EAST SHEFFORD or LITTLE SHEFFORD
Siford (xi-xii cent.); Scifford (xii cent.); Schipford
(xii–xiii cent.); Sipford, Sibeford, Sibesford, Shiford
(xiii cent.).
The parish of East or Little Shefford lies on either
side of the Lambourn Valley and contains 1,069 acres,
of which the greater part is arable. (fn. 1) The soil is chalk
and the chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. There
is no village and the few cottages lie near the river
between the manor-house and the church, while a
farm-house and some cottages are at Wickfield at
the south of the parish. The highest points are
in the north and south, where heights of 500 ft.
above the ordnance datum are reached. Near the
church the land falls to the valley of the Lambourn.
The Lambourn Valley branch of the Great Western
railway, opened in 1898, runs through the parish.
The Newbury and Lambourn high road passes across
East Shefford near the river, and the road from Newbury to Baydon crosses the southern end. The very
small population is purely agricultural.
An ancient dyke, known as Hug Ditch, runs from
south to north, forming part of the west boundary of
the parish, then it turns eastward for a furlong, and is
said to have continued northwards until it ended in a
tumulus, since removed, in what was then the rectory
garden. (fn. 2) The Roman road from Speen to Cirencester
crosses the southern end of East Shefford and is here
almost coincident with the Newbury and Baydon road. (fn. 3)
A Saxon burial ground was discovered here in 1890,
when the railway was being made, and most of the
objects then found are now in the British Museum. (fn. 4)
The manor-house at East Shefford, known as Hug
Ditch Court (Hulkesdiche, xv cent.), where the hundred courts were held, (fn. 5) was destroyed in 1871. (fn. 6) It
stood near the old church. (fn. 7) Part of it, said to have
been the great hall, was used as a barn. (fn. 8)
Manors
Before the Conquest EAST SHEFFORD was held of the king by Brictric. (fn. 9)
It was assessed in 1086 at 5 hides, (fn. 10) and
was held of the king by Aiulf the Sheriff. (fn. 11) It had
passed to the Crown before the beginning of the
12th century, and was granted by Henry I to Payn
Peverel. (fn. 12) Shortly after, possibly in 1111, Payn
obtained permission to give this manor in frankmarriage with his daughter Maud to Hugh son of
Fulbert de Dover (Doure). (fn. 13) About the middle of
the 12th century Henry II granted to Hugh and
Maud in this manor quittance from suit at shire and
hundred and all other exactions save fines for theft
and murder. (fn. 14) Hugh was still holding the manor in
1170, (fn. 15) but he left no children by Maud, and Shefford
passed with her other estates to her sisters. (fn. 16) It was
assigned to Alice wife of Hamon Peche and passed
about 1194 to her son Gilbert. (fn. 17) He forfeited his
lands under King John, (fn. 18) and Shefford may have been
granted to Hamelin de Andeville, who in 1206 subinfeudated it to Henry son of William de Boxworth
for the service of half a knight's fee and 1 mark. (fn. 19)
The overlordship is not mentioned among the Berkshire estates of Hamon Peche in 1240–1, (fn. 20) but was
very shortly afterwards in the possession of his son
Gilbert. (fn. 21) It probably passed on the death of
Gilbert's son Gilbert with many of his other prossessions to Edward I, (fn. 22) for the manor was held in the
17th century of the Crown. (fn. 23)
Henry son of William de Boxworth forfeited the
manor in 1215, when it was granted to William
de Rivers, (fn. 24) but in 1216 it was given to John de
Turris (fn. 25) ; Henry had recovered seisin by 1233, (fn. 26)
and was succeeded before 1241 by his son William. (fn. 27)
Sir William de Boxworth, who was dead before 1316, (fn. 28)
married Amice daughter of Philip de Lisle, and
after her death, Thomasia, who survived him and
was holding a third of the manor in 1332. (fn. 29) In
1332 and 1333 his son Henry received confirmation of the charters of King Henry I and Henry II
to Payn Peverel and Hugh de Dover. (fn. 30) In 1333
the manor was settled on Henry, his wife Maud
and their heirs. (fn. 31) Henry was still living in 1365, (fn. 32)
but the manor had apparently passed before 1346
