CUBBINGTON
Acreage: 2,112.
Population: 1911, 1,144; 1921, 1,170; 1931,
1,264.
Cubbington is a parish and large village almost in the
centre of the county, 2½ miles north-east of Leamington
Spa, with Stoneleigh on the north and Weston-underWetherley on the east. The village is fairly compact,
and central in the parish, in a shallow valley on a stream
tributary to the Leam, which forms the boundary with
Offchurch on the south-east. The responsibility for the
repair of Offchurch Bridge was shared with that parish,
and gave rise to some dispute in 1661–4, when it was
in bad repair and swept away in a flood. (fn. 1) The road
from Leamington to Rugby crosses the parish, and the
village is mainly built along a loop from this road, a
minor one also leading northwards towards Stoneleigh
and Baginton. The road running north-east across the
parish, by Cubbington Heath Farm, is Leicester Lane, (fn. 2)
making connexion between Warwick and Leicester
via Wolston and the Fosse Way. At right angles to
this road, and skirting the west of the village, is the
Welsh Road, which enters Cubbington by Offchurch
Bridge on its way towards Birmingham and the northwest.
The height of the ground varies from about 325 ft.
on the east and west boundaries of the parish to less
than 200 ft. by the Leam.
1,085 acres were inclosed by private Act of Parliament in 1767. (fn. 3)
Unlike most rural parishes, Cubbington has exhibited
an almost continuous increase in population from 1801
to the present day, and is one of the few in Warwickshire outside the industrial districts to have more than
1,000 inhabitants. Property has always been much
divided, which may be partly the cause; Cubbington
is in fact a typical 'open' village.
During the Civil War the inhabitants of Cubbington
petitioned that no more troops might be quartered on
them owing to the scarcity of provisions. (fn. 4)
The church stands on rising ground to the north of
the open space where the roads intersect, round which
the old village is grouped. On the corner west of the
south gate of the churchyard is the Manor House, an
18th-century building of red brick with stone quoins
and stone-coped gables. On the opposite corner to the
south is a large L-shaped house, of which the east limb
and the east gable of the main front, facing onto the
road from Offchurch, are of 16th-century timber-framing in square panels with brick nogging. The main
front and an extension westwards are of ashlar with
windows framed in a simple moulding but without
mullions, perhaps of the end of the 17th century.
On the Offchurch road are several picturesque cottages of brick and stone, some with thatched roofs, but
mostly not earlier than the 18th century. Other cottages on the road westwards, some of which are timberframed, seem to be of similar date, or only slightly
earlier. The road into Leamington is lined with modern
houses, constituting New Cubbington.
Two incumbents of Cubbington have attained some
eminence; John Old (fl. 1545–55), a Protestant religious writer, (fn. 5) vicar 1548–54, and George Leigh Cooke
(1780?–1853), Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy at Oxford, (fn. 6) vicar from 1824 to his death. Joseph
Russell (1760–1846), the agriculturist, was a tenant
farmer here from about 1780 to 1820. He wrote several
books on agriculture and invented a clover-headgathering machine. (fn. 7)
Among place-names found in early documents are
Russchemfurlong, (fn. 8) Sorte Merks, (fn. 9) Brithmundsich, (fn. 10) and
Follwellesty. (fn. 11)
A windmill in Cubbington is mentioned in 1355,
when the Prior of Kenilworth claimed that the Abbot
of Stoneleigh should pay 4s. in lieu of the tithes thereupon, (fn. 12) but it does not appear to be mentioned in later
records.
