BILTON
Acreage: 2,306.
Population: (fn. 1) 1911, 5,188; 1921, 6,080.
By the Rugby Urban District (Extension) Order,
1931, the greater part of the ancient parish of Bilton
was transferred for civil purposes to Rugby and the
remainder to Dunchurch. The old village, a compact
settlement typical of the eastern and southern portions
of Warwickshire, is about 1½ miles south-west of Rugby
on the Leamington road. Other roads lead from the
village to Long Lawford, Dunchurch, and the main
road from Dunchurch to Northampton, which itself
crosses the south-east part of the parish, a bridle road
from it leading past Inwood's Farm over Rains Brook
into Northamptonshire. The northern part is crossed
by the road from Rugby to the Lawfords and contains
New Bilton, a separate ecclesiastical parish since 1867
and a suburb of Rugby, also the Rugby Portland Cement
Works and several brickworks. The L.M.S. Railway
lines from Rugby to Crewe, Birmingham, and Leamington cross the parish, but there is no station. There were
about 40 houses in Bilton in 1730. (fn. 2)
The land rises from the River Avon on the north,
and Rains Brook on the south-east, where the level is
about 270 ft., to 373 ft. in the village and 401 ft. near
Bilton Grange on the southern boundary. Bilton
Grange is a modern house on the site of a grange of
Pipewell Abbey, to whom most of the southern part of
the parish, described as 'in breadth from the outmost
limits of Dunchurch to the old Morwey by the old road
leading from (Hill) Morton towards Warwick, and in
length from the end of that road by the same Morwey
to a little rill of water, called Reynesbroc', (fn. 3) was granted
in the 12th century. The parish was inclosed by private
agreement in 1656. (fn. 4)
A fragment of the shaft of a cross stands in the middle
of the village, where it was reset in 1897. South of it
is a small range of timber-framed building, probably
of the early 17th century, to which date also belongs
'The Long Barn', west of the church, now forming
two cottages.
South-west of the church is Bilton Hall, a brick
building with stone dressings and tiled roofs, generally
of two but in part of three stories. The main frontage
to the drive faces north-west, that to the garden southeast. It has been divided in recent years into four flats.
In the garden are the former entrance gates erected
by Joseph Addison and bearing his initials and the
monogram of his wife Charlotte, Countess of Warwick.
They were moved to their present position in 1825. (fn. 4a)
The oldest part of the house is said to have been
built by Edward Boughton of Lawford; (fn. 5) its architectural features are consistent with a late-16th- or early17th-century date. It appears originally to have been
of H-plan, though successive alterations have made its
exact form difficult to determine. It was added to in
1623 and partially rebuilt first in the early 18th century (fn. 6) and again rather more than a century later.
The north-west elevation of the main block consists of
a gabled wing of three and a range of two stories; it has
a porch and modern additions. The gabled wing, aligned
north-west and south-east, shows three mullioned
and transomed windows of six lights; each mullion
and transom bears a cyma moulding. The top window
is shorter than the others and has a label stopped with
short returns. (fn. 7) There is a moulded plinth; a stringcourse indicates externally the division between first
and second story, and both this and the porch gables
are surmounted by tapering pinnacles of square section,
placed diagonally. The porch, adjacent to this wing,
has a stone doorway with a depressed four-centred
head, chamfered continuously with the jambs. Above
it is a semicircular-headed panel moulded with a
hexagram within a circle. The string-course, which is
continuous from the wing around the porch, is here
raised to clear the head of the panel. In the second
story is another mullioned and transomed window of
six lights; in the top story is a mullioned window of
three lights having a label stopped with short returns.
A stone panel above it bears the date 1623. Both wing
and porch have flush ashlar quoins to the first and
second stories, but not to the top story. On the southwest side of the porch is a chimney-stack, added in the
early 19th century, having three octagonal shafts with
moulded cappings. Abutting the stack and alongside
the 17th-century range connecting the two wings is a
small extension also dating from the early 19th century. (fn. 8)
In the remaining original portion of the range is a
string-course of a profile similar to that around the
porch; there is a casement window in the first and a
sash window in the second story. A small gabled porch
occupies the angle between this range and the older
wing; its brickwork is not bonded with either of the
adjacent blocks. It contains in its north-west elevation
a doorway with a depressed four-centred head, chamfered continuously with the jambs. Above the door
are two three-light mullioned windows; both windows
and door have square labels stopped with short returns.
