Parishes: Shottesbrook

SHOTTESBROOK

Sotesbroc (xi cent.); Schotebrock, Shottesbroc, Scotebroc (xii cent.); Sottebroc, Sotebrok, Shotebroke (xiii cent.); Shotesbroke, Shotbrok, (xiv cent.).

Several detached portions of the parish of Shottesbrook once lay within the bounds of the neighbouring parish of White Waltham. (fn. 1) In 1877, by order of the Local Government Board, an isolated portion of White Waltham was added to Shottesbrook, but its outlines still preserve a curious irregularity. One at least of its common fields, Westlowe, lay within both parishes. (fn. 2) Probably the two parishes originally formed a single township. (fn. 3) The whole district, which was included in the royal demesne of Windsor Forest, forming part of the bailiwick of Twichen, (fn. 4) was thickly wooded and only gradually emerged into open country by the destruction of the forest, charcoal burning being the staple industry of the inhabitants. Great Wood still remains on the east of the parish. but to-day the wood land only forms a picturesque setting to the corn-fields and orchards. One of the old orchards is described by Hearne as having been planted by the monks of the College of St. John Baptist there, all its trees being trimmed in the form of crosses. (fn. 5)

The parish covers an area of 1,395 acres, of which 547 are arable land, 370 permanent grass, and 198 woods and plantations. (fn. 6) It has a light gravel soil with a subsoil also of gravel, but in some parts of chalk. The principal occupation of the inhabitants is agriculture, the chief crops being wheat, barley and oats, but a certain number are employed in woodcraft.

The common lands were inclosed by award of 1810 under an Act of 1807. (fn. 7) The land is low-lying, the highest point being 181 ft. above ordnance datum in the extreme north near Cold Harbour, and the lowest 118 ft. near the church. The nearest railway station is at Maidenhead, 4½ miles distant. The parish is watered by several streams in the south, one of which flows west and runs into the River Loddon.

Shottesbrook lies to the south of the Bath Road, a branch of which, known in part of its course as Broadmoor Lane, winds through the parish towards Waltham St. Lawrence. The church and the one or two houses which form the village are situated to the north of this road.

Shottesbrook Park, the residence of Mr. Basil Guy Oswald Smith, lord of the manor, stands in large and well-wooded grounds to the north-west of the church. The house appears to have been erected in the latter part of the 16th century, but underwent a complete restoration in the 18th century, when practically all the rooms were redecorated and sash windows were inserted throughout. Early in the last century an attempt was made to 'gothicize' it by the addition of a stucco embattled parapet to the external walls, hood moulds of the same material over the windows, and the building of a Gothic portico on the entrance front with a loggia towards the garden. The house faces almost due east, and in its original state was of H-shaped plan, with three stories in front and two at the back. The plan is now, however, completely disguised by the addition of the porch and loggia, while the alterations of the 18th century have destroyed all evidence of the original offices. On the north side of the entrance hall is a small panelled room and on the south is the library. Behind the hall, in the centre of the house, is a larger hall, with the fine 18th-century principal staircase on the north, and the drawing room on the south. The drawing room is lighted by a large bay window added in the 18th century, and has an elaborate plaster ceiling and carved doorway of the same date. Over the fireplace is some good carving of the Gibbons type. The music room, which opens out of the drawing room and occupies the southwest angle of the house, has decoration of a similar type. Adjoining the music room, in the centre of the west front, is the dining room, with the service room and a small study on the north. On the first floor, at the head of the principal stairs, is a large gallery divided from the staicase by two Ionic columns supporting an entablature. Over the staircase is an elaborate painted plaster ceiling of a French type of design. The rest of the upper floors is occupied by the bedrooms. The elevations are faced with red brick, and the parapets and dressings to the windows are stuccoed. At the angles are octagonal turrents terminating in stucco embattlements. The windows all have sashes, with the exception of the bay windows lighting the drawing room and the gallery above it, into which wooden tracery has been inserted.

