PRESTON ON STOUR
Preston on Stour is a rural parish of 1,769 a. (fn. 1)
3 miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies astride
the River Stour, which divides it into two distinct
parts. The larger part lies south-west of the Stour
and forms a compact area bounded on the east by the
Stour, the Humber brook, and its tributary the Small
brook, on the west by the Marchfont brook, formerly
called the Rad brook. (fn. 2) North-east from the Stour
the parish stretches in a long and irregularly shaped
tongue, with parts of its southern boundary following a small brook and the lane that crosses the Stour.
In 1931 it was transferred from Gloucestershire to
Warwickshire; (fn. 3) until then it had formed a narrow
promontory of Gloucestershire in the extreme
north-east of the county. It was presumably included
in Gloucestershire rather than Warwickshire because, like Clifford Chambers, (fn. 4) a neighbouring
promontory of the same county, it belonged to a
Gloucestershire monastery. It was that ownership
that gave the name Preston. (fn. 5)
The land falls from 250 ft. in the north-east and
200 ft. in the south-west to 130 ft. on the Stour.
The landscape is gently rolling, drained by the
brooks that form the boundaries of the parish. Where
the Stour crosses the parish it divides into two
arms: the division is perhaps artificial, for one arm
was used for a mill. The Humber brook was
straightened, to avoid flooding and help drainage,
in the early or mid-18th century. (fn. 6) The soil is loamy,
overlying Lias clay. (fn. 7) The greater part of the land has
long been agricultural. In the extreme north-east,
however, where in 1964 there were two mediumsized woods, some rough pasture land survived into
the 20th century. (fn. 8) That part of the parish was used
also for scattered buildings connected with the wartime airfield in Atherstone on Stour (Warws.); in
1964 groups of derelict huts and overgrown hardstandings remained. Alscot Park, in the centre of the
parish, was apparently established north-east of the
Stour in 1401, when the lord of Alscot was granted
free warren. (fn. 9) The park was infringed in 1593, (fn. 10) and
was possibly enlarged in 1617. (fn. 11) It was further
enlarged in 1686, when it took in land to the southwest of the river, (fn. 12) and in the period 1747–72. (fn. 13) In
the early 18th century it was described as delightful, (fn. 14)
and it was the subject of a few lines in Richard Jago's
poem Edgehill. (fn. 15) In 1747 the new owner said it was
small but well planted. (fn. 16) As enlarged, the park covers
200 a., (fn. 17) and is separated from the roads on the
north-east and south-east sides by a long wall. Part
of it was under the plough in 1964. From the 17th
century the lords of the manor have made their
home in the house in the park, which has been the
centre of an estate covering several parishes. The
18th-century Gothic house is described below. (fn. 18)
The main centre of population is Preston village,
which lies close to the river on its south-west bank.
The site is on sloping ground, and on a prominent
spur overlooking the village green stands the parish
church. Most of the houses are grouped in two loop
roads leading off the green, where the pound,
adjoining the churchyard fence, (fn. 19) and the stocks
stood in the 19th century. (fn. 20) A timber-framed and
thatched house called the Old Thatch Tavern stood
beside the green until demolished c. 1900. (fn. 21) Four of
the larger houses in the village retain in their lower
stories close-set timber studding of the 16th century,
while their upper stories have square framing; some
of their gable-ends and dormers contain decorative
framing. In those houses and in three 17th-century
timber-framed houses the filling was originally of
plaster; but a late 17th-century timber-framed house
has apparently original brick nogging, and another
house of the same period is brick-built with
mullioned and transomed window-frames of wood.
A timber-framed cottage perhaps of the 16th century
is reputed to have been a priest's house, and a 17thcentury framed cottage next to it retains the thatch
that elsewhere has been replaced by tiles. The village
includes one cottage, the post office in 1964, which is
built of mud. Newly built cottages were mentioned
in 1615 and 1657–8. (fn. 22) There are two terraces of
18th- or early 19th-century brick cottages. Most of
the older cottages were demolished in the 1850's,
when James Roberts West rebuilt part of Preston as
a model village. (fn. 23) The school, at the southern end of
the village, was the earliest feature, built in 1848.
Eight pairs of two-storied cottages, evenly spaced
on each side of the road running up from the school
to the green, were built between 1852 and 1856. (fn. 24)
School and cottages are of red-brown local brick,
uniformly Gothic in style and with heavy octagonal
chimneys. The cottages have contemporary garden
sheds. There has been little later building in the
village.
A secondary settlement existed at Alscot in the
Middle Ages. Tradition locates a chapel at Alscot; (fn. 25)
in 1248 there were some peasant inhabitants, (fn. 26) and
in 1287, when Alscot was a separate vill, there was a
reeve of Alscot and perhaps a tavern there. (fn. 27) In 1327
there were 6 taxpayers in Alscot, (fn. 28) but by 1534 the
whole place was in a single occupation, and there
was apparently only one house. (fn. 29) In 1506 there
had been a house and two cottages. (fn. 30) Alscot later included buildings subsidiary to the park — stables,
lodge-cottages, kennels — and isolated farm-houses:
Whitehill Farm existed by 1700, (fn. 31) but two others
appear to have been first built after the mid-18th
century. (fn. 32) South-west of the Stour isolated farms
and barns were built after the inclosure of that part
of the parish in 1760, (fn. 33) and there was some further
building of scattered houses and cottages in that part
in the 19th and 20th centuries.
