RATLEY
Acreage: 1,729.
Population: 1911, 267; 1921, 248; 1931, 245.
The parish is roughly L-shaped, the longer limb
(1¾ miles) lying east and west, with the shorter projecting southwards for about a mile. The angle between
the two limbs is occupied by the Oxfordshire parish of
Hornton, from which Ratley is separated by a small
stream. From Sugarswell Barns at the south-west
corner of the parish the boundary runs north-eastwards
following a road on the ridge of Edge Hill, except for
a slight divagation westwards at Grove Corner, (fn. 1) 1½ miles
from Sugarswell. East of this point is the site of a windmill, no doubt the successor of one which is mentioned
in 1619, (fn. 2) and near here are several quarries of'Hornton
stone', formerly in demand for building. Some 300
yards east of this road and roughly parallel with it is
another, connected with it by crossroads, which turns
eastward and splits up into a tangle of roads constituting
the little village. Most of the buildings are of the local
stone, with thatched or stone-tiled roofs. Some of these
may date from the 17th century or earlier, but they
show no distinctive architectural features. On a hill on
the northern edge of the parish are the extensive earthworks of Nadbury Camp. (fn. 3) Here and on the crest of
Edge Hill heights of a little over 700 ft. are reached,
and most of the parish is above the 600-ft. level.
South-west of the village, about 1½ miles, stands
Upton House, (fn. 4) given to the National Trust in 1948 by
Viscount Bearsted, with extensive plantations. Outside
Upton there is now no woodland in the parish, but
reference in 1637 to pasture called Ashwood, Homewood, Bastwood, and Stockwood in Ratley (fn. 5) suggests
that it was formerly more plentiful. About 1500 Sir
Edward Ralegh, John 'Waryner' (or Warner), and
Sir William Danvers between them destroyed five
messuages and converted to pasture 220 acres of arable,
putting out of action five ploughs, evicting 34 persons,
and thus destroying the hamlet of Upton. (fn. 6) Under
an Act of 1795 (fn. 7) some 900 acres in Ratley were
inclosed.
Manors
RATLEY, assessed at 5 hides, was held
before the Conquest by Ordric and in 1086
by Almar under Turchil, (fn. 8) whose grandson
Hugh de Arderne, or Arden, owned it in 1155. (fn. 9) From
Hugh it passed to his nephew Thomas, whose widow
Eustacia was granted land in Ratley by her son Thomas
in 1236. (fn. 10) This Thomas held a knight's fee here of the
Earl of Warwick in 1242, (fn. 11) and when he (or possibly
his son) was taken prisoner at Evesham in 1265 his
manor of Ratley was valued at £6. (fn. 12) In 1279 Thomas
de Arderne was lord of the vill, where he had 2 carucates of land, an inclosed park of 2 acres, and rights of
free warren. (fn. 13) He got into debt and sold the manor in
1287 to Nicholas de Eton (fn. 14) who had a grant of free
warren therein in 1290. (fn. 15) Nicholas married Margery
de Coleville, and in 1301 the manor was settled on them
in tail. (fn. 16) Their son Sir Nicholas heads the list of taxpayers in Ratley in 1332; (fn. 17) he married Joan daughter
and heir of Richard de Stockport and left a son Robert
and daughter Cecily. Robert, who took his mother's
name of Stockport, died before
1358, when his widow Isabel
settled the manor on herself and
her then husband John de Stafford with reversion to (Robert's
son) Richard de Stockport. (fn. 18)
Isabel was still living, again a
widow, in 1374 (fn. 19) and seems to
have survived both her son
Richard and his son of the same
name. The manor then passed
to Sir John Warren, son of Sir
Edward Warren and the abovenamed Cecily, and descended in
that family (fn. 20) for about 150 years. In 1518 Sir John
Warren died, holding of the king as of Warwick