MANOR

At the date of the Domesday Survey the manor of SHOTTESBROOK was held of the king by Alward the goldsmith, whose father had held it of Queen Edith in the reign of Edward the Confessor. (fn. 8) In 1166 the manor is entered on the Pipe Roll as 'Sotesbroch aurifabrorum' (fn. 9) and its tenure is returned later as that of furnishing charcoal to the king's goldsmith for the king's crown and regalia. (fn. 10) Apparently before 1186 the serjeanty tenure was changed for military service for forty days in the year and the annual payment of 20s. to the wardship of Windsor Castle. (fn. 11) In 1339 the king released the rent of 20s., substituting for it the rent of a pair of gilt spurs to be paid at the castle. (fn. 12)

In the middle of the 12th century the manor was held by Ralph le Breton, whose lands (or some of them) were in the king's hands in 1182, (fn. 13) when Shottesbrook was being farmed of the Crown. (fn. 14) Apparently about 1186 the manor was granted to Hugh de Shottesbrook, for in 1186–7 he was assessed for 20s., which was probably in regard of Shottesbrook, (fn. 15) and in 1189 he paid 100 marks for having his land of Shottesbrook, which Ralph le Breton held. (fn. 16) Hugh de Shottesbrook died before 27 October 1221, and his son Robert did homage for his lands. (fn. 17) In 1243 Robert de Shottesbrook was party to a fine with William le Breton, by which William quitclaimed to him one-half of the manor consequent on a claim made by William to the same, (fn. 18) and Robert granted to William the advowson of the church, land to the value of 40s., and the services of certain tenants which were appurtenant to this half. (fn. 19) Robert died before 1251, when his son and heir Robert was in the custody of Eudo de Shelfhangre. (fn. 20) Robert the younger died in 1261, leaving a son John, then aged three years and three months, (fn. 21) who had seisin of his lands in 1278. (fn. 22) He died in 1296, leaving two daughters and co-heirs, Rose and Elizabeth. (fn. 23) The younger daughter, Elizabeth, proved her age in 1297, (fn. 24) and with her husband, John de Flaschel, had seisin of a moiety of the manor. (fn. 25) She died without issue in 1300, (fn. 26) when this moiety reverted to her elder sister Rose, whose husband, William Vis de Lou, did homage for the whole manor in the same year. (fn. 27) Ten years later they received licence to enfeoff Reginald son of Walter de Pavely and his wife Alice of the manor. (fn. 28) In 1332 Reginald de Pavely conveyed the manor of Shottesbrook to John de Oxonia, a citizen and vintner of London, (fn. 29) who in 1335 enfeoffed William Trussell, son of William Trussell of Kibblestone, co. Stafford, (fn. 30) called the king's yeoman. (fn. 31) Trussell founded a college in the manor for a warden, five chaplains and two clerks (fn. 32) to celebrate mass daily for his own and the king's soul, as well as for those of their ancestors and descendants, (fn. 33) and endowed it with the advowson of the church and the rent of 40s. from the manor, (fn. 34) which had been acquired from the heirs of William le Breton (see advowson). In 1337 William Earl of Salisbury, lord of Bisham, granted to William Trussell a purpresture on the forest called Benetfeldesheth, which formerly belonged to the Knights Templars, and also quitclaimed to him his right in lands called Shitehangrecroftes. (fn. 35) In the next year Trussell received a grant from the Crown of freedom from expeditation of his dogs, so that he could hunt with them in Windson Forest, (fn. 36) and in 1340 a further grant of view of frankpledge in the manor of Shottesbrook. (fn. 37) A settlement on himself and his wife Isabel in tail, with remainder to William's brother Warin, had been made in 1339. (fn. 38) His wife Isabel died before 1348, when he settled the manor on himself and Ida his wife and his son John. (fn. 39) The latter must have predeceased him, for the estate devolved at his own death in 1363 upon daughter Margaret (fn. 40) wife of Fulk de Penbrugge, (fn. 41) upon whom a settlement in tail was made in 1371 by Sir William Trussell of Kibblestone, her cousin. (fn. 42) Margaret died in 1399, when her heir was returned as William Trussell (aged twelve), son of Lawrence and grandson of Warin, the brother of William, Margaret's father. (fn. 43) In 1407 William granted the manor for life to Fulk de Penbrugge, with reversion to Isabel, the second wife of the latter, and her heirs until twenty years after the death of Fulk, when William and his heirs were to take possession. (fn. 44) Fulk died in 1409. (fn. 45) In 1428 William Trussell was holding the manor, (fn. 46) and in 1463 was succeeded by his son Thomas. (fn. 47) In 1481 William Trussell, apparently the son of Thomas, (fn. 48) died seised of the manor, leaving a son Edward, then aged three years, as his heir. (fn. 49) Edward survived only until his twenty-first year, dying in 1499 and leaving a son John, who was then a year old. (fn. 50) The son died a few months after his father, (fn. 51) and his sister Elizabeth, aged four in 1501, became her father's sole heir. (fn. 52) She married before 1510 John de Vere, fifteenth Earl of Oxford. (fn. 53) One of their sons, Robert de Vere, was appointed by his father the master of Shottesbrook College in 1539. (fn. 54)

