GREAT RISSINGTON
Great Rissington lies three miles south-east of
Bourton-on-the-Water, on the east bank of the River
Windrush. The parish is 2,493 a. in area and is
compact in shape. The Windrush forms the western
boundary, field boundaries separate Great Rissington from its neighbours north and south, and on the
east the boundary with Oxfordshire is marked partly
by a small brook. (fn. 1)
The flat land beside the Windrush, lying at 400
ft., makes a wedge-shaped re-entrant towards the
centre of the parish. Small streams flow south, southwest, and west to meet before flowing into the
Windrush. From the bowl so formed the land rises
steeply on the north towards Little Rissington and
on the east towards the ridge that reaches 700 ft. and
separates the larger part of the parish from the
eastern third, sloping more gently towards the southeast. The landscape has given the parish its name,
which signifies a hill overgrown with brushwood. (fn. 2)
The western side of the parish, where were the
former open fields, has long been mainly agricultural
land, with meadow alongside the water-courses and
a cow-common in the north-west corner of the
parish. East of the ridge the land was probably
rough pasture until it began to be broken in the 17th
century; after that, and particularly after inclosure
in 1816, it was nearly all taken into cultivation. (fn. 3)
Nearly 400 a. in the north-east corner of the parish
has been taken since 1937 to form part of Little
Rissington airfield. (fn. 4) In the western half of the parish
are several small woods, and the amount of hedgerow timber (hedges appear to have been numerous
in the 18th century, before inclosure) (fn. 5) gives the
parish a well-wooded appearance. The soil is stony,
overlying successive strata of Lower, Middle, and
Upper Lias, Inferior Oolite, and Chipping Norton
Limestone, with alluvial deposits along the Windrush; (fn. 6) its fertility, however, for pasture, arable, and
meadow has been highly rated by several writers. (fn. 7)
The village lies near the centre of the parish, on
the west-facing slope between the 450 and 600 ft.
lines. It straddles the edge of the Upper Lias where it
gives way to the Middle Lias, and is thus provided
with wells and springs. The road from Bourtonon-the-Water to Great Barrington runs through
the village, but the original village centre may have
been near where the church and manor-house stand
close to each other 400 yards south-west from the
road. This group of buildings, including the rectory
and another farm-house, marks the south-west limit
of the village. From it a widely spaced street runs
east and then north-east up the hill to a triangular
green on the road through the village: this, the
Upper Green, is one of the focal points of the village,
having near it in the late 19th century two inns, a
shop and post office, the smithy, and the pound.
A short way north-west the road divides to go round
a larger four-sided green, the Lower Green, inclosed
in 1816. There are a few houses along the north and
east sides, which appear to have been preferred to
the other two sides as the through route. In 1962,
however, the south and west sides carried the larger
road. Just beyond the north-east corner of the
Lower Green is the large house called Great Rissington Hill and its adjoining farm-house. Scattered
along the winding lane (Rectory Lane) that joins the
south-west corner of the Lower Green to the village
street near the church are a few more houses. The
village appears to have conformed to this layout
from the 17th century to the 20th, although several
of the houses within it are of the 19th century or
later. The houses are generously spread out, and,
while the village is nucleated in character and does
not straggle, it covers a large area. (fn. 8)
In the 19th century Folly Farm and a lodge for
Great Rissington Hill were built beside the road
from Stow to Great Barrington, Northmoor Barn half
a mile south of the village, and some large farm
buildings, later demolished to make way for the
airfield, near the north-east corner of the parish:
other building has remained concentrated in and
around the village. In the 20th century a few houses
were built before the Second World War along the
lane leading from the village street towards Northmoor Farm, and a group of 12 council houses was
built after the Second World War on the west side
of the Lower Green.
The road from the north-west corner of the
Lower Green towards Bourton-on-the-Water, called
Leasow Lane (presumably because it led to the cowcommon), was earlier known as Dick Lane (fn. 9) and was
presumably the 'highway at the dyke' out of repair
in 1547. (fn. 10) It crossed the brook by Dick Bridge,
mentioned in 1622. (fn. 11) From Leasow Lane another
lane runs east to cross the Windrush by New Bridge,
mentioned by that name in 1482. (fn. 12) It was a county
bridge, called Rissington or Clapton Bridge, by
1840. (fn. 13) The lane has been variously known as Leach
(i.e. Northleach) Way, (fn. 14) New Bridge Lane, (fn. 15) and (in
the 20th century) Clapton Lane. East of the village,
the road through it leads up to the road along the
ridge from Stow to Great Barrington. A lane
leading north-east from the village, across this road,
and on to Fifield (Oxon.) has been interrupted by
the building of the airfield. Sherborne Lane, leading
due south from the village, was formerly called Mill
Lane, as it led to Dodd's Mill in Great Barrington. (fn. 16)
Great Rissington was the fourth largest township
in the hundred, in terms of recorded population, in
1086 and 1327, (fn. 17) but by 1381 it had dropped to
eighth, with 62 people assessed for poll-tax. (fn. 18) In
1551 there were c. 107 communicants (fn. 19) and in 1563
23 households. (fn. 20) A rise in population in the late 16th
century is suggested by the figures of c. 160 communicants in 1603 (fn. 21) and c. 50 families in 1650. (fn. 22)
There were said to be 54 families at the end of the
17th century, (fn. 23) but there may have been a fall in the
number of inhabitants, which was estimated at 277
in 1710, (fn. 24) 240 in 1735, (fn. 25) and c. 252 in 1775. (fn. 26) If so
the population rose again in the late 18th century,
and it continued to rise in the 19th: from 349 in 1801
numbers grew progressively, despite many deaths
from a fever which struck the village in 1847, (fn. 27) to
499 in 1861. After 1871 the population fell sharply,
to 245 in 1921, thus reducing itself by half (though
the numbers of houses and families were reduced
only by a quarter) in 60 years, and then rose again to
304 in 1951. (fn. 28)
In 1926 eight standpipes were set up in the village
to replace the wells, but by 1940 most houses had
a piped water supply from a reservoir filled from a
local spring and maintained by the district council.