In 1327 there were 19 taxpayers in the parish. (fn. 34)
In the mid-16th century there were said to be c. 30
communicants (fn. 35) and 18 households in the parish. (fn. 36)
Thereafter there was probably an increase, but the
figure of over 200 adults in 1603 (fn. 37) is likely to be an
exaggeration. In 1650 there were said to be 24
families, (fn. 38) and in 1672, 32 houses were assessed for
or discharged from hearth tax. (fn. 39) By the early 18th
century there had been a further increase, for there
were 36 houses and cottages in Preston village
alone, (fn. 40) and an estimated population of 200 in the
parish. (fn. 41) The population was 267, in 60 houses, in
1801. The number of inhabitants rose steadily to
421 in 1851, and then fell, initially as a result of the
removal of dilapidated cottages and a reduction in
the number of families to a house. The population
was 369 in 1871, 273 in 1901, and 244 in 1931. In
1951 it was 570, (fn. 42) but the increase resulted from the
occupation of the airfield huts by homeless families. (fn. 43)
In 1961 the population was 203. (fn. 44)
The main road between Stratford-upon-Avon and
Shipston on Stour (Warws.), apparently mentioned
in 1553, (fn. 45) passes along the edge of Alscot Park. In
1662 it was called Alscot Lane where it passed
through Preston. (fn. 46) It was a turnpike road from 1730
to 1877. (fn. 47) From the main road lanes lead off to the
farms north-east of it, and another leads over the
Stour and south towards Admington. It crosses the
lane from Whitchurch (Warws.) to Preston village,
which was still gated in 1964, and north-west of
Preston village took a winding course over Atherstone Hill to Atherstone on Stour (Warws.). The
roads south-west of the river were established by the
inclosure award of 1760. (fn. 48) Sir Richard Brawne, lord
of the manor 1615–50, built the bridge over the
river, and his successors repaired it. (fn. 49) It was a stone
bridge in 1740, (fn. 50) and it was rebuilt in stone between
1747 and 1760. (fn. 51) By 1825 it was regarded as a county
bridge, (fn. 52) and in 1853 it was rebuilt in timber and
iron. (fn. 53) Later it was rebuilt in brick, perhaps in 1890. (fn. 54)
The bridge across the Humber brook was named as
Broad Bridge in 1740. (fn. 55) The Stratford & Moreton
Railway, a horse tramway opened in 1826, passed
through the parish alongside the main road. After
1859 it gradually became derelict. (fn. 56) The single-track
railway line between Stratford and Banbury, which
crosses the north-east tip of the parish, was opened
in 1873, (fn. 57) and closed to passenger traffic by 1953. (fn. 58)
In 1964 Preston village remained small and
sequestered. A few of the owners of Alscot, who are
mentioned below, have achieved prominence in
national life, as has General Sir Michael
Montgomerie Alston-Roberts-West, G.C.B. (b.
1905), (fn. 59) a younger son of the family that has owned
Alscot since 1747.
Manors.
Ethelric son of Ethelmund gave land
at 'Sture' to the monastery of Deerhurst in the year
804. (fn. 60) The land was evidently at Preston on Stour,
for in 1086 the abbey of St. Denis, Paris, to which
part of the possessions of Deerhurst had been
granted in 1059, (fn. 61) held 10 hides there. (fn. 62) The manor
of PRESTON ON STOUR remained part of the
alien priory of Deerhurst, (fn. 63) and was granted with
the priory in 1467 to Tewkesbury Abbey, (fn. 64) which
held it at the Dissolution. In 1538 it had been let at
farm to Roger Wakeman, (fn. 65) apparently a nephew of
the last Abbot of Tewkesbury and first Bishop of
Gloucester, John Wakeman. (fn. 66)
In 1545 the manor was granted to John Dudley,
Viscount Lisle, who sold it in 1546 to Thomas
Hunks, of Radbrook (fn. 67) in the neighbouring parish of
Quinton. Thomas Hunks died in 1559, having
devised the manor to his second son, the elder of
two brothers both called John. (fn. 68) The elder John
died in 1571; his son and heir Thomas Hunks (fn. 69) in
1594 sold the reversion of the manor, then held by
his mother Frances for life, to Sir Edward Greville
of Milcote. (fn. 70) Greville, who was in financial straits, (fn. 71)
mortgaged the manor in 1599, (fn. 72) and in 1607 sold it
to Sir Hugh Brawne. (fn. 73) Brawne died in 1615, and
was succeeded in his manors of Preston and Alscot,
and in the rectory and advowson of Preston, by his
son Sir Richard. (fn. 74) Sir Richard, who received a grant
of free warren in Preston and Alscot in 1617, (fn. 75) died
in 1650 and his son Richard, a minor, c. 1657. Sir
Richard's three daughters inherited his estates;
Preston and Alscot, subject to the life-interest of
their mother, Theodosia, went to the second
daughter, Lucian or Lucy Anne, wife of Thomas
Mariett. (fn. 76) Thomas Mariett died in 1691, (fn. 77) and his
son and heir John in 1709. (fn. 78) John's son and heir
Richard was in turn succeeded in 1739 by his son
Richard Mariett, (fn. 79) who appears to have mortgaged
the estate. (fn. 80) The residuary legatees of the second
Richard (d. 1744) were his sister Sidney and her
husband John Lowe, who in 1747 sold Preston and
Alscot to James West. (fn. 81)
James West, who was a Member of Parliament,
President of the Royal Society and of the Society of
Antiquaries, and a noted collector, died in 1772. He
was succeeded by his son James (d. 1795), (fn. 82) and the
estate thereafter passed from father to son, the
successive owners being James West (d. 1838), who
added the surname of his wife, Anne Roberts, to
his own, James Roberts West (d. 1882), another
James Roberts West (d. 1918), who assumed as an
additional surname that of his wife, Elizabeth Louisa
Alston, (fn. 83) Capt. Harry Charles John Alston-RobertsWest, R.N. (d. 1931), William Reginald James
Alston-Roberts-West (d. 1940), and Capt. James
William Alston-Roberts-West, (fn. 84) who owned Preston
on Stour and Alscot in 1964.