John de Vere was succeeded in 1540 by his son John, sixteenth earl, who in 1544 conveyed the manor to his brother Robert de Vere for life, (fn. 55) and dying in 1562 (fn. 56) left a son and heir Edward, who was dealing with the manor in 1574. (fn. 57) In 1578–9 he sold the manor to Thomas Noke, (fn. 58) son of 'Father Noke,' (fn. 59) who died at Reading seised of it in 1583, and was followed by his son Thomas. (fn. 60) It is not known how or when the manor left this family, but in 1628 Richard Powle, registrar of the Court of Chancery, died seised of it, bequeathing it to his kinsman Henry Powle, (fn. 61) Sheriff of Berkshire in 1632, (fn. 62) who in 1638 protested against the imposition of ship-money and refused to pay more than a quarter of the amount demanded. (fn. 63) His elder son Richard, who was member for Berkshire in the Long Parliament of 1661 (fn. 64) and was made a knight of the Bath in the same year, (fn. 65) died without issue in 1678 and was followed by his brother Henry, a prominent member of the Whig Opposition in 1677–81. He was M.P. for New Windsor and Speaker of the House of Commons in the Convention Parliament summoned in January 1689. He was made Master of the Rolls in 1690 and it was he who collected the valuable library of MSS. which now forms the nucleus of the Landsdowne collection at the British Museum. (fn. 66) The manor was bought before 1698 by William Cherry, (fn. 67) who in that year joined with John Powle, (fn. 68) Anne Powle, widow, and John Whitfield (fn. 69) in making a settlement of the manor. (fn. 70) Francis Cherry, son of William, died in 1713. (fn. 71) Francis Cherry was a man of great piety and learning and a well-known Jacobite. He made Shottesbrook a refuge and a home to many distinguised nonjurors, who, like himself, refused to take the oath of allegiance to William of Orange, the chief among them being Dr. Dodwell the historian and Thomas Hearne the antiquary. (fn. 72) In 1716 the manor was sold by his widow Elizabeth and his daughters Anne and Elizabeth Cherry to Robert Vansittart, (fn. 73) son of Peter Vansittart, who belonged to a German family and came to England as a merchant venturer in the reign of Charles II. (fn. 74) Robert Vansittart died without issue in 1719. (fn. 75) His brother Arthur, who succeeded him, (fn. 76) was Sheriff of Berkshire in 1731. (fn. 77) He died in 1760 and was succeeded by his son Arthur Vansittart, M.P. for Berkshire 1757–74, (fn. 78) who was dealing with the manor by recovery in the following year (fn. 79) and again in 1800. (fn. 80) Upon his death in 1806 the manor devolved upon his son and heir Arthur Vansittart, Colonel of the Berkshire Militia, M.P. for Windsor 1804–6. (fn. 81) He died in 1829. His son Arthur made a settlement of the manor in 1831 (fn. 82) and died in 1859. The property passed to his son Captain Coleraine Vansittart, whose sister Mrs. Oswald A. Smith succeeded to Shottesbrook at his death in 1886. Her son Mr. Basil Guy Oswald Smith is the present lord of the manor.