Main water was brought to the village in 1954, and
main electricity in 1937. (fn. 29)
Except for those of the 20th century, most of the
buildings in the village are of the traditional
materials of the area, with stone (usually rubble)
walls and Cotswold stone roofs. Some of the stone
may have come from quarries in the parish, the
remains of which can be seen above the village.
There are, however, few documentary references to
such quarries, and none has been found earlier than
the 18th century. Not many 17th-century buildings
survive (although there were two masons in the
parish in 1608) (fn. 30) and none earlier; there is a high
proportion of 18th-century and early 19th-century
building, some of it disguised by 20th-century
restoration. Restorations and enlargements with
17th-century features are numerous: the Old Forge
is a notable example.
The three major houses in the village are the
rectory, Great Rissington Manor, and Great Rissington Hill. The front part of the rectory has
features of the earlier 18th century, with a hipped
roof and a doorway with rusticated stone architrave
and keystone with voussoirs, but the house was
remodelled and enlarged in the 19th century. Great
Rissington Hill was a 17th-century farm-house,
called Great Rissington Farm, of which the restored
south front, with two gables and a flat arched
central doorway, survives; the house was enlarged
in the 19th century and again in the early 20th. (fn. 31)
Great Rissington Manor stands presumably on the
site of the chief messuage recorded in 1309. (fn. 32) It was
rebuilt as a farm-house in the 17th century; in 1672
it was known as the Farm and had five hearths. (fn. 33) The
gables, the mullioned windows with dripmoulds,
the flat arched doorway, and the chimneys of the
17th-century house survive, although it was wholly
restored, partially rebuilt, and enlarged in 1929,
when some of the farm buildings (including the
granary) were incorporated in it. (fn. 34)
Glebe Farm and the Fields are small 17th-century
farm-houses, the Fields having 18th-century additions. Endicott, dated 1687 and having a doorway
with a stone hood, and a house in Rectory Lane
dated 1703 are also likely to have been built as farmhouses. An 18th-century house of ashlar with a Welsh
slate roof, built in a comparatively isolated position
on the west side of the Lower Green, was a departure
from the normal tradition of small village houses.
Another unusual 18th-century house, but in a
more traditional form, was an inn, the 'Swan'. The
windows have mullions, and the gable-ends have
stone verges. A moulded stone eaves cornice is
carried round the gable-end as a dripmould, and at
first-floor level is a flat string-course. The porch has
carved and fluted Tuscan columns, and the gateposts have ball finials. The 'Swan' remained a
licensed house until the 1920's. The 'White Horse',
an inn in 1879, was no longer one by 1891. The
third of the three inns open in the late 19th century,
the 'Lamb', (fn. 35) alone survived in 1962.
A village friendly society existed until 1909. A
small corrugated iron reading room stood near the
church in 1895, when it was temporarily used as a
schoolroom. (fn. 36) In 1962 it was used for Women's
Institute meetings. Meetings of other bodies were
held in the Rectory and in the former granary at
Great Rissington Manor. (fn. 37)
The parish has no close associations with people
who have achieved national repute, apart from a few
of the rectors. (fn. 38) The most potent single influence on
the life of the village has been not a personal one but
the nearness of Little Rissington airfield. The most
obvious result is the noise of low-flying aircraft, but
the airfield has also brought employment for the
inhabitants, trade for the inn and shops, and a bus
service that is unusually good for a rural village far
from any centre of population.
Manors and Other Estates.