The original building of H-plan has in the recessed
portion of its north-west elevation a three-light mullioned window and two blocked windows, one with a
segmental head. The gable has a window in each of its
two stories and attic, all having been altered from the
original Tudor form; above the attic window is a stone
shield bearing the arms of Boughton with supporters.
The finials of this gable, as also of the porch gables,
are of a more elaborate form than those on the 1623
portion of the house. Most of the windows in the
north-west elevation of this wing, and the entire southwest elevation of the house, have been greatly altered
in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The south end of the garden frontage is built in
stretcher bond with quoins and a plat-band. The first
story externally is largely modern; of the eight secondstory windows one is now blocked but the others retain
their original moulded wooden frames flush with the
wall. Of the two dormers in the steep-pitched roof, one
retains its heavy segmental head. The garden front of
the 1623 wing, now covered in smooth stucco, has two
large bay-windows in the first and second stories, of
which the upper one is battlemented; both seem to
belong to the first quarter of the 19th century. (fn. 9)
The interior of the house nowhere retains its 17thcentury appearance, and much even of the plan has been
altered. The hall still has its 18th-century panelling,
and the staircase, of the same date, its twisted balusters
and fluted angle-posts. At several places throughout
the house are wall-cupboards and powder-closets of
early-18th-century date. The attics in the oldest part
of the house contain a small amount of timber-framed
plaster panelling, the roof of the 1623 part has a kingpost, tie-beam, and diagonal braces.
Amongst noteworthy men associated with Bilton are
Joseph Addison, who was lord of the manor from 1711
to 1719 (see below), and Henry Holyoake, rector from
1705 to 1731, the first headmaster of Rugby School to
raise it above the level of purely local importance. (fn. 10)
Manor
BILTON was held by Ulwin in the time
of Edward the Confessor. In 1086 5 hides
less 1 virgate were held by a certain William
under Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel and
Shrewsbury, and 1 virgate by Turchil of Warwick with
Gilbert as sub-tenant. (fn. 11) Most of Turchil's lands passed
soon afterwards to the Earl of Warwick, but there is
no further record of his small estate in Bilton. In the
middle of the 12th century Walter son of Hingan, or
Ingald, and Mary his wife, gave their lands here to the
abbey of Pipewell, Northants., between 1154 and
1163. (fn. 12) This gift was confirmed by Roger (son of
Geoffrey) de Craft who had married Walter's daughter
Beatrice. (fn. 13) Further gifts of land in Bilton, making up
the portion known as Dunchurch Grange and later
sometimes described as a separate manor, were made
by Roger's son, another Roger, in 1196. (fn. 14) This Roger
took part in the rebellion led by Robert Fitzwalter
against King John, for which he forfeited his lands,
but was restored to them by Henry III. (fn. 15) In 1226
Roger de Craft was involved in a lawsuit with Roger
Pantulf over rights of common pasture in Bilton,
Newbold-on-Avon, and Little Lawford. (fn. 16) In 1235
Roger de Craft, perhaps his son, held one knight's fee
in Bilton of the Earl of Arundel for 2 marks, (fn. 17) and in
1242 the same of Robert de St. John, (fn. 18) the earldom
of Arundel being in abeyance at this time. (fn. 19) Part of
the Craft estates, including Bilton, descended to the
Charneles family by the marriage of Roger's daughter Beatrice with William de Charneles; (fn. 20) his son,
Nicholas de Charneles, was implicated in the baronial
revolts of the later part of the reign of Henry III but
was pardoned in 1268. (fn. 21) He entailed the manor on
his son George and his heirs, with remainder to the
heirs of his brother William, early in the reign of
Edward I. (fn. 22) In 1309 George de Charneles granted the