Preston on Stour manor-house is evidently
represented by the house leased with the manor farm
to John Jackson in 1618, (fn. 85) by which time the lords
of the manor of Preston had settled at Alscot. Preston
manor-house may have been the one with five
hearths, the second largest in the parish, occupied
in 1672 by Thomas Smith. (fn. 86) The 16th-century
timber-framed house near the school, bearing the
date 1659 on the lintel of the main doorway, is
thought to have been part of the manor-house. (fn. 87) In
1964 it had long been divided into several occupations.
After the appropriation of Preston church to
Tewkesbury Abbey in 1504 (fn. 88) the rectory estate was
for most of its history held with Preston manor. In
1546 the rectory, though included in the grant of
the manor in the same year, was granted to the Dean
and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford. (fn. 89) In 1552
the dean and chapter sold the rectory to Thomas
Hunks, lord of Preston, subject to a pension of
£8 a year. In 1635 the dean and chapter claimed
that Hunks had had only a leasehold title, but
Hunks's successors continued to own the rectory
though they acknowledged the pension, (fn. 90) which
survived. (fn. 91) In 1594 Edward Greville separated the
rectory from the manor by selling the rectory to
Leonard Bennett, (fn. 92) who in 1597 sold it to John
Thorpeley. (fn. 93) Although in 1621 Thorpeley's widow
was to claim one-third as dower, (fn. 94) Thorpeley sold
the rectory in 1599 to Sir William Glover, (fn. 95) who in
turn sold it, at Thorpeley's direction, to Sir Edward
Greville. (fn. 96) The purchase-money for the last sale was
not paid, (fn. 97) and the rectory was conveyed to Sir
Hugh Brawne both by Greville in 1607, with Preston
manor, (fn. 98) and by Glover's representatives in 1609. (fn. 99)
Thereafter the rectory descended with the manor. (fn. 100)
The land in Alscot held in 1359 by William de
Framelesworth and his wife Eleanor (fn. 101) has been
thought to represent the sub-manor of ALSCOT. (fn. 102)
It may, however, have been no larger than the one
yardland in Alscot that was conveyed in 1255. (fn. 103) In
1379 an estate of a house, one plough-land, and 6 a.
of meadow in Alscot and Preston was conveyed by
Walter of Luddington, of Alcester, and his wife
Margery to William Barwell. (fn. 104) In 1401 William
Willicotes was granted free warren in his demesnes
of Willicote (in Quinton) and Alscot, (fn. 105) and at his
death in 1411 he had a house, 2 plough-lands, and
6 a. of meadow in Alscot, held of Deerhurst Priory
as of the manor of Preston on Stour. His heir was his
son Thomas. (fn. 106) Shortly afterwards Sir William
Bishopston is said to have lived mainly at his manor
of Alscot, and before his death in 1447 to have settled
Alscot manor among others on himself, his wife,
and their children. (fn. 107) The manor that he settled was
in fact not Alscot but Lark Stoke (fn. 108) (in Ilmington).
Bishopston's heirs were his two daughters, of whom
Philippa married Sir William Catesby. (fn. 109) Catesby
settled the manors of Willicote and Alscote on their
son William, the councillor of Richard III, and
William's wife Margaret, (fn. 110) who in 1478 jointly
received Alscot manor from Robert Brome and
others by way of exchange. Robert Brome's father,
William, (fn. 111) had in 1456 been granted Willicote manor
and an estate in Alscot of exactly the same extent
as William Willicotes's, (fn. 112) and in 1459 he held the
reversion of Alscot manor, then held for life by
Elizabeth, late wife of Thomas Blount. (fn. 113) The way in
which the manor descended to the younger William
Catesby is therefore not certain.