The manor
of GREAT RISSINGTON or BROAD RISSINGTON originated in the estate held in 1066 by Ulf
and in 1086 by Robert de Todeni. (fn. 39) Robert's estate
at Great Rissington, from which he granted twothirds of the demesne tithes to his foundation of
Belvoir Priory (Lincs.), may have descended with
his Belvoir estate to his great-grandson, William de
Albini Brito the younger (d. 1166), (fn. 40) but by 1187
Great Rissington was held by Alard le Fleming, who
confirmed the grant of tithes. (fn. 41) Alard held one
knight's fee in chief c. 1212 in Great Rissington,
Sapperton, and Frampton Mansell, (fn. 42) and died in or
before 1220 on crusade. Great Rissington passed to
his son and heir Henry le Fleming (fn. 43) who was alive
in 1235. (fn. 44) In 1236 the estate was in the hands of
John le Fleming, (fn. 45) apparently Henry's son, (fn. 46) and
before 1263 it had passed to John's brother, Alard le
Fleming (d. 1262 or 1263). John's widow Alice, who
held dower in Great Rissington, (fn. 47) and Henry le
Fleming (another brother) were parties in 1268 in a
suit about the advowson, (fn. 48) which descended with the
manor, but Alard's heirs were his daughters Joan and
Florence. Joan married Sir Henry Husee or Hussey
(d. 1290) and Florence married Walter de Lisle
(d. 1309). (fn. 49)
The Husee moiety of the manor, later known as
COKESEY'S manor, (fn. 50) was held as ¼ knight's fee by
Henry, Lord Husee, son of Sir Henry and Joan, at
his death in 1332, when it passed to his son Sir
Henry, (fn. 51) Lord Husee. He died holding it in 1349, (fn. 52)
having settled it on his second son Henry (d. 1383),
whose son Henry (d. 1409) (fn. 53) made a life grant of the
moiety to Thomas de Lee and his wife Joan in
1390. (fn. 54) Another Henry Husee (d. 1450), son of the
last-named Henry, with his wife Constance mortgaged the moiety in 1440 and sold it in 1444 to John
Greville, (fn. 55) who already had an interest in the
moiety in 1439. (fn. 56) Greville died in 1444; (fn. 57) his son
Sir John Greville (d. 1480) had a son Thomas, who
assumed the surname Cokesey (and may therefore
be assumed to have held the moiety), and Thomas
was succeeded in 1497 by his nephew John Greville
of Milcote (Warws.). (fn. 58) In 1498 this John Greville
sold a moiety of Great Rissington manor to Sir
William Nottingham's trustees, (fn. 59) and the two moieties were thus reunited.
The other moiety, known in the 16th century as
LISLES (fn. 60) or NILES (fn. 61) manor, passed from Walter
de Lisle and Florence to their son William, (fn. 62) who
granted it to Robert of Aston for life. (fn. 63) William was
succeeded by Walter, who died holding the moiety
in 1345 and was succeeded by his son and heir, also
Walter. (fn. 64) This Walter de Lisle held the manor
jointly with his wife Joan at his death in 1352, and
left a two-year-old son William, (fn. 65) who with his wife
Joan got possession in 1375, (fn. 66) on the death of Joan
his mother. (fn. 67) William was dead by 1385, when his
heir was a minor; (fn. 68) the heir may have been Robert
de Lisle, who granted land in Great Rissington in
1395. (fn. 69) It was perhaps the same Robert de Lisle
that before 1452 made an abortive settlement of the
moiety on his son John, (fn. 70) who granted it to Ralph
Boteler for life in 1460 (fn. 71) and conveyed it outright in
1481 to Sir William Nottingham. (fn. 72) Sir William died
in 1483 seised of a manor of Great Rissington said
to be held of the Abbess of Syon (Mdx.). (fn. 73) (The
grant in 1478 of a lease of a manor of Great Rissington, formerly John Lisle's, by Sir John Greville to
Richard Chadwell (fn. 74) has not been accounted for.)
Nottingham's trustees granted this moiety for life
to his widow Elizabeth and her second husband
Richard Pole, but whereas members of the Pole
family continued to hold Sapperton, which had
descended with Great Rissington, in the mid-16th
century, (fn. 75) the moiety of Great Rissington was reconveyed to the trustees in 1498 (when they acquired
the Cokesey moiety) by Richard Pole and his wife. (fn. 76)
This was apparently to prepare for the sale of the
whole manor to Sir Reynold Bray, K.G. (d. 1503), (fn. 77)
who was one of Nottingham's trustees (fn. 78) and to
whom John Greville's moiety was confirmed in
1499. (fn. 79) Bray's manor of Great Rissington passed to
his niece Margery, who with her husband William
Sandys (fn. 80) (created Lord Sandys of the Vyne in
1523) (fn. 81) held the Lisle moiety, which they leased to
Michael Ashfield, (fn. 82) and presumably, therefore, the
whole manor.
Thomas, Lord Sandys, succeeded his father
William in 1540 (fn. 83) and was in turn succeeded in 1559
or 1560 by his grandson William. (fn. 84) This William
leased Lisles manor to Thomas Degle, who lived
there until c. 1593 (fn. 85) and whose wife Joan later
married John Dawtry, (fn. 86) who lived there in 1595; (fn. 87)
in 1571 he sold the whole of Great Rissington manor
to Edmund Bray (fn. 88) of Great Barrington, who died
in 1620 having made a settlement of the manors
of Cokeseys and Niles 'commonly called the manor
of Great Rissington'. (fn. 89) From then the manor
descended with that of Great Barrington, (fn. 90) and in
1962 the lord of the manor was Mr. C. T. R.
Wingfield of Barrington Park. (fn. 91) In 1920, however,
over 1,100 a. of the estate in Great Rissington were
sold, in three main lots, and only small parcels of
land were retained in the Barrington Park estate. (fn. 92)
The manor-house and the largest estate in the parish
were acquired in the 1920's by Major W. J. P.