manor to Henry de Stodle, parson of Elmesthorpe
(Leics.), for life, with remainder to the heirs of his son
Nicholas Charneles and his wife Joan. (fn. 23) George was a
knight of the shire for Warwickshire in the parliament
of 1312. (fn. 24) In 1319–20 his widow Lucy held the
manor in dower. (fn. 25) In 1339 his son Nicholas represented Warwickshire in parliament, (fn. 26) and in 1356 was
appointed to put the Statute of Labourers into effect
for the county. (fn. 27) His granddaughter Maud married
Laurence Trussell of Kibblestone, Staffordshire, to
whom the manor ultimately passed after a lawsuit. (fn. 28)
John de Charneles of Bedworth had intruded into the
manor, obtaining right of free warren for himself and
his heirs (fn. 29) and falsely alleging that Edward, Prince
of Wales, had died seised of the manor (fn. 30) having been
enfeoffed by John de Charneles. Judgement was given
in favour of Maud Trussell, (fn. 31) and in 1383 she and her
husband entailed the manor on her heirs, with contingent remainder to the heirs of Joan wife of John
Pauy. (fn. 32) In 1385 the Trussells leased the manor to Sir
Ralph de Ferrers for life. (fn. 33) Laurence Trussell died in
1399 (fn. 34) and Maud must have at once married Robert
Litton, as they made a fresh settlement of the manor
in 1400. (fn. 35)
Charneles. Azure a cross engrailed or.
Trussell. Argent a cross paty gules.
In 1481 Sir William Trussell died seised of the
manor, which was valued at £14 and was stated to be
held of the Prior and Convent of Barnwell, Cambridgeshire. (fn. 36) At this time his son Edward was only 2 years
old, and the manor came into the king's hands. (fn. 37) He
died in 1499 when his daughter and ultimate heiress
Elizabeth was still a minor, and his son John died,
holding the manor of the Prior of Barnwell, in 1500. (fn. 38)
Elizabeth was granted in wardship to John Vere, afterwards 15th Earl of Oxford, in 1507, (fn. 39) whose second
wife she became, and to whose family the manor of
Bilton passed for some 70 years. In 1574 Edward,
Earl of Oxford, leased it to John, Lord Darcye, (fn. 40) and
in 1580 he sold it to John Shuckburgh, (fn. 41) who immediately leased it to Edward Cordell. (fn. 42) John Shuckburgh
died in 1599, having by deed of 8 November 1595
settled the manor on his sons Henry and Francis in
tail male successively, with a jointure for Christian, the
wife of Henry, who in 1599 was 35 years of age. (fn. 43)
Henry Shuckburgh in turn sold the manor to Edward
Boughton (who already held the portion of Bilton that
had belonged to Pipewell Abbey) in 1610. (fn. 44) In 1620
Edward Boughton was granted free warren in Bilton. (fn. 45)
In 1623 he, William his son and heir, and Thomas,
another son, were dealing with the manor. (fn. 46) William
and Thomas Boughton married two sisters, Abigail
and Judith Baker of Shoebury, Essex, in 1623, when
Edward Boughton settled the manor proper on William
and the Pipewell lands on Thomas. (fn. 47) William, who
was created a baronet in 1641, (fn. 48) also inherited the
family estates at Little Lawford; Thomas, described as
'of Bilton' in the 1682–3 Visitation, presumably took
over all the Bilton property on the death of his father
in 1640. (fn. 49) In 1711 Edward Boughton, grandson of
Thomas, sold the manor to Joseph Addison, the poet
and essayist, for £10,000. (fn. 50) Addison married the
Countess of Warwick in 1716, (fn. 51) and after his death in
1719 she had the estate and was lady of the manor in
1730. (fn. 52) After her death in the
next year her daughter, Charlotte
Addison, inherited the estate;
she died in 1797. (fn. 53) The manor
had been acquired by John
Simpson (third son of Henry
Bridgeman, Lord Bradford) who
had taken his mother's name of
Simpson, in or before 1799,
when he made a conveyance of
it to George Bridgeman and
Jonathan Heaton. (fn. 54) The Hon.
John Bridgeman Simpson was
the owner of Bilton Hall, and
Capt. J. H. W. Hibbert of Bilton Grange (the
former Pipewell estate) in 1850: (fn. 55) in 1900 Mr.
