HALFORD
Acreage: 956.
Population: 1911, 223; 1921, 204; 1931, 199.
This small parish lies to the east of the River Stour,
a tributary of which forms its southern and eastern
boundaries. The north-western boundary runs near
and parallel to the Roman Fosse Way, which crosses
the Stour at Halford Bridge. The bridge, which is
mentioned in 1278, (fn. 1) is called in 1633 'a great bridge
and very useful to passengers passing from Warwick to
Shipston'; (fn. 2) it was broken down by the Royalists in
1644, (fn. 3) and apparently again later by the Parliamentarians 'for the safety of the county', wherefore it was
agreed in 1650 that the cost of its repair should, on this
occasion, be borne by the county. (fn. 4) Immediately north
of the bridge, between the Fosse Way and the Stour,
lies the village. Most of the buildings are of local grey
lias, many with dressings of a harder yellow stone. One
house, much renovated, north of the church is in part
of early-17th-century timber-framing, a rarity in this
district; the main portion of the house is of stone with
later 17th-century mullioned windows with labels.
Three cottages east of it retain similar windows.
Manors
William Giffard held 2 knights' fees of
the Earl of Warwick in 1166, (fn. 5) and gave
1 hide in Halford to the canons of Kenilworth. (fn. 6) He evidently held the manor of HALFORD
as he presented to the church, as did his nephew and
heir Andrew Giffard of Fonthill (Wilts.). (fn. 7) Andrew
left four coheirs, of whom Robert de Mandeville disputed the right of presentation with the Bishop of Worcester in 1235, (fn. 8) at which date ½ fee in Halford was said
to be held of the Earl of Warwick by 'Robert'. (fn. 9) In
1242 the ½ fee was held by 'the heir of Andrew Giffard'. (fn. 10) One of the coheirs was presumably represented
by John de Fosse who held ¼ fee here of Guy, Earl of
Warwick, in 1316; (fn. 11) and in 1400 this ¼ fee was still
said to be held of the earl by 'the heir of John de
Fosse'. (fn. 12)
In 1279 Margery de Cantilupe held a watermill and
land here of the Earl of Warwick as 1 knight's fee. (fn. 13)
She was daughter of William Cumin, one of the Giffard coheirs. (fn. 14) Apparently it passed from her, or her
son John de Cantilupe, to Alan la Zouche, who died in
1314 seised of 1 knight's fee in Halford, held of him by
Sir Robert Burdet. (fn. 15) The fee was assigned in 1315 to
Alan's younger daughter Maud and her husband Sir
Robert de Holand, (fn. 16) who died seised of it in 1328. (fn. 17)
Maud, kinswoman and heir of a later Sir Robert de
Holand, (fn. 18) married Sir John Lovell and was holding the
fee at her death in 1422. (fn. 19) When her grandson William,
Lord Lovell, died in 1455 the fee was held of him by
Robert Burdet; (fn. 20) but after this no more is known of it.
Apparently this fee, which was closely associated with
the mill, was absorbed into Snitterfield, as in 1521 the
Crown granted to Thomas Blakford a lease for 21
years of the watermill of Halford in the lordship of
Snitterfield, late of the Earl of Warwick, with the
weir and fishery in the Stour from the mill to Halford
Bridge. (fn. 21) A similar lease in 1523 to Richard Warwyk (fn. 22)
was probably non-effective, as on the expiry of the first
lease it was renewed to Edward Blakford in February
1544. (fn. 23) In 1564 Bartholomew Hales and Mary his
wife (in whose right he held the manor of Snitterfield) (fn. 24) sold two watermills and land in Halford to
Richard Buller. (fn. 25) He died in 1593, seised of the mills
and fishery, leaving a son Richard, (fn. 26) who was succeeded by his son Richard in 1628. (fn. 27)
Among the gifts confirmed to the Abbey of St.