Marling (d. 1940), who was the leading inhabitant of
the village and whose widow sold the estate in 1957
to Mr. D. Godman. (fn. 93)
An estate referred to as TENACRES manor in
1600 and 1601 when it was sold by John Sandford of
Bristol to John Barnard of Great Rissington had
previously been held by Thomas Sandford, John's
uncle and son of Arthur Sandford of Stow-on-theWold. (fn. 94) The estate evidently existed by the name of
Tenacres before 1236, when it had given a surname
to a family of freeholders in Great Rissington. (fn. 95)
John Barnard died in 1621, (fn. 96) and was apparently
succeeded by another John Barnard (fl. 1639). (fn. 97) In
1669 Henry Barnard was a substantial sheep-farmer
in the parish, (fn. 98) and in 1672 John Barnard was
returned as having much the largest house there. (fn. 99)
Another substantial estate was that built up by
Bruern Abbey (Oxon.). In 1392 the abbey was
licensed to receive the reversion of a house, rent, and
4½ yardlands in Great Rissington, (fn. 100) and got possession of what seems to have been the same holding in 1395. (fn. 101) The abbey received further grants of
land in 1457 (fn. 102) and (a house and 4 yardlands) in 1465, (fn. 103)
and in 1517 this estate, described as the manor or
grange of GREAT RISSINGTON, was granted to
Robert Lambert by copy of court roll. (fn. 104) The freehold was sold in 1554 to Thomas Reeve and George
Cotton of London, (fn. 105) and passed before 1589 to another
Robert Lambert, who was succeeded at his death in
1600 by two daughters, Alice, who married Lawrence
Mace, and Katherine, who married John Hayward. (fn. 106)
Richard Chadwell, member of a family long established in Great Rissington, (fn. 107) at his death in 1592 held
of Edmund Bray a capital messuage and land called
DANDOES. Richard Chadwell's son and heir
Simon (fn. 108) was living in Great Rissington in 1608, (fn. 109)
but soon afterwards agreed to sell 16 yardlands and
the lease of the eight yardlands of Cokesey's manor
to Sir Paul Tracy of Stanway, (fn. 110) who in 1614 held
the lease of Cokesey's manor. (fn. 111) Sir Paul's son,
Sir Richard, was dealing with property in Great
Rissington in 1627, (fn. 112) and at his death in 1637 held
the messuage called Dandoes and various lands
there. (fn. 113) His son Sir Humphrey, who was burdened
with a heavy composition for his support of the
royalist cause, (fn. 114) sold some 15 yardlands in Great
Rissington to 13 different buyers between 1647 and
1650. (fn. 115)
Belvoir Priory's estate of two-thirds of the demesne tithes, together with a bovate and a man
with a garden, granted by Robert de Todeni in the
early 12th century, (fn. 116) was a source of friction between
the priory and the rectors of the parish until 1363.
The tithes were then granted to the rector at a
perpetual farm of 30s. a year, (fn. 117) the amount of the
priory's portion there in 1535. (fn. 118)
Economic History.
Of the 13 ploughs on the
13 hides recorded in Domesday, three belonged to
the demesne, to which were also attached eight
servi and ancille. (fn. 119) When the manor was divided into
two moieties the demesne was also divided: the
demesne of the Lisle moiety, containing 72 a. of
arable in 1309, (fn. 120) was reckoned as one plough-land
in 1375, (fn. 121) while the demesne of the other moiety,
containing 120 a. of arable in 1332, (fn. 122) may have
comprised the other two of the three demesne
plough-lands of 1086. It is possible, however, that
the amount of arable and the number of ploughs on
the whole estate had changed radically, for in 1220
Great Rissington (though possibly including Little
Rissington) was assessed at 24 ploughs, (fn. 123) and if
there was such a change it would be unreasonable
to look for any continuity in the amount of arable
demesne land.
The remaining 10 ploughs in 1086 were shared by
23 villani and six bordars. (fn. 124) In 1309 the Lisle moiety
of the manor had nine customary tenants, each with
one yardland, and there were also some free tenants.