The COLLEGE OF SHOTTESBROOK and its site and the manorial estate belonging to it, which fell into the king's hands at the dissolution of chantries in 1547, were granted in 1548 to Thomas and Edward Weldon, (fn. 83) and the latter died seised of them in 1551, (fn. 84) and was followed by his son Thomas, who died in 1590 seised of the mansion-house and site of the college. (fn. 85) William, his heir, who was then eight years old, was dealing with the property by fine in 1603 (fn. 86) and 1620. (fn. 87) In 1667 George Weldon, the third son and ultimate heir of William Weldon, (fn. 88) conveyed the manor of the college to Richard Powle, (fn. 89) lord of Shottesbrook, and the descent of the college estate is from this date identical with that of the manor. (fn. 90)

CHURCH

The church of ST. JOHN BAPTIST is a cruciform building consisting of a chancel 30ft. by 21 ft. 6 in., a central tower 14 ft. 5 in. by 14 ft. 1 in. surmounted by a tall stone spire, north and south transepts 16 ft. by 17 ft. 8 in. and 15 ft. 5 in. respectively, a nave 24 ft. by 21 ft. 6 in., and north and south porches. These measurements are all internal.

Though an earlier church had existed here, the present building dates from about 1337, when Sir William Trussell founded a college at Shottesbrook and endowed it with the parish church. (fn. 91) Towards the end of the reign of Edward III the church and college are said to have been almost destroyed by fire, (fn. 92) but from the design of the existing church the damage then done must have been almost entirely confined to the secular buildings. The building is remarkable both for its beauty and symmetry of design and its present good state of preservation. It is recorded that on Wednesday, 20 July 1757, a violent thunderstorm passed over Shottesbrook, and the church was so damaged by the lightning that it had to be shut up for more than a year, during which time the parishioners attended at White Waltham. It was opened again on Sunday, 24 September 1758, after being repaired. The chief damage appears to have been done to the spire, which was so shivered that it was at first thought that it would have to be taken down. A gallery across the north transept (evidently an 18th-century addition, removed in 1854) was also damaged, and the north porch did not escape uninjured. The falling stones from the spire slightly damaged the roof, and some rafters were set on fire, but the fire was soon extinguished, and the injury done to the roof does not appear to have been of any very great consequence. In 1852–4 the church was thoroughly restored under the supervision of the late G. E. Street, R. A.

The church is built of flint with stone quoins and dressings and is plastered internally. The flint facing of the walls of the chancel and tower is neatly squared, but that of the walls of the nave and transepts is of a rougher character. A moulded string runs round the building at the level of the sills of the windows, and there are buttresses at the angles, and, in the case of the chancel, between the windows.

The east window is of five trefoiled ogee lights with tracery under a pointed head; the outer jambs are moulded, and the head has an external moulded label, while the inner jambs are splayed and the rear arch is ribbed and moulded. In the north wall of the chancel are two windows, each of two trefoiled ogee lights, with a pointed traceried head, and of the same detail as the east window. East of these two windows is a doorway with a trefoiled head, now blocked, and having a buttress built against it externally, leaving the eastern jamb visible. The inner jambs are moulded, and are rebated for a door opening outwards, the iron staples and fastener of which remain. The original purpose is uncertain, though it probably opened into a small vestry or gave communication to the collegiate buildings. To the east of the doorway is a small aumbry, still in use, to which iron gates have been fixed. In the south wall of the chancel are three two-light windows of the same design as those in the north wall, which is followed throughout the building. Under the western half of the first, and continuing to the east jamb of the second, window is a piscina with a credence bracket and cinquefoiled basin in range with three sedilia; all have trefoiled ogee heads, with cusped panels in the spandrels, and vertical dividing mouldings which mitre with a square label inclosing the whole group. The backs of the sedilia are panelled, and are carried up into mock vaulted heads.