Manors
In 1086 CUBBINGTON was assessed
at 10 hides, held in three parts: 2 hides
by Coventry cathedral priory, (fn. 13) 3 by the
Count of Meulan, with Boscher at sub-tenant (these
had been held freely by Lewin and Chetelbern in the
time of Edward the Confessor), (fn. 14) and 5 by Roger de
Ivri, which Turbern had held freely before 1066. This
last holding was stated (ut dicitur) to be held of the
king, but it is also described as being of the fee of the
Bishop of Bayeux. (fn. 15)
The Coventry portion was confirmed to the priory
by Pope Honorius III in 1221, (fn. 16) and was reckoned as
half a knight's fee, its tenants being the Prior of Kenilworth in 1236, (fn. 17) and in 1242–3 Henry de Cobinton. (fn. 18)
In 1330 (fn. 19) and 1334 (fn. 20) William de Passenham held property in Cubbington of Coventry priory, worth 33s. 8d.,
which he received licence to alienate in mortmain to the
priory. The total annual value of the Coventry holding
in 1535 was £3 2s. (fn. 21) In 1550 it was granted to Sir
Ralph Sadleir, Master of the Great Wardrobe, and
Laurence Wennyngton, and to the heirs of the former. (fn. 22)
Henry II enfeoffed Boscher, presumably a descendant of the Count of Meulan's tenant, of 4½ virgates of
land in Cubbington, most of which in 1251–2 was let
out among various sub-tenants, (fn. 23) and in the reign of
Richard I his son Henry Boscher granted to the Abbey
of Stoneleigh lands amounting to a hide and threequarters of a virgate, held by him or by sub-tenants. (fn. 24)
Numerous other grants of land and tenements in Cubbington were made to Stoneleigh Abbey during the
Middle Ages, (fn. 25) and in 1284 the abbot and convent
were granted free warren in their demesne lands in
Cubbington and elsewhere. (fn. 26) The total value of the
Stoneleigh holdings in Cubbington in 1535 was
£11 4s. 6d.; (fn. 27) in 1546 they were granted to Edward
Watson of Rockingham (Northants.) and Henry Herdson, skinner, of London, (fn. 28) who later in the same year
obtained licence to alienate them to Richard Fawkenor. (fn. 29) The latter died seised of the property in 1558. (fn. 30)
Fawkenor's daughter and heiress Alice, aged 10 at
her father's death, married Benedict Shuckburgh, who
was in possession of CUBBINGTON GRANGE in
1564. (fn. 31) In 1572 he and his wife made a settlement of
this manor, (fn. 32) which in 1587 was settled on his daughter
Elizabeth, at her marriage with Thomas Greswold of
Solihull. The last named died before Benedict Shuckburgh or his widow (afterwards Alice Aleworth), who
died in 1617 and 1634 respectively, and his widow
Elizabeth (Shuckburgh) was at her mother's death the
wife of William Lisle of Evenley (Northants.), (fn. 33) who
had livery of a third part of the
manor in 1636. (fn. 34) Thomas Greswold's son Edward, though he
also never actually possessed the
manor, dying in 1633 (fn. 35) before
Alice Aleworth, settled its reversion on his wife Margaret, from
whom it descended to his son
John, who died in 1640 aged
21. (fn. 36) Edward Greswold seems
to have been an eccentric; obeying literally the injunction not
to have communication with sinners he shut himself up in his
house with his family and lived a hermit's life.
His house being broken into on a justice's order, two
of his children were found dead and the rest of the family
in great misery. (fn. 37) William Thomas also states that he
was not the right heir, his elder brother being set
aside, but the heirs of the latter coming into possession on the death of Edward and his eight children, all
without issue. In 1646 Thomas Greswold, perhaps a
brother of John, conveyed the manor to Humphrey
Greswold, senior (a cousin), and Thomas Newman. (fn. 38)
Joseph Greswold (died 1751) and his brother Thomas
(died 1752) were 'much given to drinking ardent
spirits' and in 1746 were deeply in debt and sold the
reversion of the manor to their principal creditor,
Thomas Prew. He died in 1747 and the manor came
to his widow Bridget and after her death in 1763 to
their two daughters, Elizabeth who married John Wise,
and Bridget Prew. Elizabeth's grandson the Rev. John
Wise died in 1830 and the estate passed to his children. (fn. 39)
Greswold. Argent a fesse gules between two running greyhounds sable.
About the middle of the 17th
century a 'manor' in Cubbington
was in the hands of the Murcott
family. In 1640 Abraham Murcott, senior, Elizabeth his wife,
and Abraham, junior, leased a
manor to Edmund Palmer and
William Murcott; (fn. 40) and in 1667
the younger Abraham and his
wife Elizabeth, Andrew and
Bridget Murcott, and Andrew
Palmer leased it to Edward
Saunders and John Smith. (fn. 41) Abraham Murcott was
appointed high constable of Knightlow Hundred in
1666, (fn. 42) and was generally active in local government about this time, particularly as a viewer of
repaired bridges and highways, (fn. 43) and in 1668 John
Murcott was appointed treasurer of the county stock. (fn. 44)
This family was among the principal landowners in
Cubbington in 1850. (fn. 45)
Murcott. Argent a fesse between three scutcheons gules.
