CLIFTON HAMPDEN
The modern parish of Clifton Hampden dates only
from 1819, for until then Clifton was nominally a
chapelry of Dorchester. (fn. 1) The boundaries of Clifton,
however, appear to have remained unchanged from
Saxon times until 1932, when they were enlarged by
the addition of the civil parish of Burcot. (fn. 2) The area
was thereby increased from 1,245 acres to 1,924 acres.
The only natural boundary of the ancient township
and virtual parish, with the history of which this
article is concerned, was the River Thames in the
south.
At its lowest point, on the Thames, the parish lies
154 feet above sea level, but rises steadily to 250 feet
on its northern boundary. (fn. 3) At the east end of the
village the land rises sharply to form a cliff on which
stand the church and the manor-house. The soil
consists largely of Lower Greensand, though there
is a small patch of Gault on Clifton Heath and a
stretch of Alluvium north of the Thames extending
from the eastern boundary of Culham to Burcot. (fn. 4)
The main Dorchester to Abingdon road runs
through the parish from east to west, keeping to the
higher ground away from the river. This highway
was of great antiquity (fn. 5) and was the parish's main
means of communication, but it appears to have been
neglected in the 16th and 17th centuries and by 1736
was in 'a ruinous state'. In that year an Act of Parliament established a turnpike trust for the area between
Henley and Abingdon and empowered it to levy tolls
for the maintenance and repair of the road. (fn. 6) Further
Acts were passed in 1755, 1781, 1802, 1821, and
1841. (fn. 7) The trust set up a toll-gate at the eastern
approach to the village where the garage now stands.
The highway now runs to the north of the lower part
of the village, but originally took a loop through it
and thence ran up the hill between the present parsonage and churchyard to rejoin the main road after
passing through the grounds of the manor-house. (fn. 8)
It is not clear when exactly the alteration was made:
Hucks's estate map of 1786 (fn. 9) shows only the loop
road, but the present main road appears to be marked
on Davis's map of 1797. (fn. 10) The bulk of the original
road through the lower village remained in use in
1958, although the eastern end was blocked up in
1843 and 1882. (fn. 11) Two minor roads, Baldon Way, of
which part was originally called Watery Lane, and
Thame Lane, which crosses Clifton Heath, were
probably also ancient roads. Thame Lane formed
a cross-country link between Culham and the
market town of Thame via Chislehampton. It was in
use until the present century, chiefly for the sheep
and cattle trade between Oxfordshire and Salisbury. (fn. 12)
The remaining road, from Long Wittenham, joins
the loop road in the lower village by a bridge over
the Thames. The bridge, built by Richard Casey, is
a red brick structure in the Gothic style, and was
erected in 1864 by Henry Hucks Gibbs, lord of the
manor, from a design of Sir Gilbert Scott at a cost of
£3,617. The bricks used were made in a kiln on
Clifton Heath. (fn. 13) The construction of the bridge was
authorized by Act of Parliament, power to levy a toll
being granted. (fn. 14) In 1946 the bridge was purchased
from Baroness Aldenham by the County Councils of
Berkshire and Oxfordshire for £1,850 and freed
from toll. (fn. 15) The bridge replaced an ancient ferry and
ford and lies slightly above the ferry. The ford met
the ferry on the Berkshire side of the river and
crossed diagonally to the Oxfordshire bank to a point
just below the church. (fn. 16) The ferry was in existence in
the early part of the 14th century when a certain John
Broun was ferryman. In 1493 the ferry was demised by
Roger Roper of Watlington to Exeter College, Oxford, (fn. 17) in whose hands it remained until it was purchased by Henry Hucks Gibbs in 1861. (fn. 18) The ferry had
a large boat, capable of carrying a man and a horse. (fn. 19)
The Thames at Clifton has always been difficult to
navigate. There is a hard rock bed full of halfsunken ledges in the neighbourhood of the bridge, (fn. 20)
and near Long Wittenham the course of the river is
circuitous and the stream rapid. A river survey of
1811 refers to the difficulties and dangers of navigation near Slade's Eyot close to Long Wittenham,
many disasters having occurred at Wittenham
Point. (fn. 21) As late as 1826 the Lord Mayor of London,
returning from a visit to Oxford, was delayed a long
time near Clifton ferry because of the low depth of
water. (fn. 22) The difficulties of the navigation at Clifton
were one of the problems that the Oxford-Burcot
Commission had to consider after its establishment
by Acts of 1605 and 1624, (fn. 23) but it was not until the
Thames Navigation Commission was set up in 1751 (fn. 24)
that any serious remedial step was considered.
In 1771 a proposal was made to cut a channel from
Clifton ferry to a point just above Culham Pound
Lock with the object of by-passing Culham and
Sutton Courtenay, but the proposal was dropped. (fn. 25)
In 1789–90 the towing path from Day's Lock to
Culham Bridge was constructed, the path crossing
from the Berkshire to the Oxfordshire side of the
river at Clifton ferry. (fn. 26) The difficulty around Slade's
Eyot, however, remained, and in addition there were
complaints of exorbitant tolls at the Eyot. (fn. 27) A cut
through Clifton Mead to avoid the awkward loop in
the river opposite Long Wittenham seems to have
been first suggested in 1802; (fn. 28) and in 1811 it was
decided to construct a pound lock at Clifton ferry. (fn. 29)
Work was begun in 1820 and was completed in 1822,
at a cost of £5,420. (fn. 30) The weir near the west end of
the cut was made in 1835. (fn. 31)
The village of Clifton Hampden lies partly to the
south of the main Abingdon-Dorchester road and
partly on both sides of the lower section of Baldon
Way. Its first name means 'tun on a cliff' and is of
Anglo-Saxon origin. (fn. 32) Its second, for which there is
no documentary evidence before 1726, (fn. 33) is an unusually late addition to the original name, and it has
therefore been suggested that Hampden may really
be Hampton, a common ending for villages in the
vicinity. (fn. 34) There is, however, no real reason to doubt
that Hampden is a family name and was added, perhaps, when Miles Hampden was lord of the manor
in the 1530's, to distinguish the village from Clifton
Ferry on the Berkshire side of the river. (fn. 35) It may be
noted, however, that Miles Hampden's maternal
grandfather is described in a 16th-century pedigree
as of 'Clifton Ferris'. (fn. 36)
Lord Torrington described the village in 1792 as
'one of the prettiest and flemish-looking villages I ever
saw', (fn. 37) and in 1958 Clifton was still remarkably attractive and well-kept with a number of timber-framed
Elizabethan or early-17th-century cottages and farmhouses. There was much rebuilding in the 18th century and many of the new houses reflect the increased
desire for comfort and privacy that characterized the
period. An 18th-century house, for instance, adjoining
Upper Town Farm, is a brick-built building of two
stories. Both it and a neighbouring 18th-century
cottage of brick and thatch are screened from the
road by a brick and stone wall, overtopped by a large
yew hedge. There is also a grass verge in front.
