THE HUNDRED OF STONE: CUDDINGTON
Cudintuna (xii cent.); Codyntone (xiv cent.)
Coddington (xvi cent.).
Cuddington is a small parish, bounded on the
north by the River Thame and on the south by
its tributary Dad Brook. It contains 1,307½ acres, (fn. 1)
and the land varies from 200 ft. to 400 ft. above
the Ordnance datum. The subsoil is Portland Beds
and London Clay. (fn. 2) The people are entirely engaged
in agriculture. There are 620 acres of arable land
and 627½ of permanent grass. (fn. 3)
No main road passes through the parish, and the
village lies at the point where the cross road from
Haddenham meets that from Chearsley and Dinton.
The ground falls from south to north towards the River
Thame, and the church is at the north end of the
village, with the school close to it on the west, and
Tyringham House, now used as a reading-room, a
little beyond it to the north. The country in
general is open, with little timber except in the
neighbourhood of the village.
Tyringham House at the present day is a small
two-story building, standing east and west, with
wrought stone window frames and quoins, containing a
hall with a room over it and a staircase on the south.
It is an early 17th-century building, and the date
over the doorway to the staircase, 1609, is probably
that of its erection. The hall is a handsome room with
a square-headed bay window of five lights, and on either
side of the bay a two-light window, all having
mullions and transoms, and the same arrangement is
repeated on the first floor, where there is a room of
the same size as the hall. Both have fireplaces in
the north wall, opposite to the windows, and the
rooms have been formerly panelled in wood. The
entrance to the house is through a cottage built against
its east wall.
The nearest station is 4½ miles away, at Thame on
the Great Western Railway.
Manor
CUDDINGTON is not mentioned in
Domesday Book, but was probably included in the vill of Haddenham, which was
assessed at 40 hides. (fn. 4)
The manor appears first in the confirmation by
Archbishop Theobald of a grant, made by William
Rufus, to the priory of St. Andrew, Rochester.
Haddenham was granted 'cum manerio quod
appendit Cudintuna nomine,' and this manor presumably had been included in the previous grants of
Haddenham. (fn. 5) Before the dissolution of the priory,
Cuddington Manor is mentioned separately amongst
its possessions, and was valued together with the
rectory at £34 6s. 8d. a year. (fn. 6)
It was granted, however, by the prior to Sir
Edward North, and was recovered by the Crown at
the same time as the manor of Haddenham (q.v.). (fn. 7)
The history of Cuddington Manor diverges from
that of Haddenham from this time, and becomes
obscure. Queen Mary granted it to Thomas White,
John White, Roger Martin, and William Blackwell
to hold to them, their heirs and assigns. (fn. 8) Queen
Elizabeth, however, seems to have recovered possession
of the manor, which she sold to Lord Cheyne, (fn. 9) and at his
request granted it to John Dudley and John Ascoughe
in 1575. (fn. 10) From these grantees
it appears to have come into
the possession of the Tyringhams of Lower Winchendon.
This, however, is not definitely stated in any of the
documents in which the manor
of Cuddington is mentioned.
The family certainly had land
in the parish, (fn. 11) and one branch
probably resided in the house
now called Tyringham House,
close to the church. In 1654
Thomas Tyringham of Lower
Winchendon sold the capital messuage or site of the
manor of Cuddington, called 'the Farme House,'
with land in the parish to Dr. Henry Wilkinson,
Prebendary of Christ Church, Oxford, and Lady Vere
his wife, for £1,800. (fn. 12)
Tyringham. Azure a saltire engrailed argent.
An attempt is said to have been made by James
Herbert, lord of the manor of Haddenham, who died
in 1721, to obtain possession of the manor of Cuddington, but evidently without success. (fn. 13)
The manor is mentioned in 1805, apparently being
in the possession of William Clarke, (fn. 14) but some years
later the Rev. David Jones, curate of Cuddington,
said that there was no manor there and all the tenures
were freehold. This seems to have been in 1826. (fn. 15)
The Prior and Convent of St. Andrew held the manor
of Cuddington in frankalmoign. (fn. 16) They also obtained
a grant of free warren in their demesne lands there
from Edward I in 1295. (fn. 17)
Cuddington Church from the South-east
In Cuddington, as in Haddenham, (fn. 18) a military tenant
of the priory of St. Andrew paid homage to the Bishop
of Rochester, and therefore is found amongst the
bishop's tenants.