Evroul in 1176 by Roger, Bishop of Worcester, were
at Halford 2/3 of the tithes of the demesnes and the tithes
of the mill. (fn. 28) The donor, though not specified, was
probably Robert, Earl of Leicester, at whose request
the confirmation had been made. No later connexion
with St. Evroul can be traced, but the Leicester interest
may account for part of Halford being held, as a member of Ettington, of the Duchy of Lancaster in the
16th century. (fn. 29)
The Priory of Kenilworth held by grant of William
Giffard 1 hide (fn. 30) in Halford, which produced 46s. in
rents in 1535. (fn. 31) These lands were granted in 1545 to
John Pope of London (fn. 32) and later in that year were conveyed by him to Robert Halford of Armescot. (fn. 33)
Church
The parish church of ST. MARY consists of a chancel, nave with a north porch,
south aisle, and a tower west of the aisle.
Drastic restorations have obscured the history of the
development, but the nave dates from about 1150, as
shown by the chancel arch and two doorways. A small
north window of 12th-century character is all modern
but probably represents an original opening. There is
no evidence for the date of the medieval chancel; its
size suggests a 13th-century enlargement, but probably
it suffered alterations after the Reformation—a date
1674 is inscribed on one of the pavement steps—and
these have been replaced by modern windows, &c. The
nave was lengthened in the 13th century and the west
wall built with clasping buttresses at the angles, and
shortly afterwards (c. 1270) the south aisle was added,
with an arcade of three bays, and the tower west of it,
both with similar clasping buttresses, that at the northwest angle of the tower adjoining and forming a straight
joint with the like south-west buttress of the nave. In
modern times, evidently owing to weakness, the arcade
has had to be rebuilt. The north-east window of the
nave is of exotic design and material for this part of the
county, being of red Kenilworth stone, and it is suggested that the window was brought from Kenilworth
Abbey after the Suppression. The north porch is not
easy to date but may be of the 17th or 18th century.
Modern restorations took place in 1862 and 1883.
The chancel (about 27½ ft. by 14½ ft.) has an east
window of three lights and geometrical tracery and two
windows in each side wall, each of two lights and tracery, all of the 19th century. Between the two south
windows is a doorway to the modern small vestry, which
also has an outer west doorway. The chancel walls,
only 26 in. thick, are built of grey coursed and squared
lias ashlar. On the riser of the lower step to the sanctuary is the inscription wt 1674 and ccc 1838. The
roof is modern, of steep pitch and divided into three
bays by pointed trusses; it is covered with new tiling.
The chancel arch is of mid-12th-century date: the
head is semicircular, of one square order on the east
face and two on the west with a three-quarter rollmoulding in the angle. The responds have nook-shafts
with capitals of cushion form but carved with primitive
foliage and at the angle a tiny head with volutes like
a ram's head, the neck-moulds being cabled. The
moulded abaci—a hollow between two small beadmoulds, the upper cabled—have enriched vertical faces,
the northern hatched, the southern with lozenges conjoined. The south base is moulded and carved with
diaper ornament: the northern is plainer.
South of the arch the wall is pierced by a squint westward into the nave. On the west face it is a cutting of
½ in. slits forming a cross 16 in. wide by 9 in., and a
rectangular recess to the east; it is probably a 16th- or
17th-century feature.
The nave (about 47 ft. by 20 ft.) has a large 13thcentury window at the east end of the north wall of red
Kenilworth stone. It is 5½ ft. wide and consists of three
sharply pointed lights below a restored two-centred
hood-mould; the jambs are of two chamfered orders.
It probably came from elsewhere and may have had
plate tracery above the lights originally. Farther west
is a small window, 1 ft. wide, of Norman character but
entirely modern: the head is carved. It may possibly
be a restoration of an original window.
The north doorway, a little west of the middle of the
wall, 3 ft. 8 in. wide, dates from the mid-12th century.