G. H. O. Bridgeman was lord of the manor. (fn. 56) With the
urbanization of the parish any surviving manorial
rights appear to have lapsed.
Addison. Ermine a bend gules with three anulets or thereon and on a chief azure three leopard's heads or.
THE GRANGE, the portion of the parish given to
Pipewell Abbey, is sometimes described as a separate
manor. According to Dugdale it was usually known as
Dunchurch Grange although locally situate in Bilton. (fn. 57)
This estate had been demised by the abbot of Pipewell
to Richard Boughton, William Boughton, and Agnes
his wife for their lives and for the term of 99 years, in
the reign of Richard III. (fn. 58) In 1542 it was granted,
with other Pipewell property in Warwickshire, to
Edward Boughton for a rent of £2 8s. 8d., in exchange
for the manor house of Kempston Hardwicke and other
property in Bedfordshire. (fn. 59) In 1596 it was leased by
Edward Boughton to Sir Thomas Conyngsbye and
Thomas Morgan, (fn. 60) and from 1610, when the Boughton
family gained possession of the manor of Bilton itself,
it has descended with that manor.
Church
The parish church of ST. MARK consists of a chancel (40 ft. by 22 ft.), vestry,
north chapel (13 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft.), nave
(45 ft. 9 in. by 32 ft.), north aisle (46 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft.
6 in.), west tower (14 ft. 6 in. by 11 ft. 6 in.), and north
and south porches. All dimensions are internal.
The chancel, nave, and west tower are of the mid14th century; the south porch was added in the early
19th century, possibly in 1821 when the then east
window was altered; the north aisle was added at the
general restoration in 1873 by G. F. Bodley.
The chancel has a large, pointed east window of six
lights inserted, as indicated externally by a stone on its
south side, in 1873. On the north side is a similar stone
bearing the date 1609. (fn. 61) Internally there is a hood
mould with head-stops re-used from the original window. The east wall, (fn. 62) like all the 14th-century work, is
of coursed red sandstone ashlar with fairly wide joints.
The top part of the wall is of modern masonry and
some part of the remainder has been scraped during
the 19th-century restoration. Below the window is a
string-course, and beneath it under the east window a
single course of modern masonry, indicating the position
of the east window which was inserted in 1821, (fn. 63)
replacing that of 1609, and which in 1873 was removed
to the west end of the north aisle. There are square
buttresses of two offsets at the angles and a double
plinth about 3 ft. high continues around them and on
to the north and south walls.
The north wall has a two-centred window of three
trefoiled lights with chamfered jambs and mullions.
The central light has an ogee head, the others elliptical
heads; above them is cusped pear-shaped tracery and a
quatrefoil, and there is a hood-mould with weathered
head-stops. Internally it has slightly splayed jambs and
a hood-mould with a head-stop at the east side only.
To the west of the window is visible the profile of a
buttress now embodied in the wall of the modern vestry.
Like the other ancient intermediate buttresses of both
chancel and nave it was of three offsets, the top one
being of very slight projection, so imparting to the
topmost stage of the buttress the character of a flat
pilaster. Inside, beneath the window and to the west
of it, is a cinquefoiled ogee-headed tomb recess. Each
main foil itself carries a trefoil; the head is of three
moulded orders with a hood-mould. It is crocketed,
with a finial, some of the crockets on the east side being
cut away to allow of the insertion of panelling and
others on the west for the organ. Inside the recess is
now a stone tablet stating that 'This Vault was made
at the charge of William Boughton Esq.'; the date is
obscured, but the lettering appears to be of early-18thcentury date. The recess is said by M. H. Bloxam (fn. 64)
to have been both a founder's tomb and an Easter
Sepulchre. The doorway from the chancel into the
modern vestry, originally a priest's door, has moulded
jambs and two-centred head, and on the south side a
hood-mould with head-stops. The masonry of the
reveals is ancient on the east side, modern on the west,
where it is plastered. There are no signs on the chancel
side of rebates for hinges, and the suggestion (fn. 65) that the
door was reversed when the vestry was built is probably
correct. West of it is an arch to the north chapel, of
two orders, chamfered in the jambs and having a
swelled chamfer in the head. It, like the north chapel,
was built in 1873.