In 1332 the rents and services of the tenants, free
and bond, of the other moiety were worth rather more
than those of the Lisle moiety, so those tenants may
have been more numerous and their combined land
more extensive. On the Lisle moiety each of the
holders of a yardland owed, in addition to 3s. rent
and tallage, 10 works in summer and 16 works in
autumn. Labour-services on the other moiety in the
14th century are not specified, (fn. 125) but they were
referred to as late as 1614, (fn. 126) and ploughing and
reaping services on the Lisle moiety were being
demanded in the late 16th century. (fn. 127) The copyholds
appear not to have been heritable in 1622, but held
for a number of lives. Heriots were then paid at
least partly in kind on the copyholds of the chief
manor; (fn. 128) for Bruern Abbey's estate in 1517, a
heriot in cash was payable at the end of each life
named in the lease. (fn. 129) In the later Middle Ages the
various agricultural holdings varied widely in kind
and in size: in addition to the estates mentioned
above, four yardlands in Great Rissington parish
belonged to the lords of Little Rissington manor, (fn. 130)
so that demesne farms, other freeholds, leaseholds,
and copyholds were worked side by side, and the
copyholds themselves ranged in size from one to
four yardlands. (fn. 131)
In the open fields of the village the arable land lay
scattered in strips, which appear to have been half
an acre or less in size. (fn. 132) By the late 13th century
there had been some consolidation of strips, (fn. 133) and
by 1609 the manorial demesne had been sufficiently
consolidated, presumably by exchange, for the lord
of the manor to reach an agreement with the freeholders and tenants for the inclosure of most of it
and the extinction of common on what was inclosed. (fn. 134)
Otherwise, however, there was little consolidation
before the 19th century: in 1705, 82 of the 94 plots
of arable on the glebe were single acres, lands, butts,
or fardels, (fn. 135) and in 1775 an estate comprising 65
statute acres in the open fields lay in 150 separate
pieces. (fn. 136) Each yardland was likely to contain some
40 pieces of arable and to measure rather under 20
statute acres. (fn. 137)
In 1605 a three-course rotation was followed:
winter wheat and maslin; beans, barley, oats, and
vetches; and fallow. (fn. 138) At that time all the arable
seems to have been on the west side of the road
from Stow to Great Barrington, which formed the
boundary of the permanent upland pasture. (fn. 139) By
the early 18th century some of the land east of the
road had been put under the plough, and was
divided into the north and south fields (or north and
south hills), the land to the west being divided for
identification and apparently also for agricultural
purposes into four 'hitchings'. (fn. 140) In the mid-18th
century references to the wheatfield and the pulsefield (fn. 141) suggest that there were also two others, one
for oats and barley, and one fallow. The high land
beyond the road was presumably not included in
this rotation, and in 1775, when all the open-field
arable of the parish was divided simply between a
north field and a south field, every crop on the hill
land (which seems to have included some of the
former Ten Acre hitching and the hitching 'above
the town') (fn. 142) was succeeded by a fallow, while three
crops were taken before each fallow on the low
land. (fn. 143)
The meadow-land bordering the river and the
streams was mostly lot meadow, (fn. 144) in the 16th century
apportioned each year according to a customary
rate. (fn. 145) By the 18th century the wood and furze
growing on the cow-common and the sheep-pastures
was held in severalty. In 1775 the rate for sheepcommons remained 40 to a yardland, (fn. 146) and sheepfarming had long been an important part of the
village economy. Several inhabitants were surnamed shepherd in 1381, (fn. 147) and shepherds were
mentioned in 1608 (fn. 148) and 1631. (fn. 149) In the late 16th
century loans to a widow included 80 sheep, (fn. 150) and at
his death in 1601 William Chadwell of Broadwell
had 200 sheep at Great Rissington. (fn. 151) Later in the
century Henry Barnard put 700 sheep into the
stubble field, and paid four tods of wool in tithe. (fn. 152)
In 1609 land in the fields and commoning rights
were held by 20 freeholders and copyholders. (fn. 153) No
reference to copyholds has been found after 1624; (fn. 154)
the several purchasers of the Tracy estate in 1649
may have been buying what they had held until then
by copy. Those purchases were mostly of 1 yardland or ½ yardland, though two were of 2 and 3½; (fn. 155)
there are references to other holdings in the 17th
century of 1, 2, and 4 yardlands. (fn. 156) In 1705 there
were 24 people named as holding land in the open
fields, (fn. 157) and 22 in 1775. (fn. 158) At inclosure in 1816
allotments were made to 24 different owners, (fn. 159) so
their numbers had remained fairly constant over
two centuries. Most of the estates, however, had
shrunk, and much of their land had been acquired,
by 1808, either by the lord of the manor or by Lord
Sherborne. (fn. 160)
The inclosure Act for Great Rissington, passed in
1813, referred to open fields and common amounting
to 1,600 a. (fn. 161) The award made under it, however,
affected the whole parish, then reckoned to be
2,585 a. including 577 a. of old inclosures. Of this
the lord of the manor, Lord Dynevor, received
1,389 a., including 453 a. of old inclosures which for
the most part was the manorial demesne inclosed in
1609; 509 a. went to the rector, 304 a. to John
Dutton (later Lord Sherborne), and there were
three allotments of 50–100 a. and six of 5–25 a. The
remaining 12 owners received 1 a. or less, all of old
inclosures. (fn. 162) The extent to which Lord Dynevor
may have bought up land specifically to make inclosure easier is not known.
In 1831 there were nine agricultural occupiers in
the parish, all but one of whom employed labour. (fn. 163)
Three years later there was said to be too much
agricultural labour available in the parish, and wage
rates were comparatively low. The proportion of
arable land, however, was fairly high, three-fifths of
the whole parish, with pasture making up nearly
two-fifths. (fn. 164) These proportions survived until the
sixties, but over the next 40 years they were reversed (fn. 165) and by the 1930's less than one-fifth of the
parish was arable land. (fn. 166) The number of farms also
fell steadily from 9 in 1870 to 4 in 1935, (fn. 167) which was
the number in 1962. Manor farm was joined in the
twenties with another that had belonged to the
Barrington Park estate to make one of over 800 a.,
and Rissington Hill farm, of which the nucleus was
the former Sherborne estate, (fn. 168) was over 500 a. The
farming was mixed, with sheep, beef and dairy cows,
pigs, and cereals. (fn. 169)
In the past Great Rissington supported a number
of non-agricultural trades. As is to be expected,
smiths, masons, and carpenters occur from the 17th
century; (fn. 170) there was a shoemaker in 1661, (fn. 171) a
brewery in 1711, (fn. 172) and a butcher in 1794. (fn. 173) Evidence
of the woollen industry in the village is provided by
the presence of a weaver, a tucker, and a woolwinder in 1608 (fn. 174) and of a clothier in 1662, (fn. 175) and it
may be that a German living there in 1436 (fn. 176) was
connected with the wool trade. In 1834 the women of
the village could earn a meagre wage in winter by
knitting and spinning. (fn. 177) In 1811 and 1831 about
one-fifth of the population was supported by trade
or manufacture. (fn. 178) Tailors, shoemakers, a maltster,
and a fellmonger figure among the population in the
mid-19th century, a baker until the end of the
century, and a smith and wheelwright until the early
20th. Building trades continued to provide employment in the mid-20th century, and there were two
general stores. (fn. 179) The houses and gardens of the
larger farms and of a number of retired people living
in the village provided some employment, and some
inhabitants went outside the parish to work, to
Witney, to Cheltenham, and especially to Little
Rissington airfield. (fn. 180)
Mill.