In 1679 Thomas, 2nd Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh,
conveyed a manor in Cubbington to various persons,
among whom was Lewis Watson, (fn. 46) heir to Edward
Watson, Lord Rockingham, whose sister Eleanor Lord
Leigh married at this time as his second wife. (fn. 47) Lewis's
second son George was concerned in a recovery of the
manor in 1710. (fn. 48) The Leigh baronage became extinct
in 1786, but Thomas Leigh, James Leigh Perrot, James
Hervey Leigh, and others dealt with the manor in
1806, (fn. 49) as did the first and last, with Chandos Leigh
(later 1st Baron Leigh of the second creation), in
1812. (fn. 50)
The overlordship of the portion of Cubbington held
by Roger de Ivri came into the hands of the Hastings
family, later Earls of Pembroke, of whom half a knight's
fee was held in 1313 (fn. 51) by Geoffrey Symeley, descendant of Ralph de Symeley who held half a virgate under
Adam Boscher in 1251–2. (fn. 52) A similar half-fee was
held of the Earl of Pembroke in 1375, (fn. 53) and in 1435 of
Joan, widow of Sir William Beauchamp, to whom the
Hastings lands passed. (fn. 54) Towards the end of the 15th
century what may have been the Symeley holding also
passed to Stoneleigh Abbey through the grant, in
1473–4, by John Hugford and Thomas Waldeyve of
5 messuages, 80 acres of land, 3 of meadow and 4
of pasture, held of Sir Edward Nevill, the then holder
of the Hastings lands. (fn. 55) After this date it presumably
descended with the rest of the Stoneleigh property
mentioned above.
Another medieval manor in Cubbington, probably
part of Roger de Ivri's Domesday holding, was held in
1273 by Walter de Ottesford, who in that year granted
a life tenancy for 40s. annual rent to Henry de St.
Maur or Seymour and Ermegarde his wife. (fn. 56) The
reversion was to the heirs of Walter; but subsequently
he quitclaimed his rights to Ermegarde by a deed which
his kinsman and heir John de Waltham unsuccessfully
challenged in 1332. (fn. 57) In 1276, Henry de Seymour
having fled overseas, this manor was in the king's hands
and was ordered to be held for the maintenance of
Ermegarde his wife during the king's pleasure. (fn. 58) Soon
afterwards she granted it to the Knights Templars, who
in 1279 held 3 yardlands in demesne, and an inclosed
grove, in Cubbington. (fn. 59) In the following year they
concluded, through Robert de Turvill, Master of the
Order in England, another agreement in favour of
Ermegarde Seymour and her husband, for an annual
rent of 4 marks silver, to be paid to them during her
life, (fn. 60) and this payment was continued to her after the
suppression of the Order in 1309. (fn. 61) Though documentary evidence of the grant seems to be lacking, the
Templar property in Cubbington must have been transferred to the Knights Hospitallers, as they had the
manor in 1332. (fn. 62) In 1561–2 John Fisher and Thomas
Dabridgecourt obtained the manor of Cubbington
which had been held by the Balsall preceptory of the
Hospitallers. (fn. 63) This manor later passed to the Blissett
family of Warwick, who in 1730 held courts leet and
baron in that part of Cubbington then known as St.
John's Holt. (fn. 64) Mary Blissett was lady of this manor
in 1715, and Joseph Blissett of Kenilworth lord from
1763 to 1777. At the time of the inclosure (1767) the
manorial rights of Cubbington were disputed between
Mr. Blissett and Mr. Wise and were settled, by the
tossing of a halfpenny, in favour of Mr. Blissett. (fn. 65) His
widow Susannah and son Charles were in possession in
1780 and 1782 respectively, (fn. 66) and Charles sold the
estates for £3,800 to Dr. Crines of Kenilworth (whose
son-in-law John Stanton sold them in 1820 to the Earl
of Aylesford for £14,000) and the royalty of the manor,
without any land, for £300 to John Whitwick Knightley
of Offchurch, whose granddaughter held it in 1834. (fn. 67)
She married the Earl of Aylesford, and after her death
in 1911 the manor was acquired by Lady Manton,
who held it in 1936.
Two virgates of land in Cubbington were granted in
frank almoin by Bertram de Makestoc to the priory of
Chalcombe (Northants.) in 1226. (fn. 68) This may have
been the property in Warwickshire for which Stoneleigh Abbey paid 23s. 8d. yearly to Chalcombe. (fn. 69)
Church
The parish church of ST. MARY consists of chancel, flanked by modern organ
chamber and vestries, clearstoried nave
with north and south aisles, south porch, and west
tower.
The earliest part of the existing fabric is the south
arcade of the nave, dating from the early 12th century.
