MARTON
Acreage: 1,064.
Population: 1911, 376; 1921, 392; 1931, 379.
Marton is a small parish and village 7 miles northeast of Leamington Spa. The north and west boundaries of the parish are respectively formed by the
rivers Leam and Itchen, which unite close to the
church. The compact village stands between the two
rivers, where the Southam-Coventry road is joined by
a by-road from Birdingbury and Leamington Hastings.
At the confluence of the rivers the ground is just under
200 ft. above sea level, but it rises to over 250 ft. in the
south-east of the parish, beyond the Rugby-Leamington
branch of the former L.M. & S.R., which crosses the
parish diagonally and has a station about half a mile from
the village, by the bridge over the Southam road.
In early times Marton was a place of some importance as the centre of a hundred. This was functioning
at the time of the Domesday Survey and continued
until about the end of the 12th century, (fn. 1) after which
time it was absorbed into the Hundred of Knightlow,
of which it formed one of the Leets. The meetingplace of the hundred must have been at 'Spelestowe'
(i.e. 'the place of speech'), where Amice daughter of
Henry Lovel gave land to Nuneaton Priory c. 1220. (fn. 2)
Over and Nether Spellestowe in Marton also occur in
a deed of about the same date. (fn. 3)
In 1251 the prioress and nuns of Catesby (Northants.)
were given free transit by the bridge of Marton, quit
of pontage. (fn. 4) In 1414 the bridge was rebuilt in stone
by John Middilton, a native of Marton who had become
a mercer in London, and the tolls hitherto levied for
its repair were therefore given up. (fn. 5) At the Quarter
Sessions of Easter 1625 it was reported that this bridge
had been repaired by John Harrys of Fillongley for the
considerable sum of £51 13s. 4d., but it was 'in great
decay' again a generation later, orders being given for
its repair in 1661 for £20. (fn. 6) The present Marton
Bridge crosses the river Leam from east to west just
before it enters the Itchen. It has long approaches
with two spans over the river and a flood-arch in both
approaches. It was built in the 15th century, and later
the western approach was canted to the north, re-using
the old materials, to conform better with the road.
Recently the bridge has been widened on the downstream side with one flat concrete span and the western
approach canted still farther to the north. It is built
of sandstone ashlar with segmental-pointed arches of
two splayed orders over the stream, the splays dying
out on the cutwater and on the abutments, which have
been splayed to correspond with the cutwater. This
is rather an unusual arrangement, as it recesses the
arches and consequently restricts the carriage-way.
The flood-arches, which are similar to those across the
stream, have been treated in the same manner by
splaying their abutments. Most of the low parapet
wall has been rebuilt from time to time, and on the
west with red brick.
In 1406 Thomas Palmer of Frankton received
pardon for having with Richard Milward, also of
Frankton, feloniously killed William Hemery the
younger at Marton. He was also implicated in the
murder of William Hemery the elder by John Walsheman of Frankton. (fn. 7) Six years later Palmer was again
pardoned for having broken into the house of Thomas
Smyth of Marton, seized John Ofchurch the younger,
taken him to a place called le hundredplace (fn. 8) and robbed
him of a sword worth 6s. 8d. and a bow and 11 arrows
worth 5s. (fn. 9)
Manors
It is possible that the three small estates
of the Count of Meulan, of 1½ hides held
by Mereuin, and of 1 hide and 1 virgate,
and ½ hide held by Wallef, in possession of Wallef and
other Saxons before the Conquest, (fn. 10) relate to Marton,
though the spelling 'Mortone' is hard to reconcile with
that of the Hundred, which is consistently 'Meretone'.
In any case, the earls of Warwick, successors of
the Count of Meulan, were later the overlords of
MARTON. The grant of the church to Nuneaton
Priory by Robert de Craft was about 1160 confirmed
by William, Earl of Warwick, with the assent of the
earl's tenant Hugh son of Richard, in whose fee it lay. (fn. 11)
In 1235–6 Ralph de Marchameleg (fn. 12) held a fee here of
the earl, (fn. 13) as in 1242–3 did Thomas de Clinton. (fn. 14)
Half a knight's fee was held by Ralph Basset of Sapcote
(Leics.) in 1315. (fn. 15) A final reference to the overlordship of half a fee in Marton by the earls of Warwick
occurs in 1401, (fn. 16) when it was held by Sir William
Beauchamp.