Castle the manor of Ratley, which he had settled on his
wife Joan. (fn. 21) His son Laurence conveyed the manor in
1529 to Thomas Tropwell and others, (fn. 22) who were
possibly acting for Thomas Englefield, as at his death
in 1537 he was holding the manor, which Laurence
Warren had mortgaged to him. (fn. 23)
His son Francis Englefield sold
it in 1546–7 to John Warner, (fn. 24)
who died seised thereof in 1553. (fn. 25)
George Warner was dealing with
the manor in 1619, (fn. 26) and according to Dugdale John Warner was
lord of the manor when he wrote
(c. 1640); (fn. 27) but the descent
about this period is confused. In
1586 William Warner, eldest
son of John, on the occasion of
the marriage of his son George
with Elizabeth daughter of Ralph Joyner of Coventry,
conveyed the manor to trustees, (fn. 28) of whom William
Andrewes was one, and a few months later assigned
half the manor to George. (fn. 29) In 1622 William Andrewes and Elizabeth his wife conveyed the manor
(apparently held in her right) to Edward Walker. (fn. 30)
He died 7 March 1640–1 (fn. 31) and soon afterwards
Daniel Walker, who died in October 1641, (fn. 32) was dealing with it. (fn. 33) Thomas Walker claimed to be lord of the
manor in 1665. (fn. 34) In 1699 John Walker with Katherine, Viscountess Say and Sele, William Style and Anne
his wife, Elizabeth and Frances Walker (of whom
Katherine was certainly daughter of John, and the last
three presumably her sisters) conveyed the manor to
George Freeman, clerk. (fn. 35) By 1724 the manor seems
to have been in the hands of Thomas Archer, (fn. 36) who
occurs as lord from 1730 to 1734. (fn. 37) He apparently
conveyed it to his brother Henry, as he held it between
1744 and 1759, as did his widow Lady Elizabeth
(Montagu) in 1785. (fn. 38) Possibly, however, they only
held the demesne, as Henry's nephew Andrew, Lord
Archer of Umberslade, in 1777 conveyed the manor to
Mark Smithson. (fn. 39) In 1790 Ann Rigby, Bernard Hale
and Martha his wife, and Francis Hale Rigby and
Frances his wife conveyed it to Joseph Hill; (fn. 40) and by
1809 it was in the hands of Sir Edward Smythe, bart. (fn. 41)
Its subsequent descent is obscure, but Andrew Richard
Motion was lord of the manor when he died in 1934,
and it was soon after this sold to Viscount Bearsted.
Warren. Checky or and azure a quarter gules with a lion argent thereon.
Warner. Or a cheveron between three boars' heads erased sable.
UPTON, which is frequently bracketed with
Ratley, gave name to a family, of which Richard de
Upton and Thomas his son occur in 1200 (fn. 42) and William
in 1256. (fn. 43) In 1279 Hugh de Upton held of Thomas
de Arderne's fee of Ratley 3 virgates as 1/10 knight's fee
by render of a pair of gloves at Easter. (fn. 44) This or another
Hugh held the 1/10 fee in Ratley of the Earl of Warwick
in 1316, and John held ¼ fee
there (fn. 45) and was lord of the vill of
Upton. (fn. 46) It seems to have been
styled a manor for the first time
in 1452 when William son of
Robert Verney sold it to Richard
Dalby, (fn. 47) from whom it passed to
Sir William Danvers at the end
of the 15th century. (fn. 48) Thomas
Danvers is said to have succeeded
him by 1518; (fn. 49) George Danvers
died seised of an estate in the
parish of 'Ratcliffe' in 1635; (fn. 50)
John Danvers held the manor in 1640, (fn. 51) and Elizabeth
Danvers, widow of his nephew John, some 35 years
later. (fn. 52) This branch of the Danvers family then dying
out, the manor was acquired by the Archers of Tysoe
and about 1700 was sold to Sir Rushout Cullen, bart.,
who held it in 1730, (fn. 53) in which year he died, leaving
no issue. (fn. 54)
Danvers. Argent on a bend gules three martlets vert with legs or.