The tower arches are pointed; those to the chancel and nave are each of three moulded orders, the inner supported by attached semicircular shafts, the outer by quarter round shafts, while the mouldings of the middle order are continuous. The transept arches are each of three chamfered orders dying on to single chamfered responds, and each arch has moulded labels on both faces, those on the inner face of the tower being stopped by carved heads, while those on the outer face return upon themselves. Externally the tower is divided above the crossing into two stages by a moulded string, and is crowned by an embattled parapet. At the northwest is an octagonal stair turret entered through a doorway with a trefoiled head in the west wall of the north transept. The ringing chamber is lighted from the south by two small trefoiled openings which have widely splayed inner jambs and pointed rear arches, while the bell-chamber has a pointed window of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil tracery in each wall. Below the parapet, which slightly overhangs the walls, is a moulded string, and at the angles are grotesque head-gargoyles, now much decayed. Like the chancel, the tower is faced with squared flints with stone quoins, though the parapet is entirely of stone, as is also the upper part of the stair-turret. The spire, which is octagonal in plan, has been rebuilt, and has large stone dormer windows lighting the bell-chamber in its cardinal faces.

In the east and west walls of the north transept are two-light windows of the ruling type, and to the south of the window in the east wall is a piscina with a trefoiled ogee head and a cinquefoil basin. The north window is of three trefoiled ogee lights with a pointed traceried head; the inner james are widely splayed, and the ribbed rear arch is two-centred and segmental. In the wall below the window, occupying the whole width of the transept, is a beautiful double tomb recess of the middle of the 14th century, cut in chalk and stone, with a panelled base and embattled cornice. In the centre, dividing the two recesses from each other, is an image niche flanked by pinnacled buttresses and having a cusped pointed head surmounted by a tall acute gable rising high above the cornice level, both head and gable being crocketed and finialled. The head of each recess is formed by four multifoiled ogee arches, enriched with crockets and finials, and separated from each other by small pinnacled buttresses rising from the carved pendant corbels from which the arches spring; the outer arch of each recess takes its bearing on buttresses of equal height with the flanking buttresses of the central image niche. The panelled base is divided into fourteen rectangular compartments, each of which is divided saltirewise into four cusped panels. The back of each main recess is divided by small attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases into four bays, each again recessed to form a semi-hexagonal niche, the three sides of which are panelled with trefoiled ogee-headed panels having their vertical mouldings continued upwards to form imitation vaulting. The soffits of the main recesses are elaborately carved in imitation of lierne vaulting, and their sides have semi-hexagonal niches similar in design to those at the back, with the addition of a small image bracket to each face. To the south of the window in the west wall is the doorway leading to the tower stair-turret.

The south transept, which is now utilized as a vestry and organ chamber. has windows like those of the north transept, with the exception that the jambs of the south window are not nearly so widely splayed as those of the corresponding window in the opposite transept. At the south-east is a piscina with a trefoiled ogee head, having a cinquefoiled basin above which is a credence shelf; at the other end of the wall there appears to have once been a doorway, the external relieving arch of which can still be seen. The nave is lighted by two windows of two lights in each side wall, and between them are the north and south doorways, which each open into porches and have continuously moulded outer jambs, and drop rear arches springing from a level above the heads of the outer openings. In the west wall is a similar though somewhat larger doorway with a large window over, of three trefoiled ogee lights, with geometrical tracery under a pointed head. As with the others, this window is of the 14th century, though the mullions have been restored. The porches are both alike, having pointed openings with continuously moulded jambs in their gable walls, and small ogee trefoiled lights in the side walls; at the angles are considerably restored diagonal buttresses with trefoiled gable heads, while at the apex of the gable walls are modern crosses. The north porch is now used as a cupboard, and between it and the north transept has been built a modern heating chamber. The crosses on the end gables of the nave and transept are modern, but there are original carved wall finials where the roofs abut against the walls of the tower.