A mill was included in the Domesday estate
of Robert de Todeni. (fn. 181) In 1218 a mill in Great
Rissington was held by Millicent, wife of Robert of
Windrush. (fn. 182) This was presumably the same as the
water-mill called Hardys Mill which in 1375 was
conveyed or settled, together with a watercourse and
weir and suit of multure, by John of Slaughter. (fn. 183) No
later evidence of the mill has been found: the 14thcentury name apparently survived in the name
Hardys Leys, a close near the river and south-west
of the village. (fn. 184)
Local Government.
Rolls of manorial
courts baron survive for 1622 and 1624; the courts
dealt with copyhold tenures and agricultural arrangements. (fn. 185) Leet jurisdiction in Great Rissington
belonged to the hundred court, but by 1413 a
separate court leet and view of frankpledge (still
belonging to the lord of the hundred) for Great
Rissington alone was held there. (fn. 186)
In the mid-16th century this separate court was
combined with a similar one for Widford and the
tithings of Windrush, (fn. 187) but by 1620 there was
again a separate court leet for Great Rissington.
Draft court rolls survive for the period 1620–1770.
The business was largely confined to the taking of
frankpledge and the presentment of nuisances;
constables were appointed, and from time to time
agricultural officers were chosen: in 1756, for
example, a man (who apparently also kept the
pound) was appointed to serve as hayward, crowkeeper, and molecatcher, at a salary of 2s. 6d. from
each yardland. (fn. 188) It is possible that the tithing of
Great Rissington was larger than the parish, including land in neighbouring parishes which were
otherwise quit of the hundred: this would explain
16th-century references to meadow in Sherborne
(most of which belonged to the Abbot of Winchcombe's liberty) as being within the tithing of
Great Rissington. (fn. 189)
The earliest records of parochial government
begin in 1787 with the accounts of the overseers
of the poor. Expenditure on the poor in the last
quarter of the 18th-century increased rather less in
Great Rissington than in most neighbouring parishes,
and in 1802 the parish rate was the lowest in the
lower division of the hundred. (fn. 190) By 1813, however,
expenditure was double what it had been in 1803,
and the number of people receiving occasional
relief had risen sharply. (fn. 191) Expenditure remained
high in the twenties, but at the beginning of 1834
the abandonment of the roundsman system and of
the practice of supplementing wages out of parish
funds reduced expenditure to little over a quarter of
what it had been in 1831. The parish officers had
a large measure of independence, for the vestry
seldom met more than once a year. (fn. 192)
The parish subsequently became part of the
Stow-on-the-Wold Poor Law Union. (fn. 193) It became
part of the Stow-on-the-Wold highway district in
1863 (fn. 194) and of the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary
District under the Act of 1872 (being transferred to
the newly formed North Cotswold Rural District in
1935). (fn. 195) A parish council was established under the
Act of 1894. (fn. 196)
Church.
The grant of tithes in Great Rissington
in the early 12th century (fn. 197) suggests that there was a
church there by then, and part of the surviving
church was built about 1200. The earliest known
incumbent is Henry, Rector of Rissington, in 1233, (fn. 198)
and the living remained a rectory. In 1281 a presentation to the rectory was made by Sir Richard de
Croppes, by what right is unknown; in 1294
Walter de Lisle presented Matthew Husee, presumably a relation of his wife's brother-in-law, who
was not, however, instituted because he was not in
holy orders, and it may have been that this presentation was an attempted compromise between the
owners of the two moieties of the manor. In 1301
the bishop collated by lapse, (fn. 199) perhaps because
ownership of the advowson had been in dispute. In
1303 and 1304 Walter de Lisle again presented,
though the living was apparently not vacant; (fn. 200) in
1325 the life-tenant of the Lisle moiety presented, (fn. 201)
and the advowson subsequently descended with that
moiety, the lord of the manor being patron in 1962. (fn. 202)
The living was a rich one: in 1291 its valuation
was £16, the highest in the deanery, (fn. 203) and in 1535
it was third highest at £22 clear. (fn. 204) The value was
c. £175 in 1650 and once again the highest in the
deanery, (fn. 205) and had risen to £200 by 1750. (fn. 206) For most
of the 19th century the rectory was worth £700 a
year or more. (fn. 207) The glebe, said to be worth only £2
a year in 1535, (fn. 208) amounted in 1678 to four and a half
yardlands, (fn. 209) of which half a yardland had a house
belonging to it and a different rate on the commons
and may therefore have been a separate and fairly
recent endowment. (fn. 210) At inclosure in 1816 the rector
was allotted 98 a. for glebe and 411 a. for tithe. (fn. 211) The
glebe house, which contained 11 bays of building in
1705, (fn. 212) was rebuilt before 1710 (fn. 213) and enlarged in the
mid-19th century. Glebe Farm, a 17th-century
house, may be the house that belonged to the glebe
half-yardland.
