Parishes: Hurstbourne Tarrant

HURSTBOURNE TARRANT

Esseborne (xi cent.); Hesseburna, Esseburna regis (xii cent.); Husseburn, Huphusseburn, Hussheburn (xiii cent.); Husseburne Tarrent (xiv cent.); Husband Tarrant, Uphusband (xviii cent.).

Hurstboume Tarrant, a large parish containing 4,841 acres, is situated about 4½ miles north-west from Hurstboume station on the main line of the London and South Western Railway. The village lies on the left bank of the Swift, which rises in the west of the parish, at the junction of the main road from Andover to Newbury with a road running from St. Mary Bourne to Vernhams Dean. It is on the lowest ground in the parish, the road from Andover dropping at Hurstbourne Hill from a height of 568 ft. above the ordnance datum to a height of 324 ft. on the left bank of the stream. When past the village it rises again, and at the summit of Doiley Hill in the north of the parish reaches a height of 526 ft. above the ordnance datum. In the west of the parish the ground is higher still, a height of 710 ft. being attained south of Sheep Down. St. Peter's Church stands on the outskirts of the village north of the road from St. Mary Bourne. Near it is the vicarage, and opposite it on the right bank of the stream are the schools, which were built in 1845 for 130 children.

The hamlet of Prosperous is about a mile north from the village along the road to Newbury. The hamlet of Ibthrope, with its substantial homesteads and half-timber cottages, is situated on the left bank of the stream along the road to Vernhams Dean, about three-quarters of a mile west from Hurstbourne Tarrant. Along the same road on the western borders of the parish is the hamlet of Upton, situated partly in Hurstbourne Tarrant and partly in Vernhams Dean. The schools here were built in 1872.

Doles, in the south of the parish, a house surrounded by woods and copses, is the residence of Mr. Albemarle Willoughby Dewar, the lord of the manor. Doiley Manor, in the north, is the residence of Messrs. Walter Allcroft and William Mulholland, farmers.

The area of the parish comprises 2,985¼ acres of arable land, 568½ acres of permanent grass and 1,054½ acres of woods and plantations. (fn. 1) The land is hilly but fertile and productive, and the soil, which is chalky, is well suited to the growth of wheat, barley, oats, turnips and sainfoin. Doles Wood and Grubbed Grounds were inclosed in 1820 under a Private Act of 1818.

Among place-names mentioned in early documents are the following:—Overdroveweys Copse (fn. 2) (xiv cent.), King's Longe Copyce, Pikadoles Copyce, Fairelynch Copyce and Hilgrove Copyce (fn. 3) (xvi cent.), and Netherblackden Copyce and Beareridge Copyce (fn. 4) (xvii cent.).

Manors

At the time of the Domesday Survey HURSTBOURNE was part of the ancient demesne, and was therefore not assessed, the three manors of Hurstbourne, Basingstoke and Kingsclere being jointly liable for the service of one knight. (fn. 5) The manor (fn. 6) remained with the Crown for a considerable period (Hamon Boterel being the farmer from 1156 to 1166), and Henry II seems to have had a royal residence in the parish, for there are various entries in the Pipe Rolls of sums disbursed for work on the king's houses in Hurstbourne. (fn. 7)