Some of the old buildings appear to have been
malthouses in the 17th and 18th centuries: in 1726
there were three in the village, one on the north side
of the London road, a second on the east side of the
green, and a third on the west side of the green. (fn. 38)
It is not certain whether the present village inn, the
'Plough', was one of these or not: the building is
old, but was first recorded as one in 1821. The 'Fleur
de Lys' was mentioned in 1786, (fn. 39) and continued as
an inn until at least 1864. (fn. 40) The third inn was
perhaps a house, altered in the late 18th century,
near the bridge. It is now two cottages, but is traditionally held to be an ancient hostelry.
Except for the late-18th-century Fullamoor Farm,
close to the parish boundary, (fn. 41) the three farmhouses
are all in the village, but they are now private
residences. Two of them date from the 16th and
17th centuries. The oldest is 'Ridges', a timberframed building with modern extensions. This farm
seems to be the one described in a survey of the
village in 1726 as the 'capital messuage called the
Farm'. (fn. 42) Lower Town Farm dates from the 17th
century: a timber-framed wing with brick filling
survives at the back. A south wing of two stories with
attics was added in the 18th century, the initials A.R.
and E.P. and the date 1771 being inscribed on the
brickwork. The picturesque farm outbuildings, consisting of large weather-boarded barns with halfhipped roofs, also date from the 18th century.
The church, manor-house, and Vicarage stand on
the cliff at the east end of the village. The manorhouse was built between 1843 and 1846 as a parsonage and was used as such by the incumbent until
1905, when it became the residence of Alban, 2nd
Baron Aldenham. (fn. 43) Built from the designs of Sir
Gilbert Scott at a cost of £3,900, it is a grey, stone
building in the revived Gothic style of the Victorian
period. Additions were made in 1864–5 by the incumbent, the Revd. J. L. Gibbs. (fn. 44) From 1939 to
1943 the building housed a private nursing home
evacuated from London, but has since reverted to its
former status, and in 1958 was the residence of Sir
Geoffrey and Lady Gibbs. The Vicarage has a longer
history than the manor-house, the succession of the
property being traceable from 1755. The house was
largely rebuilt in 1923–4, but its south side dates
back to about 1780. (fn. 45) It was purchased, together with
8 acres of land, by Anne Noyes, lady of the manor,
in 1831; in 1832 she conveyed the house and land to
the Bishop of Oxford and the Revd. Joseph Gibbs
for use as a parsonage. (fn. 46) It was used as such until
1843 and became again a parsonage in 1905.
The parish hall, opened in 1896, was built by
Henry Hucks Gibbs to commemorate his elevation
to the peerage as Baron Aldenham. In 1898 it was
adapted as a reading-room. (fn. 47)
To the north-west of Watery Lane is a substantial
early-18th-century house built of brick with horizontal fascias of stone. Behind the house were stables
and a coach-house; these have been converted into
cottages. The house is apparently not mentioned in
the survey of 1726, but is shown on Jefferys's map of
Oxfordshire of 1767. After serving as a school and
a nursing home it became once again a private
residence. Nineteenth-century and modern cottages
on the road leading from the church to the AbingdonDorchester road are of the same general character as
the rest of the village. They are of one story or of
one story and an attic, and are built of brick and
stone and are thatched. Eight post-war council houses
have been built outside the village.
The Civil War of the 17th century saw some
military activity in the neighbourhood. After the
occupation of Abingdon by roundhead troops in
May 1644 the parliamentarians began to make sorties
into the Dorchester area to raid royalist communications with Oxford. (fn. 48) On 6 May 1645 the roundhead
commander at Abingdon, Major-General Richard
Browne, marched to meet Cromwell at Dorchester, (fn. 49)
at which time some parliamentary soldiers were
quartered in Clifton. (fn. 50) Early in 1646 a minor engagement took place near Clifton when a force of roundheads from Abingdon clashed with some of the
royalist garrison of Wallingford who had been drawn
away from their headquarters by a stratagem. Some
50 cavaliers are said to have been captured. (fn. 51)
The Second World War led to the establishment
of the Royal Naval air station. It was closed in 1956,
but was re-opened in the same year as an Admiralty
Storage Depot, covering 592 acres and extending
into the parishes of Culham and Nuneham Courtenay. (fn. 52)
Henry Hucks Gibbs, first Baron Aldenham (1819–
1907), financier, antiquarian, and a benefactor to the
village, has been perhaps the only resident of importance. A devoted churchman, he is said to have
possessed the finest collection of copies of the Book
of Common Prayer in English hands. (fn. 53)
Manors.
Clifton was not mentioned by name in
Domesday Book, but there can be little doubt that it
was surveyed under Dorchester, and was a part of the
endowment of the Bishopric of Dorchester. When
the bishopric was transferred to Lincoln in about
1070 Clifton was also transferred. (fn. 54) The bishop,
however, was compelled to enfeoff much of his Oxfordshire land, including Clifton, to meet the heavy
burden of providing 60 knights for the king's service
and retained only the overlordship of Clifton. This
followed the descent of Dorchester manor when in
the 16th century Dorchester passed to the Norreys
family and later to the earls of Abingdon. (fn. 55)
During the medieval period Clifton was divided
amongst three of the bishop's knights. The Le Moine
fee, or CLIFTON or HAMPDEN manor as it became later, descended from the fee which a Robert
Monachus held of the Bishop of Lincoln in 1166. (fn. 56)
Robert le Moine, probably a son if not the same person, held the fee by 1201, and William le Moine had
succeeded him by about 1212. (fn. 57) Either he or a son
of the same name was in possession soon after 1225. (fn. 58)
Details of succeeding tenants are not recorded, but
the fee clearly remained in the family and in 1279
Philip le Moine was the bishop's tenant. His fee included property in Burcot and South Stoke and
seems to have comprised about one-third of Clifton
parish itself. He paid scutage to the bishop and owed
suit to Dorchester hundred court. (fn. 59) By 1300 John le
Moine had inherited the property, (fn. 60) and he or a son
was returned as one of Clifton's lords in 1316 and
paid the highest tax contribution for the parish in
1327. (fn. 61) In 1346 John, son of John le Moine, held his
father's lands in Clifton, Burcot, and South Stoke. (fn. 62)
In the 1350's, however, John le Moine seems to
have granted John Loveday of Goring rights in the
reversion of Clifton manor, as it was now called. He
and Loveday were jointly concerned in transactions
over Clifton, Burcot, Holcombe, and Drayton in
1358. (fn. 63) Loveday died in 1361, and in 1362 his heir
Elizabeth and her husband Henry de Aldrynton
granted various estates, including land in Clifton and
the reversion of Clifton manor, to Thomas de
Aldrynton and others; (fn. 64) Le Moine still had a life
interest in the manor. (fn. 65) Some time before 1380 Sir
Hugh de Segrave, a former Treasurer of England,
had acquired the Aldrynton rights in Clifton manor.
