AVON DASSETT
Acreage: 1,435.
Population: 1911, 202; 1921, 188; 1931, 170.
This small parish, about 2 miles from east to west by
little more than a mile from north to south, lies mostly
to the east of the road from Banbury to Warwick.
Where this road enters the parish a small road leads off
from it north-eastwards to Fenny Compton, and this
is met by another coming from Farnborough at the
lower end of the village. The country is hilly, rising
from 400 ft. in the south and east, where the parish is
bounded by small streams, to 624 ft. at the top of the
hill above the church.
South of the churchyard is the Old Rectory, of which
the north wing has thick walls of Hornton stone ashlar,
and a stone central chimney-stack with two diagonal
brick shafts, of the 17th century; the house has been
mostly enlarged and renovated in modern times. In
the village along the road to the south are several 17thor 18th-century cottages of local yellow stone with
thatched roofs. There is a Roman Catholic church,
built in 1854, and a Methodist chapel founded in 1862.
On the hill above the church is the site of a windmill,
no doubt the successor of one mentioned in 1284, when
a man eating his lunch in its shade was struck by the
sails and killed. (fn. 1)
In 1309 Maud widow of Hugh le Norreys sued
Walter de Cantilupe (the lord of the manor) and
22 others for depasturing her corn. In reply they
claimed the right to common in Norryscroft, between
the lands of the lord and of the rector, every second
year from Midsummer to Lady Day. (fn. 2) The parish was
inclosed in 1779 under an Act affecting 1,200 acres. (fn. 3)
Manor
AVON DASSETT, which before the
Conquest was held by three theigns, was held
in 1086 by the Count of Meulan. It was
rated at 10 hides and included 50 acres of meadow. (fn. 4)
The overlordship came to the Earls of Warwick, (fn. 5) and
in 1242 a mesne lordship was held by Rose de Verdon. (fn. 6)
When her great-grandson Theobald de Verdon died in
1316 he left four infant daughters; (fn. 7) 2¾ fees in Avon
Dassett were assigned in 1336 to the youngest, Margery,
and her husband Mark Hussee, (fn. 8) but no more is heard
of this mesne lordship.
William Giffard of Fonthill (Wilts.) was steward of
Roger, Earl of Warwick, and in 1166 held two knights'
fees of him, (fn. 9) of which part was presumably here, as in
1175 he was concerned in a suit, apparently with
Gilbert de Unestonescota, touching land in 'Dercet'. (fn. 10)
He had also given land in Avon Dassett to the Knights
Templars before 1185. (fn. 11) The last of this line, his
nephew Andrew Giffard, was a clerk and before his
death in 1220 made over his estates to his heirs—Robert
de Mandeville, Robert Mauduit, William Cumin, and
William de Fontibus. (fn. 12) Accordingly we find the fee
held by Robert Mauduit in 1235, (fn. 13) and by the
(unnamed) heir of Andrew Giffard in 1242, (fn. 14) while
in 1224 Robert de Mandeville was sued by John de
Mar and Eve his wife for ⅓ of ¼ of the vill of Dassett as
part of her dower in right of her previous husband
William Cumin, whom she had married in Scotland. (fn. 15)
A William Cumin, of Snitterfield (q.v.), probably
father of this William, (fn. 16) had died in 1216 leaving a
widow Margery, who subsequently married William
de Hastings, and a daughter and eventual heir Margery
who married John de Cantilupe. (fn. 17) Their son Walter
was lord of Avon Dassett in 1316 (fn. 18) and three years
later held the manor jointly with Thomas Beton for
life, with reversion to Christiane (widow of William)
de Bisshopesdon. (fn. 19) Next year she conveyed the reversion to John Pecche. (fn. 20) It then descended with Hampton-in-Arden (fn. 21) (q.v.) to the family of Mountfort and
on the attainder of Sir Simon
Mountfort in 1495 escheated to
the Crown and was granted to
Gerald, Earl of Kildare, and
Elizabeth his (second) wife. (fn. 22)
She died on 3 July 1516 and as
her eldest son Sir Henry died five
days later the manor passed to
his brother Thomas (fn. 23) and on
his death in 1531 to his brother
Sir James FitzGerald. (fn. 24) On
his attainder in 1537 it came
to the Crown (fn. 25) and was granted
in 1550 to Sir Ralph Sadler, (fn. 26)
who promptly sold it to John Woodward of Butlers
Marston. (fn. 27) In this family (fn. 28) it remained for two centuries, passing to John's grandson John in 1624 (fn. 29) and
to his son Richard in 1627, (fn. 30) and being held by a later
Richard in 1738. (fn. 31) In 1744 the manor was sold by
Catherine Letitia Woodward, spinster, and seven other
persons to William Holbech of Farnborough, (fn. 32) from
whom it descended to Ronald Herbert Acland Holbech,
lord of the manor in 1937. (fn. 33)
Woodward. Azure a pale between two eagles displayed or.