His land apparently is mentioned in 1210–12, but
the name of the tenant is not given. (fn. 19)
In the reign of Henry III John son of Miles held
certain lands of the bishop, for which he paid scutage
at the rate of 40d. whenever the bishop paid 40s. (fn. 20)
It is not definitely said that this land was in Cuddington, but it seems probable that it was the land
that Richard Franklyn held in 1302–3. (fn. 21)
His land was held in 1346 by John Franklyn,
Roger Beel, John de Saunterdon, and John atte
Asshe. (fn. 22)
In the 14th century Geoffrey Darches held land in
Cuddington. In 1321–2 he granted a messuage
there, with land and rent, to Robert de Upton, clerk, for
his life. (fn. 23) This land descended to his son Richard, (fn. 24)
and finally to Joan, the heiress of Darches. (fn. 25) She
married Sir John Dinham, who died in 1457–8,
seised of a toft, cottages, and land in Cuddington,
held in right of his wife. (fn. 26) On the death of their son
Lord Dinham, his lands, including these tenements,
were divided amongst his four sisters and heiresses. (fn. 27)
About this time, however, their possessions in Cuddington were called the manor of Cuddington. (fn. 28) In
1502 Elizabeth, the widow of Lord Dinham, recovered seisin of one-third of this manor (fn. 29) to hold in
dower. The manor was divided into four parts after
her death, and it is impossible to trace their later history. (fn. 30) Two of these parts were however bought by
Ralph Redman, William Hawtrey, and Richard Holyman in 1576 and 1576–7, (fn. 31) and probably came into
the possession of Richard Holyman. He and another
Richard Holyman were defendants some years later (fn. 32)
in a lawsuit as to the customs of the manor of Haddenham.
Their family had, however, been settled in Cuddington many years before this, for John Holyman,
Bishop of Bristol from 1554 to 1558, was born there,
and must have belonged to the same family. (fn. 33) In
1620–1 Robert Holyman, sen., held a messuage,
land, and various rights in Cuddington. (fn. 34) At the
present day there is a
farm called Holyman's Farm
in the parish.
The Dinhams held this
land of the Prior of Rochester, as of the manor
of Haddenham. (fn. 35) The
service due from it is not
given, but as a third part
was assigned in dower, it
was probably held by military service. (fn. 36)
A water-mill in Haddenham is mentioned in
the grant of the manor of
Cuddington to John Dudley. (fn. 37) At this time Cuddington seems to have
been included in Haddenham parish, so that the mill may have been
at Cuddington. In 1588 a water-mill called Cuddington Mill was held by Richard Holyman the
younger. (fn. 38) He had let it on lease for twenty-one
years to Thomas Tyringham in 1582; Tyringham,
however, bought the freehold, with its appurtenances,
for £650 in 1588. (fn. 39) His son, Thomas Tyringham,
together with Sir John Dormer, sold this water-mill
to Richard Mills in 1617. (fn. 40)
Ellen, the only daughter and heiress of Richard
Mills, married Sir Francis Knollys, kt. (fn. 41) After her
death Cuddington Mill came to her son Richard
Knollys, (fn. 42) who sold it again to Thomas Tyringham
of Lower Winchendon and his wife Ellen. They
paid £1,100 for two water-mills under one roof,
with their appurtenances, called Cuddington Mills. (fn. 43)
Attached to these mills were rights of free fishing
in the water of Cuddington. The Holymans however retained their right to a free fishery in Cuddington after the sale of the mill. (fn. 44)
A free fishery in the water of Evershipp in Cuddington is also frequently mentioned. In 1577 it
was in the possession of the Burnands, (fn. 45) but in 1611
John Burnand, sen., and John Burnand, jun., sold
it to Simon Mayne. (fn. 46) His descendants held this
fishery till 1679, when it was sold to William Lambourne, (fn. 47) who had already acquired other fishing
rights in Cuddington. (fn. 48)
A century later, in 1772–3, Richard Lambourne
held a free fishery here. (fn. 49)
Church
The church of ST. NICHOLAS
consists of a chancel 24 ft. 7 in. by 15 ft.