The south wall of the chancel is divided by buttresses into three bays with a window in each. The
easternmost window resembles that in the north wall;
it has restored mullions and an ancient external hoodmould with stops, of which the eastern shows the
beginnings of carving and the western is an untouched
square block. The head of the rear-arch is chamfered
and there is an internal hood-mould. Three sedilia
extend the full width of the jambs of the rear-arch;
their heads rise above the ledge of the window. They
are entirely of modern masonry. Slightly to the east
is a piscina having a modern cinquefoiled ogee-head
with a hood-mould stopped on heads, and an ancient
cinquefoiled bowl, part of which is in a projecting
stone of tapering semi-octagonal form. The middle
bay contains a window of three trefoiled ogee-headed
lights with cusped net tracery under a two-centred
head. The restored jambs and mullions are chamfered
and there is a hood-mould stopped on the east by a
badly weathered human mask, on the west by a
grotesque mask with large ears. There is also an
internal hood-mould with head-stops and the rear-arch
has a pointed chamfered head. The ledges of this
window and the string-courses which are immediately
below them are raised a little higher than those in the
adjacent bays in order to clear the head of a doorway.
The doorway is moulded with two swelled chamfers
in the jambs and two-centred head, and has a rear-arch
with a chamfered segmental-pointed head. The jamb
mouldings are much worn at the foot, and the head is
partly restored. Both inside and outside there are hoodmoulds, the apexes of which join the string-courses.
That inside is of pointed segmental form with headstops, on the east a man with protruding tongue,
wearing a cowl, on the west a grinning mask. The
third bay has a window like that in the first; the
tracery is modern, and the lower part is blocked because
there are high-backed modern choir-stalls inside. The
hood-moulds have head-stops, those outside being
grotesques. Below the string-course and beneath the
westernmost light of the window is a small blocked
square opening. This 'low-side' window is chamfered
externally; a hood-mould is formed by two short
vertical projections from the string-course. The choirstalls conceal the internal form of the window. The
plinth, which on the south chancel wall is broken only
by the priest's door, terminates on the south face of the
westernmost buttress.
The north wall of the north chapel is continuous
with that of the aisle, and like it, is of re-used 14thcentury sandstone ashlar. It has a window like the
middle bay of the south chancel wall; the hood-mould
and jambs appear to be for the most part ancient
masonry re-used. There is a modern parclose screen;
but the only architectural division between chapel and
aisle is a formerly external buttress, east of which a
short piece of the original string-course still remains.
The 14th-century chancel arch is two-centred, of
two chamfered orders continuing unbroken into the
responds, which have chamfered bases. From a height
of 4 ft. above the floor the inner order has a double
chamfer. In the arch are several repairs in brown stone
indicating the position of beams connected with the
screen and rood-loft. A rood-loft altar was discovered
during the restoration. (fn. 66)
The nave has a north arcade, built in 1873, of three
11¼-ft. bays and irregular octagonal piers, the cardinal
faces being wider than the others. The arches are
moulded with two swelled chamfers.
The south wall of the nave has at the east end a
trefoiled ogee-headed piscina with a damaged quatrefoil
bowl. The eastern window has net tracery, the western
pear-shaped tracery; they are in all respects like the
windows of those respective forms described above.
The plinth and string-course are about 1 ft. higher than
on the chancel wall. The third bay has a stuccoed
modern porch in front of the south doorway; the latter
is probably a poor copy, done in the early 19th century,
of the 14th-century original. There is a buttress at the
south-east angle.
The original north wall of the nave, of three bays,
was re-erected to form the north wall of the aisle. The
eastern window has pear-shaped, and the western net
tracery in the head; they are like the eastern and middle
windows, respectively, in the south wall of the chancel.
Only the jambs are ancient; the restored external hoodmoulds are stopped with square blocks. The third bay
contains the north doorway, of two orders, each a
swelled chamfer, having a hood-mould stopped with
uncarved square blocks. In the jambs of the rear-arch
are still two large holes for a sliding bar. The brick
and timber porch is modern. The west wall of the
aisle is entirely modern and contains a window of three
lights with net tracery in a two-centred head, removed
from the east end of the chancel in 1873. The ancient
north-west angle buttress of the nave, partially concealed by the west wall of the north aisle, is visible
outside.