A manor of Ratley, associated with Warmington,
was in the hands of George Villiers, Earl of Jersey, in
1806, (fn. 55) and seems to have been held by his son George
Augustus Frederick, Viscount Villiers, in 1829. (fn. 56) The
earl was still lord of the manor in 1850, when Viscount
Villiers was living at Upton House. (fn. 57)
Waleran, Earl of Warwick (1184–1204), gave lands
in Ratley to Stoneleigh Abbey; (fn. 58) and Hugh de Arderne
and Alice his wife gave the abbey 3 carucates, containing 330 acres of arable, 5 acres of meadow, pasturage
rights for 300 sheep and 10 oxen everywhere except in
the park, and a grove called Knithgrave, as bounded by
Bradeweie. (fn. 59) About a century later Sir Thomas de
Arderne granted to the monks half the arable of Edge
Grange and the mills with the suit of his men of Ratley
and Upton. (fn. 60) The estate of Edge Grange lay partly in
the neighbouring parish of Radway, and in 1291 the
Abbot of Stoneleigh had here 2 carucates, worth £2. (fn. 61)
It was apparently leased to Thomas de Stathom (third
husband of Isabel widow of Robert de Stockport) and
subsequently to Robert de Legh, who granted his rights
in it to John de Catesby in 1374. (fn. 62) As mentioned
under Radway, (fn. 63) it was granted in 1542 to Richard
Andrewes and Leonard Chamberleyn. (fn. 64) John Warner
acquired it from Edward Leke in 1549 for his second
son George, (fn. 65) whose son Walter had livery of it in
1589. (fn. 66) He was succeeded by John Warner, who died
seised of the estate in 1600. (fn. 67)
Church
The church of ST. PETER AD
VINCULA consists of a chancel, south
chapel, nave, south aisle, north porch,
and west tower.
The whole fabric, except the 15th-century porch,
dates from the 14th century but the foundations may be
partly on the lines of an earlier building. It was begun
about 1340 and continued in several spells, finishing
with the top stage of the tower, which is late-14th-century work. It is remarkable for the variety of its
window tracery and, judging from the north windows
of the nave, it is probable that the Black Death interfered for a time with the progress of the work.
The roofs were replaced in the 18th and early 19th
centuries, and there have been later restorations, including that of the east window, which had probably
suffered in earlier alterations.
The chancel (about 32½ ft. by 18 ft.) has a modern
east window of four trefoiled lights and tracery based
on that of the older windows. In the east half of the
north wall is a tall window of two trefoiled lights with
pierced soffit-cusps and leaf tracery in which the line of
the mullion is continued up to the apex of the pointed
head and with an external hood-mould, all of c. 1340.
The second window, near the west end, is much shorter
and set at 'low-side' level; it is of two trefoiled ogeeheaded lights and a duofoil piercing in a two-centred
head with a hood-mould and segmental-pointed reararch. Between them is a pointed doorway.
In the east half of the south wall is a larger window
of three trefoiled ogee-headed lights and foiled intersecting tracery in a two-centred head. It is recessed
below for a sedile and in the east splay is a piscina with
a projecting trefoiled ogee-canopied head. All the
windows are of two chamfered orders and the internal
splays are plastered. The east wall is of coursed rough
ashlar in yellow Edge Hill stone, while the north and
south walls are of approximately-coursed squared
rubble. At the east angles are diagonal buttresses of
ashlar. The slated roof is low-pitched: the original
high-pitched roof is indicated by the east gable-head
which rises above it, also by the weather-course remaining on the east wall of the nave. The flat ceiling
is plastered and is cut away at the east end for the head
of the modern window.
The arch in the west half of the south wall of the
chancel, the west chancel arch, the west arch of the
south chapel, and the nave arcade of three bays are all
of identical detail and date, being two-centred and of
two ovolo-moulded orders which are continued from
the piers and responds without a break, the southern
pier of the chancel arch receiving the thrust of arches
extending four different ways. There are hood-moulds
on both faces of each wall. The bases are chamfered
and stand on square sub-bases.
The south chapel (about 15 ft. by 9½ ft.) has an east
window of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and a circle
with revolving tracery in a two-centred head with a
hood-mould. The window in the south wall is of three
trefoiled lights and net tracery. East of it is a piscina
with a round basin in a corbelled sill and a modern or restored trefoiled ogee head with a hood-mould and finial.