About the end of that century the tower, which is of
exceptionally massive construction, was added at the
west. The aisles may have been rebuilt during the 13th
century, to which period the south doorway belongs,
but the windows, so far as they are, or reproduce,
original work, belong to the 14th century, when the
chancel appears to have been rebuilt and probably
lengthened. The chancel was repaired by Lord Leigh
in 1780, and about 1830 considerable repairs were
done to the south aisle, the flat roof shown in the drawing of c. 1820 in the Aylesford Collection being replaced by an extension of the nave roof, veiling the
windows of the clearstory, and a pointed window being
inserted in the south wall in place of a rectangular
opening. (fn. 70) A very extensive restoration was carried out
in 1885, when the north arcade was completely rebuilt,
both aisles extended eastwards to form vestries, the
porch rebuilt, and a gallery at the west end and the flat
ceiling in the chancel, which in 1834 cut off the tracery
of the east window, (fn. 71) removed. The nave and chancel
roofs were renewed in 1899, and some repairs done to
the exterior in 1932. (fn. 72) The external masonry of the
medieval portions is of red sandstone ashlar, the extensions of the aisles are of a grey stone, as are the pinnacles, battlements, and three or four top courses of the
tower; the wall of the south aisle has also been raised
at some time, bringing the lean-to roof to a flatter pitch,
with the use of grey stone.
In the chancel the modern east window is of three
lights with reticulated tracery; the external hoodmould, with crude head-stops, may be 14th-century.
The stonework of the windows on the north and south
is entirely modern; they are each of two trefoiled lights
with a quatrefoil in the head and may reproduce the
original windows. The external hood-mould of the
eastern of those in the south wall has an ancient headstop. The priest's door is of modern stonework except
for the lower half of the eastern jamb, the mouldings
on which are copied and run continuously into the twocentred head; its western reveal is splayed but that on
the east is not. It now opens into the extension of the
south aisle by three steps, the floor of the chancel having
been raised. West of the door is a low-side window of
a single trefoiled light. On the north the modern archway into the vestry is occupied by the organ.
Plan of Cubbington Church
At the east end of the south wall is a rectangular
aumbry, and a piscina with trefoil cusping under a
chamfered ogee head. Farther west are three sedilia
with chamfered jambs and ogee heads, uncusped.
Opposite, in the north wall, is a tomb recess, or Easter
sepulchre.
The chancel arch is two-centred, of two hollowchamfered orders which are continuous without imposts. It has a hood-mould, with returned ends on the
nave side.
In the nave the clearstory windows, of which there
are two on each side, are of late-15th-century type,
being of two slightly ogee-headed lights with blind
tooling in the spandrels under almost flat heads. Those
on the south may be original.
The south arcade, of the early 12th century, is of
three semicircular arches of two plain orders, carried
on circular shafts of 30 in. diameter and responds, of
which the eastern is a half-column and the western
about three-quarters of a column. The cushion capitals
are irregularly carved with scalloping, and the square
abacus is hollow-chamfered. The north arcade had
probably been rebuilt in the 15th century, as in 1834
it was said to be of 'Gothic arches, not near so ancient'
as the south; (fn. 73) it was completely rebuilt in 1885 and
is now of three two-centred arches carried on two
octagonal columns and responds to match.
The north aisle was partly rebuilt at the same time
as the arcade, and the windows in the north wall, which
are of two trefoiled lights under a flat head, are of
modern stonework. The west window of this aisle has
three lights and unusual tracery, mainly 14th century
in style but combined with the 'perpendicular' lines of
the 15th; it is exceptionally wide for its height and
has a very heavy external hood-mould. The east window of the vestry is similar and was probably removed
from the east end of the aisle when it was extended.
The north door has plain chamfered jambs and twocentred head. In the north wall of the aisle, near the
modern arch into the vestry, is a square aumbry recess.
In the south aisle the windows are modern, but the
door has elaborate mouldings of casements and fillets,
typical of the 13th century, unbroken by capitals, under
a plain hood-mould with head-stops. Near the original
east end of the aisle is a recess, with a moulded twocentred head, divided by a mullion into two ogee lights
with tracery above them, the eastern portion containing
a piscina.
The south porch is modern. Built into its west wall
is a small piece of stone carved with a design of two
trefoiled heads and a quatrefoil, very similar to the
design of the chancel windows; it may have been part
of the base of a tomb-chest.
The tower is set slightly to the south of the axis of the
body of the church; an irregularity which has been
exaggerated by the fact that the north wall of the nave
was rebuilt 12 in. thinner than the original. It is
entered from the nave by a two-centred arch of three
chamfered orders, of which the inner is carried down
to the ground. The tower is of exceptionally massive
construction, the walls being 4 ft. 8 in. thick, with
shallow clasping buttresses at the western angles, which
rise, with one offset, to the level of the sills of the belfry
windows, just above a string-course which divides the
tower into two stages. It probably had no entrance
from outside originally, the doorway in the south face
which has a flat lintel with a trefoil imposed, being of
modern stonework. A similar, but 14th-century doorway inside, across the splayed south-west angle, gives
access to the stairway, which is lit by two rectangular
slit-windows. An interesting feature of the stair is a
projecting 1¾-inch bead ascending spirally on the newel
by way of a handrail. The west window is a narrow
lancet, deeply splayed, the sill being formed into three
steps. The belfry windows have two lights with fourcentred heads. On the south face, below the clock-face,
is a narrow slit-window with a round head cut from a
single stone. The upper portion of the tower with embattled parapet and crocketed pinnacles was probably
added in the 15th century but has been restored.