He had also purchased other property in Clifton, for
example, that of Ralph son of Thomas Cook. In 1380
Segrave granted much of his land to William of
Wykeham; amongst the grants were £11 rent from
Clifton manor, 'sometime of John Moyne', properties which had once belonged to John de Louches of
Garsington, Thomas Cook, and Adam de Shareshull, and the reversion of Clifton manor, at that time
held by Robert Maundeville and his wife for life. (fn. 66)
At the same time Thomas de Aldrynton gave up his
rights in the property, (fn. 67) and in 1382 Nicholas Drayton of Dorchester, who was related to Sir Hugh de
Segrave, released his rights in Clifton and Burcot
manors and property. (fn. 68) William of Wykeham seems
to have intended to endow New College, Oxford,
with the property, and in 1381 was granted a licence
to alienate Clifton and other manors to St. Mary's
College, Winchester. (fn. 69) The college administered the
manor, which was still farmed by the Maundevilles,
until 1390, but seems to have disposed of it about
that time. It is likely that both Burcot and Clifton
manors were acquired by Sir John Drayton of
Kempston (Beds.) (fn. 70) and later of Nuneham Courtenay. Drayton, a soldier of fortune, was the son of
the Nicholas Drayton who had had rights in the
manor in 1382, and he certainly possessed land
in Clifton in 1405. (fn. 71) He died in 1417, leaving two
daughters and coheirs, Joan and Elizabeth. (fn. 72) The
latter, who married first Christopher Preston of
Slapton (Northants.), and second John Wenlock of
Wenlock (Salop), who was created Baron Wenlock
in 1461, apparently acquired Clifton as a result of
a division of the Drayton lands in 1432. (fn. 73) Three
years later she and Wenlock made a grant of the
manor for life to John Delabere, clerk, later Bishop
of St. David's (1447–60). (fn. 74) When he died the manor
reverted to Elizabeth, and on her death about 1461
passed to Richard Preston, doubtless her son by her
first marriage. (fn. 75) He died, an idiot, in 1489, holding
the manor of the Bishop of Lincoln 'as of the manor
of Dorchester'. (fn. 76) His daughter and heir Elizabeth,
said to have been feeble-minded since birth, was
thrice married: to Richard Danvers, Edward Hampden, and Nicholas Lovett. (fn. 77) After Elizabeth's death
in 1521 (fn. 78) her third husband retained the manor
during his lifetime. (fn. 79) By 1535 her heir Miles
Hampden was lord of the manor, but the Yonges,
who held Bradleys manor in Clifton, had a lease of it
from Lovett. (fn. 80) Miles Hampden was succeeded by
his son Richard and grandson Thomas. (fn. 81) About
1599 Thomas Hampden sold Clifton manor to Sir
Michael Molyns of Clapcot (Berks.), who was also
lord of a Chislehampton manor. (fn. 82) At his death in
1615 Sir Michael was said to hold the manor of
Francis Lord Norreys of Rycote as of Dorchester
manor. (fn. 83) In about 1618 his son Sir Barentine Molyns
conveyed the manor to Edmund Dunch, lord of a
second manor in Clifton. (fn. 84) Thereafter, the two
manors followed the same descent. (fn. 85)
The Burcot fee, known as CLIFTON manor in the
16th century, formed a second estate in Clifton. It
belonged in the 12th and 13th centuries to the Burcot
family, who were mesne tenants of the Bishop of
Lincoln's fee in Clifton, Holcombe, and Drayton,
and apparently only under-tenants in Burcot itself. (fn. 86)
In 1166 the fee cannot be identified with certainty
among those listed as belonging to the bishop. (fn. 87) By
1201 Nicholas son of Bartholomew, perhaps the
Bartholomew de Clifton who occurs in 1176, (fn. 88) held
land in Clifton and was also returned as tenant of the
bishop's fee at the same time. (fn. 89) In 1212 he was
termed Nicholas de Burcot. (fn. 90) Either he or a son,
also Nicholas de Burcot, held the fee by at least
about 1225, (fn. 91) and another Nicholas, presumably of
the next generation, was in possession in 1279. As
chief lord of the fee under Dorchester he then held
in Drayton, Holcombe, and Clifton, but he was also
under-tenant of 7 virgates of the Le Moine fee in
Clifton, Burcot, and South Stoke, and of 2 virgates of
the De Baldindon fee in Burcot. (fn. 92) His property
passed to a son John, (fn. 93) but by 1346 the Abbot of
Dorchester was returned as tenant of the fee. (fn. 94)
Dorchester Abbey had been under-tenant of the
Burcots' Clifton property since 1279 at least, when
the whole estate save for a ½-virgate was either in its
farm or paid rent and scutage to the abbey as mesne
tenant. (fn. 95) The property remained in the abbey's
hands until the 16th century. (fn. 96) The abbey also
paid a quitrent to Miles Hampden in 1535, which
suggests that the abbey's estate still included his
manor, perhaps as successors of the 13th-century
under-tenants, the Burcot family. (fn. 97) The king seized
the lands on the dissolution of the abbey, and they
were retained by the Crown until 1560 when
Elizabeth I granted them to John Doddington and
John Jackson. (fn. 98) By 1592 William Dunch of Little
Wittenham (Berks.) was in possession, (fn. 99) and he held
the manor on his death in 1597. (fn. 100) His son Edmund
(d. 1623) was succeeded by a grandson, another
Edmund (d. 1678), and Edmund's son Hungerford
(d. 1680). Hungerford's heir Edmund, a celebrated
Whig politician of the 18th century, squandered his
patrimony. (fn. 101) On his death in 1719 he bequeathed to
his three daughters and coheirs not only his lands in
Oxfordshire and elsewhere, but also debts amounting to £26,000, and to meet these debts a private
Act of Parliament permitted the sale of lands. (fn. 102) In
1726 Clifton manor was purchased from Dunch's
trustees by Robert Hucks (d. 1745), a London
brewer and M.P. for Abingdon. (fn. 103) The estate remained
in the hands of the Hucks family until 1814 and was
enlarged by various purchases. (fn. 104) On the death of
Robert Hucks's son and successor, another Robert,
who had become a lunatic, it passed by inheritance
to Anne and Sarah Noyes, nieces of Robert (II). (fn. 105)
By a deed of partition of 1815 the manor and lordship of Clifton became the property of Anne Noyes. (fn. 106)
When Anne died in 1841 she left the estate to her
sister Sarah, and after her to her cousin, the banker
George Henry Gibbs, heir-at-law to the Hucks
family. (fn. 107) On the death of Sarah in 1842 G. H. Gibbs
succeeded to the property under the terms of Anne's
will; (fn. 108) he died at Venice in 1842 and was buried at
Clifton. (fn. 109) His son Henry Hucks Gibbs (d. 1907),
created 1st Baron Aldenham in 1896, still held the
manor in 1891, but gave it to his son Alban, 2nd
Baron Aldenham, who was returned as chief landowner in Clifton in 1903. He died in 1936 and his
son, the 3rd baron, died in 1939. Lillie Lady Aldenham, widow of the 3rd baron, held Clifton manor
until her death in 1950, when she was succeeded by
Sir Geoffrey Gibbs, nephew of the 2nd baron. (fn. 110)
A third fee in Clifton, later known as BRADLEYS
manor, developed from the estate of an Adelinus de
Clifton—a successor of the Domesday Iseward—who
held 2 fees of the Bishop of Lincoln in 1166. (fn. 111) The
2 fees must have included, then as later, land in
Burcot, the Baldons, and South Stoke as well as in
Clifton. (fn. 112) By 1201 Richard, son of a William, who
was probably the heir of Adelinus, held the 2 fees and
was still in possession about 1212. (fn. 113) As in Marsh
Baldon he was succeeded by his daughter Agnes,
who held the fees in about 1225, and they later passed
to a family called De Baldindon, probably by marriage. (fn. 114) William de Baldindon held Clifton property