With the exception of those of the porches all the open timber roofs are of the 14th century and are covered with tiles. The rafters of the chancel roof are framed in the shape of a pointed barrel, while the steep-pitched roofs to the transepts and nave have trussed rafters, and are each divided into three bays by king-post trusses, from the king-posts of which spring struts supporting a principal collar transversely, while longitudinally they carry a central beam holding in position the collars to the common rafters.

The original 14th-century font remains. It is octagonal and has small crocketed and pinnacled buttresses at the angles, while the sides are panelled with trefoiled ogee-headed panels having crocketed labels surmounted by carved finials. Round the foot runs a moulded base which is continued round the angle buttresses. The pulpit is modern, but the old hourglass is still preserved. In the heads of some of the windows are a few fragments of 14th-century glass. The north-east window of the chancel contains a few odd pieces, while in the west window of the same wall, on a background of black and white flowered glass, is a shield, Gules a saltire argent. In the centre window of the wall opposite are some mixed fragments, and in the west window are parts of a shield, Party fessewise sable and gules a cross engrailed or with a bend ermine over all. The head of the west window of the north transept contains a quartered shield of France and England, while in the east window of the south transept is a rood. The glass in the head of the west window of the nave is also of a fragmentary character, but contains two shields, the first of Stafford, the second apparently a jumbled, and perhaps reset, shield of Jasper Tudor.

In the floor of the nave is a large late 14th-century brass with the full-length figures of a priest and a layman, under two crocketed and finialled canopies having pinnacled buttresses on either side. The priest is in full eucharistic vestments and holds his hands in prayer, while the layman, who is in a similar attitude, wears a loose skirted garment and a cloak rolled down at the neck, and has a sword suspended from his left side. The lower end of the dexter buttress and the pinnacles of both are gone, and the inscription is also missing.

Set in a slab in the floor of the north transept are the remains of a large brass with the figure of a woman in the centre of the slab, wearing a loose flowing dress, caught in at the waist with a belt, and a cushion head-dress; on her hands, which are in prayer, are mittens, and her head rests on a pillow. Round the slab are the matrices for a border inscription with quatrefoils at the four corners, on which were engraved the symbols of the Evangelists. Of the inscription all that remains is 'Icy gist' along the top and 'Pennebrygg Cheva …' along the foot, with the symbols of St. Matthew and St. Mark in the top dexter and bottom sinister corner. It probably commemorates Margaret wife of Fulk de Penbrugge, who died in 1399. (fn. 93)

In the north-east corner of the floor of the north transept is a brass inscribed in black letters, 'Here lyeth the body of Richard Gyll squyer late sergeaūt | of the Bakehous w^t kyng henry VII and also wyth | kyng henry the VIII and bayly of the VII hundred of Cokam | and Bray the whiche Richard deceesced y^e VII day of August | the yere of our lord god M^oV^cXI ō whose soule Jhu have mèy.' Above the inscription is the figure of a man standing with his hands in prayer, and wearing early 16th-century armour.

Built against the north wall of the chancel is a long alabaster box made to represent a coffin, in which lies the carved figure of a man, wearing a long loose garment, and holding his hands in prayer. Across the middle of the coffin is an alabaster panel in which are set two brasses. The upper one is inscribed in black letters, 'here lyeth wyll[iam] Throkmarton prest doctor | of lawe late gardēn of this church which deces-|-sid the XII day of Januari An^o Dñi M^oCCCCC | XXXV on whous soule Jeshu have mercy amen,' while the lower has an inscription in Latin verse.