The Clinton interest does not appear again. Marchamley may have held in right of his wife, as in 1280
John Engaine and his wife Joan (fn. 17) had lands and rents
in Marton which had come to them from her grandmother Joan de Marchamley. (fn. 18) They in 1290 sold
to William de Hamelton, Archdeacon of York, (fn. 19) for
conveyance to Nuneaton Priory, these lands which
they held of Sir Nicholas de Charneles, who held of
Simon Basset, whose tenure must have derived from
Amice Basset, daughter of Robert de Craft. (fn. 20) The transaction was confirmed by Simon, (fn. 21) and in 1297 by
William, Earl of Warwick. (fn. 22)
The priory of Nuneaton held fairly extensive
property in Marton besides the church. As early as
1202 Mabel, the prioress, granted a messuage to Robert
Palmer and his heirs for 16d. yearly for all services. (fn. 23)
Later prioresses made leases of the manor of Marton
to Robert Tankard in 1342 (fn. 24) and to William Hancock
in 1517. (fn. 25) The total value of the Nuneaton property,
excluding the rectory, was in 1535 £12 16s. 3d., (fn. 26) and
in 1546–7 £13 18s. 11½d. (fn. 27) In 1542 John Higford of
Henwood obtained a 21-year lease of 'Neperke croft'
in Marton and the grain rents of the Nuneaton manor
for a yearly rent of 114s. 8d. (fn. 28) The manor itself was
not granted out of crown hands till 1557, when its
value was £14 0s. 7½d., the recipients being Peter
Temple of Burton Dassett and Michael Cameswell
of Newland in Exhall. (fn. 29) Marton with two other
manors was then rated at one-fortieth of a knight's fee.
In the same year Temple and Cameswell received
licence to grant this manor to John 'Whood' the elder,
Richard Bagley and Thomas Badcocke, their heirs and
assigns. (fn. 30) Wood had licence in 1560 to settle it on
himself and his wife Agnes for life in survivorship,
remainder to Robert Wood, his younger son, (fn. 31) who
died in possession in 1577, (fn. 32) and Thomas, Robert's
son conveyed it to Thomas Wilcock in 1596. (fn. 33) Four
years later Wilcock granted it to Richard Walter, (fn. 34)
after which date it followed the same descent as the
Chalcombe manor, though the two are still mentioned
as separate in the conveyance to the Biddulph family
in 1700.
Hugh de Chaucombe granted an undertenancy of
all his lands here to Chalcombe Priory (Northants.); (fn. 35)
this must have been about the end of the 12th or
beginning of the 13th century, as in 1217 the sheriff
of Warwickshire was ordered to restore to the priory
the lands they had held before the wars of the late
reign, of which they had been unjustly deprived by
William Basset. (fn. 36) These lands cannot have been of
any great extent, as the total possessions of the monastery
in Warwickshire were worth only £7 3s. 6d. in 1535. (fn. 37)
They may, perhaps, be identified with a manor of
Marton which was passed by John Gold of Welton
(Northants.) and Alice his wife to Thomas Oldfield in
1550. (fn. 38) This manor remained with the Oldfield family
for about half a century, Roland Oldfield dealing with it
in 1592, (fn. 39) and with his son Roland selling it to John
Davies of Watford (Northants.) in 1606, (fn. 40) who in
turn sold it to Richard Walter ten years later. (fn. 41)
Richard Walter is mentioned as lord of the manor of
Marton in 1639 and 1647. (fn. 42) Thomas Walter, his
grandson, was party to a recovery in 1667, (fn. 43) and
with his son Edward and daughters Alice, Bridget,
and Mary, conveyed the manor to Simon Biddulph
of Birdingbury in 1700, (fn. 44) in whose family it has since
remained. (fn. 45)
In 1545 John Hales of Coventry was granted the
possessions of St. John Baptist Hospital of that city in
Marton, (fn. 46) but there seems to be no record of how and
when the hospital acquired them, or their value.
Church
The church of ST. ESPRIT is situated
on the west side of the Southam-Coventry
road at the junction of the River Leam
with the Itchen and stands in a small churchyard near
the centre of the village. It was almost entirely rebuilt
in the gothic style in 1871 and all that remains of the
earlier church is the lower stage of the tower and the
south arcade, both of the mid-14th century, together
with an early-13th-century south doorway. The
present church consists of a chancel, nave, north and
south aisles, west tower, organ-chamber, and south
porch. It is built of squared and coursed limestone
with sandstone dressings and all the roofs are tiled.
