BERWICK ST. LEONARD
Berwick St. Leonard (fn. 1) is a small parish 22 km.
west of Salisbury. (fn. 2) In 1934 the transfer to Hindon
of 230 a. in its south-west corner reduced it from
1,144 a. (463 ha.) to 370 ha. (fn. 3) Until then it was
shaped like an hourglass, 3 km. from north to south,
1.5 km. wide at the north and south ends, with a
waist of less than 1 km. a little south of the London—Exeter road. In 1986 the parish was extended southwards when a small part of Fonthill Gifford parish
was transferred to it. (fn. 4) The epithet St. Leonard,
echoing the invocation of the church, was used from
1276 or earlier, (fn. 5) but from the 16th century to the
19th the village was called alternatively Cold
Berwick. (fn. 6)
A tributary of the Nadder, which after heavy rain
rises nearby in Hindon, marked the southern parish
boundary until 1986; the northern boundary is on
the watershed between the rivers Nadder and
Wylye; the straight lines of the eastern boundary
with Fonthill Bishop were set out by the Berwick
inclosure commissioners and confirmed in 1840; (fn. 7)
and the western boundary followed a ridge, a road,
and a dry valley. Chalk outcrops over the whole
parish. (fn. 8) The land falls from over 213 m. at the
watershed to 107 m. by the stream. The dry valley
called Chicklade Bottom crosses the parish at its
waist. South of it Cold Berwick Hill reaches 180 m.
The geology and relief of the parish favoured sheepand-corn husbandry, and at the north end Berwick
Wood is part of the woodland of Great Ridge. (fn. 9)
The downland road from Amesbury to Mere
crossed the parish through Chicklade Bottom. It was
turnpiked in 1761 (fn. 10) with a branch taking coach
traffic north-east and south-west through Berwick
fields between Hindon and the New Inn, later
Chicklade Bottom Farm, in Fonthill Bishop. (fn. 11) The
Amesbury-Mere road increased in importance in the
20th century, especially after 1936, as part of the
main London-Exeter road (fn. 12) and has been improved.
The road from Hindon to Chicklade Bottom Farm
is, apart from a road leading northwards to it from
the church, the only other road in the parish to have
been made up. The road from Salisbury, Wilton,
and Barford St. Martin to Hindon and Mere may,
with the stream, have formed much of the southern
parish boundary. It was turnpiked under an Act of
1761 and apparently remade on the higher ground a
little further south. (fn. 13) The new road passes very near
the village but, until 1986 when it became the new
boundary, outside the parish except for a few metres
in the extreme south-west corner. The old road disappeared. The new was disturnpiked in 1870. (fn. 14) Since
the late 18th century tracks have led across the
downs to villages in the Wylye valley, serving Cold
Berwick Farm in the 18th century (fn. 15) and Bake Barn
in the late 19th and the 20th. (fn. 16) None was much used
in the late 20th.
Tax assessments of the 14th and 16th centuries
suggest that Berwick had little wealth or population. (fn. 17) The population numbered 36 in 1801 and 40
in 1861. Migration of farm labourers from Chicklade
to Berwick had caused an increase to 61 by 1871.
The population reached a peak of 79 in 1921 since
when it has steadily declined. (fn. 18) There were 24
inhabitants in 1981. (fn. 19)
There may have been Romano-British settlement
on the downs at the north end of the parish, (fn. 20) but
later Berwick village, typically Saxon in name (fn. 21) and
site, was at the south end beside the stream and the
old Wilton-Mere road. In the Middle Ages there
were presumably farm buildings near the church. (fn. 22)
In the earlier 17th century a manor house was built (fn. 23)
immediately south-west of the church and, possibly
about then, Cold Berwick Farm was built on Cold
Berwick Hill 1 km. north-west of the church and any
farm building near the church apparently removed.
In the late 18th century there were several houses or
cottages east of the church beside the stream, and a
farmhouse apparently of the 18th century west of
the church. (fn. 24) In the early 19th century Cold Berwick
Farm was demolished and the principal farmstead in
the parish was again near the church. (fn. 25) In 1983 its
very extensive farm buildings included survivors
from the early 19th century but most were later 19thand 20th-century. The apparently 18th-century
farmhouse also survived. East of the church a pair of
cottages is possibly one of the buildings standing
there in the 18th century. The others were replaced
in the mid 19th, later 19th, and possibly 20th century by two pairs and a trio of estate cottages in which
stone is the main walling material. North of the
church a pair of red-brick cottages was built c. 1900.