William Catesby was attainted and executed in
1485, but the attainder was reversed in favour of his
son George. (fn. 114) At his death in 1505 George Catesby
held Alscot manor of the Abbot of Tewkesbury. (fn. 115)
His wife Elizabeth afterwards married Sir Thomas
Lucy, (fn. 116) and as Elizabeth Lucy, widow, she bought
other lands in Alscot c. 1525. (fn. 117) In 1532 she and
another husband, Richard Verney, (fn. 118) acquired the
lease of Preston on Stour rectory, (fn. 119) and in 1534 they
were granted, by Tewkesbury Abbey, the farm of
Alscot manor. (fn. 120) Meanwhile, George Catesby's
eldest son, William, had died young, to be succeeded
by his brother, Sir Richard Catesby (d. 1554). (fn. 121) Sir
Richard was described as a free tenant of Preston
manor in 1545, (fn. 122) and in 1553 the lord of Preston
manor obtained a decree confirming that the farm
of Alscot was part of Preston manor. (fn. 123) William
Catesby, as Sir Richard's grandson and heir,
claimed livery of Alscot manor on reaching his
majority in 1568. (fn. 124) In 1570 William Catesby, father
of Robert, the Gunpowder Plot conspirator, (fn. 125)
conveyed Alscot, evidently for the purpose of a sale
to John Hunks, (fn. 126) lord of Preston manor, who died
seised of Alscot manor the following year. (fn. 127) Thomas
Hunks, who in 1587 acquired some further property
in Alscot from William Catesby, (fn. 128) sold Alscot manor
in 1590 to Henry Bartlett. (fn. 129) In 1596 Henry Bartlett
settled the manor on his son, (fn. 130) later Sir Thomas, and
the father and son together conveyed it to Sir Hugh
Brawne in 1606. (fn. 131) Sir Hugh acquired Preston manor
the next year, and thereafter the two manors shared
the same ownership.
There was presumably a relatively large house at
Alscot in 1323, when Walter 'de aula' of Alscot was
ordained. (fn. 132) With the possible exception of Sir
William Bishopston, in the early 15th century, none
of the lords of Alscot is recorded as living there
before the late 16th. In 1594 Henry Bartlett was
described as of Alscot, (fn. 133) as was his son Sir Thomas
in 1605. (fn. 134) Sir Hugh and Sir Richard Brawne in turn
lived at Alscot until 1647, (fn. 135) but in 1648 Sir Richard
was described as of Saintbury. (fn. 136) From 1663 the
Marietts lived at Alscot. (fn. 137) The house they lived in
was of stone, apparently built c. 1600, perhaps by
Sir Hugh Brawne soon after his acquisition of
Alscot. In 1691 it was of two stories with a garret,
and it contained a hall with a room over it, a parlour,
a study, and at least three bedrooms. (fn. 138) Richard
Mariett (d. 1739) made some alterations to the
house. It was described as a handsome seat c. 1705 (fn. 139)
but as very bad and old in 1747. (fn. 140) It was almost
entirely rebuilt, in two stages, in 1750–2 and 1763–5,
for James West. The house, known as Alscot Park,
is a remarkable example of early rococo Gothic,
and survives largely unaltered. (fn. 141)
In 1750–2 the existing house was remodelled and
refaced. The windows were remade with ogee heads,
battlements were added, and a new three-story block
was built at the north end overlooking the river. The
work was done by Thomas, Edward, and Richard
Woodward, masons of Chipping Campden, to
designs by John Phillips and George Shakespeare.
In 1763–5 the size of the house was roughly doubled
by the addition of a transverse two-story wing on the
south end, giving the house a T-shaped plan. The
south wing, comprising a large hall and state apartments which contain a fine collection of pictures,
also has ogee-headed windows and a battlemented
parapet, and the south elevation is broken by two
large pinnacled buttresses rising above the battlements. About 1825 a central entrance porch was
added, to a design by Thomas Hopper. (fn. 142) Later in
the 19th century some of the interior, including the
main staircase, was altered; the glazing-bars were
removed from the windows, but they were replaced
in the mid-20th century. In the park a rotunda and
an obelisk designed by Edward Woodward were
demolished before the end of the 19th century, (fn. 143) but
the hothouse designed by Phillips and Shakespeare
survived. On the main road is a pair of lodgecottages, single-storied, of stone, and in the Gothic
style of the big house.
Economic History.
In 1086, when the land
of St. Denis in Preston was assessed as 10 hides, (fn. 144)
the whole parish may have formed a single manor
and a single agricultural unit. Later, the manor of
Preston and the sub-manor of Alscot were physically
distinct, the Stour forming the boundary between
them. (fn. 145) It is likely also that Alscot formed a separate
agricultural unit even before its depopulation. (fn. 146) The
demesne of Alscot manor amounted to 2 ploughlands in 1411. (fn. 147) In 1615 the 596 a. of Alscot demesnes
included land called the old wheatfield. (fn. 148) The ridge
and furrow of former open fields was still visible in
pasture (fn. 149) in 1964. Depopulation is likely to have been
accompanied or followed by inclosure and conversion to parkland and permanent pasture, but in 1506,
when there were still two cottages in Alscot manor,
there were 220 a. of arable, compared with 260 a. of
pasture. (fn. 150) At later periods Alscot appears to have
been mostly permanent grass-land, with a little
arable. (fn. 151)
South-west of the river, in Preston manor, there
were 2 plough-lands in demesne in the late 13th
century. (fn. 152) By 1615, (fn. 153) and apparently by 1538, the
demesne had been reduced to 6½ yardlands. (fn. 154) In
1615 the demesne was held as a single farm by a
lessee, (fn. 155) but afterwards it was divided into the six
several yardlands and the odd half, held by the lord
of the manor and six other landholders. (fn. 156)
Freeholds within Preston and Alscot manors were
mentioned in the 13th century; (fn. 157) there was one
substantial freehold in Preston manor in 1540, (fn. 158)
held by a family that until c. 1525 had held lands
in Alscot. (fn. 159) No copyholds in Alscot are recorded, but in 1553 it was stated that copyholders in
Alscot took their tenements at Preston manor
court. (fn. 160) In Preston manor in 1540 there were 14
copyholders, with holdings mostly between 12 a.
