BRINKLOW
Acreage: 1,487.
Population: 1911, 667; 1921, 681; 1931, 732.
Brinklow is a parish 7 miles east of Coventry on the
Lutterworth road, which here takes a right-angled turn
and runs more or less north and south, forming the
main street of the large and compact village. Its eastward course is continued by Cathiron Lane, leading to
the hamlet of that name in Harborough Magna and
eventually to Rugby. The Fosse Way crosses the parish
from north to south, but its course near the village is
obliterated, the main street running parallel about
¼ mile to the west. The land is fairly level, being mostly
around the 300-ft. contour. The Smite Brook bounds
the parish on the north, and the Oxford Canal has a
short branch to a wharf on the main road. Brinklow
Station on the former L.M.S. main line to the north
is about a mile from the village and locally situated in
the parish of Stretton-under-Fosse.
The most prominent topographical feature of Brinklow is the very fine motte-and-bailey castle crowning a
slight hill just east of the village. It is a very well
preserved example of an early Norman type of stronghold, presumably built of timber, as there is no trace of
masonry, but no documentary history seems to have
survived. (fn. 1)
Brinklow, which in the early 13th century gave its
name to the hundred later known as Knightlow, (fn. 2) has
always been a large village. There were about a
hundred houses in 1730, (fn. 3) and the density of population,
over 300 to the square mile, is high for a rural parish—almost as high as that of the neighbouring parish of
Bulkington, formerly an Urban District. A grant of a
weekly market was made in 1218; (fn. 4) it is mentioned in
manorial documents as late as 1832 (fn. 5) but seems to have
died out long before then; it is not mentioned by
Dugdale. As with many main road villages where
markets were held, Brinklow accumulated a large number of alehouses. In 1646 six of the seven then existing
were ordered to be suppressed, as owing to them 'the
children and servants of the said [i.e. most substantial]
inhabitants are often drawn into many inconveniences
and so neglect their callings'. (fn. 6)
Among noteworthy men (fn. 7) associated with Brinklow
are David Stokes (1591?–1669), author and divine,
rector 1625–42 and 1660–9; William Basset (1644–95), author and divine, who was rector 1671–83; and
John Rouse Bloxam (1807–91), historian, son of a
rector.
An Inclosure Act relating to 1,700 acres was passed
in 1741. (fn. 8)
Manors
BRINKLOW is not mentioned in
Domesday Book; according to Dugdale (fn. 9) it
was included with Smite, which would
account for the high rating of 6 hides, with land for
25 ploughs, and at least 47 families, given for that
manor. The overlordship therefore, after a short
period in the hands of Earl Aubrey, passed to Robert,
Count of Meulan, and so to the earldom of Leicester,
and afterwards that of Lancaster. In 1275 the Earl of
Leicester held a court twice a year and had assize of
bread and ale, (fn. 10) and in 1361 the Earl of Lancaster had
twice yearly view of frankpledge. (fn. 11)
The principal tenancy, from early in the 12th century, was in the hands of the Mowbrays, Roger de
Mowbray holding Brinklow of the Earls of Leicester
by the service of 1 knight's fee. (fn. 12) In 1201 a lawsuit
involving Brinklow was brought by William de Stuteville against William de Mowbray. The matter dated
back to 1106, when after the battle of Tinchebrai
Robert Grondeboeuf, William de Stuteville's greatgrandfather, a partisan of Duke Robert of Normandy,
lost his barony to Niel d'Aubigny, great-grandfather of
William de Mowbray. Roger de Mowbray had compensated Robert de Stuteville with Kirkby Moorside
(Yorks.) for 10 knight's fees, in the reign of Henry II,
but William de Stuteville did not recognize this as it
had no confirmation in the king's court. As a result of
his suit he was granted, in return for relinquishing his
claim to his great-grandfather's barony, £12 rent and an
additional 9 knight's fees. (fn. 13) Brinklow formed part of
this extra compensation, being reckoned as worth £12
yearly, (fn. 14) and in 1218 Nicholas de Stuteville, William's
nephew, (fn. 15) was confirmed in possession of the manor (fn. 16)
and in the right to hold a weekly market on Mondays
and an annual fair on St. Margaret's day, as granted to
his father Nicholas by King John. (fn. 17) In 1240 another