The nave (48 ft. by 17 ft.) has three tall north
windows. The two easternmost differ in appearance
from all the other windows and may not have been
finished until later in the century. They are each of two
plain ogee-headed lights and a plain piercing, instead
of a quatrefoil, in a two-centred head that has an
ogee point. This is exaggerated in the hood-moulds,
especially the eastern, into a pinnacle capped by a
human-head carving. Otherwise the details—jambs,
hood-moulds, &c.—are similar to the others. The
eastern has head-stops. The third window was somewhat similar, without the exaggerated point, but has
had some repair and is now of two trefoiled ogeeheaded lights and a quatrefoil in the head.
The north doorway has jambs and two-centred head
of two continuous moulded orders, each of two small
rolls and shallow hollows all in one splay and with a
hood-mould resembling them, with square block-stops.
It dates from the 15th century.
The wall is of old fine-jointed ashlar and has a plinth
of two splayed orders: there is a buttress at the east end,
for the chancel arch. The roof is high pitched and
covered with slates but is hidden inside by a flat
plastered ceiling. On the east face of the tower is the
weather-course of a former higher nave-roof.
The north porch has a 15th-century gabled front
with a four-centred entrance of two chamfered orders
with broach base-stops and external hood-mould,
and with a plinth of two moulded courses on the front
only. The side walls are of larger ashlar, without
plinths, and are unpierced: these may perhaps be earlier
than the front. Against each is a stone bench. The roof
has modern timbers and is tiled.
The south aisle (about 10 ft. wide) has two south
windows: the eastern is of three trefoiled ogee-headed
lights and tracery with elongated quatrefoil in a twocentred head; the western of similar type of two lights.
The pointed south doorway between them is a plain
one of two hollow-chamfered orders. The west
window is of two trefoiled round-headed lights and
tracery differing from the others.
The walls of the aisle and chapel are of fairly widejointed and coarsely tooled squared rubble, mostly
coursed but not regularly. At the angles are diagonal
buttresses, and intermediate square buttresses divide
the length into four bays. A splayed plinth dies into the
ground west of the second buttress. The parapets are
plain. On the wall-face west of the doorway are two
scratched mass-dials, one with only two radiations.
The roof is a low lean-to divided into six bays by
highly cambered stop-chamfered cross-beams: three of
them have bead-moulds above the chamfer: it is
probably of the 15th or early 16th century and is
covered with lead.
The west tower (about 10 ft. square) is of three
stages, the top stage diminishing, divided by splayed
projecting string-courses and having a similar plinth,
and a plain parapet with a spout or two. A vice in the
north-west angle rises above the parapet as a square
turret. The walls are of fine-jointed regularly coursed
ashlar of local dark-brown stone: the masonry of the top
stage is generally rather smaller than the lower. At the
west angles are diagonal buttresses to the two lower
stages. The ground floor has two precisely similar
doorways in the east and west walls, with the reararches inwards, as though the tower was meant to be a
stronghold: they have pointed heads of two chamfered
orders dying on single-splayed jambs and having plain
hood-moulds. The eastern is reached by five steps up
from the nave. In a splay across the north-west angle
is a square-headed doorway to the vice. This story was
vaulted, or intended to be, and the two lowest springing
stones of chamfered diagonal ribs remain in the angles.
The second stage has west windows of two trefoiled
ogee-headed lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred
head with a hood-mould.
The two-light windows in the north, west, and south
walls of the bell-chamber are of late-14th-century date:
they vary in elevation. The west window has cinquefoiled heads, the north trefoiled two-centred heads, and
the south trefoiled ogee heads: all have quatrefoils in
the pointed heads, and external hood-moulds. The
east opening seems to have been a doorway on to the
apex of the former nave roof, which reached its sill.
The font, probably medieval, is very plain: the bowl
is octagonal and tapers downwards; the round stem and
base are modern.
In the tower is a 4 ft. 9 in. oak-framed chest of
hutch type (raised on legs). The two ends are carved
with foiled piercings, boarded behind, and the front
board shows slight traces of also having been carved
with circular patterns, but it has (apparently deliberately) been cut back. There is one lock, and staples and
hasps for two padlocks. Probably it was secular, of the
early 16th century. The lid is modern.