The manor house was removed between 1902 and
1904. (fn. 26) Berwick House and farm buildings beside the
Wilton-Mere road (fn. 27) are part of the village. With a
pair of cottages further east they were transferred to
the parish from Fonthill Gifford in 1986. (fn. 28) Outside
the village there were in the late 18th century farm
buildings 1 km. west of the church on land later
transferred to Hindon. (fn. 29) In 1983 there was a mid
20th-century house among 19th- and 20th-century
farm buildings on the site. A pair of cottages was
built beside the Wilton-Mere road west of the village in 1884; (fn. 30) Bake Barn, of stone and flint with
central transeptal entrances, was built on the downs
in the mid 19th century and other farm buildings
have since been erected around it; Berwick Hill
Dairy, a large farmstead including a bungalow, was
built on a levelled site beside the road from Hindon
to Chicklade Bottom Farm in 1980. (fn. 31)
Manor and other Estate.
The manor of
BERWICK ST. LEONARD was an endowment of
the abbey of Shaftesbury (Dors.) in the early 12th
century. (fn. 32) Berwick was not mentioned in Domesday
Book, an assessment of its land in 1086 may have
been included in the assessment of the abbey's Tisbury estate, and Berwick may have passed with
Tisbury in the 10th century and earlier. (fn. 33) In 1241
the abbess of Shaftesbury granted the manor for life
to Robert of Berwick and his wife Gode, daughter of
Robert le Gentil, (fn. 34) and grants for life were later
made to Roger of Purbeck and to his relict Joan (fl.
1278). Gode of Berwick was said to hold the manor
of the abbey at fee farm in 1242–3, but the claim of
William of Wylye, Robert of Berwick's nephew, to
the freehold in 1278 failed. (fn. 35) The manor reverted to
the abbey and in 1428 was assessed at ⅓ knight's fee. (fn. 36)
It passed to the Crown at the Dissolution and in
1545 was granted to William Powton (fn. 37) who in 1597
settled the manor on himself for life with remainder
to his son Edward. On William's death in 1599 a
third of it passed to his son James's son Constantine (fn. 38) (d. c. 1600). (fn. 39) In 1610 the whole manor was
conveyed, apparently by way of sale, by Edward
Powton and Constantine's brother, and possibly
heir, Francis Powton to Sir George Farewell. (fn. 40) In
1614 Farewell sold the manor to Sir Richard Grobham (d. 1629) who settled it on himself for life and,
for uses expressed in his will, on his executors for
the life of his brother John (will proved 1646) with
reversion to George, son of John Grobham of
Broomfield (Som.), a minor in 1629 and almost
certainly Sir Richard's grandnephew. (fn. 41) After John's
death c. 1646 the manor apparently passed to Sir
Richard's nephew Sir George Howe (d. 1647) (fn. 42)
whose son George Grobham Howe was created a
baronet in 1660. Sir George (d. 1676) was succeeded
by his son Sir James Howe (d. s.p. 1736) (fn. 43) who devised Berwick to his nephew Henry Lee Warner (fn. 44)
(d. 1760). Warner's heir was his son Henry Lee
Warner (d. 1804) who devised the manor to his first
cousin Mary Huntley's son Daniel Woodward. By
an Act of 1805 Woodward took the surnames Lee
Warner in place of Woodward; and in 1806, under
an Act passed in that year, he sold the manor to John
Benett. (fn. 45) In 1823 Benett sold it to John Farquhar (fn. 46)
who in 1826 sold it to Robert Grosvenor, Earl
Grosvenor, from 1831 marquess of Westminster. (fn. 47)
In 1838 Lord Westminster sold the manor to James
Morrison: (fn. 48) it has since passed in the Morrison
family with the Fonthill House estate, and in 1983
belonged to the Hon. J. I. Morrison. (fn. 49)
William Powton and Sir George Farewell lived at
Berwick, (fn. 50) presumably in the house which in 1612
was said to have previously been the rectory house. (fn. 51)
It may have been acquired by Powton in the 1560s,
when Edward Powton was rector and William or
James Powton was lessee of the rectory estate. (fn. 52) That
house was replaced by the manor house built south-west of the church in the earlier 17th century. (fn. 53)
William of Orange stayed in the house on his way to
London in 1688. (fn. 54) Both Henry Lee Warners seem to
have used it as a residence, (fn. 55) although perhaps not
frequently, (fn. 56) and the house may have been unoccupied long before the 1820s when it was used as a
barn. It had principal elevations of three gabled bays.