and 50 a. The holdings were not then reckoned in
yardlands; (fn. 161) in the late 15th century some tenants
had more than one holding of a fraction of a yardland, (fn. 162) and it looks as though in 1540 most copyholders had one, two, or three half-yardlands. The
copyholds were held for lives, (fn. 163) and were not
heritable. (fn. 164) Widows held by freebench, (fn. 165) and heriots
in kind were payable in the late 16th century. (fn. 166) The
larger copyholds were enfranchised in the late 16th
or early 17th century, and at the same time the
manorial waste was divided and sold. (fn. 167) In 1615 the
tenants of Preston manor included freeholders with
123/8 yardlands between them, 3 copyholders with
37/8 yardlands between them, 6 cottagers, and 1
leaseholder, apart from the tenants of the demesne
and the mill. (fn. 168) Leaseholds were more frequent in
the late 17th century, (fn. 169) but copyholds survived in
1721, when some former copyholds were in the
lord of the manor's possession, (fn. 170) and 1728. (fn. 171)
The number of yardlands in Preston field, 25¾,
was the same in 1721 as in 1615 and, apparently,
in 1540. The amount of arable in a yardland
increased from c. 23 statute acres in 1540, the
amount varying from yardland to yardland, to a
regular 27½ a. in 1615, and a regular 42¼ a. in 1721. (fn. 172)
The increase indicates an extension of the arable
land in Preston field, in which the land of each
holding lay in scattered selions. The intrusion by
ploughing into common pasture-land was presented
in the manor court in 1632 (fn. 173) and 1669, (fn. 174) and in 1658
the court ordered that existing greensward was not
to be ploughed and that a piece at the end of each
selion was to be allowed to become permanent grass. (fn. 175)
Those measures did not permanently restore the
former proportions of arable and grass-land. In 1540
Preston field lay divided between 4 lesser fields,
each containing between 140 and 155 statute acres.
The total acreage was 592½, comprised in 2,159
selions, so that each selion averaged little more than
¼ a. (fn. 176) By 1721 the larger part of the arable land lay
in 4 quarters, which may have corresponded with
the 4 fields of 1540 but were called by different
names and were much larger. Evidently after the
division of Preston field into quarters another field
was opened, called the Furfield or Further field.
The quarters each contained from 482 to 673 lands
and leys, and the Furfield, of which more than half
belonged to the demesne farm, 213. In all there were
2,485 lands and leys totalling 1,088 a., so that the
average land was little less than ½ a. (fn. 177)
The extension of the arable acreage presumably
reduced the amount of livestock. In 1540 there was
common of pasture in Preston manor for 905 sheep
and 193 beasts, and the normal stint seems to have
been 40 sheep and 9 beasts for each yardland. (fn. 178) After
1540 there is little record of sheep in the parish.
Shepherds were recorded in 1571 (fn. 179) and 1608, (fn. 180) but
they are more likely to have been employed at
Alscot than on Preston manor. In 1615 there were
3 pasture-grounds — a beast-pasture of 159 a., a
sheep-pasture of 87 a., and a horse-pasture of 20 a.
— but they were then described as divided equally
between the yardlands, (fn. 181) perhaps for the purpose of
their inclusion in the arable field. In 1694 the manor
court made regulations about the siting of a summer
fallow for 8 years in advance, (fn. 182) suggesting an
8-course rotation of crops.
Before inclosure under Act of Parliament there
were some steps towards consolidation and inclosure
in Preston manor. The enlargement of the park in
1686 was achieved partly through the exchange of
meadow-land. (fn. 183) At some stage the 6½ yardlands of
the demesne farm were consolidated, for in each
quarter of the field in 1721 the farm land formed a
compact block equivalent to a furlong. After the
farm was split into 7 separate holdings each holding
had isolated selions in each block. In the Furfield
the demesne farm was not consolidated, which, in
the light of the high proportion of demesne there,
suggests that the Furfield was opened after the
consolidation of the demesne in the quarters. (fn. 184) In
1722, however, the several holdings of demesne in
the Furfield were individually consolidated and
inclosed, (fn. 185) though the other land there and the
holdings of demesne in the quarters were not. (fn. 186) By
1721, and perhaps in that year, the hedgerow in
Preston field, amounting to 520 linear yards, was
apportioned among the landholders. (fn. 187)
In 1721 there were 12 holders of land, excluding
the lord of the manor, (fn. 188) not much fewer than in
1540. (fn. 189) From the 16th century the holdings of the
yeoman farmers in Preston appear to have been
fairly large and mostly comparable in size. Some
families held land there over long periods, the Jeffs
family from the early 14th century to the 17th, the
Yate family from the early 14th to the 18th; the
Lock family held land there in 1498 and in 1776, the
Timbrell family before 1572 and in 1800; the
Smiths, who had a house in Preston in 1594, and
the Mansells, who were lessees of closes in Alscot in
1586, and whose freehold included until 1870 the
timber-framed house at the top of Preston green,
were represented in the parish in the 20th century. (fn. 190)
The number of estates in the parish was reduced
between 1721 and inclosure in 1760, when 1,100 a.