The head is semi-circular and filled with a tympanum
carved with a seated figure with outspread wings and
arms holding a scroll or riband and with flowing drapery
from the wrists. The outer order has an edge-roll, and
two other smaller rolls treated as cables. The hollowchamfered hood-mould is enriched with billet ornament
and the vertical face of it with a conjoined lozenge
pattern. The jambs, of two square orders, have a nookshaft in each jamb with enriched capitals: the eastern,
of cushion form, has a small pelleted angle-mould rising
from a human head set upside down, and its vertical
faces have sunk panels with pellet edging; the neckmould is cabled. The west capital is a little more
elaborately carved with the standing figure of a man at
the angle, holding a sceptre in his right
hand and grasping with his left hand the
stalk of a plant on which are standing on
his left a lion and on his right a griffin.
Below these are spurs with fleur-de-lis
heads. The abaci are moulded but the
bases have lost their true forms.
The north wall is of grey lias coursed
rubble to the east of the porch, with
ancient large yellow quoins at the east
angle: between the windows is a modern
buttress. The 13-ft. stretch west of the
porch is unpierced and is of lias stone
with an admixture of large square yellow
stones. The east wall has a modern coping
and bell-cote to the gable. The west window, of three trefoiled lights and tracery
in a pointed head, is modern. The walling
is similar to that west of the porch, and at
the two angles are clasping buttresses of yellow ashlar.
The wall is gabled and the valley between nave and
aisle has an outlet about a yard north of the tower with
a very large carved gargoyle. There is a low modern
buttress below the window.
The south arcade, of three 11-ft. bays, has octagonal
pillars and two-centred arches of two chamfered orders.
It is all modern (fn. 34) except for the lowest voussoirs of the
east half of the east bay and for the semi-octagonal
responds, which retain the mid-late-13th-century
moulded capitals, somewhat retooled. The 13-ft.
length of wall west of the arcade is plastered and shows
no signs of piercings but probably had an upper doorway on to a former gallery entered by a stair through
the north wall of the tower.
The aisle (about 33½ ft. by 15 ft.) has a 13th-century
east window of three trefoiled pointed lights below a
two-centred arched hood-mould, with sinkings in the
masonry above the side-lights, all of lightish yellow
stone. The south window, in the middle of the aisle
wall, is similar without the sinkings and with ogee
middle foils. The chamfered rear-arches are segmentalpointed. The south doorway, reset opposite the other,
is of much the same detail and date, except that the
tympanum shows no signs of carving and the carved
capitals are badly weatherworn. In the east end of the
south wall is a piscina with a trefoiled ogee head, all
restored except the foils of the head: the quatrefoil
basin may be old.
The east and south walls are of grey lias stone,
mostly coursed. At the south-east angle is a clasping
buttress like those west of the nave. The walls have no
plinth, but at plinth-level along the south wall is a scrollmoulded string-course. The east wall meets the more
ancient south-east angle of the nave with a straight
joint.
Both roofs of the nave and aisle are modern: they are
gabled and are divided into four and three bays respectively by trusses with arches below collar-beams.
The south-west tower (about 7½ ft. square) is of
three diminishing stages, with walls of grey lias rubble,
partly coursed, and containing a few yellow and other
harder stones, in the lowest stage, at the angles of which
are clasping buttresses similar to the nave buttresses.
The adjoining buttresses in the west wall meet with a
straight joint. The upper stages are of similar lias
masonry but mostly of smaller stones and with ancient
yellow angle-dressings. The two-centred archway to
the aisle is of the full width of the tower: it is of two
chamfered orders, the outer plastered, the inner dying
on the responds. In the north wall is a deep cupboard
with a round-headed doorway cut through the wall. It
contained a staircase up to a former gallery in the nave;
but if the piercing was made especially for this purpose
it must have been a laborious task and may therefore
have been an ancient feature adapted to its later use,
and later still walled up on the nave side. In the west
and south walls are 7-in. lancet lights, with hoodmoulds to both lower stages, the jambs of one chamfered
order. Above the upper lights are very small circular
panels that may have been tiny lights or vent-holes. On
the east side the same place is occupied by a narrow
rectangular loop. Some way below it is a string-course
level with the point of the aisle roof, and below that are
traces of a previous roof parallel with but higher than
the south slope of the present roof. The bell-chamber
has windows of two lancet lights and of two chamfered
orders in yellow stone. The parapet, of the 15th century, is embattled with returned copings to the merlons
and with panelled pinnacles at the angles. This parapet
with one course below its string-course is of a darker
yellow-grey stone.