by 1247 (fn. 115) and in 1279 he or a son held the 2 fees in
Clifton, Baldon, and South Stoke in chief of the
bishop and for scutage and suit at Dorchester
hundred court. Apparently the Baldon property
formed one fee and the Clifton and neighbouring
lands another. (fn. 116)
It may be assumed that the Clifton property descended to the Bradleys in the same way as the
Baldon estate, but details are lacking. In 1316 John
'de Bradele' was returned as one of the lords of
Clifton and Burcot. (fn. 117) His successor can perhaps be
identified as the John de Bradecote (? Bridecote or
Burcot) who held a ½-fee in Clifton and Burcot in
1346, although nothing has been found to link
Geoffrey of the Chamber (de Camera), the previous
tenant of the ½-fee, with the Bradleys. (fn. 118) It is not
clear what happened to the Bradleys' estate over the
next 70 years. It seems to have come into the hands
of the Le Moines, the other Clifton-manor tenants,
but reverted to the Bradleys. In 1428 Robert 'de
Bradele' held a ½-fee in Clifton, and Burcot, which
had previously belonged to John le Moine. (fn. 119) He also
held the Le Moines' ½-fee in Clifton, Burcot, and
South Stoke, but this was perhaps a temporary
arrangement. (fn. 120) His son John seems to have succeeded
him in the same year. (fn. 121) Thereafter there is a gap in
the descent until 1512, when John Lewes and his
wife Agnes conveyed the manors of Baldon and
Clifton to Robert Froston, (fn. 122) and in 1513 Bishop
Audley purchased both Little Baldon and Clifton
for his chantry in Salisbury Cathedral. (fn. 123) Clifton was
evidently not retained, for in 1530 William Yonge of
Basildon (Berks.) and Little Wittenham held a
messuage and farm called Bradleys. (fn. 124) In 1543 his
son Roger sold Bradleys manor, said to be worth
£10 19s. a year, to Sir John Pollard of Nuneham
Courtenay, (fn. 125) who had also acquired the Baldon
estate. (fn. 126) The estates passed to his brother Sir Anthony
Pollard in 1557; his Clifton manor was described as
Bradleys manor held of Lord Norreys as of his
manor of Dorchester. (fn. 127) Pollard had also acquired
lands in Clifton, which had belonged to Littlemore
Priory. (fn. 128) The Clifton property must have descended
like Little Baldon to Anthony's kinsman Lewis
Pollard, (fn. 129) who in 1636 made a will saying that his
executors should sell Broadlease manor (i.e. Bradleys) to pay his debts. (fn. 130) The manor was sold soon
after, perhaps before his death in 1640; (fn. 131) but by 1726
it had apparently been absorbed into the Hucks
estate of Clifton Hampden, for in an estate survey
of that date 5 acres described as 'Bradleys Piece' were
freehold of the manor. (fn. 132)
Lesser Estate.
About 1487 the Abingdon
Guild of the Holy Cross acquired land in Clifton
from Joan Hopkins alias Yonge of Clifton, and it
later passed to Christ's Hospital, Abingdon, successor to the Fraternity of the Holy Cross. The
property consisted originally of strips in the Middle
and Lower Fields together with meadowland; but
after inclosure it comprised 6 acres of meadow, south
of the London road, and 17 acres of arable, north of
the road. In 1866 Henry Hucks Gibbs, lord of Clifton
manor, bought the property from the hospital for
£2,500. (fn. 133)
Economic and Social History.
Crop
markings near Fullamoor Farm may indicate a
Romano-British site, but continuous settlement
probably dates from the Anglo-Saxon period. The
place was undoubtedly colonized by early Saxon
settlers who gave it its name of Clifton, (fn. 134) but there
is little information about the village's layout and
system of landholding until the 13th century. In
1086 it was included in the lands of the Bishop of
Lincoln's Dorchester manor and is therefore not described in detail in Domesday, although a number of
its tenants must have been counted in the population
of the bishop's lands, and its meadow land must also
have been included in the survey. (fn. 135) The village may
have shared in the general prosperity of the bishop's
estates, which rose in value after the Conquest, but
presumably then as later there was much waste land.
An early-13th-century record shows that Clifton
was a typical open-field village. When Bartholomew
de Clifton granted St. Frideswide's Priory a ½virgate of arable and 2 acres of meadow the ½-virgate
was made up of 11½ acres distributed in strips
(6 × 1 a.+2 a.+3 a.+½ a.) throughout the fields or
furlongs: on 'Sandhilla', 'Scanland', in 'Shorthmede', and other places; the meadow was in strips
too (1 a.+½ a. +½ a.). (fn. 136) Clifton does not appear in
the survey of the bishop's Dorchester estates made
in the second quarter of the century, (fn. 137) for the bishop
had divided it all between three of his knights and
kept no land to farm himself; (fn. 138) and although Clifton
was surveyed in 1279, it is difficult to be certain how
much land was under cultivation, as the Le Moine
estate extended into other parishes and the account
is far from clear. Moreover the meadow is not mentioned and it is unlikely that this was not important
then. Sir Philip le Moine's estate was the largest with
about 13 virgates, 17 acres. (fn. 139) William de Baldindon
had 8 or 9 virgates and Nicholas de Burcot had about
3 virgates besides being under-tenant of about 4 virgates of the Le Moine fee in Clifton. These mesne
tenants had let out all their land, a fact which probably accounts for the comparative freedom of Clifton's population. Only 8 tenants were said to do
customary works, of which 2 were cottagers. Most of
the tenants paid only rent and scutage for their holdings. (fn. 140) The most important lay under-tenant was
Geoffrey de Lewknor, lord of Harrowden (Northants.) and a landowner in many parishes in the
neighbourhood of Clifton. His 10 virgates of the Le
Moine fee are entered twice under both Burcot and
Clifton, and must have been divided between the
two parishes. (fn. 141) The Abbot of Dorchester was
another substantial under-tenant with rights over
most of Nicholas de Burcot's estate and over 1 virgate of the Baldon fee. At least 3 free tenants and
1 customary tenant held under him. Some of Clifton's tenants had the virgate or ½-virgate holdings
typical of many open-field villages, but this was by
no means universal: a Nicholas le Carter had 5 virgates, but had let out 3, and there were 2 holdings of
2 virgates and 1 of 1½ virgate. (fn. 142)
In the 14th century Clifton supported only a
moderately prosperous community, considering its
extent, which in modern times was 1,245 acres, and
it is likely that even more of it was sandy waste than
is the case today. Its contributions to early-14thcentury taxes were comparatively small. In 1306 the
Abbot of Dorchester contributed 6s. 7d., and in 1327
John le Moine, one of the lords, paid a high contribution of 10s. 1d., but otherwise the contributors
seem to have been of modest means. Most of the 16
assessed paid under 2s. in 1306; in 1327 out of 33
assessed 10 paid 2s. to 4s., and 22 others under 2s. (fn. 143)
The only clue to the size of the community in the
late Middle Ages comes from the poll-tax returns of
1377, when 79 adults paid the tax. (fn. 144)
The land in the 14th and 15th centuries still continued to be divided between the three estates,
although in the case of the Burcot land the lordship
had passed to Dorchester Abbey. The Le Moine
estate was farmed out and in 1389 Robert Maundeville and Cecilia his wife paid £16 3s. 4d. for the
yearly rent of the manor. (fn. 145)
By the 16th century Clifton was one of the more
valuable of Dorchester's estates, yielding £7 2s. 10d.