to John de Stafford, who obtained in that year
licence to hold divine service in his chapel of East
Shefford. (fn. 33)
In 1374 William Lovet of Liscombe (co. Buckingham) and Alice his wife, in whose right it appears to
have been held, granted it to Sir Nicholas de Tamworth and Joan his wife for their lives. (fn. 34) Sir Nicholas
seems to have died soon afterwards, and Joan and her
second husband Sir Warin de Lisle were dealing with
land here in 1380. (fn. 35) " On Joan's death in 1392 (fn. 36) the
manor reverted to the Lovets. William Lovet and Alice
and their son Roger, (fn. 37) with his wife Joan, conveyed
it in 1400 to John Eastbury and others. (fn. 38) Thomas
Eastbury was holding land at East Shefford in 1408. (fn. 39)
The manor had probably passed to the Fettiplace
family before the middle of the 15th century. Sir
Thomas Fettiplace of East
Shefford (fn. 40) was buried in the
church here about 1447. (fn. 41)
Sir Thomas left three sons,
William, James and John.
Of these William of Stokenchurch, who seems to have
held some land in Shefford, (fn. 42)
had an only daughter Anne,
who married Hugh Unton of
Wadley in Littleworth, Berkshire, by whom she had a son
Thomas. (fn. 43) James inherited
the neighbouring manor of
Maidencourt, (fn. 44) and had some interest in this manor,
which he released in 1455–6 to John and Isabel
Eyston, who at the same time transferred their
estate to William York and others. (fn. 45) John Fettiplace was a citizen and draper of London and a
member of the household of King Henry VI, by
whom he was employed to carry a garter to the King
of Portugal. (fn. 46) He inherited this manor, and on
his death in 1464 he bequeathed it to his eldest son
Richard. (fn. 47)
Fettiplace. Gules two cheverons argent.
Richard Fettiplace married Elizabeth daughter and
heir of William Besils of Besselsleigh, and died in
1510–11 (fn. 48) leaving a son John, but the manor
passed to his widow, who afterwards married Richard
Eliot. (fn. 49) In 1514 Thomas Unton, John's cousin,
unsuccessfully claimed the manor. (fn. 50) John Fettiplace
died in 1524 (fn. 51) and the manor passed to his eldest son
Edmund, who died seised of it in 1541–2, when his
son John succeeded. (fn. 52) John settled the manor in
1570 on himself and his second wife Joan widow of
Francis Fleming with remainder to his eldest son
Besils and the latter's wife Helen. (fn. 53) He was knighted
in 1575 (fn. 54) and died in 1580. (fn. 55) In 1588–9 Besils sold
this manor to Francis Winchcombe. (fn. 56)
Francis Winchcombe (fn. 57) died in 1619, (fn. 58) when it
passed under settlement to Mary wife of Sir Edward
Clarke and window of William son of Francis Winchcombe. (fn. 59) The reversion after her death passed to
Henry, the younger son of Francis. He was succeeded in 1629 by his son Henry, (fn. 60) who was holding
the reversion on his death in 1642. (fn. 61) His son and
successor Henry was created a baronet in 1661 and
died in 1667, leaving a son Henry. (fn. 62) This Sir Henry
Winchcombe was twice married, first to Elizabeth
Hungerford, and secondly to Elizabeth Rolle. Though
blind from his youth, he was M.P. for Berkshire in
1688–9, and died 5 November 1703, when his
estates passed to his eldest daughter Frances, who had
married Henry St. John Viscount Bolingbroke. (fn. 63)
Frances Lady Bolingbroke died in 1718, and as
her sister Elizabeth was already dead the manor
passed to the third sister Mary wife of Robert
Packer of Shellingford and Donnington. (fn. 64) Mary
settled this manor 11 September 1719 on herself
and her husband with successive remainders to her
children Winchcombe Howard, John, Henry, Robert
and Elizabeth. Robert Packer died 4 April 1731
and Winchcombe Howard Packer was holding this
manor in 1735. (fn. 65) He died at Golden Square in
London 21 August 1746, and as he left no children
and his next brother John had died, also without
issue, the manor passed under the settlement of 1719
to Henry Packer, who died childless in 1746. The
fourth son Robert seems also to have died without
issue, and the manor passed under Henry's will to his
nephew Winchcombe Henry Hartley, the son of his
sister Elizabeth and David Hartley, M.D., F.R.S.,
of Bath.