At length Henry II, in 1177, granted the manor to William Malveisin. (fn. 8) William Malveisin's widow received £24 2s. from Hurstbourne in 1185, (fn. 9) but thirteen years later Richard I granted the manor to John de Lyons, a citizen of Lyons, to hold to him and his heirs by the service of half a knight's fee. (fn. 10) King John confirmed this grant in 1201, (fn. 11) but soon afterwards he seems to have resumed possession of the manor, possibly on the death of John de Lyons, for in 1205 William Scales paid 10 marks fine to have the vill of Hurstbourne, (fn. 12) and a year later Engelard de Cygony, Andrew de Chancels, Geon de Chancels and Peter de Chancels, companions of Gerard de Attoyes, obtained a grant of the manor to hold during the king's pleasure for their support in his service. (fn. 13) Henry III, however, restored the manor to John de Lyons, probably a son of the original grantee, in 1233, (fn. 14) and a little later the same man, by the name of John 'de Leonibus,' is returned as holding Hurstbourne, valued at £24, of the gift of King Richard. (fn. 15) On the death of John de Lyons the younger the manor passed to his daughter and heir Joan, the wife of Geoffrey de Carelieu, whose grant to Pontius Blanchard, another citizen of Lyons, was confirmed by Henry III in 1255. (fn. 16) Pontius, however, only held the manor for a short time, (fn. 17) for in 1266 Henry III granted it in free alms to Tarrant Nunnery (co. Dors.), a house to which Queen Eleanor was so great a benefactress that it was sometimes styled in records 'Locus benedictus reginae' or 'Locus reginae super Tarent.' (fn. 18) It is to its connexion with this nunnery that the manor which had hitherto been called KING'S HURSTBOURNE, HURSTBOURNE REGIS or UP HURSTBOURNE, owes its name of HURSTBOURNE TARRANT. Entries relating to the manor in subsequent Close and Patent Rolls show clearly the favour in which the nunnery continued to be held by the Crown. Thus, in 1292, Edward I, to enable the abbess to satisfy her creditors, granted her licence to sell forty oaks in her wood of Hurstbourne within the bounds of the forest of Finkley. (fn. 19) Again in 1302 she was permitted to sell 40 acres of her wood of Hurstbourne in the forest of Chute, since it was ascertained by inquisition that there was no frequent repair of deer there. (fn. 20) Further, in 1343, on the petition of the abbess and convent setting forth that their houses and possessions in Dorset had been burned and destroyed by an invasion of the king's enemies in those parts, licence was granted them to cut down and make their profit of 200 acres, at the rate of 20 acres yearly, of underwood in their demesne wood of Hurstbourne in the forest of Chute by the view of the foresters, and when this had been done to inclose the wood after the assize of the forest. (fn. 21) The manor remained in the hands of the abbess and convent until the Dissolution, (fn. 22) when it became Crown property, (fn. 23) and so continued until 1547, in which year Edward VI granted it, at a reserved rent of £6, together with King's Long Coppice, Pikadoles Coppice, Fairelynch Coppice and Hillgrove Coppice within the forest of Chute and the manors of Chitterne (co. Wilts.) and Bramshill (co. Hants) to William Paulet Lord St. John, afterwards first Marquess of Winchester, and his heirs for the maintenance of the fortifications and a garrison of nine men at Netley Castle. (fn. 24) The manor continued in the possession of successive Marquesses of Winchester until 1630, (fn. 25) when, on the death of the fourth marquess, it passed to his fourth but third surviving son, Lord Charles Paulet, in accordance with a settlement of 1609. (fn. 26) Charles, son and heir of the latter, mortgaged it in 1664 for £2,600 to Edmund Ludlow, senior, of Kingston Deverill (co. Wilts.), but was unable to keep up the payment of the interest. (fn. 27) Consequently, Edmund foreclosed, and at his death in 1666 (fn. 28) was seised of the manor. His heir was his nephew, Edmund Ludlow the younger, the notorious regicide, who was the eldest son of his brother Sir Henry Ludlow, of Maiden Bradley (co. Wilts.), and who, as one of the judges of King Charles I, was attainted of treason at the Restoration. (fn. 29) The manor consequently escheated to Charles II, who in 1669 granted it to Edward Boswell and Nathaniel Ludlow, a younger brother of Edmund, at a reserved rent of £3. (fn. 30) It seems, however, to have been subsequently restored to the Paulet family, for Sir John Huband of Ipsley (co. Warw.), bart., was seised of it at the beginning of the 18th century, (fn. 31) having probably inherited it from his mother Jane, the daughter of Lord Charles Paulet. (fn. 32) Sir John was succeeded by his son and heir John, who died a minor and unmarried in 1730, when the baronetcy became extinct, and his possessions were divided among his three sisters and co-heirs Rhoda, Mary and Jane, (fn. 33) the first-named of whom married first Sir Thomas Delves of Dodington (co. Ches.), and secondly John Cotes. (fn. 34) In 1738 Jane Huband sold her part of the manor and 'the thirteen copses called Dowles' in the parishes of Hurstbourne Tarrant and Andover for £2,500 to James Wright of Warwick, (fn. 35) who subsequently purchased also the share of the other sister Rhoda. (fn. 36) From James Wright these two portions of the manor passed to his son and heir James Wright of Berkeley Square, who dealt with them in 1754 and again in 1765. (fn. 37) He subsequently purchased the remaining third and sold the whole manor to Joseph Portal of Freefolk and John Mount. (fn. 38) From the latter Hurstbourne Tarrant passed by sale in May 1782 to George Dewar, a wealthy West Indian planter of Scotch extraction, (fn. 39) who died in 1786, aged seventy-eight. (fn. 40) By his will dated 1785 he left all his manors and real estate in England, St. Christopher, Dominica and elsewhere to his younger son David Dewar, leaving only certain annuities to his eldest son John Dewar, who 'had by a continued series of imprudence and extravagance involved himself hopelessly in difficulties.' (fn. 41) The manor has remained in the Dewar family ever since, (fn. 42) Mr. Albemarle Willoughby Dewar, great-grandson of David Dewar, being the present lord of Hurstbourne Tarrant.