5 in., with a small vestry; a nave 49 ft.
4 in. by 15 ft. 2 in., with north aisle 36 ft. 2 in. by
11 ft. 6 in., a south aisle 5 ft. 4½ in. wide, south-east
chapel 13 ft. 3 in. by 19 ft. 5 in., and south porch;
and a western tower 11 ft. 6 in. by 10 ft. 7 in., all
measurements being internal. The development of the
building appears to have been as follows:—In the 12th
century there existed an aisleless nave of the same
width as now, but perhaps a little shorter from east
to west, with a chancel smaller in both dimensions than
that now in existence. A series of enlargements began
in the early years of the 13th century, the first being
probably the building of a transept chapel at the northeast of the nave, and the rebuilding of the chancel.
North and south aisles were soon afterwards added, the
south aisle having an arcade of four evenly spaced bays,
while the north arcade seems to have been set out with
the idea of not disturbing the arch of the north
transept, and there was in consequence a break between
the first and second bays of the arcade. At a later
date the arcade was made continuous, the west respond
of the east bay (the former transept) being made into
an octagonal column by adding a half-octagon to it on
the west side. The second bay in the north arcade
is therefore wider than those to the west of it, and
while copying the details of the rest has a label of
early 14th-century section, giving a clue to the time
of the alteration. In the latter part of the 13th
century a further enlargement took place, the east
bays of the south aisle being widened to form a
south chapel. At a later date, difficult to fix,
but perhaps in the 17th century, the north aisle
was shortened by one bay, the western bay of the
north arcade being replaced by a solid wall. The
south porch is an addition of c. 1340, and the west
tower is of 15th-century date. The small north
vestry is modern.
Plan of St. Nicholas' Church, Cuddington
The east window of the chancel is a modern one of
three cinquefoiled lights with tracery of 14th-century
style. In the north wall is a small plain modern door
to the vestry and at the west a square-headed 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery
over. In the south-east angle of the chancel is a small
hexagonal moulded bracket with a shallow pin-hole in
its upper surface. In the south wall is a square-headed
14th-century window with two cinquefoiled lights
and quatrefoiled spandrels, and to the west of it another
window of the same date but of two trefoiled lights
with a quatrefoil over and a two-centred head. The
chancel arch is of two roll-moulded orders with an
undercut label to the west, which is continued as a
string north and south to the walls of the nave.
The responds of the arch are half-octagonal, with
moulded capitals and bases of the same details as the
eastern responds of the nave arcades. The nave is of
four bays, the first bay of the north arcade having an
arch of two chamfered orders, with a filleted roll for a
label. The first column of this arcade is octagonal,
having been made up, as already noted, from the
respond of the transept arch. All the other columns
of the arcades are circular, and the arches are of two
hollow-chamfered orders with the angles of the chamfers bevelled off, the workmanship being rather rough
and uneven. This is particularly the case with the
wider arch (the second), in the north arcade, which, as
already explained, is probably an early 14th-century
alteration. The first column of the south arcade, and
the second of the north (fn. 50) have circular capitals with
fluted scallops, a survival of Romanesque forms, while all
the other columns have plainly moulded capitals. The
present west respond of the north arcade, which is of
three bays only, is really a round column half buried
in the walling of the blank western bay. The west
respond of the south arcade is a half-octagon, like that
at the east.
The north aisle has an early 14th-century east
window of three cinquefoiled lights with modern
tracery and an external scroll-moulded label. In the
north wall of the aisle, to the east, is a modern window in an old opening, with two trefoiled lights and
tracery of 14th-century style. The north door is also
modern, with plain chamfered jambs and two-centred
head, and west of this is a two-light window of 17thcentury date with rounded uncusped heads and a flat
lintel. The west window is probably of the same
date, and is of three uncusped lights with smaller uncusped lights over and a four-centred head.
The south chapel has a late 13th-century east window of three uncusped lights with much-restored interlacing tracery. There are internal and external
labels, and jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and
bases, both having a member ornamented with a cable
pattern. In the south wall are two windows, the
openings of which are of the same date as the east
window, but have been cut back in the 15th century
and filled with tracery of two narrow trefoiled lights
with smaller lights over under a square head. On the
internal jambs portions of the 13th-century jamb-shafts
and the cable-moulded capitals and bases are still visible.