grant of a weekly market in Brinklow, on Tuesdays,
was made to Stephen de Segrave; (fn. 18) this, however,
appears to be an error, as no Segrave connexion with
Brinklow can be traced; it may have been a blunder for
Thurlaston 'in Brinklawe Hundred', which Stephen
held in 1227. (fn. 19)
By the marriage of Joan de Stuteville with Hugh
Wake of Liddell (fn. 20) the manor descended to her son
Baldwin, who was of full age at his mother's death in
1276. (fn. 21) In 1298 John Wake held 1 knight's fee in
Brinklow of the Earl of Lancaster by homage and
scutage, his tenants coming to view of frankpledge. (fn. 22)
In the late 13th and early 14th centuries the principal
of these tenants was the Whittlebury family. Aubrey de
Wytlebiri was enfeoffed by Joan de Stuteville in an
estate in Brinklow, to hold by yearly render of a
sparrowhawk, (fn. 23) and Gilbert de Witteleburi in 1282
was holding the manor at a rent of a sore sparrowhawk
or 2s. yearly, as a knight's fee pertaining to the manor
of Kirkby Moorside. (fn. 24) In 1316 John de Whittlebury
was in possession; (fn. 25) he gave it to (? his son) Aubrey
and his first wife Alice in tail; later John made a fresh
grant of it to Aubrey and his second wife Joan, (fn. 26) and in
1341 Aubrey de Whittlebury held the manor. (fn. 27) Three
years later William, son of Sir Robert de Thorp, probably a kinsman, (fn. 28) received licence to alienate the manor
of Brinklow in mortmain to the Abbot and convent of
Combe, the yearly value being stated as 66s. 8d., (fn. 29)
less a water-mill and pond in the tenancy of Sir John
Ryvel, Elizabeth his wife, and John his son, of which
the remainder was to the abbey on Sir John's death. (fn. 30)
At the inquisition preceding this grant William de
Thorp was stated to hold the manor of Thomas Wake
of Liddell, who held of John de Mowbray, who held
of the Earl of Lancaster. (fn. 31) Further alienations of land
in this parish to Combe Abbey were made in 1347 (fn. 32)
and 1350, (fn. 33) and in the latter year the abbot's holding,
of Thomas Wake of Liddell, was reckoned as 1 knight's
fee. (fn. 34) As late as 1495 Robert Wittelbery, a descendant
of Aubrey, (fn. 35) made a quitclaim of the manor to the
abbey. (fn. 36)
Wake. Or two bars and in chief three roundels gules.
Whittlebury. Barry of four azure and argent on a chief argent three roundels azure.
The intermediate overlordships of the Combe holding were changed by marriages during the 14th century.
By the marriage, about 1325, (fn. 37) of Margaret, daughter
and heiress of Thomas Wake to Edmund, Earl of Kent,
the immediate lordship came to this earldom. Brinklow was one of the manors assigned in dower to Elizabeth, widow of John, 3rd Earl, in 1353; (fn. 38) it was still
in her possession when she died in 1411, when it was
stated to have been granted by Edward III to Edmund,
Earl of Kent, her father-in-law. (fn. 39) The marriage, about
1349, of John, 5th Lord Mowbray, with Elizabeth
Segrave, daughter and heiress of the Duchess of
Norfolk, (fn. 40) brought a similar change in the next higher
tenancy. In 1399–1400 Thomas, 1st Duke of Norfolk,
held 2¼ knight's fees in Warwickshire, (fn. 41) and in 1461–2
John, 3rd Duke, held one and one-tenth and onequarter fees in Brinklow. (fn. 42)
In 1539 the 'manor' of Brinklow, namely the undertenancy granted by William de Thorp in 1344 to the
Abbot of Combe, was granted for life to Mary, Duchess
of Richmond and Somerset. (fn. 43) She died in 1557, and
the following year the manor was granted to Robert
Lane of Horton (Northants.) and Anthony Throckmorton of Chastleton (Oxon.). It was then valued at
£11 8s. 10½d. and held with Great Addington in
Northants., of which the value was £15 10s., as onefortieth of a knight's fee. (fn. 44) In the same year Lane and
Throckmorton obtained licence to grant the manor to
William Dawes, his heirs and assigns, to be held in
chief. (fn. 45) In 1628 William Dawes, probably his grandson, died in possession of the manor, William his son
and heir being 30 at the time of the inquisition. (fn. 46)
Part of the parish, including
the site of the castle, was in 1626
in the hands of Arthur Gregory
of Stivichall. (fn. 47) His son John
appears subsequently to have
obtained possession of the whole
of what was called 'the manor',
with which he was dealing in
1654. (fn. 48)
Gregory. Argent two bars and in chief a lion passant azure.