a year in assized and customary rents. (fn. 146) Bradleys
estate, consisting of the manor and a messuage and
farm called Bradleys and other land in Clifton and
Burcot, was leased by a Clifton husbandman for £4
a year in 1530, and the property was sold for £210 in
1543. (fn. 147) The Hampden estate was also leased for a
term of years and stocked 300 sheep about this time. (fn. 148)
From the 1523 subsidy list it appears that besides
Dorchester Abbey and Abingdon Hospital there
were 15 other contributors. The total contribution
was a modest one of 32s. 6d. (fn. 149)
By the end of the 16th century most of Clifton had
become part of the Dunch estate, which extended
across the river to Little Wittenham, and the
successors of the Dunches gradually acquired rights
over the whole parish. The Dunch family lived at
Wittenham and the Pollards leased Bradleys estate,
so there was no resident squire in the village. (fn. 150) The
Richard Keate who was occupying a five-hearth
house in 1665 may have been the tenant of the
manor. (fn. 151) The 17th-century hearth-tax returns indicate that apart from half a dozen husbandmen or
yeoman farmers who had substantial houses with
three to five hearths each, the rest of the inhabitants
were of comparatively modest means, if not actually
poor. For the tax of 1662 the collector reported that
24 'with only one hearth apiece will not pay' and
that he could find nothing in the village on which to
distrain. (fn. 152) In 1665 12 householders were listed, but 3
were discharged on grounds of poverty. (fn. 153) That there
were only 9 taxpayers in 1665 is particularly significant when contrasted with the record of the Compton
Census of 1676 which gives 130 adult inhabitants
(i.e. of 16 years and over). (fn. 154)
Clifton was an open-field village until the late 18th
century. In the 15th century there were three fields
called East, Down, and Ham Fields, (fn. 155) which by 1726
had become respectively Upper Field (243 a.),
Middle Field (210 a.), and Lower Field (266 a.). (fn. 156)
Their furlong names, e.g. Moor and Fullamoor, indicate their state before being brought into cultivation. (fn. 157) It is possible that at one time more land had
been under the plough than in 1726, for the surveyor
said that part of the Heath called the Breach appeared to have been tilled formerly. There was
practically no inclosure except for closes in the village
and little consolidation of lands. Twenty-three of the
45 manorial tenants held land in the common fields,
and their separate strips rarely contained more than
1 or 2 rods and at the most 2 acres. Clifton Mead
meadow (117 a.) consisted of furlongs of between
1 and 10 acres, and was divided annually by lot
according to the number of yardlands held. The crop
from Burcot mead (21 a.) was taken by Burcot
tenants, but commonage belonged to Clifton. Three
tenants had rights over the Moors and the Church's
Ayte (19 a.), which were presumably grazing land.
Fully one-sixth of the parish (288 a.) was common,
waste, or road. (fn. 158)
The River Thames played an important part in
the village economy. The tenants of the manor had
fishing rights in half the stream from Burcot to the
Knapps (a small area by the ferry on the south bank
of the river), in the whole stream from the Knapps
to the Fortys, and from there in half the stream up to
Slade's Eyot. Tenants also had the right in summer
to drag stones from the stream along the under side
of the cliff for the purpose of building fences and
walls or for mending roads. (fn. 159)
About twelve of the 46 houses and cottages in the
village in 1726 were freehold. Two or three cottages
only seem to have been held by copy and the rest
were held by lease normally for three lives, although
in some cases for twelve years or a term of years. (fn. 160)
Twenty-two tenants (i.e. nearly half the total
number of householders) had only small closes with
less than an acre of land attached and no land in the
fields, and nine had less than 10 acres. Abingdon
Hospital with 10 acres and the lord of the manor
with 26 acres were among the eight farmers with
holdings of 10 to 30 acres; there were four mediumsized farms with 40 to 80 acres and only two large
farms. The Sawyers had 153 and the Dunches 173
acres. (fn. 161) The Dunch property was probably let to a
tenant farmer and was known as The Farm or
Clifton Farm House, part of which had been settled
on Elizabeth Dunch in 1713. In 1765, when it came
completely to the Huckses, it comprised about 290
acres of which 50 were furze and heath. (fn. 162)
Clifton Hampden was inclosed by Robert Hucks
about 1770, and Richard Davis's map of 1797 shows
the whole parish under plough save for land near the
meadow. (fn. 163) In 1793 two of Hucks's tenants, Thomas
Latham of Fullamoor farm and another, said in their
replies to the Board of Agriculture that the inclosures
were very large ones and that the farms also were
large. They listed as the advantages of inclosure an
increased rent, greater quantity and quality of produce, and improved stock, and maintained that the
long leases helped. (fn. 164) Both these returns and Arthur
Young's survey in 1809 show that Clifton farmers
were quite progressive, particularly the Lathams of
Fullamoor farm. Turnips and clover were said to
'answer exceedingly' and a flexible rotation of crops
was in use—wheat with rye-grass, fallow for turnips
or vetches, barley or oats, and clover. Latham was
experimenting with potatoes in 1809, a crop which
was to do very well later. He also cultivated 'a remarkably fine' crop of swedes. Sheep were reared,
a cross between the Berkshire and Leicestershire
breeds being favoured, and Thomas Latham was
quoted as an authority on them by Young. Since
inclosure Latham had carried out a good deal of
drainage and had laid underground drains of wood
and bushes. The method of manuring was to spread
dung and coal ashes, or to fold sheep on the land.
The farmhouses were described as good and well
situated. (fn. 165) Over this period there were three, and
after about 1816 four, tenant-farmers on the Hucks
(later Noyes) estate. (fn. 166) The farms—Fullamoor,
Lower Town, Upper Town, and Ridges—having
250 to 300 acres each were comparatively large for
the county. (fn. 167) The manor and lordship of Clifton
Hampden, which was in fact these four farms,
amounted in 1815 to 1,093 acres and was valued at
£1,492 a year, and between 1785 and 1832 it was
assessed for land-tax purposes at £70 a year. (fn. 168)
There were nine other small proprietors paying together another £10 of the tax. (fn. 169)
There is no evidence that inclosure resulted in de
population, although precise population figures are
not available for the 18th century. In 1793 the principal farmers maintained that population had increased rather than diminished (fn. 170) and the Census
Reports show a steady rise between 1801 and 1871. (fn. 171)
The parish registers suggest that many families
mentioned in 1726 had died out or removed and had
been replaced by others. (fn. 172) There may have been
some emigration in the 1830's, for there was much
unemployment in the village: expenditure on the
poor rose from £88 in 1803 to £177 in 1835. (fn. 173) By
1854 expenditure had fallen to little over £100. (fn. 174)
Agricultural wages, as elsewhere in Oxfordshire,
were low: the standard rate in 1793 for dayworkers
was 1s. 2d. a day, 1s. 6d. at haytime and 2s. at harvest;
many, however, worked at task rates. (fn. 175) To provide
work a brickworks was started on the Heath by H. H.