Winchcombe Henry Hartley sold this manor in
1777 to his half-brother David Hartley of Golden
Square. (fn. 66) David Hartley was a friend of Benjamin
Franklin. He was M.P. for Hull 1744 to 1780,
was sent as Minister Plenipotentiary to Paris, where
he and Franklin drew up and signed a treaty of peace
between Great Britain and the United States of
America on 3 September 1783. (fn. 67) In 1787 (fn. 68) he
sold this manor to his half-brother Winchcombe
Henry Hartley, from whom he had originally bought
it. Winchcombe died in 1794, when this manor
passed to his son the Rev. Winchcombe Henry Howard
Hartley, by whom it was sold in 1811 to the tenant,
John Froome. (fn. 69)
John died 7 February 1837, leaving the manor
by his will, proved 2 May 1837, to his son James, (fn. 70)
who sold it in 1869 to James Gower. Gower mortgaged the estate on 17 June 1871 to trustees under
the marriage settlement of Hill Mussenden Leathes of
Herringfleet Hall, Suffolk, and Mary Louisa his wife,
and died a pauper lunatic, when the trustees foreclosed the mortgage. Mr. Leathes sold the manor
in 1911 to its present owner, Mr. George Baylis of
Wyfield Manor Farm, in the parish of Boxford. (fn. 71)
Land now represented by a farm called WICKFIELD at the southern end of the parish was conveyed early in 1199 by Ralph de Wickfeld to Robert
de Wickfield and Maud his wife. (fn. 72) This may have
been the land which was in dispute between Henry
de Boxworth and Nicholas the forester in 1233, (fn. 73) the
latter perhaps being identical with Nicholas de Wickfeld whose son John sold to Richard de Elfinton and
Nichola his wife a messuage and land in Wickfield. (fn. 74)
Before 1316 Wickfield had become part of the manor
of East Shefford, (fn. 75) with which it has since descended. (fn. 76)
Two mills of the value of 22s. 6d. are mentioned
in the Domesday Survey, (fn. 77) and one is referred to in
1456. (fn. 78) No further references to it have been found,
and there is no mill here at the present day.
Church
The old church, of unknown dedication, stands in a low situation close to the
right bank of the River Lambourn, but
was abandoned when the new church was erected on
the hill-side above in 1869. (fn. 79) The church was
restored by subscription in 1887 and the monuments
cleaned.
The building consists of chancel 20 ft. by 12 ft.
with an arched recess on the south side 19 ft. by 6 ft.
deep, nave 33 ft. 3 in. by 14 ft. 8 in., and south porch
6 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being internal.
There is also a wooden stuccoed bell-turret with
leaded roof at the west end.
The fabric is usually said to have been rebuilt late
in the 15th or early in the 16th century, but it seems
more likely that the walls of the chancel and nave
represent a late 12th-century building, the only
remaining architectural feature of which is a roundheaded window high up in the north wall of the nave
together with as smaller opening adjoining which lighted
a former rood-loft stair. The walling being stuccoed
and whitewashed both outside and within offers no
evidence of date. The absence, however, of buttresses
and the character of the plan suggest the retention
of the greater part of the least of the old building when
John Fettiplace, in his will dated 22 August 1464,
bequeathed £40 to repair the church, to build new
pillars, erect a little steeple of timber and make a
closure round the tomb of his father and mother
buried there. (fn. 80) How much of this reparation was
carried out and when cannot exactly be stated, there
being no pillars in the church either 'new' or old,
but the 'closure' referred to is probably the long
narrow recess on the south side of the chancel from
which it opens by a wide arch below which the tomb
of Sir Thomas Fettiplace stands. The windows are
all of late date and were probably inserted at this
time or later. The porch is of brick and is comparatively modern. (fn. 81) The chancel and nave are
under one roof covered with modern red tiles carried
down over the chancel recess. The building is now
used as a mortuary chapel.