It was perhaps through Sir
Simon Clarke, who in 1636 with
John Clarke granted view of
frankpledge in Brinklow to John
Williams the younger, Simon Edolphe, and John
Vaughan, (fn. 49) that another manor of Brinklow came,
before 1728, (fn. 50) to the Skipwith family, Sir Fulwar
Skipwith, 1st baronet, who died in 1678, marrying
Dorothy Parker the niece of Dorothy Hobson (daughter
of Thomas Hobson of Cambridge), Sir Simon Clarke's
second wife. (fn. 51) The court leet and view of frankpledge
was leased to Sir Fulwar Skipwith, 2nd baronet, in
1685, and confirmed in 1707 and 1731. (fn. 52) The Skipwith baronetcy became extinct in 1790, (fn. 53) but Thomas
George Skipwith, a distant cousin, (fn. 54) was vouchee in a
recovery of the manor in 1832, (fn. 55) and in 1850 the joint
lords were Sir Grey Skipworth and A. F. Gregory, (fn. 56)
the latter being directly descended from the John
Gregory who was lord of the manor in 1654. (fn. 57) The
lordship remains with the Gregory (now GregoryHood) family. (fn. 58)
In 1201 when William de Mowbray conveyed
Brinklow to William de Stuteville he reserved the services of Samson de Cornubia, who held by knight
service. (fn. 59) This may represent the knight's fee held in
Brinklow of John Mowbray the elder of Axholme by
the Prior of Monk's Kirby in 1361. (fn. 60) This alien priory
was absorbed in 1415 by the Carthusian priory of
Axholme (Lincs.), (fn. 61) and in 1539 its lands in Brinklow
were assigned for life to Thomas Mannyng, formerly
Prior of Butley (Suffolk) and then Bishop of Ipswich,
with remainder to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. (fn. 62)
One-tenth of a knight's fee was held in Brinklow in
1298 by Thomas de Bray, of the lands of John son of
Benedict. (fn. 63) In 1361 a similar fraction was held by
Thomas de Grey; (fn. 64) in both cases the Mowbrays were
the immediate overlords, and this is no doubt identical
with the tenth of a fee in the hands of John, 3rd Duke
of Norfolk, in 1461–2. (fn. 65)
A messuage in Brinklow, with lands in other parishes,
was devised by will dated 19 April 1625 by Thomas
Wale, citizen and mercer of London, to provide a
schoolmaster and usher in the school at Monk's Kirby,
this school to be free to the children of Monk's Kirby,
Stretton, and Brinklow. (fn. 66)
Church
The parish church of ST. JOHN
THE BAPTIST, on the west side of
the main street, stands in a small churchyard on the slope of a hill, the ground falling from east
to west, its eastern boundary being the outer ditch of
the castle. It consists of a chancel, nave, north and
south aisles, west tower, and north and south porches;
the south porch has been converted into a vestry. It was
rebuilt about the end of the 15th century and all that
remains of the earlier church is the chancel, parts of the
north aisle walls and possibly the staircase to the roodloft.
Plan of Brinklow Church
The chancel is built of a mixture of limestone and
sandstone rubble patched with bricks and tiles and has
a modern steep-pitched tiled roof, modern coping and
cross finial, and rebuilt buttresses. It is lighted on the
east by a modern window of three pointed lights with
a hood-mould and head-stops. The south side has
a central buttress, and west of it are two restored lancet
windows with a narrow doorway between them. The
lancet to the west is divided by a transom to form a low
side window. The doorway has a restored pointed
arch, the splay carried down the jambs. The north
side has a central buttress and another butting against
the aisle wall, with a restored lancet window between
them. The south aisle is built of red sandstone ashlar
with a plinth of one splay, stepped down to conform
with the slope of the ground. The wall is diminished
in thickness by a weathered offset at sill level. It has a
low-pitched lead-covered roof with a plain low parapet,
with a moulded coping projected on a moulded stringcourse. The east gable is lighted by a partly restored
traceried window of three cinquefoil lights under a
hollow-moulded four-centred head. The south wall
has buttresses at the angles, two intermediately, and a
porch towards the western end. It is lighted between
the buttresses by three windows similar to the one in the
east wall. The porch has been rebuilt in brick and
stone with a tiled roof and the entrance blocked to form
a vestry. The south door, which has a four-centred
arch under a square head, has been mutilated. The
west end is similar to the east, but the coping is carried
up as a lean-to instead of a gable. The buttress at the
angle is diagonal, splayed to a point. The north aisle is
built of rubble similar to the chancel and has a lean-to
roof covered with lead, a battlemented parapet with
trefoil panelled pinnacles at each end and crocketed
finials. Originally there were two intermediate pinnacles, of which only the bases remain. The north side
has diagonal buttresses at the angles, one intermediate
and, towards the west, a porch. It is lighted by two
three-light traceried windows with splayed fourcentred heads, the centre light trefoiled, the two outer
cinquefoil; by a similar window on the east; and on
the west by a trefoiled single light with a square head.