Gibbs, the lord of the manor, (fn. 176) and two bricklayers
were recorded in the 1851 census. Other trades included carpenters (one the keeper of the Plough
Inn), a builder, who kept the 'Fleur de Lys', four
shoemakers of the same family, three blacksmiths,
again of one family, a basket-maker, a dress-maker,
a baker, and a grocer. The railway provided some
work to labourers and porters, and there were the
four farms employing labourers. (fn. 177)
In 1867 the condition of cottages in the village was
described in a government report as 'fair', and the
principal owner was said to have 'every desire' that
it should be good; all the cottages had gardens and
some farm labourers had allotments for potatoes.
The supply of water to the cottages was under examination and by 1868 some improvements had been
made in sanitation after an outbreak of typhoid had
been caused by an open ditch carrying the sewage of
a large boarding school and some adjacent cottages. (fn. 178)
At this period the Gibbs family were steadily buying
up houses and land in the parish. In 1879, for example, H. H. Gibbs bought the holding (63 a.) of
the Parsons family, (fn. 179) and by 1904 only three houses,
one being the Vicarage, were not owned by the lord
of the manor. As elsewhere farms were being amalgamated: one tenant occupied two of the parish's
four farms, Upper and Home farms, and so farmed
473 acres. There were 50 cottages and 13 houses
besides the farmhouses; the brick-kiln and smithy
were still in use and a Co-operative Wholesale
Society shop had been opened. (fn. 180) At the last census
(1901) there had been 290 inhabitants. The population continued to fluctuate around this figure in the
first three decades of the century. By 1951 it had
dropped to 271. (fn. 181)
In 1939 and in the 1950's there were two farmers,
Home, Upper Town, and Lower Town farms being
occupied by one tenant, Fullamoor farm by another. (fn. 182) Mixed farming remained characteristic of
Clifton in the 20th century, although the bias lay towards arable farming and there was little increase in
the number of cattle kept. Sheep were kept, 50 and
under for every 100 acres. The main arable crops
were wheat, barley, beans, and oats, and in 1914
potatoes were considered to be highly successful. (fn. 183)
Church.
The chapel of Clifton was a daughter
chapel to Dorchester Abbey and formed part of the
abbey's endowment. The main endowment of the
abbey consisted of churches of the hundred of Dorchester, the endowment no doubt going back to
Saxon times. Until 1140 the abbey was a foundation
of secular canons, but about that time the canons
were suppressed by Bishop Alexander and the endowments transferred to Augustinian canons. (fn. 184) It is
likely that there was a building on the site of the
present church in Saxon times and that it was served
by the prebendaries of Dorchester. (fn. 185) The first mention of the chapel seems to be in 1146 when Pope
Eugenius III confirmed the possessions of Dorchester
Abbey. The confirmation mentions six daughter
churches, including Clifton. (fn. 186) The chapel is again
mentioned in 1163 when the abbey's right to Clifton
with its tithes along with the abbey's other chapels
was confirmed. (fn. 187) Unlike most of Dorchester's
'chapels', Clifton apparently did not have full
parochial rights until the 19th century. It is called
a parish in the mid-16th century; it had its own
churchwardens then, (fn. 188) and in 1578 its parish registers begin. But in the 16th century its church is, also,
called a chapel, in 1714 a chapel-of-ease of Dorchester, and in 1817 'a chapel for the tenants' of the
manor. (fn. 189)
In 1625 Clifton is recorded as having no churchyard, (fn. 190) and apparently baptisms and burials took
place at Dorchester, as it was agreed they should still
do in 1797. (fn. 191) In 1819, when Clifton got its own
churchyard, full parochial status was probably attained. (fn. 192) In the Middle Ages Clifton was subject
only to the abbey's jurisdiction and was exempt
from episcopal and archidiaconal control. The
Reformation inevitably affected the administration
of the chapel. After the dissolution of the abbey
Dorchester church and its daughter churches retained their separate jurisdiction as the peculiar of
Dorchester, which held its own court, dealing with
wills, administrations, marriage licences, presentments, and the like. (fn. 193) The peculiar probably ceased
to exist about 1847, when Clifton became part of
Cuddesdon deanery, but earlier in the century, because the living had been augmented by Queen
Anne's Bounty (see below), Clifton came under the
jurisdiction of the bishop, although not that of the
archdeacon. It was visited by the bishop in 1802,
and again from 1834 onwards, (fn. 194) and he began to
license its curates in 1830. (fn. 195)
From its foundation the church was appropriated
to Dorchester and there never was an endowed
vicarage. The living in the post-Reformation period
was thus apparently a pure donative, i.e. the patron
could appoint to the living without presentation of
his nominee to the bishop. (fn. 196) This remained so until
the early 19th century. By 1808, after being augmented by Queen Anne's Bounty, it had become a
perpetual curacy. (fn. 197) Since 1868 it has been called a
vicarage. (fn. 198) Dorchester retained the rectory, that is
all the income from the church and the responsibility of appointing and paying the chaplain, until
the dissolution of the abbey in 1536. It appears that
the abbey had begun to grant leases of the rectory
in the early 16th century, for in the 1520's it was in
the hands of William Yonge of Little Wittenham. (fn. 199) In
1535 the parish was farmed for £9. (fn. 200) At the Dissolution the rectory was acquired by the Crown, but in
1542 was granted to the Cathedral Church of St.
Mary, Oseney, Oxford, as an endowment for the
new bishopric of Oxford. (fn. 201) The scheme to make St.
Mary's the cathedral church of the new diocese did
not, however, materialize, and the Crown consequently retained the rectory. In 1545 the Crown sold
it to John Pollard and George Rythe. (fn. 202) About 1591
Pollard granted a 21 years' lease of the rectory to
Robert Baker and John Cox, to begin in 1593, (fn. 203) but
in 1604 Pollard and his son Lewis Pollard gave a
21 years' lease to John Cox of Abingdon, yeoman.
Cox was to pay a fee of £250 and a rent of £25 a year.
He was to receive all tithes, but had to provide a
curate. (fn. 204) In 1615 James I licensed Lewis Pollard to
sell the rectory to Anthony Peisley and Richard
Allam; (fn. 205) but Pollard did not dispose of the rectory
and the advowson to Peisley until 1629. The price
was £500, the yearly value being stated as £38. (fn. 206) Yet
in 1663 the yearly value of the rectory was put at
£85. (fn. 207) The Peisleys, a yeoman family of Clifton, retained possession of the rectory until 1727, when
Robert Hucks purchased it from another Anthony
Peisley, an Oxford bookseller. The Hucks family
kept it until 1814, when it passed by bequest of
Robert Hucks (II) to Anne Noyes, and similarly to
the Gibbs family, in whose hands the rectory and
advowson remain. (fn. 208) Tithes were extinguished by a
deed of merger under the Tithe Act of 1836. (fn. 209)
The value of the living has varied greatly from
time to time, and to some extent has depended upon
the whim of the impropriator. In 1526 it was worth
£5 6s. 8d. (fn. 210) In 1656 the curate received £12, (fn. 211) but
this was the highest sum paid until the end of the
18th century, for by the grant of 1545 the impropriator was required to pay only £5 6s. 8d. (fn. 212) About
the beginning of the Hanoverian period the impropriator paid the curate a pittance of £6 10s. a year;
in 1739 rather more than £10 was paid. (fn. 213) George
Powell received £30 when appointed to the curacy,
and this was increased to 50 guineas in 1806; in 1815
the stipend was further augmented to £80 a year. (fn. 214)
The increased income was obtained by various means.