In the sill of the east window of the chapel is fixed a
stone achievement of arms charged with a lion passant
between two roundels, a helm supported by putti and
a helmet and crest of a lion (broken). There is also
another similar crest complete in a wreath of fruit and
flowers. Loose on the south window-ledge of the
chancel is a stone with the same arms impaling
quarterly a bend with three scallops a crescent for
difference.
In the chapel north of the east window is a plain
image bracket.
On the west wall of the nave are 8 brass inscriptions
mounted on two boards. They are (1) to John Warner,
1520; (2) Thomas son of Thomas Lewis, 11 March
1673–4; (3) Judith (Bury) wife of Thomas Lewis,
14 February 1697–8; (4) Simon son of Thomas Lewis,
26 January 1667–8; (5) Mary daughter of Thomas
Lewis, 1668; (6) Judith daughter of Thomas Lewis,
16 March 1673–4; (7) Thomas Lewis, 1675; and
(8) Edward son of Thomas Lewis, 1726.
Near the north door are floor-slabs to William Harris
and Thomas Harris, both died 1677.
There are three bells; the treble of 1859 by Mears,
the second by Henry Bagley, 1677, and the tenor by
Matthew Bagley, 1763.
The registers begin in 1701.
In the churchyard is a 15th-century preaching cross
12 ft. 2 in. high with an octagonal shaft on a moulded
base and two steps. It has a moulded capital and
remains of a carving of the Crucifixion facing west and
apparently our Lord in majesty facing east.
Advowson
Thomas de Arderne in 1286 granted
the advowson of Ratley church to the
Abbey of Stoneleigh, (fn. 68) who did not
retain it many years but conveyed it to William, Earl of
Warwick, before 1298. (fn. 69) His grandson Earl Thomas
in 1342 was given leave to grant it to the Priory of
Clattercote (Oxon.), who were at the same time
licensed to appropriate it. (fn. 70) The church had been
valued in 1291 at £11 6s. 8d.; (fn. 71) in 1535 the vicarage
was worth £6 12s., (fn. 72) and the rectory was farmed to
Robert Warner at £15, out of which £4 was paid to
the vicar. (fn. 73) With the other possessions of Clattercote
the rectory and advowson were granted in 1538 to
Dr. William Peter, (fn. 74) but in 1545 he sold them back
to the Crown, (fn. 75) in whose hands the advowson remained until the second half of the nineteenth century,
when it was sold to the Rev. George Miller with that
of Radway, with which it was united.
The rectory had come into the possession of Edward
Sheppard by 1619, when he settled it on his wife Alice; (fn. 76)
he died in 1624, leaving two infant daughters, one
posthumous. (fn. 77) His possession, however, seems to have
been only on lease, as the rectory reverted to the Crown
and was purchased during the Commonwealth by
St. John's College, Oxford, who had to return it at the
Restoration. (fn. 78)
The advowson seems to have been closely associated
in the 13th century with land, amounting to 2 acres, in
Upton, (fn. 79) and this was presumably 'the chappell lands
in Upton' mentioned in leases of the rectory to Richard
Warner in 1574 and 1588 and to John Murden in
1592. (fn. 80)
Charity
Poor's Land. Under the inclosure of
the common fields of Radway in about
1766 land at Kerswell Quarter containing
9 a. 2 r. 15 p. was allotted to the trustees and feoffees for
the poor of the parish in lieu of one-quarter of a yardland in the common fields. Upon the Ratley Inclosure
in about 1796 there was allotted to the vicar, churchwardens, and overseers in trust for the poor a plot of
land at Grange Leys containing 1 a. 2 r. 28 p. These two
pieces of land which are let at an annual rent, together
with £59 13s. 5d. 3½ per cent. War Stock, now form
the endowment of the charity, which is regulated by
a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 12
March 1895. The scheme appoints trustees and directs
one-half of the yearly income to be applied in aid of
any Provident Club or Society in, or in the neighbourhood of, Ratley for the supply of coal, clothing, or other
necessaries. The other half of the income is to be
applied to educational purposes for the benefit of poor
children of the parish.