In 1279 Adam le Fraunceys held 3 virgates here,
for which he 'did service as rodman for the whole vill
at the county and hundred courts'. At the same time
Robert Ilger held 1 virgate from the Knights Hospitallers, and Walter le Bedel ½ virgate from the Hospital
of St. Michael of Warwick. (fn. 34)
A small estate in Little Dassett constituted the endowment of a prebend in Lichfield Cathedral at least as
early as 1255. (fn. 35) It was the poorest of all the prebends,
being valued in 1291 at 10s., (fn. 36) and in 1535 at only
3s. 4d. (fn. 37)
Church
The parish church of ST. JOHN THE
BAPTIST stands on high ground on the
east side of the steeply rising road leading
from the village northwards to Fenny Compton. It
consists of a chancel with a north organ-chamber and
vestry, nave, north aisle, south porch, and west tower
with a spire.
The old church having become dilapidated was
pulled down and rebuilt in 1868. Only a small portion
of the ancient material was re-used. The discovery or
survival of some small fragments of 12th-century stonework was evidently the reason for the new north arcade
being designed in the 'Norman style'. The remainder
of the fabric is of the early-14th-century style; to which
period belong an archway, possibly the former chancel
arch, reset at the east end of the north aisle, the east
window of the chancel, reset in the west wall of the
tower, and a recess replaced in the north wall of the
chancel above a unique effigy of a 13th-century deacon.
Otherwise the architecture is modern.
The chancel (about 34 ft. by 16 ft.) has an east
window of three trefoiled lights and tracery, and two
north and three south two-light windows. At the west
end of the north side is an archway to the organchamber and vestry, and below the second north
window is the recess with the effigy described later.
It is of grey stone with moulded jambs and a cinquefoiled, two-centred, ogee-pointed arch enriched with
ball-flower ornament and with a hood-mould having
men's-head stops. The walls are of Hornton stone
ashlar and the gabled roof is covered with tiles. The
chancel arch, of two chamfered orders, has shafted
responds with moulded capitals and bases.
The nave (44 ft. by 17 ft.) has a north arcade of
12th-century style in three bays with square responds
and round pillars having scalloped square capitals and
moulded bases on square sub-bases. The grooved and
hollow-chamfered abacus of the east respond is ancient,
also the south-west quarter of the moulded base of the
eastern pillar and the north-east piece of its chamfered
sub-base. The remainder of the arcade is modern.
In the south wall are three windows: the westernmost a traceried single light, the other two of two lights
and tracery. The south doorway, between the second
and third, has shafted jambs and a pointed head with
a hood-mould, and the south porch a pointed entrance
and single side-lights.
The north aisle (10 ft. wide) is lighted by three north
windows of two lights and tracery. At the east end is
an archway of c. 1300 opening into the organ-chamber
and vestry. It has a pointed head of two chamfered
orders with medium to large voussoirs, the outer continued from the responds, the inner carried on detached
round shafts that have moulded capitals and bases.
The west tower (about 12 ft. square) is of three
stages and is surmounted by a tall octagonal stone spire
and tall pyramids in the angles of the tower. There are
square buttresses at the west angles and a stair-vice in
the south-east angle. The archway to the nave is
pointed and of two chamfered orders, the inner carried
on half-round shafts with foliated capitals and moulded
bases. The west window is the old east window of
c. 1300 reset. It is of four plain pointed lights and
plain intersecting tracery in a two-centred head with
an external hood-mould: the outer order of the jambs
and arch is ovolo-moulded. In the north and south
sides are windows of two lights and tracery. The
second stage has a single-light window, and the bellchamber windows are of two lights and tracery.