Plan of Halford Church.
The font, probably 14th-century, is octagonal; the
bowl is deep with a splayed lower edge, and has in each
face a shallow trefoiled ogee-headed panel with foiled
spandrels. The stem has a top roll-mould and the base
is chamfered. It has a 16th-century tall oak pyramidal
cover with crocketed ribs at the angles and a central
finial carved with five mitred heads.
In the chancel is an early-17th-century chair, made
up partly with a 15th-century stall, probably from
Kenilworth Abbey. It has moulded elbows and capping and a tip-up seat with a misericord carved with a
bearded man performing a tumbling trick in a pair of
branches, his head appearing between his legs. On
either side of him is a human head. The back is of the
normal early-17th-century type, with a carved panel
between guilloche-decorated pilasters and enriched
round head. In the vestry is a late-17th-century table
with a modern top, probably a former communiontable.
A stone grave slab in the chancel floor is incised with
a long cross with flowered ends and a chalice in the
stem. The stepped base is inscribed 'memento'. A
black-letter Latin inscription reads: 'Hic jacet magister
Henricus Kynnysberie quondam Rector istius ecclesie
qui obiit io die mensis Marcii anno d[omi]ni mcccclxxxviio
cui' anime p[ro]picietur deus. Amen.' (fn. 35) Another slab has
the initials and dates wh 1617 and jh 1659: others are
later. A mural tablet is to Frances wife of George
Granger, (fn. 36) 1674. Another mural tablet at the west end
of the nave is to Arthur Rowney (1690) and Elizabeth
his wife (1698), and was erected by their daughter
Elizabeth widow of Nathaniel Mason. It also commemorates Thomas Rowney (1700) and two infants,
her brother and sisters, and has a shield of arms.
In the churchyard south of the chancel is a headstone
to Jane wife of Thomas Halford 1659(60) and another
to Francis Wills 1682(3). There also lies south of the
chancel a much damaged coped and tapering slab with
a raised long cross carved on it, probably medieval.
Preserved in the church are three old thatch-hooks
for fires.
There are three bells: (fn. 37) the first is medieval (14th
century) inscribed: 'Agios in honore sancti Johannis
Baptiste sum renovata'; the second (a 15th-century
bell) recast in 1883; and the third by Henry Bagley,
1639.
The registers begin in 1545.
Advowson
The early history of the church is
rather obscure; the Priory of Kenilworth seems to have had some right to
it, but William and Andrew Giffard are said to have
presented to the living, and in 1235 the Bishop of
Worcester was claiming the right of presentation against
the Giffards' representative Robert de Mandeville. (fn. 38)
Eventually, in 1247, the bishop's right to the advowson
was established with the consent of the Prior and Convent of Kenilworth. (fn. 39) The latter were evidently rewarded by the assignment of a pension, and in 1291 the
church was only worth £4 13s. 4d. in addition to the
priory's portion of £3 6s. 8d. (fn. 40) In 1535 the rectory
was valued at £10 9s. 9d., exclusive of a pension of 40s.
to Kenilworth, and of a payment of 8s. to the Carthusian Priory of Shene (Surrey). (fn. 41) The origin of this
last payment is not clear, but as Shene had received a
good deal of property formerly belonging to alien
houses, including some elsewhere belonging to St.
Evroul, it may possibly represent the tithes which had
been granted to St. Evroul in the 12th century (see
above).
The advowson remained with the Bishops of Worcester until 1919, when it was transferred to the Bishop
of Coventry. Since 1933 the rectory of Newbold-onStour has been annexed to Halford.
Charity
Richard Badger's Charity. The share
of this charity applicable for the parish of
Halford consists of 1/42nd of the income
of the charity, amounting to £17 16s. 9d. annually, and
is applied by the rector and churchwardens towards
keeping the parish church in proper repair and maintaining divine service. A similar amount representing
the poor's share is also received and applied for the
deserving poor resident in the parish.