The lower part of the east wall of the chancel still
retains some of the earlier walling of roughly coursed
rubble with red sandstone dressings. It is lighted on
the east by a pointed tracery window of three ogee
trefoil lights and by a two-light on the south, both with
hood-moulds. The east wall of the south aisle has a
single trefoil light; the south side a three-light and a
single light with trefoil heads; the west a similar
window, but with two lights. The porch has a pointed
entrance arch, the mouldings continued down to
splayed stops. The 13th-century doorway has a
pointed arch of two orders, the inner a splay and the
outer a large roll-moulding, supported on detached
shafts with moulded capitals and splayed impost, the
outer jamb is chamfered, with a moulded stop below
the impost moulding.
The tower is in three stages without buttresses and
it diminishes with a splayed offset to the second stage.
From half way up the second stage it has been entirely
rebuilt in a light-coloured sandstone ashlar. The
original walls are built of coursed limestone rubble
with red sandstone dressings and, except on the north
side, bands of red sandstone in the middle of the first
stage and again at the base of the second stage. The
west face has a narrow trefoil ogee-headed window in
the first stage, and in the second a narrow lancet to
the ringing-chamber. The belfry has windows with
pointed arches on each face, of two trefoil lights, labels
with head-stops, and a string-course at the sill level.
Above is a plain battlemented parapet on a moulded
string-course. A modern lobby has been built at the
junction of the tower with the south aisle to give an
external entrance to the tower.
The chancel (18 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft.) has a tiled floor,
a collar-beam roof, plastered walls, and two steps to
the altar. The east window has a pointed moulded
rear-arch supported on shafts with moulded capitals
and bases and a hood-mould with foliated stops. On
the north side there is an arched opening into the organchamber.
The nave (31 ft. 7 in. by 19 ft. 6 in.) has a hammerbeam roof and a tiled floor. The 14th-century arcade
has two bays of pointed arches of two splayed orders
supported on octagonal pillars with moulded capitals
and bases, the responds repeat the arch splays and have
similar moulded capitals and bases. The north arcade
is a copy of the south but with more elaborately
moulded capitals. Above the apex of each arch there
is a pointed two-light clearstory window with widely
splayed jambs and sills. The tower arch has been
replaced with a modern low segmental one of two
splayed orders. The chancel arch is pointed, of three
splayed orders supported on three attached shafts with
foliated capitals and splayed bases.
The north and south aisles (31 ft. 10 in. by 8 ft. 6 in.)
have lean-to roofs, tiled floors, and windows with reararches of three trefoils supported on shafts with
moulded capitals and bases. At the eastern end of the
south wall a badly mutilated 14th-century piscina has
been built in.
The tower (10 ft. 9 in. by 7 ft.) has been strengthened
by increasing the thickness of the north and south walls
and carrying over a segmental vault.
The pulpit, placed on the south side of the chancel
arch, is octagonal, of stone and coloured marble with
open traceried panels. The font is also of stone with
an octagonal basin, sunk trefoil panels, and stands on
an octagonal coloured marble stem moulded at the base.
The communion plate is modern except for one
large and one small silver paten with hall mark 1773.
There are three bells (fn. 47) by Hugh Watts, dated 1616,
1623, and 1624.
The registers begin in 1660.