In 1801 Queen Anne's Bounty set aside £200 for
Clifton; in 1819–21 £2,100 more to meet benefactions mainly from the patrons, (fn. 215) whilst Anne Noyes
made the stipend of £80 a permanent charge on Fullamoor farm. Other benefactions brought the funds
of the living to £3,170 by 1830. After 1850 the
funds were further enlarged by bequests from the
Gibbs family (fn. 216) and by the difference in the value of
the two houses exchanged in 1905. The result was
that in 1913 the funds stood at £11,907, together
with a rent charge of £100, bringing the gross income to £457. (fn. 217) After 1920 the vicar's stipend was
further increased by the yearly interest from £100,
bequeathed by a former vicar, N. C. S. Poyntz, in
trust to the Oxford Diocesan Board. (fn. 218)
Before about 1140 Clifton was supposedly served
by one of the prebendaries of Dorchester. (fn. 219) After the
abbey's refoundation until the Reformation the
chapel was probably often served by canons from
the abbey, a fact that explains the almost complete
absence of names of pre-Reformation curates. (fn. 220) In
1343 there is a reference to a grant to Nicholas, clerk
of Clifton; in 1526 Hugo Bunting was curate. (fn. 221)
After the Reformation there was no resident
minister, the parish being served by whoever was
available. Thus at the end of the 16th century the
curates of Drayton served Clifton. (fn. 222) In the 17th
century it was served at different times by the incumbents of Culham, Long Wittenham, and Dorchester. In 1714, because of the smallness of the
stipend offered, the minister had 'deserted' and there
were said to have been no services for six months.
The patron finally prevailed upon George Parry, a
Fellow of Oriel College, to take the services, for
having married 'foolishly one that hath nothing' he
was forced to 'take up with small inconsiderable
incomes'. (fn. 223)
After Robert Hucks bought the village the chapel
was served for a time by the Vicar of North Moreton
(Berks.), but later the parish registers from 1754–97
give the names of no fewer than 24 different clergy.
In the 1790's only one service a month was being
held. (fn. 224) However, this was changed after 1797 when
George Powell, Fellow of Balliol, began a 33 years'
ministry. He lived in Oxford and came over to
Clifton to conduct services. It is said that a bell was
rung to warn parishioners that a service was due
when his horse was seen crossing Clifton Heath. (fn. 225)
In 1802 Powell reported that there was morning
service every Sunday, and also on Christmas Day
and Good Friday; and that the Holy Sacrament was
administered three times a year to seven or eight
communicants, (fn. 226) but in later years the chapel
warden complained of his neglect. (fn. 227) After 1830,
when Joseph Gibbs was appointed to the living, and
until 1923 the church was served by several members
of the Gibbs family. (fn. 228)
The church of ST. MICHAEL AND ALL
ANGELS is beautifully situated on a cliff at a bend
of the Thames and is approached by a flight of some
30 steps. It consists of a nave with north and south
aisles, a chancel, a south chapel, a vestry, and a
south porch. There is no tower, but a bell turret
rises above the west end of the nave. The church
was virtually rebuilt in 1843–4, (fn. 229) and there were
further substantial alterations between 1864 and
1866. (fn. 230)
The surviving arcade on the south side of the nave
shows that the old chapel dated from the latter part
of the 12th century. A north aisle and a south chapel
were added in the 14th century, but the building was
still of modest size. Sketches made before the 19thcentury rebuilding show it as small and squat, with
a continuous sloping roof broken by dormer windows
and a wooden bellcote. (fn. 231) The dormers lighted a west
gallery which was a post-Reformation addition.
During the 18th century the church seems to have
suffered badly from neglect. Between 1775 and 1779
it was said to be in a ruinous state. (fn. 232) In 1779 John
Ridge, churchwarden, was excommunicated for
failure to have the church repaired. (fn. 233) Repairs costing
£112 were, however, carried out under the direction
of John Wyatt of Oxford in 1779–80. The south side
of the church was partly rebuilt; there were minor
repairs to the north side and to the bellcote; and the
roof was relaid. (fn. 234) The south porch was rebuilt in
brick in 1819. (fn. 235)
The restoration of 1843–4 was undertaken by Sir
Gilbert Scott with funds from a legacy of G. H.
Gibbs, supplemented by his widow and son. The cost
was £1,800. It amounted almost to a rebuilding, and
Scott himself described what he did as 'not a strict
restoration', for 'we had hardly anything left to restore—it is rather a refoundation (keeping in the main
to the old plan)'. (fn. 236) The style adopted was that of the
early 14th century, and Scott designed an elaborate
'Founder's tomb' for Gibbs on the north side of the
chancel.
The additions of 1864–6 were also the work of
Scott. The north aisle was enlarged and a vestry and
organ chamber were added at its east end. (fn. 237) The rebuilt north wall contains three imitation Decorated
windows and one genuine Early English lancet reused from the old building. Low down on the outer
wall near the west end is a 12th-century carving
representing a boar hunt. It was probably the tympanum of the original doorway.
In 1899 dormer windows were inserted in the roofs
of the north and south aisles.
Externally, little of the medieval fabric remains
except the 14th-century south chapel. The interior
is a mixture of genuine medieval architecture with
the revived Gothic of the Victorian era. The south
arcade of the nave consists of four transitional
Romanesque arches with foliated capitals and
moulded bases. There is a piscina in the wall of the
south aisle. At the east end of the aisle a 14thcentury arch gives access to the small south chapel.
The north aisle is separated from the nave by an
arcade of four arches with continuous mouldings.
There is no chancel arch, a screen only dividing the
chancel from the nave.
The furnishings are all Victorian. In 1864 the
chancel, previously used for the incumbent's family,
was refitted with stalls and the choir placed there; in
the same year the pulpit and reading desk were removed and a new pulpit, forming part of the screen,
was inserted; an oak screen erected in 1843–4 was
replaced in 1864 by a low screen, and in 1867 the
upper part of the screen, made in brass by Hart &
Son from a design by Sir G. G. Scott, was put up.