Another brass in the floor of the north transept commemorates Thomas Noke and his three wives; it is inscribed in black letters, 'Here lyeth buried Thomas Noke who for his great age and vertuous lief was Reverenced | of all men and comenly called Father Noke created Esquier by Kyng Henry the VIII he was of | stature high and comly and for his Ecellencie in artilarie made yoman of the Crowne of Eng-| land which had in his lief three wifes and by every of them som fruyte and ofprynge and De-| ceassed the XXI^th day of August 1567 in the yere of his age LXXXVII, leaving behynde hym | Julian his late wief, two of his brotherne one sister one only sonne and II daughters lyving.' Below is a further inscription in Latin.

Above the inscription are the figures of Noke and his three wives, one wife being on his right and two on his left, while in the upper part of the slab in which they are set is his shield, a fesse between three leopards' heads with three crowns on the fesse, and a helm crested with a lion's paw razed coming out of a crown and holding an arrow. Below the inscription are the figures of five children, three boys and two girls, and on either side of this is the matrix for a similar group. These evidently, when complete, represented the 'fruyte and ofprynge' by each of his respective three wives.

In the floor of the north transept is a sepulchral slab incised with the inscription, 'Here lieth Anne first wife of Richard Powle Lord of the Manor of Shotesbrook she departed the 23 August 1603.' In a marble panel on the south wall of the south transept is a brass inscribed, 'In memory of Mary Grove | ye belov^ed wife of Robert | Grove late of Shotesbrooke | who died y^e 14^th day of December | anno dom 1678 in y^e 24^th year of her age.| Dear soule thou now art gone from me & art at rest | In this I am unhappy but in this thou art blest.'

There is a peal of five bells : the treble is by T. Mears of London, 1811; the second is inscribed, 'Campana cantare d[omin]o in eclesia Willyam Foster 1634'; the third, 'Campana cantare dno in eclesia Humfrey Turnor 1634'; the fourth was recast by Mears & Stainbank in 1904 ; while the tenor is inscribed, 'Campana cantare dno in eclesia de Shottesbrooke 1634.'

The plate consists of two silver patens, one of 1709, the other of 1712, a silver chalice of 1714, and a silver flagon of 1762.

The registers previous to 1812 are in one volume containing baptisms 1585 to 1812, burials 1567 to 1811, marriages 1566 to 1812. There is a tithe apportionment and map dated 1844.

ADVOWSON

A church at Shottesbrook is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. (fn. 94) In 1243 Robert de Shottesbrook, lord of the manor, quitclaimed the advowson to William le Breton, (fn. 95) but in 1276 the advowson was claimed by the guardian of John de Shottesbrook against Alina wife of Walter Danvers, daughter and heir of William le Breton, to whom, however, the advowson and 40s. rent from the manor were adjudged. (fn. 96) Apparently Alina left two heirs, since John de Goldingham and his wife Maud, who were parties to a settlement of it in 1303, (fn. 97) and Robert de Waltham and his wife Christine released their right in this rent and the advowson to Reginald de Pavely in 1327. (fn. 98) In 1332 John son of John de Goldingham also quitclaimed to Reginald de Pavely. (fn. 99) The advowson then passed with the manor to William Trussell, who alienated it in 1336 with the rent of 40s. to the College of St. John Baptist in Shottesbrook. (fn. 100) The church was appropriated by the college. After the Dissolution the church was confirmed as a parish church, a vicarage was ordained, and the rectory (with reservation of the glebe lands) was granted to the vicar. (fn. 101) The advowson came with the college to the Weldons, (fn. 102) and was conveyed to Richard Powle in 1667. (fn. 103) Conveyances of the advowson, however, were made by the lords of the manor of Shottesbrook in dealing with the manor, and it appears that they, who had been patrons of the college, claimed the advowson of the parish church after the Dissolution. Apparently the presentations were actually made by the owners of the college estate. Since 1667 the advowson has descended with the manor. (fn. 104)