All the roofs are modern.
The two-centred tower arch is of three chamfered
orders which on the west side die into the walls.
The battlemented west tower (fn. 67) has a moulded
plinth, of the same profile as that of the nave but rather
higher, and is divided externally into two stages by a
moulded string-course. It has angle buttresses and a
north-east stair vice which overhangs at the base, where
it is carved with a grotesque head. The buttresses, of
four offsets, have at the top semicircular hollow niches
with much-worn projecting bases which are surmounted by gabled heads; the latter have on the face
blind traceried cinquefoils and are crocketed with
finials. The copings slope up to the wall behind them.
The openings of the north and south walls are similar.
At the top of the first stage is a pointed window containing a trefoiled ogee-headed light with a hoodmould stopped on heads; the western head-stop on the
north side has disappeared. At the same level in the
stair vice is a narrow square-headed window with
chamfered jambs and head, and at the top is a similar
but smaller window. Above the string-course is a
pointed louvred window. The west face of the tower
has a window of two cinquefoiled elliptical-headed
lights with cusped pear-shaped tracery under a twocentred head which, with the jambs, is chamfered. All
the tracery and mullions are modern; the jambs and
hood-mould with its uncarved stops are ancient. The
rear-arch has a chamfered two-centred head. The
windows above are similar to those in the north face.
The east face has only the top window. In the northeast, south-west, and south-east angles of the tower are
the original vault ribs, chamfered and resting on
tapered corbels. Below the external cove at the top
of the tower are gargoyles and carvings. On the north
face at the west end is a much-weathered quadruped
animal. The south face has a shield bearing a cross
engrailed with supporters. The east face is carved with
two animals, a ? monkey, and a ? frog. There is an
octagonal spire with two ranges of lights, each of which
has two trefoiled pointed openings with a recessed
quatrefoil under a gabled head.
The octagonal font is of the later 14th century; the
panels of the bowl alternate in the form of their decoration, one having quatrefoiled roundels, the other two
trefoiled ogee-headed panels. The blind tracery is
throughout flush with the sides of the bowl, giving it
the appearance of being unfinished.
There are in the nave two chandeliers, said to be
17th-century Dutch work and to have come from
Bois-le-Duc (S'Hertogenbosch).
The organ case (fn. 68) came from St. John's College,
Cambridge, about 1868. It was built by Robert
Dallam c. 1635–6 and despite sundry alterations now
presents almost its original appearance. It is of oak,
with gilt ornaments, among which are the Tudor rose
and portcullis, emblems of the founders of the College.
The altar rails are said to have come from Great
St. Mary's, Cambridge, (fn. 69) and are of the 17th century.
There are fragments of medieval glass made up with
modern glass in the north window of the chancel. The
old pews were at the restoration used to form panelling
around the church.
The bells, which were re-hung in 1948, are as
follows: (fn. 70) (1) Treble Memorial bell, inscribed with
the names of the fallen, 1939–45; by John Taylor of
Loughborough, 1948; (2) Gift of the Countess of
Warwick, 1722, by Richard Sander of Bromsgrove;
(3) by John Sturdy or John Kebyle of London, c. 1450;
(4) and (5) by John Danyell of London, c. 1460;
(6) Tenor, by Henry Bagley of Chacomb, 1682.
The registers begin in 1655.