The figures of St. Michael and the Angels are by
J. F. Redfern. The year 1864 saw also the appearance
of a new organ. (fn. 238) In 1873–4 the reredos and retable
were erected (designer C. Buckeridge, constructor
Daniel Bell); the mosaics are by Clayton and Bell. (fn. 239)
Before 1873 a picture of Ecce Homo stood above the
stone altar. (fn. 240) The east window of the chancel, inserted in 1873, is also by Clayton and Bell. (fn. 241) There
are two stained-glass windows in the south side of
the chancel: the first, a small one, is a representation
of St. Michael and is by Pace; the second, inserted
in 1913, is to the memory of the Venerable Alfred
Pott (1822–1908), vicar 1875–82, and his wife, and
is by H. W. Bryans, a pupil of C. E. Kempe. (fn. 242)
Nearby is a brass commemorating John Lomax
Gibbs (vicar 1864–74). A sanctuary light, hanging
before the altar, is the gift (1921) of his children who
made provision for its continual burning. (fn. 243) The
19th-century font of early Gothic style replaces a
leaden one melted down and used to repair the roof
in the early 19th century. (fn. 244) The brass candelabra are
Victorian; the church is now lit by electric light,
which was installed in 1935. (fn. 245) The memorials to the
fallen of the two world wars are at the east end of the
north aisle; they were dedicated in 1920 (fn. 246) and 1945.
In the chancel is the 'Founder's tomb' commemorating George Henry Gibbs (1785–1842). The only
other memorials are brass plates to members of the
Gibbs family. In the churchyard, however, is a
memorial to the first Lord Aldenham, who died in
1907. It is in the form of a cross with an octagonal
base and shaft. It was designed by Walter Tower,
nephew and pupil of C. E. Kempe. (fn. 247)
There is a chime of five bells—treble, second,
third, fourth, tenor. The oldest of these is the tenor,
made in 1844 and recast in 1907. The others were
inserted in 1907 and are by Mears and Stainbank.
The former bells were by C. and G. Mears. In 1552
the chapel had two bells. (fn. 248)
The church has little plate, none of it old. A
chalice, paten and flagon, all silver-gilt and hallmarked 1844, are by I. J. Keith. Another silver-gilt
paten is hall-marked 1863. A modern brass almsdish
is undated. (fn. 249)
There was no churchyard until 1819, burials
taking place at Dorchester. In that year Anne Noyes
gave ground for the purpose. (fn. 250) A lychgate of carved
oak stands at the north entrance to the graveyard; it
was erected in 1843–4.
The registers begin in 1578.
Nonconformity.
Roman Catholicism was
fairly strong in Clifton until about the middle of the
17th century. Lists of recusants in the reigns of
James I and Charles I give fourteen names. (fn. 251) Most
of these belonged to the Princes, a yeoman family
which intermarried with the Days of Dorchester,
another papist yeoman family, who were widespread
in the neighbourhood. (fn. 252) In the 1620's George Prince
served as churchwarden, but this may have been
a case of co-operation between the churches, (fn. 253) and in
1641, of the twelve recusants listed in Clifton, nine
were members of this family. (fn. 254) Until the 1670's they
were constantly presented by the churchwardens for
not attending church; (fn. 255) the Compton Census of
1676 listed four papists; and in the late 17th and
early 18th centuries several members of the family
were Roman Catholics. (fn. 256) The last record found of
the recusancy of this family in Clifton was in 1720,
when George Prince and his son John were stated to
be Roman Catholics. (fn. 257)
There is no record of Protestant dissent until the
19th century: in 1802 there was said to be none, (fn. 258)
but in 1833 the house of James Styles was registered
for nonconformist worship, (fn. 259) and in about 1846
dissent was strengthened by the foundation of
Crake's school, whose master and pupils were mainly
nonconformist. (fn. 260) The farmer who owned the buildings was also a nonconformist, and in 1854 his
family, another family, and the school were said to
contain about 100 dissenters. (fn. 261) There continued to
be a large group of dissenters until the school was
removed in 1868. By 1878 only eleven were left. (fn. 262)
Schools.
There is no record of any school in
Clifton before the beginning of the 19th century,
although the register of marriages shows that a fair
number of people were able to write. In 1802 there
was a school where children learned the catechism, (fn. 263)
and in 1808 it was recorded that the poor 'upon such
terms as suit them' (fn. 264) sent their children to a dame to
learn to read. (fn. 265) By 1818 there were two schools, one
for 15 children and the other for 6 or 7 infants. (fn. 266)
The first lapsed and was restarted later. In 1833 it
had 20 pupils and there were 12 in the infant
school. (fn. 267) A Sunday school had been begun in 1828.
Crake's school, a private academy, seems to have
been opened in 1846. It occupied the 18th-century
house in Watery Lane, the stables and coach-house
being converted into dormitories. In the 1850's it
was known as a commercial school and was managed
by a dissenter with about 30 pupils. (fn. 268) In 1866 it was
called a grammar school and had about 30 boys,
most of them dissenters. (fn. 269) About 1868 the school
removed from the village because of a fever outbreak. (fn. 270)
The present village school for boys and girls was
established in 1847, (fn. 271) under a trust deed dated 15th
October. It was affiliated to the National Society.
A new schoolroom for 100 children and a master's
house were erected at the expense of William Gibbs,
brother of G. H. Gibbs, the late lord of the manor. (fn. 272)
In 1854 there was one room for boys and girls and
another for infants, where girls were taught needlework in the afternoons. (fn. 273) There was also an evening
school in winter, which it is said had not the desired
effect, partly for want of an efficient master. (fn. 274)
In 1871 there were 75 children attending the
National school, (fn. 275) but this number decreased to
about 60 between 1887 and 1906. (fn. 276) The lighting and
ventilation were improved in 1894, (fn. 277) and in 1909 an
infants' room was added on the south side. (fn. 278) The
attendance had increased to 70 by 1929 (fn. 279) and in the
autumn of 1934 the school was reorganized as a
junior school for children up to the age of 11 years,
the senior children being transferred to Dorchester. (fn. 280)
There were 30 children in 1938 including some from
Burcot. In 1948 children from Culham junior school
went to Clifton and there were 54 children on the
school-roll in 1954. The school was changed from
aided to controlled status in 1951. (fn. 281)
Charities.
Leonard Wilmott, by deed of 1608,
gave a rent charge of £1 issuing out of lands in Clanfield to be distributed on Good Friday to the unrelieved poor of Clifton Hampden. The gift was
regulated by a charity decree of 1617, and was being
regularly administered in 1823. (fn. 282) Since 1865 the
money has been distributed with the Noyes charity, (fn. 283)
and since 1933 a single body of trustees has administered it with the Noyes and Talbot charities. (fn. 284)
Mrs. Anne Noyes, of Gloucester Place, Marylebone (Lond.), by will proved 1842, left £1,000 to be
distributed in clothing, coal, or bread to the poor of
the parish. (fn. 285) In 1931 and in 1955 the income of this
and Wilmott's charity (£25–£26 together) was spent
on coal. (fn. 286)
The Revd. Joseph Gibbs, a former perpetual
curate, by will proved 1864, left £556 stock, the
interest to be applied to the salary of an organist in
Clifton Hampden church. (fn. 287) The income (£14) was
so spent between 1926 and 1931, but in 1953–5 was
devoted to church expenses. (fn. 288)
Anthony Talbot, of Catford Bridge (Lond.), a
native and sometime a sergeant-major in the 2nd
Foot Guards, by will dated 1888, gave £15 stock, the
interest to be applied to six aged and needy parishioners at Christmas. He desired that the recipients
should maintain his parents' graves in the churchyard. (fn. 289) In 1905 and again in 1953–5 the income was
being applied to graveyard maintenance, but in
1926–31 to six or fewer needy persons according to
the terms of the benefaction. (fn. 290)