CATMORE
Catmere (xi cent.). Catmor (xii cent.); Cattermere (xiv cent.); Catmard (xv cent.); Cattmere
(xvii cent.).
Catmore is a very small parish in the southern division of the county. It lies at an average height of
500 ft. above the ordnance datum, the general slope
of the land being from north to south. It covers an
area of 710 acres, of which more than three-quarters
are arable land, 55 acres permanent grass, and 122
acres woods and plantations. (fn. 1) It has a clay soil and
a chalk subsoil, and produces the usual cereal crops.
There are a few disused stone quarries in the parish.
The nearest railway stations are at Hermitage and
Shefford, distant 6 miles and 5½ miles respectively.
The village is situated near the centre of the parish on
the road to West Ilsley, and contains only the church of
St. Margaret standing back on the east side of the road,
the modernized 16th-century
manor-house, which is of red
brick with a tiled roof, and
is now used as a farm-house,
a group of old barns and a
cottage. Near the church
are some masonry foundations which possibly mark
the site of the old manorhouse. The rectory, a chapel,
and the greater part of the
population are at the hamlet
of Lilley. There is no stream
in the neighbourhood, and
the inhabitants are dependent
on wells for their water supply. A meadow here, which
appears to have been levelled,
may be the site of the ancient
fair granted to Rogo de
Gacelyn in 1306 (fn. 2) ; local
tradition, however, places it
at the Furze Plot in the
extreme north of the parish
and now included in West
Ilsley. (fn. 3) The fair had fallen into abeyance before
1792. (fn. 4) In a field near Whitnam's Copse quantities
of charcoal and ashes, which appear to be the relics
of an ancient British village, are constantly being
ploughed up. (fn. 5)
Manor
Under the Confessor CATMORE
was held by Ezui, (fn. 6) but at the date of the
Domesday Survey it was in the possession
of Henry de Ferrers, his under-tenant being one
Henry. (fn. 7) It was one of the manors devastated by the
Conqueror's army, its value in the time of Edward
the Confessor having been £7, then 40s., and at the
time of the Sur ey 70s. (fn. 8) The overlordship remained
with the Ferrers family until the forfeiture of Robert
de Ferrers in 1266, whereupon a great part of the
vast lands of the Ferrers including the honour of
Tutbury was granted to the Earl of Lancaster, (fn. 9) whose
successors retained the overlordship until it became
merged in the Crown on the accession of Henry IV. (fn. 10)
In 1537 the manor was said to be held of the Earl of
Devon as of his manor of Sutton Courtney, (fn. 11) but no
explanation of this has been found.
In the 13th century Philip de St. Helens and
John de Turbervill are given as holding half a knight's
fee in Catmore and Philip de Fifhide one and a half
fees in Fifhide and Catmore. (fn. 12) In 1296 the latter
was still in possession of the hamlet of Catmore and
lands there, (fn. 13) but the descent of his property here is
uncertain. John Turbervill was holding Catmore
in 1237, (fn. 14) and his wife Meliora is said to have
given the manor to Richard de Turbervill and
Margaret his wife, whose daughter Amice married first
William de Arches (Darches or D'Arques), by whom
she had a son William, (fn. 15) and secondly Rogo de
Gacelyn. (fn. 16) In 1305 she conveyed the manor to
Rogo and his heirs, (fn. 17) and in 1306 a grant was
made to him of a market there on Mondays and
a yearly fair on the vigil, feast and morrow of
St. Margaret. (fn. 18) He appears to have died in 1322. (fn. 19)
Owing to his having joined the rebel barons the
manor had become forfeited to the Crown, (fn. 20) and was
granted by the king in the same year to Edmund
Gacelyn for life, Robert Hungerford, the keeper of
the lands of the rebels, being ordered to give him
the corn from the last autumn harvest and to
restore any that might have been taken. (fn. 21) In 1330
the manor was settled on Edmund and Eleanor his
wife with remainder to their sons John and Geoffrey
successively and then to the heirs of Geoffrey. (fn. 22) In
the same year, however, William de Arches, the son of
Amice by her first husband, unsuccessfully claimed the
manor against Edmund Gacelyn, (fn. 23) who died seised
of it in 1337, leaving a son and heir Geoffrey. (fn. 24)
A claim by Eleanor de Gacelyn 'alias de Stourton'
widow of Edmund that she had held the manor
jointly with her late husband led to a Crown prosecution in 1338 (fn. 25) in which it was contended there
was collusion with William de Acton alias de
Arches. (fn. 26) No judgement can be found, but the
manor must have reverted to the Arches, as John de
Arches with Ralph Stodeye and Edith his wife dealt
with it in 1375. (fn. 27) In 1428 John Stowe, who had
married Maud de Arches, daughter and heiress of
Rawlin de Arches, (fn. 28) was holding half a fee in Catmore said
to have been formerly held
by Thomas de Arches. (fn. 29)
Possibly this Maud married
as her second husband Sir
William Crosby (who had a
wife of that name), who was
holding it in 1439 (fn. 30) and
1442. (fn. 31) Isabel daughter of
John Stowe and Maud married John Eyston, (fn. 32) who succeeded to the manor about
1433. (fn. 33) They had a son
William, whose son Thomas
died seised of the manor in 1531. (fn. 34) From this date
the manor follows the descent of East Hendred
(q.v.), the chief seat of the Eystons. (fn. 35) Mr. John
Joseph Eyston is the present owner of East Hendred
and Catmore.