The font, of grey marble, and other furniture are
modern.
In the recess in the chancel is a stone coffin and lid
carved in high relief with a beautiful and probably
unique effigy (fn. 38) of a 13th-century tonsured deacon in
his vestments-cassock, alb, dalmatic, maniple, and
stole—his left hand raised to his breast and lying with
the palm outwards. His right arm is pendant with the
hand grasping a wide riband or scroll. The figure is
represented in a canopy with a round head surmounted
by tabernacle work depicted as a hall between two
lower wings or extensions, all with round-headed
windows and gabled roofs having ball finials at the
apices. It is flanked by half-round pilasters having
moulded capitals that carry semi-octagonal turrets with
similar windows and ball-tipped cupolas. The moulded
bases are supported on ball-tipped tapering corbels
level with the feet of the effigy. Below this is a half-ring
of trefoil leaves about a small tortoise which is biting
one of the leaves, perhaps intended for a kind of rebus.
The edge of the slab is moulded. The cist shows one
long side divided into two bays by angle and intermediate half-round pilasters with moulded capitals and
bases, between upper and lower chamfered courses.
There are also a few funeral monuments of the 18th
and 19th centuries.
In one of the tracery lights of the west window are
preserved a few fragments of 15th-century white and
yellow glass, including a small figure of a mitred bishop
in a yellow chasuble with his pastoral staff in his left
hand and his right hand in blessing. The remainder
are quarries with outline designs of foliage and flowers,
some yellow.
There are five bells of 1869 by William Blews &
Sons.
The registers begin in 1559.
Advowson
The Domesday Survey mentions a
priest, implying a church, at Avon
Dassett, (fn. 39) and the advowson followed
the descent of the manor, (fn. 40) being included with it in
the grant to Sir Ralph Sadler in 1550. (fn. 41) In 1562,
however, presentation was made by Simon Raleigh, (fn. 42)
whose son Sir George in 1611 conveyed the advowson
to Richard Gorestele and William Hall. (fn. 43) John Bywater, or Bowater, of London was patron in 1617 and
in 1629 presented Francis Staunton to the living. (fn. 44)
On Dr. Staunton's death in 1668 his son Thomas was
presented by Sir Thomas Beverley, and in 1676 Frances
Staunton held the advowson, which she shortly afterwards conveyed to Sir Richard Barker. (fn. 45) In 1711
Katherine Knapp, widow, presented Thomas Saunders, (fn. 46) who acquired the advowson and conveyed it in
1725 to Samuel Leigh. (fn. 47) Sarah Leigh, widow, held it
in 1744; in 1769 Thomas Gill, D.D., was both rector
and patron. (fn. 48) Dr. Gill in 1776 conveyed the rectory
of Avon Dassett to Ann Taylor; (fn. 49) in 1778 his widow
Elizabeth presented; (fn. 50) and in 1802 Thomas Gill and
Sarah with William Marriott and Ann conveyed the
advowson to Robert Green. (fn. 51) Next year he presented
Humphrey Jeston, (fn. 52) who probably married Green's
daughter, as his son who succeeded him in 1839 as both
incumbent and patron was Robert Green Jeston. (fn. 53)
About 1926 the advowson was acquired by the Bishop
of Coventry and since the benefice was united with that
of Farnborough, in 1933, the right of presentation rests
alternately with the bishop and the patron of Farnborough.
Charities
The Rev. Thomas Hindes by will
dated 21 Dec. 1768 gave to the rector
and churchwardens £50 upon trust to
place out the same in a good security or in the purchase
of lands and to distribute the interest in equal amounts
to industrious poor persons of the parish. The annual
income amounting to £2 10s. is applied for the benefit
of the poor.
The Rev. John James, who died in 1617, gave by
will to the poor of Avon Dassett 20s. yearly to be paid
out of a messuage and one yardland which he purchased of Sir Edward Rawley. The charge is distributed among the most needy poor of the parish.