The chancel has a square-headed east window of
three trefoiled lights, and on the north side a similar
one of four rounded lights, perhaps of 16th-century
date. There is a late piscina recess in the usual
position, but the bowl has gone. Against the north
wall is the tomb of John Fettiplace referred to below,
and the south side is open to the recess by a wide
pointed arch of two chamfered orders. The doorway and window within the recess are modern, the
latter being a wooden dormer cut through the roof.
The flat-pointed chancel arch is of a single order
chamfered on the angles, but rests on older jambs
with plain chamfered imposts, the 12th-century arch
having apparently been removed when the church
was remodelled, and the opening perhaps widened.
On the north jamb is an incised votive cross.
The nave is lighted on the north side by a threelight window to the west of the original round-headed
opening already mentioned, and on the south by two
windows, one of two lights and the other a single
rounded light under a square label, both to the east
of the porch. All these windows, like that on the
north of the chancel, are square-headed with rounded
lights and external labels and may be of 16th-century
date. The sills are 6 ft. above the floor and the singlelight window on the south side may possibly be an
adaptation of an original opening. The 12th-century
window in the north wall has been mutilated and is
now fitted with a square-headed wooden frame and
shutter. The sill is 8 ft. above the floor. The roodstair window is 9 ft. above the ground outside. The
south doorway has a pointed arch of a single moulded
order continued down the jambs to the ground and
is apparently of the same date as the later windows.
The west wall of the nave is blank. Over the chancel
arch are the royal arms of one of the Hanoverian
soverelgns and probably the curved plaster ceiling of
the nave is also of 18th-century date.
The font is unmounted and of plain cylindrical
tub-shaped type, 30 in. high, and is of 12th-century
date.
The chief interest of the building, however, lies
in the two Fettiplace monuments in the chancel.
The older one on the south side is an alabaster altar
tomb without inscription, with recumbent effigies of
Sir Thomas Fettiplace of East Shefford and his wife
Beatrice widow of Sir Gilbert Talbot. On each
of the long sides are four angels holding blank shields
and two at either end, and the figure of the man is
in complete armour. The bascinet is encircled by a
fillet and the head is supported by a mantled and
creasted helm. The lady wears a sideless garment above
an under-dress or kirtle and skirt descending to the
feet. Over her shoulders is a mantle fastened with
cord and tassels, and she wears a mitre-shaped headdress. The right arm is broken off, but otherwise both
figures are in perfect condition. The details prove
the whole composition to have been executed in the
workshop of Thomas Prentys and Robert Sutton of
Chellaston in Derbyshire. (fn. 82) The Lady Beatrice died
on Christmas Day 1447, but the date of Sir Thomas's
death is not known. The tomb, however, may be
ascribed to c. 1450. The lady was of Portuguese
birth, and it is probable that she was in some way
connected with the royal family of Portugal. (fn. 83)
The later monument is that of the great-grandson
of Sir Thomas, John Fettiplace (d. 1524), and his
wife Dorothy Danvers, and stands against the north
wall of the chancel. The tomb itself is of a plain
character with three shields bearing the arms of
Fettiplace along the front, but above is a Gothic
canopy of Purbeck marble partly recessed in the wall,
below the arch of which are the brasses of a man
and woman kneeling facing each other on either
side of a shield with the arms of Fettiplace (fn. 84) impaling Danvers. Behind the lady are four daughters
and behind the man the indent of his sons. The
inscription, which is on a brass plate below the shield,
runs, 'Here under this tombe liethe buryed John
Fetyplace Esquyer & Dorothye his wife, which John decesside the XIth day of October An° d[omi]ni M°V°XXIIII,
for whose soule of your charitie say a pr. nr. & an
Ave.' Above on either side of the figures was a
shield, that on the dexter side alone remaining, (fn. 85) and
between them is the indent of a small figure (?).
