valued in 1535 at
3s. 4d. annually. (fn. 28)
Charities
Robert Haynes by will dated 21 Feb.
1710 gave £20, the interest to be
applied to set poor children of Sambourne apprentices; Joyce Whoman gave the interest
on 40s. to be given to seven poor widows of Sambourne;
William Hemming gave £4, the interest to be given to
four widows; and Mrs. Ann Gauton gave £100 for
the use of the poor. These legacies were invested in
real estate and now consist of 4 acres of freehold land
together with seven cottages at Sambourne, the whole
producing a yearly rent of about £58 10s. Trustees
to administer the Charity are appointed by Orders of
the Charity Commissioners and the income is distributed to the poor of Sambourne.
John Hobbins of Studley in 1735 left 20s. yearly
out of land in Great Alne to find gowns for two widows
of Sambourne on 1 May. This charity is now in the
hands of the vicar. (fn. 29)