In 1280 the Abbess of Tarrant claimed pillory, tumbril and other liberties within the manor. (fn. 43)

The forest of Chute formerly lay in Wiltshire and Hampshire, the Hampshire portion extending to Hurstbourne Tarrant and including the woods of Doiley and Dowles (or Doles). Doiley was written Digerle or Derhile in the 13th century, and there are many references to it in early documents. (fn. 44) Its site is marked at the present day by Doiley Barn, Doiley Cottages, Doiley Hill, Doiley Wood and Doiley Manor in the north-east of the parish. Doles Wood lay partly in the parish of Hurstbourne Tarrant and partly in that of Andover, and in the reign of James I William fourth Marquess of Winchester engaged in a dispute with Andrew Kingsmill, tenant and farmer of King's Enham, as to his right to The Raggs ox Raggs Coppice, Blackden Bryle or Blackden Raggs, Doles Heath or Charlton Heath, and King's Enham Heath and other copses and wastes. (fn. 45) According to the defendant Preston and Weste, tenants of the marquess, ' desiring to bathe themselves in the teares of many poore people,' had inclosed a certain parcel of The Raggs called Enham Raggs, which was in reality parcel of Enham Heath and in the parish of Andover, and had always been separated from the marquess's copses by 'bounders and standills.' On the other hand the marquess declared that Kingsmill was attempting to deny his right under a 'shiftinge shadowe of wordes,' and asserted that the copses and wastes in question were really parcel of the bailiwick of Doles and, therefore, part of his inheritance. (fn. 46) Depositions on both sides were taken at Andover 23 April 1612, when most of the witnesses seemed to be in favour of Kingsmill, (fn. 47) but the marquess had already predisposed James I in his fatour, as is shown by the fact that in the previous year the king by letters patent had more clearly defined his property in the neighbourhood, granting to him a number of copses and wastes—the coppices called Netherblackden, Stoney, Fairocke, Beareridge, Lodge, Pounde, Ladylonge, Netherthrowayes and Upperthrowayes, Upperblackden, Ridgewayes, Chilwayes, and Knolles Coppice, The Raggs, Blackden Raggs, Newmans Ryding, Doles Heath or Charleton Heath, and King's Enham Heath, Cow Down, Rushmer Down, Southdown and Brockhill—of which there is no mention by name in the patent roll of the reign of Edward VI. (fn. 48) Doiley and Doles still formed part of the manor in the reign of Charles II, Charles Paulet petitioning for leave to disafforest them in June 1662, on the ground that these lands were burdened with great debts incurred by his father and himself for loyalty and with provision for his mother, three brothers and one sister. (fn. 49) Three months later they were disafforested and the deer in them were granted to Charles Paulet in consideration of the services and sufferings of his father. (fn. 50) Thirteen copses of wood called Doles, containing 700 acres, are included in subsequent extents of the manor, (fn. 51) and the old forest-name is still preserved in Doles Wood and Doles, the residence of Mr. Albemarle Willoughby Dewar. The fourth Marquess of Winchester, in addition to the dispute with Kingsmill, engaged in a controversy with divers inhabitants of the hamlet of Ibthrope. The latter asserted 'that they were freeholders and that all the grounds and soil of the village, as well that which was held in severalty as that which lay in open field and common, was always accounted and used as the freehold and inheritance of these tenants, and that the plaintiff and his ancestors had no part of the freehold or inheritance thereof,' and admitted that they had already with mutual consent divided and inclosed some of the common lands and were in the habit of cutting down trees and digging marl-pits in the downs of Ibthrope. The marquess, on the other hand, declared that they were only tenants at will and that the common downs, heath and commons called The Common Downs, Common Heath, Rushmer Down or North Down, South Down and Ambley were his proper freehold inheritance, as he could prove by copies of old court rolls, and that in bygone times his tenants had been amerced for felling trees and inclosing the common fields. He moreover accused them of appropriating to their own use 200 marks, 'the property of one Marvyn, who had hanged himself at Whitchurch.' (fn. 52) Depositions of witnesses were taken at Basingstoke in April 1610, most of them agreeing that when the sheep of the farmers of Hurstbourne Tarrant fed upon the downs of Ibthrope they were chased away by the tenants and inhabitants of Ibthrope and vice versa, and that there were boundary-marks between the demesnes of the manor and the hamlet. (fn. 53) In 1611 the Court of Exchequer recommended that the parties should come to some agreement amongst themselves. (fn. 54) The marquess, whose position was already assured by the patent roll of the preceding April, (fn. 55) was theoretically the victor, as is shown by the fact that the manors of IBTHROPE and UPTON are mentioned by name in the grant of the Hurstbourne property to Boswell and Ludlow in the reign of Charles II, (fn. 56) but Ibthrope still retains some trace of its old independence, the owners and occupiers of the hamlet having sole right to take for their own use but not for sale everything growing on Ibthrope Common, which covers an area of 59 acres.