At the east end of the south wall is a 15th-century
piscina with chamfered jambs and trefoiled head.
The chapel opens to the south aisle by an arch of two
moulded orders, of rough late 13th-century workmanship, with responds of three half-round shafts separated
by square projections, having coarsely-cut and moulded
capitals and bases. The north respond is somewhat
clumsily set against the second column of the south
arcade, and the south respond is pushed back into
the south wall of the nave to make the passage-way
from the aisle as wide as possible.
The south doorway of the nave is of the date of
the south aisle, and has a pointed arch of two
orders with filleted rolls and a band of dog-tooth
ornament on the outer order. In the jambs are
circular shafts with coarsely moulded capitals and
bases. The south porch has a small modern west
window, and an outer archway of two moulded
orders c. 1340.
The tower, of the 15th century, is of three stages
with an embattled parapet, above which rises the turret
of a north-east staircase. The belfry openings are of
two cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil over, and the
west window of the ground stage is of three cinquefoiled lights under a four-centred head, the second
stage being lighted by small trefoiled openings. The
west doorway has a four-centred head, and jambs with
continuous mouldings.
The font is of late 12th-century date, having a
slightly tapering circular bowl, carved with narrow
pointed flutings, and a short stem with a roll-moulded
base.
The roofs throughout the church are modern, and
though there is a good deal of old material used up in
the open seating there is no woodwork of any particular
interest. A plain 17th-century altar-table has been
preserved. In the east window of the south aisle are
two heads of angels in 15th-century glass.
The tower contains six bells, all cast by John
Warner & Sons in 1884, and a sanctus which is
blank.
The plate is modern, and comprises a silver-gilt
chalice, paten and flagon, and a silver paten.
The first book of the registers contains burials between 1653 and 1812; the second baptisms between
1663 and 1811, and the third marriages from 1698
to 1750; while the first printed book of marriages
contains entries from 1754 to 1812.
Advowson
The chapel of Cuddington was appendant to the church of Haddenham,
and was held by the Priory of St.
Andrew, Rochester, until its dissolution in 1540. (fn. 51)
The vicarage of Haddenham was ordained by Bishop
Hugh of Wells (1209–35) and appropriated to the
Priory. (fn. 52) It consisted of the whole altarage of Haddenham Church and all the chapel of Cuddington, the
vicar finding a chaplain to celebrate at the latter
place. (fn. 53)
The advowson of the vicarage of Cuddington, together with that of Haddenham, was granted by
Henry VIII to the Dean and Chapter of Rochester,
who are the patrons at the present day. (fn. 54) Queen
Elizabeth in 1579 granted to Edward Thomlynson
and Anthony Page, their heirs and assigns, all the late
free chapel of Cuddington, commonly called Cuddington Chapel, with all land belonging to it, but this grant
does not seem to have taken effect. (fn. 55) There is a Baptist chapel in Cuddington, built in 1831, and a
Wesleyan chapel which was built in 1894.
Charities
Nicholas Almond, by deed of feoffment bearing date 4 April 18 Charles I,
conveyed a parcel of land, part of
Middle Moor, containing between five and six acres,
upon trust that the rents and profits should be applied for
apprenticing or otherwise for the benefit of the poor,
subject to the payment of 6s. 8d. to the minister for
preaching a sermon every Easter Monday. In 1906
the sum of £14 15s. was received as rent of the Moor,
which, after payment of 6s. 8d. for a sermon, was
applied, together with a sum of £1 charged in 1695
by William Almond on land called Nunheyes, in the
distribution of 1s. to each recipient.
The poor are also entitled to receive one sack of
wheat, and two sacks of barley out of the Great
Tithes, being also the gift of the said Nicholas
Almond.
Thomas Hill, by will, proved in the P.C.C. 7 January 1804, charged his estate with the payment of a
certain quantity of wheat and barley, which was formerly distributed with the last-named charity, but the
distribution was discontinued on the ground that the
bequest was void under the Mortmain Act. (fn. 56)
The Rev. John Willis, a former rector, by will
proved in 1855, left £600 consols (with the official
trustees). The annual dividends, amounting to £15, are
applied in accordance with the trusts in the distribution of coal, 3½ cwts. being given to each
recipient.