Most of the 14th-century rectors held the living
for comparatively short periods, (fn. 214) but Thomas
Goter, who belonged to a local family, (fn. 215) was rector
from 1349 to 1370. (fn. 216) Thomas Lucas, instituted on
exchange with Peter Collingham in 1379, (fn. 217) was
licensed in 1396 to put the living to farm and live
elsewhere because he was well over 60 and ill. (fn. 218) His
successor, instituted in 1401, may have been another
old man, for his name also was Peter Collingham. (fn. 219)
The rector instituted in 1457 was licensed to hold
another benefice in plurality but resigned in 1462.
His immediate successor, John Buckland, (fn. 220) remained rector for 24 years, (fn. 221) and John Hauchurch,
M.A., rector by 1498, (fn. 222) remained rector until 1533
or 1534. On his death two conflicting presentations
were made; (fn. 223) the rectory was farmed, (fn. 224) and the
successful presentee was a pluralist, an absentee (the
cure being served by curates), and contumacious, (fn. 225)
and in 1554 he was deprived because he was married. (fn. 226) Richard Aldridge, instituted in 1558, was
a pluralist and neglected the parish; in 1602 he was
a lunatic, and died a year or two later. (fn. 227) Dr. Thomas
Whittington, instituted in 1602, (fn. 228) who was also
Rector of Hazleton, supported the royalist cause,
and had his livings sequestrated, (fn. 229) but in 1650 he
was receiving part of the income from Great Rissington. (fn. 230) In 1636 the consistory court ordered the
churchwardens to remove the communion table to
the upper end of the chancel, with no seats above it,
and to rail it off. (fn. 231)
During the fifties and sixties four rectors were
concerned in disputes about the living. In 1652
Sir Edmund Bray, the patron, presented Samuel
Broad, the ejected Rector of Rendcomb, who was
not admitted. (fn. 232) In 1654 Dr. Lewis Atterbury, who
was later alleged to have fought on the parliamentary
side, was admitted rector, and he appears in 1656 to
have obtained a presentation from Bray. By 1657,
however, Atterbury's title had been set aside;
Bray presented Edmund Hall (who from about that
time was Bray's private chaplain), but Abraham
Drye, an assistant to the county commission, was
admitted on the grounds that the advowson was
sequestrated. At the Restoration, Hall assumed the
cure, and Bray tried to have his admission confirmed;
Hall, however, had served in the parliamentary
army, though he was not antimonarchical and was
later imprisoned for writings critical of Cromwell,
and in 1662 Atterbury was admitted. (fn. 233) How long he
remained is not known; soon after 1662 Samuel
Broad (some ten years after being presented) was in
possession of the rectory. (fn. 234) In 1679 Hall, who had
retained the patron's support throughout, was
finally instituted. (fn. 235)
The rector from 1686 to 1720 was Knightly
Chetwood, who was Rector of Little Rissington also
from 1702 and Dean of Gloucester from 1707. (fn. 236)
From 1789 to 1897 there were only three rectors,
and they were relations of the patrons and lords of
the manor: George Talbot, who did not reside,
resigned in 1810 to be succeeded by Edward Rice,
who was Dean of Gloucester and lived at Oddington; Edward Rice resigned in 1856 in favour of his
son Henry, who lived at the rectory. (fn. 237)
The church of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST is a
cruciform building of rubble with a Cotswold stone
roof, and comprises chancel, north vestry, north and
south transepts, nave, south porch, and a broad
central tower. The church was largely rebuilt in
1873. The oldest parts of the fabric are the lower
stage of the tower, which rises from four dissimilar
pointed arches of c. 1200, and the single-light
window with a slightly pointed head in the south
transept. The western arch of the crossing has two
orders of semi-cylindrical shafts with massive
scalloped capitals, and the northern respond of the
chancel arch is similar. The arch to the north
transept, which is much lower, springing from
unusually heavy single responds with shallow
foliated capitals, is thought to be a little later, (fn. 238) and
that to the south transept, slightly lower than the
chancel and nave arches, has plain square-cornered
responds, like the southern respond to the chancel
arch, and this work is probably later again. On the
stonework of these arches are traces of early 14thcentury painting. (fn. 239)
The chancel was rebuilt in the 13th century. In
the 14th century the north transept was rebuilt: the
east window has three trefoil-headed lights with
tracery, in a square-headed opening; there are three
image-brackets above the deeply splayed sill, and in
the north-east corner is an empty niche of the 15th
century with cinquefoil head. The west wall is
blank, and the north wall has a wide pointed window
divided by two mullions, perhaps of the 18th century.
Two 15th-century windows were removed in 1873.