By the manor of Upton, only that part of the hamlet situated in the parish of Hurstbourne Tarrant seems to have been intended, for the part situated in the parish of Vernhams Dean was included in the grant of the manor of Vernhams Dean to Henry de Bernevall in the reign of Henry II, and its subsequent history is given under the latter parish (q.v. infra).

Church

The church of ST. PETER consists of a chancel 34 ft. by 18 ft. 1 in., nave 58 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. 6 in., north aisle 41 ft. 8 in. by 5 ft. 9 in., with a vestry at its west end 14 ft. 9 in. by 5 ft. 9 in., south aisle 52 ft. 2 in. by 6 ft. 7 in., with a south porch. At the west end of the nave is a wooden tower within the building. All these measurements are internal.

The history of the present building begins c. 1200, to which date belongs the nave as far westwards as the third bay of the arcade, with the aisles flanking it. The difference in detail between the two arcades shows that the north one is a little later than the south. The only trace of earlier work than this is the south doorway, which is of late 12th-century date. In the 14th century the church was lengthened westwards by one bay. In the north aisle the original west wall was allowed to remain and the extra bay was used to form a small chapel, but in the south aisle and nave the original west walls were removed. Other work of this century consisted of the insertion of most of the present windows to the aisles. The chancel was practically rebuilt, using the 13th-century windows again, about the year 1890, and the walls of the rest of the building were refaced at the same time. The mediaeval south porch was refaced in the 18th century and the tower was erected in 1897, partly of old timbers.

The east window of the chancel is of 15th-century date, having four cinquefoiled lights, under a low fourcentred arch. The rest of the chancel windows are of 13th-century date, three on each side, a single light between two of two lights. The heads of the lights are in all cases modern and of ogee shape, and the south-west window has had its tracery removed and two I 5th-century cinquefoiled lights substituted. The internal jambs have edge rolls dying into a chamfered rear arch.

Near the east end of the north wall is an aumbry with recessed jambs and segmental head, and traces of the fitting of a shelf, and in the same position on the south side is a piscina with chamfered jambs and trefoiled head. Between the first and second windows of the south wall is a modern doorway with plain chamfered jambs and two-centred head.

The chancel arch is two-centred and of two stopchamfered orders built of chalk. The jambs are of Binstead stone, with square hollow-chamfered abaci, and both arch and jambs have diagonal tooling.

The north arcade of the nave is of three bays with circular columns, plainly moulded capitals with squareedged abaci, and bases which were probably moulded with a hollow between two rolls, now rubbed down to a single curve. The arches have two chamfered orders and are two-centred with a plain label on the nave side. The eastern respond is chamfered, and in it is a small trefoiled piscina with a shallow basin, the projecting part of which has been cut away. The corbel over this piscina which carries the inner order of the arch is in the form of an irregular octagon, and its mouldings are very similar to those of the capitals. In the west respond the orders of the arch are continued in the jamb with a plinth at the base which does not return on the sides of the wall, and a hollow chamfered abacus at the springing. All this work is claw-tooled and probably well into the 13 th century.