An old font, of flower-pot shape, on a modern base,
standing in the tower, may be of 12th-century date.
On the east wall of the nave, north of the chancel
arch, is an oval carved wooden monument to Capt.
Abraham Murcott, who was drowned off the Scilly
Isles in the great storm of 1703; (fn. 73a) it bears a shield of
his arms rising out of a boat and supported by a sailor
and Neptune.
There are four bells (fn. 74) by Hugh Watts with the dates
1626, 1640, and 1646 (perhaps in error for 1640).
The Communion plate consists of a silver chalice,
paten, and flagon, apparently of the early 18th century.
The registers of burials begin in 1559, marriages in
1590, and baptisms in 1606.
Advowson
Cubbington was at first a chapelry
of Leek Wootton, and so granted to
Kenilworth priory at its foundation in
1122 by Geoffrey de Clinton, (fn. 75) this being confirmed
in 1314 (fn. 76) and 1477. (fn. 77) It was appropriated by the
monastery in 1331, having by this time become a
separate parish. (fn. 78) A vicarage was ordained in 1345. (fn. 79)
After the Dissolution the advowson was at first retained
by the Crown, (fn. 80) but was granted, with the rectory, in
December 1550 to Sir Ralph Sadleir. (fn. 81) He presumably
conveyed it to John Hanby, or Hamby, from whom in
1555 it was purchased by Thomas Shuckburgh. (fn. 82) He
granted a turn to his eldest son Anthony and John
Dasset, (fn. 83) and must have bequeathed it to his third son
Benedict, who made the next presentation in 1561. (fn. 84)
He, his wife Alice (Fawkenor), and son-in-law Thomas
Greswold made a conveyance of it in 1587 to Constance
Foster, (fn. 85) but from this time to the early 18th century
it descended with the manor of Cubbington Grange,
held by the Greswold family during most of this period.
In 1652 Thomas Greswold leased it to Matthew Holbech and William Ley. (fn. 86) In 1729 and 1732 Jacob or
James Wright was patron, Mary Wright, widow, in
1764 and Edward, Lord Leigh in 1768. (fn. 87) The advowson, like the manor, remained connected with the Leigh
family after the extinction of the barony in 1786, the
Hon. Mary Leigh being patron in 1792, (fn. 88) and other
members being concerned in leases and recoveries in 1806
and 1812; (fn. 89) James Henry Leigh was patron in 1822 (fn. 90)
and his son Chandos (later Lord Leigh) in 1831. (fn. 91)
After this the advowson finally parted company with
the manor, being held in 1850 by Edward Woodcock, (fn. 92)
in 1859 by the Rev. M. Anstis (also incumbent),
1880 to 1915 by Mrs. Bean, (fn. 93) and since 1926 by the
Bishop of Coventry. (fn. 94)
The value of the church was £8 in 1291; (fn. 95) the rectory was farmed for £6, (fn. 96) and the vicarage was rated at
£6 6s. 8d., plus 2s. for synodals, in 1535. (fn. 97)
Charities
Church Land. The land formerly
constituting the endowment of this
charity was sold in 1859 and the proceeds of sale invested. The annual income, amounting
to £3 17s. 8d. is applied towards the repair of the
church.
Thomas Sotherne by will dated 23 September 1630
gave lands in Cubbington, the income to be applied as
to 30s. to the poor of Stoneleigh, and towards the repair of Hudson's bridges; 20s. to the poor of Stareton
and to the repair of Stareton footbridge; and 30s. to the
poor of Cubbington. The charity is regulated by a
Scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 24 January
1908 which appoints a body of estate trustees to manage
the property, and local bodies of trustees for each of the
three places named above. The scheme provides that
the income of the charity shall be divided into eight
equal parts, three of such parts to be applied by the
Stoneleigh trustees in accordance with the directions
contained in the will, three parts by the Cubbington
trustees in like manner, and the remaining two parts by
the Stareton trustees in like manner. The land formerly
belonging to the charity was sold in 1920 and the
proceeds of sale invested. The share of the income
applicable for this parish amounts to £26 8s.