The porch is timber-framed with a tiled roof, and the
entrance has been fitted with a pair of modern doors.
On both sides the timbering has been concealed, externally with roughcast and internally with plaster.
The front retains its timbering, the entrance having a
heavy moulded frame and four-centred head, carved
spandrels and lintel, and a timber-framed gable plastered between the timbers. The door has a moulded
four-centred head, square hood-mould, carved spandrels, and trefoil-panelled soffit and reveals which have
been badly mutilated. In the centre of the hood-mould
there is a shield with three swords (for Clarke).
The tower is built of light-coloured sandstone ashlar
with a moulded plinth and battlemented parapet on a
coved string-course; at each angle there are bases for
pinnacles. It rises in four stages, diminished at each
stage by weathered offsets on the north and south, and
on the east and west at the first and half-way up the
third only. At the angles there are diagonal buttresses
rising in five stages and splayed off to a sharp edge,
except at the third stages on the west side which have
gabled trefoiled niches. The west doorway, in a deep
wave-moulded splay, is constructed of red sandstone
and has a moulded four-centred arch under a square
head, with carved spandrels. It is flanked by wall
aracading in two tiers of trefoil-headed roll-moulded
panels. Above the doorway is a tall pointed traceried
window of three cinquefoil lights with a hood-mould,
the tracery and mullions being modern, and in the
second stage a clock dial. The tower staircase is in the
south-west angle, with a loop-light to each stage and
a square-headed doorway opening on to the aisle roof.
The belfry is lighted on each face by pointed traceried
windows of two trefoil lights, and the ringing chamber
by similar windows on the north and south.
Internally the floor of modern tiles has been laid to
a continuous fall from east to west, probably taking the
place of a series of steps, as the bases of the arcade
pillars and windows are stepped down following the
slope. The walls, except the arcades and tower, are
plastered, the plaster being finished round all the aisle
windows with scalloped edges.
The chancel (28 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft. 6 in.) has four
steps from the nave and three to the altar in addition to
the slope of the floor. The east wall has a dado of
modern coloured embossed tiles, and the window a
segmental pointed rear-arch. At the east end of the
south wall there is a shallow recess with a segmental
pointed stop-chamfered head, probably a blocked
piscina. The lancet windows have splayed recesses with
square heads, and the doorway a segmental pointed
rear-arch. The roof is a modern hammer-beam, its
trusses supported on carved stone corbels. It is continued under the chancel arch with twin trusses,
panelled between with pierced panels and supported
on slender stone shafts with carved capitals and moulded
bases resting on moulded corbels.
The nave (48 ft. 3 in. by 17 ft. 7 in.) has a modern
open roof with curved trusses resting on moulded
timber corbels. Both arcades consist of five bays of
pointed arches, of two splayed orders, supported on
lozenge-shaped roll-moulded pillars, the arch splays
dying out on the mouldings, which terminate in splayed
stops on plain lozenge-shaped pedestals. At the junction of the south arcade with the chancel there is a
circular stair up to a square-headed doorway which
gave access to a rood, and half-way up there is a pointed
opening to the aisle. It is lighted from the east by a
small square-headed two-light window. The chancel
arch is a modern pointed one, of two splayed orders,
dying out on the north wall and on the south resting on
a floriated corbel. The tower has a pointed arch of two
splays to the tower and three to the nave, the inner
order supported on three-quarter-round responds with
moulded capitals and bases. The arch is of red sandstone with capitals of a light-coloured stone, and on the
tower side in the apex there is a carving of an angel.
The south-west angle is corbelled out in three steps for
the tower staircase, the upper step being trefoiled, and
below it there is a square-headed doorway. The pulpit
and reading desk, of stone, are modern.
The south aisle (49 ft. by 12 ft. 9 in.) has a lowpitched open roof of five bays with moulded members
and carved bosses in the centres of the tie-beams. It
probably dates from the early 16th century; the boarding and some rafters are modern. The trusses rest on
stone corbels on the south wall, and on the north the
outer roll mouldings of the arcade pillars are carried
up with capitals in place of corbels. At the east end,
the north-east angle is splayed to accommodate the
staircase to the rood. The windows have hollowmoulded reveals with four-centred rear-arches, the
window to the east having its arch extended eastwards
and carried down to form a recess. The east wall has
an offset at sill level with a chamfered stone capping,
and the window reveals are carried down as a recess.