Catmore Manor House
Turbervill. Ermine a lion gules crowned or.
Arches. Gules three pairs of arches argent.
Eyston of East Hendred and Catmore. Sable three lions or.
Church
The church of ST. MARGARET
consists of a chancel 13 ft. 10 in. by 11 ft.
2 in. with a small modern vestry on the
north, a nave 40 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft., the west wall of
which is carried up into a small bellcote, and a
modern south porch. These measurements are
internal.
The building dates from the latter half of the 12th
century, but has been much restored. The nave was
reroofed in 1607, as is shown by the date carved on
some of its timbers. In a 19th-century restoration
the chancel arch was rebuilt and the windows
throughout redesigned in a rather ornate manner.
The present doorway into the vestry was inserted
in 1891, when a new roof was put to the chancel.
The east window of the chancel is entirely modern;
it is of two round-headed lights separated by a
small column. In the north wall a modern doorway
opens into the vestry, while in the south is a small
four-centred light with sunk spandrels and an external
hood mould. The chancel arch is semicircular and
of two orders, the outer square, the inner one
moulded and carried on a shafted respond.
The nave has two round-headed north windows
with wide inner splays and shafted external jambs, the
abaci of which support the hood moulds. The
openings are no doubt original, but the outer masonry
is modern. Between them is a blocked 12th-century
doorway with chamfered jambs, abaci, and segmental
head. In the south wall are two round-headed
windows similar and opposite to those in the north
wall, while between them is an original semicircularheaded doorway. Its outer jambs are slightly chamfered and the inner are square, while over the head is
a moulded label with a billet ornament which springs
from head stops, now much decayed and partly
covered by the side walls of the porch. Over the
centre is a beak head. In the west wall is a window of
the same design as the north and south windows. The
church is plastered internally and covered with roughcast externally. All the roofs are tiled. The roof to
the nave is divided into five bays by four trusses of
the braced collar type, and is ceiled in five cants.
The collars are supported by moulded braces curved
to the form of an arch, at the springing of which are
shaped pendants with wall pieces behind. The trusses
support purlins stiffened by wind-braces and resting
on the backs of the principal rafters just below the
collar. Both wall pieces and pendants are enriched
with arabesque carving, and on the wall-pieces of the
second truss from the east is the date '1607,' below
which, on the north and south respectively, are the
initials 'W.E.' and 'I.A.'
The bowl of the font is of 12th-century date. It
is circular, but has been cut down, not being more
than half its original height; it is ornamented with
carving, but this is now too worn to be clearly distinguished.
There is one bell by H. Bagley.
The plate consists of a silver chalice of 1838 inscribed
'Catmore Church 1840,' a silver almsdish of 1834
and a foot paten probably of 1723, but the date letter
is too worn to state this with any certainty.
The registers previous to 1812 are as follows: (i)
baptisms 1724 to 1812, burials 1728 to 1810,
marriages 1727 and 1728; (ii) marriages 1764 to
1811. There is also a volume of churchwardens'
accounts from 1481 to 1867.
Advowson
The advowson of the church of
Catmore was claimed in the reign of
Richard I by the Knights Hospitallers
against Peter de Hercel, who stated that the church
was founded upon the lands of Maud his wife. (fn. 36)
The result of the suit is not known, but the advowson
continued with the Hospitallers. Walter Gacelyn is
said to have made the presentation to the living in
1312, but was sued for so doing by the Knights
Hospitallers, who again established their claim. (fn. 37) The
advowson remained in their gift until the Dissolution. (fn. 38)
In 1563 Elizabeth granted it, together with a pension
of 2s. due from the church, to Thomas and John
Lifford and their heirs. (fn. 39) John made a settlement of
the advowson in 1599, (fn. 40) and left it at his death in
1610 to his son Richard. (fn. 41) In 1634 (fn. 42) Richard
Lifford settled it on his son Richard on the occasion
of his marriage with Mary Castell. (fn. 43) Richard the
younger died in 1638, leaving a daughter Mary. (fn. 44) In
1661 Charles Evans and Mary his wife and Thomas
Edwards and Mary his wife (evidently the widow
and daughter with their husbands) were dealing with
the advowson by fine, (fn. 45) and Thomas Coward and
Mary his wife (daughter of Richard Lifford) were
doing the same in 1686. (fn. 46) In 1693 the latter made
the presentation. (fn. 47) In the same year a conveyance
was made by Thomas Lifford to John Smith, (fn. 48)
possibly a quitclaim by the heir male in favour of the
heir general. In 1719 Ralph Shirley was the
patron, (fn. 49) and was followed in 1726 by Richard
Shirley. (fn. 50) He in turn was succeeded in 1740 by
another Ralph, (fn. 51) who together with Thomas and
John Shirley in 1756 conveyed the advowson to
Catherine Ready, John Archer and John Loder, (fn. 52)
who presented to the living in 1761. (fn. 53) In 1791
Catherine Ready was again presenting. (fn. 54) After her
death the advowson passed into the hands of John
Archer Houblon, who was presenting in 1810, (fn. 55)
and was followed in 1828 by his son John, (fn. 56) by
whom it was settled on his younger son Charles
Archer Houblon. (fn. 57) He took the name of Eyre in
1831 and died in 1886, when the advowson passed to
his eldest son Col. Geo. Bramston Eyre, who took the
name of Archer-Houblon, and is the present patron.
There do not appear to be any endowed charities
subsisting in this parish.