The entrance to the north-west chapel, which forms the fourth bay of the arcade, has chamfered jambs and double chamfered two-centred arch without corbels or abaci, with claw-tooled masonry, and seems of early 14th-century date. In the east respond is another piscina with stop-chamfered jambs, trefoiled head and shallow circular basin, the projecting part being chamfered.

The first three bays of the south arcade are very similar to those of the north, the only differences being that the columns are a little larger, the bases have three roll mouldings, and the capitals are of an earlier type. The eastern respond is also similar, but the corbel at the springing is composed of mouldings supported by a carved head surmounted by foliage of good early 13th-century type. The tooling is all vertical, and the masonry of the arches is of a light brown stone, irregularly banded with chalk. The fourth bay of the arcade is of two edge-chamfered orders continuing the section of the jambs, with a hollow chamfered square-edged abacus at the springing. It has a label of the same section as the south arcade, and looks like early 13th-century work, re-used at the lengthening of the nave in the 14th century. Its width is not against the idea that it may have been in the west wall of the nave, but in that case a masonry tower must have existed or been intended early in the 13 th century, and of this there is no evidence.

Above the arcades the walls are thinner and evidently later additions; the only clearstory windows are two of three lights with square heads, on the south side, of late date.

The walls of the north aisle were at first much lower, the line of the eaves and eastern slope being still visible outside; they seem to have been raised to their present height when the vestry was added.

The east window of this aisle is a trefoiled lancet, and of the three north windows the eastern and western are original, and have two trefoiled lights. The middle window is larger and set higher in the wall, and has three ogee-headed lights of peculiar character with tracery of 14th-century style, which seems to be old. The fourth window in this wall, which lights the northwest vestry, is a single trefoiled lancet, the west jamb of which is a modern restoration; it is higher than the original two-light windows east of it, and the wall here shows no sign of having been raised.

The east window of the south aisle is a single trefoiled light, which has been widened at some time, and has a modern head.

The first window in the south wall is of mid - 14th - century date, a very pretty piece of tracery, with three trefoiled lights and two cinquefoiled circles in the head, and a trefoiled semicircle over. The second window is of late 15th-century date, with three cinquefoiled lights under a square head. The third window belongs to the date of the 14th century lengthening, and the west window is a plain 13th-century lancet reinserted here at that time.

The south doorway, which is between the first and second windows of the aisle, has jambs of two orders with engaged shafts without bases, but having foliate capitals, and a pointed arch of two orders, the inner being continued from the jambs, while the outer is enriched with horizontal zigzag ornament, of late 1 2th-century type. The wall thins at the springing and the extrados of the arch is exposed; there is no label, and the whole is evidently re-used material.

The west doorway is contemporary with the western extension of the nave and aisles, and has double chamfered jambs and a two-centred arch.

The wooden tower is in three stages with an octagonal spire, the whole being covered with oak shingles. The timbers supporting this tower spring from the floor at the west end of the nave, and the staircase to the belfry is also inside and is constructed entirely of wood.

All the walls of the church are of flint and stone, strengthened with modern brick buttresses at the ends of the south aisle and the north-west corner of the north aisle and with two stone buttresses partly old at the west end of the nave. The porch is wood, plastered over at a later date; it is probably of the 15th century, and brought to its present condition about a century ago. It has a slated roof, while all the other roofs are leaded, and there are modern gable crosses on the chancel and nave.

The roof of the chancel is of modern woodwork of low pitch. That of the nave has heavy tie-beams and moulded ridge and purlins, and appears to be old; it is of very flat pitch. The aisles have modern lean-to roofs.

The font is of 13th-century date and has a plain circular bowl resting on a stem which has attached round shafts at each angle and half-octagonal shafts on each face, each having a moulded base. It stands on a footpace paved with 14th-century tiles of various single and double patterns.

Many of the seats in the nave are of old woodwork, quite plain except for a moulded top, and the old baluster altar rails are also now in the nave. The octagonal pulpit is a rather hybrid structure, partly made of 17th-century woodwork, and the south door is old, with 18th-century panels on its outer face.

There are no monuments of any particular interest, the oldest being a marble slab on the north wall of the chancel to the Honourable Charles Paulet, eldest son of the Lord Charles Paulet, who died in 1677. Also to his wife Magdalene, who died in 1697, and their daughter Frances, 1694.