including roads were reallotted. The manorial estate
had evidently absorbed some others, for the lord of
the manor received 656 a., including an allotment
for tithes. Seven others received allotments, all
between 40 a. and 100 a., and there were no small
allotments. (fn. 191) In the 19th century almost all the land
in the parish was merged in the Alscot Park estate:
in 1838 the estate held by the Zouch family since
1719 or earlier was added to it, (fn. 192) and in 1872 the
estate held by the Salmon family from the 17th
century. (fn. 193) Whereas in 1870 there were 4 substantial
landowners in the parish, in 1914 there was only
one. (fn. 194) The larger part of the parish still belonged to
the Alscot Park estate in 1964. The farms remained
fairly large: there were 9 in 1831, (fn. 195) 7 in 1856, and
the 6 farms existing in the mid-20th century were
all over 150 a. (fn. 196)
After the inclosure of 1760 some arable land was
converted to meadow and pasture, as shown by the
ridge and furrow visible south-west of the river.
In the early 19th century the parish was said to be
mostly meadow and pasture, (fn. 197) but in 1801 nearly
a third of the total acreage was sown to wheat, oats,
barley, beans, and peas. (fn. 198) The proportion of arable
to grass-land was much the same in 1901, (fn. 199) 1933, (fn. 200)
and 1964.
A miller possibly of Preston was recorded in
1287, (fn. 201) and the taxpayers of the vill included a miller
in 1327. (fn. 202) In 1496 the Abbot and Convent of
Tewkesbury leased two mills in Preston apparently
under one roof, together with a fishery. (fn. 203) The watermills continued to belong to and to be leased by the
lords of Preston manor; (fn. 204) in 1691 they were described
as three mills under one roof. (fn. 205) The mill, standing
beside the bridge across the Stour, was mentioned in
1740, (fn. 206) but it had apparently gone by the early 19th
century. (fn. 207) In 1896 the site was said to be no longer
visible. (fn. 208)
A few other non-agricultural occupations are
recorded. One of the taxpayers in 1327 was surnamed mercator. (fn. 209) A common bakehouse was
mentioned in 1564, 1590, and 1614–18. (fn. 210) A butcher,
a carpenter, a wheelwright, and a tailor were among
the inhabitants in 1608, (fn. 211) a matmaker in 1685, (fn. 212)
and a weaver in 1688. (fn. 213) A surgeon of Preston on
Stour was licensed in 1736, (fn. 214) and an alehousekeeper in 1755. (fn. 215) From the mid-19th century there
were: tailors, shoemakers, and a timber-merchant
until 1870, a wheelwright until 1889, a carpenter
until 1923, and a blacksmith until 1936. A shopkeeper, who was also a baker until 1963, remained in
1964. Since the early 20th century people working
in Stratford have formed an increasing proportion
of the population. (fn. 216)
Local Government.
Preston and Alscot
were separate vills in the 13th century (fn. 217) and were
described as two separate hamlets in the late 17th
century, (fn. 218) but no separate administrative arrangements for Alscot have been discovered. There are
rolls and other records of the manor court of Preston
for the period 1477–1699; they are a fragmentary
series, with only one or two records earlier than the
late 16th century. (fn. 219) By the last decade of the 17th
century the manor court seems to have met less
frequently than once a year, (fn. 220) but the court continued to meet in the early 18th century. (fn. 221) The court
in theory exercised view of frankpledge, (fn. 222) since the
lords of the manor had acquired the rights in Preston
of Deerhurst Priory, which had owned the hundred.
Alscot is unlikely to have had a manorial court of its
own. (fn. 223) In 1740 and 1813 separate courts were held
for Preston and Alscot, but they were extraordinary
assemblies held primarily for declaring the bounds
of the two manors. (fn. 224)
In 1545 the manor court of Preston appointed a
constable and a tithingman for the parish. (fn. 225) In 1559
it appointed in addition two affeerors, two surveyors
of highways, and two surveyors of the field. (fn. 226) The
surveyors of highways, described in 1595 as 'directores Anglice the foremen', (fn. 227) were combining that
office with that of the surveyors of the field in 1664 (fn. 228)
and 1698, but the offices had been separated again
by 1737. (fn. 229) To a small extent at least the manor court
supervised the administration of the poor law: in
1681 it made an order about a recognizance which
the overseers of the poor of Preston were to deliver
to the parish officers of Wixford (Warws.). (fn. 230) A
miscellaneous account-book includes the accounts
of the overseers of the field and the overseers of the
poor, entered alternately, 1696–1756, of the churchwardens, 1704–24, and of the surveyors of the
highways, 1737–68. (fn. 231) The churchwardens in 1540
owed 1d. a year rent for a parcel of waste ground on
which they had built a 'church house'; (fn. 232) the later
history of this property is not known.