In the 15th century the upper stage of the tower
was rebuilt, with battlements, pinnacles, and angle
buttresses rising half-way up the upper stage, which
is marked off by a string-course. The nave may have
been rebuilt c. 1500, for there is a blocked north
doorway of that period with decorated spandrels,
and the two north windows of two cinquefoilheaded lights high in the wall may have originated
then. The south transept contains three- and fourlight windows of the 16th century or later, much
restored.
Most of the nave, however, and the whole of the
chancel, vestry, south transept, and porch were
rebuilt in 1873. (fn. 240) The nave had already undergone
some alteration, including the removal of a gallery (fn. 241)
put up c. 1723. (fn. 242) The chancel, of two bays in a 13thcentury style, incorporates a restored piscina. A
14th-century piscina was reset in the south transept,
which also contains a mural monument, with miniature figures in relief, to John Barnard (d. 1621).
Reset in the porch is a carved stone panel of the 15th
century, surmounted by a shallow canopy and
embattled cornice, the upper half depicting the
Crucifixion and the lower half what is thought to be
the Ascension. The font is of the 15th century, much
restored. (fn. 243) The altar is backed and flanked by a
curtain supported on painted posts. The tower contains five bells of 1716 by Abraham Rudhall, one of
1791 by John Rudhall, and a sanctus bell of 1670 by
John Neale. (fn. 244) The rent from 2 a. for bell-ropes,
mentioned in 1705, may have been the same as the
rent-charge of 1s. 8d. said in 1683 to be for the
repair of the church: neither survived in 1828. (fn. 245) An
older organ was replaced in 1940. The plate includes
a chalice of 1576 and a paten of 1628, dated 1632; a
pair of candlesticks, possibly Dutch, of 1674 (fn. 246) were
no longer in the church in 1962. The registers begin
in 1538 and are virtually complete. (fn. 247)
Nonconformity.
In 1676 Great Rissington
was returned as having 15 Protestant nonconformists. (fn. 248) In 1735 and 1750 there were said to be
two families of Presbyterians, (fn. 249) and a dissenting
meeting-house (of which the denomination is not
known) was registered in 1797. (fn. 250) This meeting had
disappeared by 1826. (fn. 251) Between 1851 and 1870 a
Primitive Methodist chapel (fn. 252) was opened in a
building adjoining the Lamb Inn, but it went out
of use c. 1920. (fn. 253)
Schools.
In 1739 the rector, John Webb, gave
£50 from which the interest was to be used for
teaching six poor children to read. In 1828 the interest, £2 a year, was being paid for that purpose to a
mistress, who also taught 20 or more children from
the village at the rector's expense. (fn. 254) The school of
industry with six children mentioned in 1803 was
presumably no more than this village school, though
the materials on which the parish spent £17 in that
year (fn. 255) may have been for the school. In 1826 32
children attended the day school and 50 the Sunday
school. (fn. 256) A site for a National school was given
in 1841, (fn. 257) and the school was built in 1842. (fn. 258)
Attendance was c. 30, there was one mistress, and
the teaching was said to be very elementary. (fn. 259) The
expense was met largely by the rector, though fees of
1d. and 2d. were charged and the school received the
interest from Webb's gift. (fn. 260) In 1871 a certificated
mistress was appointed, and the school, with an
average attendance of 56, was reorganized. (fn. 261) The
school appears to have been unsatisfactory, there
was competition from a dame school which survived until the late eighties, (fn. 262) and in 1875 a school
board for the parish was compulsorily formed. (fn. 263)
The board school was held in the National school
building, near the church, until 1895. A room for
infants had been added in 1877, but the building
was too small and apparently insanitary; in 1895 it
was condemned, and classes were held in the village
reading room and a private house (fn. 264) until 1897, when
the new board school, facing over the Upper Green,
was opened. (fn. 265) Average attendance was 75 in 1904, (fn. 266)
but fell to under 40 in the twenties and thirties. (fn. 267) A
teacher's house, where earlier the dame school had
been held, (fn. 268) was acquired in 1919. (fn. 269) In 1949 the
older children were transferred to Bourton-on-theWater and Northleach, and from then until 1955 the
school was enlarged by the presence of 50 or more
children from Little Rissington airfield. (fn. 270) After 1955
attendance fell again, and was c. 35 in 1962. The
income from John Webb's gift was spent on prizes. (fn. 271)
Charities.
Joan, wife of John Barnard (d. 1621),
gave £20, and an unknown donor gave £12, (fn. 272) for
the poor, and c. 1700 these sums were lent at 5 per
cent. (fn. 273) Jane Bray of Shilton (Oxon., formerly Berks.)
by will dated 1715 gave 20s. a year for the poor. In
1828 the income of £5 from these three gifts was laid
out in linen, and the income of £8 from £200 given
to the poor by Mary, Countess Talbot (d. 1787), was
spent on cloth for making into clothes. (fn. 274) A further
endowment of £433 stock was given by the rector,
Edward Rice (d. 1862), and these five charities were
combined as the United Charities under a Scheme
of 1895. (fn. 275) In 1961 £18 interest from stock was
distributed in the form of vouchers to 30 recipients.
John Bradley by will proved 1895 gave £80
stock, the income of £2 to be distributed to the
three oldest and poorest inhabitants, and Elizabeth
Dobson by will proved 1914 gave £619 stock; from
these two charities £25 6s. of interest was distributed
among 33 recipients in 1961. (fn. 276)