There are some remains of wall painting in the north aisle. On the north jamb of the east window is a diaper of red and white squares, the latter having a spot of red in the middle of each. Near the east end of the north wall and on the east jamb of the first window is a diaper of fleurs de lis, and between the first and second north windows is the fable of the three dead and the three living, very well drawn, and probably part of the original decoration of the aisle, a scrolled border above marking the height of the old wall. Between the second and third windows is a small piece of a circular panel which represented the seven deadly sins, the only two now distinguishable being luxury and drunkenness.

There are three bells in the tower, the treble being by O. Corr, 1725, the second by John Corr, 1740, and the tenor is dated 1654.

The plate consists of a silver chalice and salver (secular) of 1797 and 1775; a secular silver flagon of 1746 given by Mr. D. A. Dewar and a plated alms plate given by Mr. D. A. Bertie Dewar.

The registers are in three books, the first being a very good vellum specimen, containing entries of baptisms from 1546 to 1721, marriages from 1546 to 1687, and burials from the same date to 1722. The second book, also of vellum, contains baptisms and burials from 1723 to 1812, and marriages from 1724 to 1754. The third book continues the marriages on the usual printed forms up to 1813.

Advowson

At the time of the Domesday Survey there was a church in the parish attached to the manor, which was held by Vitalis the priest together with half a hide of land, one plough, two bordars, 1 acre of meadow and ' circesset' or churchscot which was appraised at 14s. (fn. 57) The advowson went with the manor until the end of the 12 th century, when it was granted by Henry II to the church of St. Mary, Salisbury. (fn. 58) In spite of this gift, King John in March 1200 granted the church of Hurstbourne in free alms to his clerk Simon Pelagus for life, (fn. 59) but was forced a month or so later after an assize of novel disseisin to admit that the advowson belonged to the church of Salisbury. (fn. 60) However, Simon Pelagus continued to hold the living, as appears from an entry in the Testa de Nevill, (fn. 61) and in 1229, most probably on his death, Henry III presented Nicholas de Nevill, brother of the Bishop of Chichester, to the living 'vacant and in his gift.' (fn. 62) Three years later, however, the king was once more compelled to admit the right of the church of Salisbury. (fn. 63) The prebendary of Burbage, to whose prebend the advowson was attached, was in 1322–3 called upon to show reason why he had not resided at Hurstbourne Tarrant, but on appearing before the Bishop of Winchester licence of non-residence was given him since by reason of his prebend he was forced to reside in Salisbury, and had therefore appointed a perpetual vicar whose stipend was paid from the revenues of the church. (fn. 64) The vicars of Hurstbourne Tarrant continued to be appointed by the Canon of Salisbury and Prebendary of Hurstbourne Tarrant and Burbage until 1847, (fn. 65) when in the vacancy of the prebend the property of the prebend valued at £50 a year was taken over by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (fn. 66) and the advowson fell to the Bishop of Salisbury, (fn. 67) who the next year transferred it to the Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 68) At the present day the living is a vicarage of the net yearly value of £217, with 12 acres of glebe and residence in the gift of the Bishop of Winchester.

The Congregational chapel was built in 1840 and has 200 sittings. There is also a Primitive Methodist chapel.

Charities

Dole Charities.—In 1706 Robert Mundy, by deed, at the request of his sister, Mary Mundy, gave 20s. a year for poor widows and widowers charged upon 4 acres of land near the village.

Luke Pearce, at a date unknown, but prior to 1753, gave 7s. 6d. a year, charged on land in Wildhearn in Andover, for the poor of Ibthrope in this parish. See also Richard Bunny's Charity below.

Charities for educational purposes:

Peter Dove by his will, dated in 1756, devised an annuity of £2 10s. charged on a malthouse and lands, known as Knights lands.

In 1756 William Jones, by deed, gave a rentcharge of £5 annually, charged on a farm in Ibthrope.

In 1775 Richard Bunny, by deed, gave £300 consols, the annual income to be applied in the relief of needy persons of the parish, and in placing out two children residing in that part of Upton which is within the parish to school.

In 1797 the Rev. Peter Debary, a former vicar, by his will directed the interest of a turnpike security of the value of £25 to be applied in the purchase of religious books or tracts for distribution amongst the parishioners.