Advowson
There was a priest at Bilton in
1086, (fn. 71) and late in the 12th century
Roger de Craft and Beatrice gave to
Pipewell Abbey 2 acres belonging to the church of
Bilton adjoining the grange of Dunchurch, to hold by
paying the rector 4d. or a pair of cowhide boots. (fn. 71a) The
advowson was included in the settlement of the manor
made in 1310 by George de Charneles, (fn. 72) and similarly
the advowson was wrongfully alleged to be held, with
the manor, by Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1376. (fn. 73)
It so descended from the Charneles to the Trussell
family and their successors the Earls of Oxford, or
their lessees in the manor, except in the latter part of
the 16th and early 17th century, during which period
grants of the advowson without the manor were made
to Alice Worcester, widow, of Bilton, who presented
in 1558 and 1559, (fn. 74) to Francis Bosworth by Henry
Shuckburgh and his wife Elizabeth in 1608, (fn. 75) and to
William Riplingham or Replingham, who presented in
1621 'by reason of the advowson granted to him'. (fn. 76)
Dugdale states that this grant was made by the Earls of
Oxford, but the manor and advowson had already
passed through the hands of the Shuckburgh family to
the Boughtons, the then owners. Edward Boughton
died seised of the manor and advowson in 1625. (fn. 77)
While the manor went to his younger son Thomas, the
advowson seems to have gone to the elder son Sir
William. In 1705 Sir John Sandys presented Henry
Holyoake, (fn. 78) head master of Rugby School, and in 1731
William Adams made a presentation, (fn. 79) but these were
probably under grants of a turn, as in 1745 the patron
was said to be Sir William (? Edward) Boughton; (fn. 80) in
1759 Anna Boughton, a minor, (fn. 81) and in 1763 Sir
Edward Boughton. (fn. 82) In the first half of the reign of
George III the Hume family were in possession,
Alexander Hume and his wife and William Caldecott
and his wife conveying it in 1768 to Thomas Caldecott
and others. (fn. 83) Alexander Hume was patron in 1784, (fn. 84)
and Abraham Hume granted it to the Rev. Jonathan
Parker in 1795. (fn. 85) Between 1817 (fn. 86) and 1859 (fn. 87) the
Rev. J. T. Parker was rector and patron, as was Richard
Orme Assheton from 1862 to 1900, and his son the
Rev. W. O. Assheton as late as 1940. (fn. 88)
The patronage of St. Oswald's Church, New Bilton,
erected in 1867, was in 1915 (fn. 89) in the hands of the
Trustees of the late R. H. Wood, and from 1926 of
the Bishop of Coventry. (fn. 90)
The rectory was valued in 1291 at £6 (fn. 91) and in 1535
at £16 10s. 6d. (fn. 92)
Charities
Poor's Land. By a decree of the
Court of Chancery dated 10 July 1661
an agreement for inclosing the fields,
meadow ground, commons, and heath ground in Bilton,
then lying open, was confirmed. By the agreement a
plot of heath land containing 42 acres adjoining to
Causton Lordship was allotted and set out for the use
of the poor of the town.
Langton Freeman by will dated in 1783 gave £20,
the interest for the use of the poor inhabitants of Bilton.
Charlotte, Countess of Warwick and Holland. It is
recorded on a tablet in the church that she left £10 a
year out of her estate in Bilton to the churchwardens
and overseers for the use of the poor.
William Smith by a codicil to his will dated
23 August 1711, charged certain property at Kites
Hardwick and Thurlaston in the parishes of Leamington Hastings and Dunchurch with the yearly sum of 4s.
to the poor of each of the parishes of Dunchurch,
Bourton, Leamington, Birdingbury, Grandborough,
Stretton-upon-Dunsmoor, Stockton, Nether Shuckborough, Bilton, and Long Lawford, to be paid on
Easter Day to the churchwardens and overseers of the
poor of the several parishes, to be laid out in bread and
distributed among the poorest people of the parishes.
The rent-charge was redeemed in 1905 in consideration of the sum of £80 Consols, producing an annual
income of £2.
William Butlin by will dated 15 August 1832
bequeathed to the churchwardens and overseers of the
poor of the parishes of Rugby, Bilton, and Barby,
respectively, the sum of £50 for each parish, the
interest to be applied as near to Christmas day as conveniently might be, in purchasing and distributing
bread amongst the poor of the said parishes.
The above-mentioned charities are regulated by
Schemes of the Charity Commissioners dated 8 January
1878 and 10 October 1933 which appoint a body of
Trustees to apply the income of the charities, under
various heads, for the benefit of the poor of the parish.
The annual income of the charities amounts to £180
approximately.
Church Land. The endowment of this charity, the
origin of which is unknown, consists of a close of land
in this parish containing 2½ acres, the rent of which is
applied by the churchwardens for church purposes.