In 1700 the expenditure of the overseers of the
poor, £10 in the year, was less than that of the
overseers of the field, (fn. 233) who among other duties
provided two parish bulls. (fn. 234) Expenditure on the
poor remained comparatively low, and from just
over £100 in 1775 it had risen less than a third by
1803. In the early 19th century a quarter of the
population received parish relief regularly or
occasionally, (fn. 235) but apart from a few exceptional
years the cost of poor relief had not increased
significantly by the time of the Poor Law Amendment Act. (fn. 236) Under that Act the parish became part
of the Stratford-upon-Avon Poor Law Union in
1836. (fn. 237) In 1863 Preston was included in the Chipping
Campden highway district, (fn. 238) and in 1894 it was
transferred from the Stratford Rural Sanitary
District to the newly formed Marston Sicca Rural
District. (fn. 239) In 1931, on being added to Warwickshire,
Preston became part of the Stratford-upon-Avon
Rural District. (fn. 240)
Church.
In 1272, the date of the earliest known
reference to the church, the advowson belonged to
Deerhurst Priory, although then, as at many later
times, it was in the hands of the Crown. (fn. 241) The rectory
remained unappropriated until 1504; before that a
portion of 13s. 4d. was paid out of the rectory to the
priory. (fn. 242) In 1504 Tewkesbury Abbey was licensed
to appropriate Preston church on condition that a
vicarage was endowed. (fn. 243) Thereafter the rectory
estate was, for most of its history, owned by the
lords of Preston manor, (fn. 244) and with it descended the
right to present vicars or, as explained below, to
nominate curates.
Despite the terms of the licence of 1504 the
vicarage was not endowed, and in 1540 the whole
income of the vicarage was a salary of £8 13s. 4d. (fn. 245)
worth £8 4s. 8d. clear. (fn. 246) The salary was later paid
by the impropriator of the rectory, and had been
reduced to £8 a year by 1647. (fn. 247) A vicarage house
was mentioned in 1615, but by then it had been
divided into two cottages. (fn. 248) It was perhaps the house
known in the 20th century as the priest's house. The
smallness of the salary and the vicar's dependent
relationship with the impropriator were such that the
living came to be regarded as a perpetual curacy, (fn. 249)
a donative, (fn. 250) and even a stipendiary curacy. (fn. 251)
Between 1747 and 1818 the living was augmented by
lot with seven capital sums of £200 from Queen
Anne's Bounty. (fn. 252) From c. 1870 the living was usually
described as a vicarage. (fn. 253) In 1918 it was united with
the rectory of Whitchurch (Warws.). (fn. 254)
Disputed presentations to the rectory by the
Crown in right of Deerhurst Priory, either because
of war with France or because the priory was vacant,
resulted in confusion in the late 13th century. (fn. 255) In
the late 15th century, long after the confirmation of
Deerhurst Priory to Tewkesbury Abbey, the Provost
of King's College, Cambridge, claimed to exercise
the right to present as his predecessor had done. (fn. 256)
The rectory, valued at £8 13s. 4d. in 1291 (fn. 257) and at
£133 13s. 4d. in 1603, (fn. 258) may have been a valuable
living, but after the appropriation of the rectory
the vicarage was so poor that the parish was often
inadequately served. Thomas Roberts, vicar between
1532 (fn. 259) and 1557 (fn. 260) was weak in doctrine (fn. 261) and
apparently beneficed elsewhere, for in 1544 he kept
a curate at Preston. (fn. 262) In 1566 the living was ordered
to be sequestrated because of the vicar's contumacy. (fn. 263)
Roger Horrocks, described as very old and impotent
in 1572, (fn. 264) remained vicar until 1576, when he was
excommunicated for contumacy. (fn. 265) In 1584 the vicar
(described as curate) was presented for neglecting
to hold services and teach the catechism. (fn. 266) The
living appears to have remained vacant for 8 years
from 1623. (fn. 267) John Bursey, who held the living by
1642, (fn. 268) retained it until 1664 or later, (fn. 269) though in
1650 he was said to be 'no constant preacher'. (fn. 270)
From 1703 the incumbents held other benefices and
lived elsewhere; since Preston was thought to be a
perpetual curacy there was no imputation of
pluralism. (fn. 271) In the early 19th century stipendiary
curates served Preston, but they also lived outside
the parish. (fn. 272) In the 1850's and from 1876 to c. 1910
the incumbents lived at Preston, in the early 18thcentury house afterwards called the old vicarage. (fn. 273)
The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN,
anciently of St. Peter the apostle, (fn. 274) comprises
chancel, nave, and tower. The church is of ashlar,
except for the south wall of the nave; that wall is
medieval in origin, containing masonry of several
different builds, but there are no identifiable
medieval features in it. Below one of the windows
are signs of a former south doorway. There was also
a north doorway with a porch, demolished in 1757. (fn. 275)
The tower was built in the late 15th century; it has
a high plinth and three stages above, separated by
moulded string-courses. The belfry stage is lit by
pairs of cinquefoil pointed lights in two-centred
heads; the roof has battlements and angle pinnacles;
and the buttresses, straight on the east, diagonal on