Advowson
Between 1155 and 1160 Robert de
Craft, with the assent of Hugh son
of Richard (of Hatton), granted the
church of Marton to the Priory of Nuneaton, (fn. 48) his
gift being confirmed by William, Earl of Warwick. (fn. 49)
Although this is the first known reference to the church
it is probable that it was a 'hundredal' church, an early
mission-centre serving a wide district; (fn. 50) for Bishop
Richard of Coventry in about 1170 notified the decree
of a synod at Coventry that the following vills ought to
pay 'churchaumber' of corn to the church of Marton:
Rugby, Causton, Dunchurch, and Thurlaston, of the
fee of the Earl of Warwick; Willoughby, Leamington
(Hastings); 'Hulla' (Hill in Leamington Hastings), of
the fee of Abingdon: Grandborough, of the fee of
Water Croc; Wolfhamcote, Flecknoe, Calcutt, Napton
'de terra Moysi'; Ladbroke on the land of William and
of Henry Boscher; Hodnell, of the fee of Hugh son of
Richard; the other Hodnell of the land of Gurmund;
the third Hodnell; Radbourne, of the fee of Hugh de
Arden; Shuckborough, of the land of Robert; the
other Shuckborough; and Hunningham. (fn. 51) The only
chapel attached to it, however, seems to have been
Hunningham, which the convent of Nuneaton about
this time made over to the Priory of Monks Kirby. (fn. 52)
The rectory seems to have been appropriated and a
vicarage ordained about 1277, (fn. 53) and in 1291 the
church is entered as appropriated to Nuneaton and
valued at £4 13s. 4d. (fn. 54) Small bequests were made in
the 13th century to the lights of the Holy Spirit (fn. 55)
and of the Blessed Virgin Mary (fn. 56) in the church;
and in 1351 the convent leased 17½ acres to
William son of Nicholas le Graund, 'our clerk of
our priory', Emma his wife and William their son,
who were to maintain two lamps burning in the
chancel during service. (fn. 57) In 1535 the rectory was
farmed at £6 13s. 4d., (fn. 58) and the vicarage was worth
£7 14s. 8d. (fn. 59)
The rectory and advowson were in 1545 granted to
Thomas Marow of Rudfen, (fn. 60) who four years later had
licence to convey them to Nicholas Hussey and John
Fetherston for the use of himself, his wife and heirs. (fn. 61)
By 1619 they had come into possession of Sir Clement
Fisher of Great Packington, (fn. 62) in whose family they
remained for most of the 17th century. (fn. 63) In or before
1699 Francis Fisher married Mary widow of Sir
Samuel Marow, and must have settled the advowson on her, she and her daughter Elizabeth Marow
being parties to a lawsuit concerning the vicarage in
1702, (fn. 64) and the latter making presentations up to
1744. (fn. 65) It then passed to the Knightley family of
Offchurch, into which Elizabeth's younger sister Mary
had married. (fn. 66) The marriage (1846) of Jane Wightwick
Knightley to the 6th Earl of Aylesford (fn. 67) brought it
to the latter family, who were patrons in 1850. (fn. 68)
Since this date it has changed hands several times,
being now vested, with the living of Birdingbury
with which it was united in 1929, in the Bishop of
Coventry. (fn. 69)
Charities
William Fawkes. The Returns to
Parliament in 1786 mention a gift of
William Fawkes in 1730, by his will,
of land to the poor, then yielding £2 per annum. The
charity is also recorded in a churchwardens' book of
the parish as consisting of a rent-charge of £2 per
annum issuing out of land in Grandborough, payable
on St. Thomas's Day.
Unknown Donor. The Returns to Parliament also
mention a gift to the poor of £5 10s. in money, by an
unknown benefactor. In 1912 the sum of £6 2s. 9d.,
representing the endowment of the charity, was upon
the application of the then trustees invested in the name
of the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, the income
to be accumulated and invested in augmentation of the
endowment until a sum of stock was acquired
sufficient to produce an annual income of at least
10s. The funds have now been invested and yield
15s. yearly. (fn. 70)
Mary Turner by will dated 24 September 1607
charged certain property in Solihull with the annual
payment of £3 6s. 8d. for the relief of the poor, impotent, and most needy people dwelling in the parishes
of Kenilworth, Stivichall, Baginton, Stoneleigh, Bubbenhall, Ryton, Woolston, Stretton, Marton, and
Wappenbury. The sum of 6s. 8d. to be paid to the
churchwardens and overseers of each parish for
distribution in accordance with the directions contained
in the will. The rent-charge was redeemed in 1923 in
consideration of a sum of £133 6s. 8d. Consols producing an annual income of £3 6s. 8d.
The trustees of the above-mentioned charities are
appointed by the parish council of Marton.
Church Land. On the inclosure of the common fields
of this parish which took place in 1803 an allotment
of 3 a. 3 r. was awarded in lieu of lands which had
theretofore been used for the repairs of the church,
but the origin of which is unknown. It is stated in the
printed Parliamentary Reports of the Commissioners
for Inquiring Concerning Charities dated 1827 that
in addition to the above-mentioned land there are
received two small rents of 8s. and 2s. 6d. arising out
of small parcels of land respectively situate in Eathorpe
and Hunningham, the origin of both being unknown.