The canopy has a straight line of Gothic cresting
with a band of four-leaved flowers below and the
reveals are panelled.
There were formerly some remains of ancient
painted glass in the windows, but they were taken
in 1880 to the new church and inserted in one of
the side windows. 'The principal subject is that of
a bishop with mitre, vested in alb and maniple, tunic
with fringed border, and cope fastened by a trefoilshaped morse. The hood is brought up over the
head partially covering the mitre. In his right hand
he holds a service book and a pastoral staff in his left.
He wears an episcopal glove on his right hand.
Below the figure is a representation of the Annunciation. The Virgin is seated holding an open book
on her knees.' (fn. 86) Above these two figures, though not
connected with them, is a quartered shield of arms
of Fettiplace, Besils and Leigh.
A coffin lid of Caen stone with moulded edge and
triple cross was found in 1887 while removing the
earth between the porch and the angle of the west
wall, and is now placed at the west end of the nave
inside. It covered an oak coffin containing the
skeleton of an ecclesiastic with pewter funeral chalice
and paten. A piece of enamel was also found with
the body. (fn. 87)
On the south side of the chancel is suspended an
old helmet. (fn. 88) Ashmole records in the chancel a
gravestone with part of an inscribed brass dated 1558,
but this has disappeared. (fn. 89)
The new church of the HOLY INNOCENTS (fn. 90)
stands on high ground to the south-east of the
old building on the north side of the high-road,
and consists of apsidal chancel, aisleless nave, and
timber west porch, with a stone bell-turret over the
west gable. It is in the style of the early 14th century and is built of flint rubble with stone dressings.
The roofs are covered with red tiles.
The plate consists of a 17th-century cup, paten
and flagon, the cup being inscribed, 'The gifte of
Mistres Marye Winchcombe,' and the flagon, 'The
gift of Lady Mary Clarke 1640.' (fn. 91)
The first volume of the registers contains baptisms
from 1603 to 1734, marriages from 1603 to 1717,
and burials from 1614 to 1733. There is then a
gap in the registers, the existing second volume
containing baptisms and burials from 1774 to
1812 and marriages from 1779 to 1812. The
original second volume has long been missing.
Advowson
The first allusion to a church at
East Shefford is in 1222–3, when
Henry son of William de Boxworth
released all his claim in the advowson to Lawrence
Prior of Barnwell. (fn. 92) The advowson had, however,
returned into the possession of the Boxworths before
1332, (fn. 93) and from that time it followed the descent
of the manor (fn. 94) (q.v.) until 1777, when it was reserved
from the sale of the manor by Winchcombe Henry
Hartley. It was sold by his son in 1811 to James
Herbert of Poughley in the parish of East Garston. (fn. 95)
By his will, dated 16 November 1822 and proved
in 1823, James left this advowson to his brothers
Richard and William, who agreed in 1844 to sell it
to the Rev. Stephen Brown of Marlborough. (fn. 96)
Mr. Brown became rector, and on his death in 1873
the advowson passed to his son, the Rev. W. Bryan
Brown, the present patron.
In 1464 John Fettiplace left about £5 for the
augmentation of the parsonage of Sherfford in order
that the parson might pray for his and his ancestors'
souls. (fn. 97) His son Richard founded an obit in the
church here in 1511. (fn. 98)
Charities
In or about 1640 Lady Mary
Clarke, by her will, bequeathed £10
for the poor, and Elizabeth Froome
in her lifetime also gave £20 for the poor.
These gifts are now represented by £30 17s.
Metropolitan 3 per cent. stock with the official
trustees, producing 18s. 4d. annually.
The parish property, comprised in indentures of
lease and release of 6 and 7 October 1820, consists of
two cottages with gardens let at £5 yearly. The net
rents are, together with the income of the preceding
charities, distributed among poor families.