In 1634 a charge of simony was brought against Nathaniel Cannon (cf. Hurley), the incumbent, and William Weldon, the patron, for an agreement made before Cannon's institution for a lease of the vicarage to be made to Weldon at a far undervalue. It was deposed that Weldon was in necessity, and that Cannon had neither house to dwell in nor barn, and was forced to lease out the profits of the vicarage. Cannon was therefore acquitted of the charge. (fn. 105)

The institutions to the church after 1693 (fn. 106) were made as to a rectory. In 1800, however Arthur Vansittart, lord of the manor, was dealing with the rectory, (fn. 107) Lysons gives Vansittart as impropriator of the great tithes formerly belonging to the college. (fn. 108) Possibly arrangements were made at different dates between the incumbents and the patrons. The living is now a rectory.

The vicarage of White Waltham was annexed to Shottesbrook in 1744 by the Bishop of Salisbury at the request of Dr. Dodwell, the rector, and Mr. Vansittart, the lord of the manor, of Shottesbrook.

There have been several distinguished incumbents in this little parish, notably Dr. White Kennett the antiquary (1660–1728), who was presented by William Cherry in 1695 and who was afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, and William Dodwell (1709–85), Archdeacon of Berkshire, son of the famous Camden professor at Oxford, who is buried in the church. He was born at Shottesbrook, his father having settled there in a house fitted up for him by his friend Francis Cherry, lord of the manor. (fn. 109)

CHARITIES

In 1625 Richard Powle, as stated on an ancient tablet in the church, by his will left to the poor 40s. chargeable upon the manor of Shottesbrook, now in the possession of Mr. Basil G. O. Smith.

In 1735 Mrs. Anne Cherry left £100 for the poor of Shottesbrook and £50 for five poor widows of White Waltham. These legacies were laid out in the purchase of about 5 acres at Littlewick in White Waltham, in respect of which an osier bed containing 3r. 10 p. in Shottesbrook was allotted on the inclosure in 1811. In 1873 1 acre of the land was conveyed as a site of a Church of England school at Littlewick. The land is let in allotments at rents amounting to £10 18s. a year and the osier bed at 20s. a year.

White Waltham receives one-third of the net income.

A sum of £66 13s. 4d. consols is held by the official trustees as representing the investment of accumulations of sacrament money.

The income of these charities, amounting together to about £10 13s. 4d., is applied in distributing groceries to poor persons of the parish by tickets of the value of 4s. to 9s. each.

In 1859 William Newman Warberton, by his will proved at London 5 November, bequeathed to his trustees £600 upon trust to invest the same in the government funds, and, after the decease of his wife, and subject to an annuity to his sister, in trust to apply the annual proceeds thereof in setting up and keeping in order a tablet in the church as a memorial of the bequest, and to keep in order his family vault, and to apply £5 a year towards the support of the parish school, and the residue of the income for the benefit of poor persons residing in the parish. No tablet was erected in the church, and the trust for the vault, which is situated in the churchyard, being void, the whole of the trust fund became applicable for the charitable purposes mentioned. Testator's sister predeceased his widow, who died in 1874, whereupon the trust fund was transferred to the official trustees, and the dividends were invested from time to time in augmentation of the endowment until the year 1891, at which date the trust fund amounted to £1,048 0s. 2d. consols.

In 1891 a scheme was established for the administration of the charity whereby (inter alia) £5 a year was directed to be applied for the advancement of the education of scholars attending a public elementary school, a sum of £200 consols being set aside for this purpose as the educational foundation, and £848 0s. 2d. consols as the eleemosynary branch, producing £21 4s. a year, of which £16 yearly is made applicable by the scheme in aid of any provident clubs for the supply of coal or clothing, or in aid of any dispensary or convalescent home, and the residue for the benefit of deserving and necessitous persons generally.