the west, rise to the level of the belfry floor. In 1753
James West began the rebuilding of the church. The
work was done by Edward Woodward of Chipping
Campden, and the result is 'remarkable as one of
the earliest churches of the Gothic revival.' (fn. 276) The
chancel was rebuilt in 1753–4. It was given a roof of
three small gabled bays, tiled and surrounded by a
parapet broken on each side by a pinnacle. The
segmental vaulted ceiling is plastered and divided
into ribbed and painted panels, and has an enriched
frieze and cornice. The east window, in the style of
the early 14th century, and the north and south
windows, in the style of the 15th, have on the inside
enriched plaster architraves. The chancel is hardly
narrower than the nave, and the chancel arch is
almost the full width of the chancel. The interior of
the chancel was said, in 1868, to indicate 'the careful
munificence of a wealthy resident family at an earlier
period than the ecclesiastical movement'. (fn. 277) In 1756
the main doorway into the church was made through
the west face of the tower, with a window like the
side windows of the chancel above it. In 1757 the
north wall of the nave was rebuilt, with two windows
similar to the east window of the chancel. The late
15th-century roof of panelled timber with carved
bosses was restored; it is covered with lead and
surrounded by a parapet. Two windows were
inserted in the south wall, to match those in the
north. A gallery was built at the west end of the nave
in front of the tower arch; on its front was placed
the royal arms, carved and painted, of the period
1603–88. The chancel was restored in 1904, (fn. 278) when
a small north door was added below the window.
In the windows of the chancel and tower is a
quantity of painted glass acquired by James West.
The pieces in the east window, and some removed
thence to the tower window in 1904, came from the
Netherlands and Germany, and some of them are
dated 1605 and 1632. The remaining glass in the
tower window, mostly heraldic, is English, of the
16th century and later. The glass depicting heads,
in the north and south windows of the chancel,
allegedly taken from Evesham Abbey, (fn. 279) is probably
17th-century and perhaps also from the Netherlands.
The small cup-shaped font was made in the 18th
century. The organ was given in 1895 by James
Roberts West. (fn. 280) In the chancel are two groups of
mural monuments in marble to members of the West
family, including one by Peter Mathias Vangelder
(1800) (fn. 281) and one by Richard Westmacott the younger
(1838); also mural monuments to members of the
Mariett family, and one with figures, brought
apparently from St. Mary's chapel, Islington, (fn. 282) to
Sir Nicholas Kempe (d. 1624). There were three
bells c. 1700; (fn. 283) two by Henry Bagley, 1635, survive,
and the third is by Abraham Rudhall, 1713. (fn. 284) The
plate includes a chalice with base and stem of c. 1500
and a remade bowl and paten-cover given by Sarah,
wife of James West, 1747; also an Elizabethan
chalice and paten-cover. (fn. 285) The registers begin in
1540 and are virtually complete.
The churchyard was enlarged in 1885 and 1926. (fn. 286)
In the early 18th century each landowner was
responsible for a specified section of the fence round
it. (fn. 287) The fence was later replaced by a wall, and
there are two pairs of large 18th-century stone
gateposts with wrought iron gates. One pair opens
on an avenue of ancient yews.
There is said to have been a medieval chapel at
Alscot, on the site of which Alscot Park was built. (fn. 288)
No documentary evidence of this has been found;
the possibility that the moulded stones found at
Alscot (fn. 289) were brought from elsewhere is the stronger
because of James West's antiquarian interests.
Nonconformity.
In 1603 seven recusants
were enumerated in Preston. (fn. 290) After that, no evidence
of religious dissent has been found until 1885, when
a small brick mission room was built (fn. 291) by Baptists.
It remained in regular use in 1964. (fn. 292)
Schools.
In 1818 the only school in the parish
was a dame school attended by c. 10 children. (fn. 293)
Anne, wife of James Roberts West (d. 1838), started
a Sunday school in 1821; it had 52 children in 1833. (fn. 294)
In 1846 there was a day and Sunday school for girls,
and a Sunday school for boys; the total number for
both schools together was 65 children. (fn. 295) In 1848 the
second James Roberts West built a parish school,
the earliest feature of his model village, and he
continued to own and maintain it. Attendance was
80 in 1872, (fn. 296) 58 in 1907, (fn. 297) and c. 25 in 1964, by
which date the older children went to Stratford. (fn. 298)
The school is a brick building, similar in style to
the cottages built by West. It comprises a central
block, originally divided into boys' and girls' sections,
flanked by a pair of teachers' houses.
Charities.
Giles Smith (d. c. 1634) gave £10,
Richard Mariett (d. 1744) gave £20, and Sarah
West (d. 1779) gave £20 during her life and £20 by
her will, for the poor of the parish. (fn. 299) The money
was invested in stock, and no income was distributed
in the years 1801–28. (fn. 300) From the late 19th century
c. £3 10s. a year was distributed in cash or coal. (fn. 301)