In the east window there are some fragments of early
coloured glass consisting of two chalices and parts of a
canopy.
The north aisle (45 ft. 7 in. by 9 ft. 11 in.) has a
lean-to roof of five bays, of which two retain some of
their original moulded members, probably early-16thcentury. The trusses are supported on stone corbels on
the north wall and on square blocks of stone as capitals
to the outer roll moulding of the arcade pillars. Over
the door there is a painted coat of arms of George IV.
The font, with a lead-lined basin, is built into the
west side of the north arcade pillar opposite the door.
It is of stone, with an octagonal moulded basin with
paterae, and octagonal stem and base which has been
rendered in cement. It has been re-dressed but is
probably contemporary with the arcade. Near the
door there is a small 17th-century oak chest with three
hasps and fitted with lifting rings at each end. In the
centre and east windows there are a few fragments of
early glass, including a peacock and portions of a castle.
The tower (15 ft. 10 in. by 13 ft.) has a window
with widely splayed reveals, and a rear-arch of two
splayed orders; the recess is carried down to include
the doorway.
In the chancel and aisles there are a number of 18thand 19th-century wall memorials.
There are five bells, all of 1705, by Joseph Smith of
Edgbaston. (fn. 67)
The registers begin in 1558.
Advowson
Brinklow was originally a chapelry
of Smite, and was granted with the
parent church, in the reign of Henry I,
by Samson de Albenei with the consent of Roger de
Mowbray to the priory of Kenilworth. (fn. 68) The patronage continued with that house till just before the Dissolution, when it was granted by the convent to Richard
Haw, who presented in 1541. (fn. 69) After the Dissolution
the Crown retained the advowson in its own hands; the
Lord Chancellor is the present patron. (fn. 70)
The value of the rectory was £4 in 1291, (fn. 71) and
£17 10s. in 1535. (fn. 72)
Charities
William Edwards by will dated 9
June 1789 gave to the minister, churchwardens, and overseers of Brinklow
£300, the yearly interest to be distributed in bread to
the amount of 5s. 6d. every Sunday at church to the
most deserving and necessitous poor of the parish. Any
sum remaining to be given in bread on Christmas Day.
Mary Barker by will dated 9 December 1721 gave
£20 to the minister and churchwardens of Brinklow,
to be laid out in bread especially on the Sunday after
Christmas Day and on Whitsunday and given to poor
persons regularly attending the church service: £10 of
this sum was lost by the insolvency of the person in
whose hands it had been placed. The annual income of
this charity and that of William Edwards amounts to
£7 11s. 4d.
Ann Brierly, by will dated 16 July 1863 gave £25
to the rector and churchwardens of Brinklow, the
income to purchase coal to be distributed on 21
December to necessitous widows residing in the parish.
The annual income of the charity amounts to 12s. 4d.
Mary Ferguson, who died in 1862, bequeathed to
the rector and churchwardens of Brinklow £100, the
interest, amounting to £2 12s., to be given at Christmas
among deserving widows of the parish.
Elizabeth Frances Lyne Hill by will dated 29 July
1925 gave to the rector and churchwardens of St.
John's, Brinklow, £500, the income to be distributed
to deserving poor residents in the parish. The annual
income of the charity amounts to £14 6s. 4d.
The Rev. Thomas Muston by will dated 30 September 1729 charged certain property in Foleshill with the
annual payment of 20s. to the minister of Brinklow for
the use of the poor of the parish, special regard being
had to those who frequent the service and sacraments of
the church. The rent-charge was redeemed in 1926
in consideration of the sum of £40 2½ per cent. Consols,
producing an annual income of 20s.
James Hancox by will dated 30 September 1752
devised land called Potters Close in Brinklow to
trustees to dispose of the rents and profits among poor
persons of the parish. The land was sold in 1947 and
the proceeds of sale invested. Trustees of the charity
are appointed by Order of the Charity Commissioners
and by the parish council. The annual income amounts
to £12 16s. 8d.
Alice Ansley by indenture dated 11 January 1635
charged certain property at Brinklow with the payment
of the yearly sum of 10s. to the rector of Brinklow
on Good Friday towards the repair of the parish
church.
Thomas Wale by a codicil to his will dated 19 April
1625 ordained that the Mayor and Aldermen of the
City of Coventry should yearly bestow out of the rents
and profits of certain property devised to them the
sum of 40s. to the churchwardens and overseers of
the poor of Brinklow to be distributed for the relief
of the poor of the parish.