The south front had an elaborate open-sided central
porch and two-storeyed oriel windows with fretted
balustrades below the end bays. There was a low,
presumably service, east wing. (fn. 57) Between 1902 and
1904 it was demolished: the materials were re-used
as the centre part of Little Ridge, later called Fonthill House, in Chilmark parish. (fn. 58) That house was
largely demolished in 1972. (fn. 59)
The rector's glebe, 108 a., was bought in 1912,
and owned in 1983, by Wiltshire county council. (fn. 60)
Economic History.
Chilfinch Hill was
ploughed in prehistoric times. (fn. 61) Later and until the
19th century agriculture in Berwick conformed to
the pattern of the Wiltshire chalklands: there was
meadow beside the stream in the south, arable on the
lower chalk slopes nearer the village, rough pasture
on the higher downland north of that, and woodland
at the north end of the parish. (fn. 62) As normal, sheepand-corn husbandry predominated. (fn. 63)
Until the 19th century all the land of the parish
was part of Berwick St. Leonard manor. (fn. 64) In the
early 12th century there was demesne land and other
land reckoned as 1½ hide, 3 yardlands, and 37 a.
There was apparently open-field husbandry, and
presumably feeding in common on the downs. The
demesne was apparently then in hand. Of the
tenanted land a priest held ½ hide, an old man ½
yardland, and seven others a total of 1 hide, 2½ yardlands, and 3 a.: all except the priest and the old man
owed rent and labour service. The lord's smith,
shepherd, ploughman, two oxherds, and two other
men, presumably labourers, held a total of 34 a. (fn. 65) In
1225, when it supported 400 sheep, the demesne
seems to have been much more than half the parish:
eight tenants had totals of 100 sheep and 7 cows. (fn. 66)
In the late 15th century Shaftesbury abbey kept a
wether flock of over 200 at Berwick, (fn. 67) but the
demesne arable was apparently leased. There were
copyholds, open fields, and common pastures for
cattle and sheep. (fn. 68) In the early 16th century the
manor was at farm as a whole, apart from the right to
feed 300 wethers on the demesne pasture with the
farmer's wethers which at the Dissolution was
separately leased. (fn. 69) A lease of the manor in reversion
granted by the abbess in 1537 (fn. 70) was acquired by
William Powton (fn. 71) who bought the freehold in 1545. (fn. 72)
After 1545 Powton tried to expel the lessee Thomas
Hayter (fn. 73) and in 1562 a copyhold tenant of 2 yardlands. (fn. 74) In 1578 the justices ordered him to remove
a new hedge. (fn. 75) If Powton intended to bring all the
land in hand and to restrict open-field husbandry he
seems to have been largely successful. No later copyhold is known and no more than vestiges of such
husbandry remained to be removed by parliamentary
inclosure. (fn. 76)
A farm consisting of the former glebe house, 7 a.
of meadow, feeding rights for cattle and horses, and
possibly woodland was created by lease in 1612, (fn. 77)
but most of the parish seems to have been a single
farm. From before 1650 to the early 19th century,
when the lords of the manor were sometimes resident, (fn. 78) the farm may have included all but the manor
house, the lord's woodland, (fn. 79) and the rector's 3 a. of
woodland in the north-east corner of the parish and
2 a. east of the church. (fn. 80) In the later 18th century it
may have been worked from Cold Berwick Farm: (fn. 81)
there was only one farmhouse in the parish in 1783, (fn. 82)
presumably there. The farm measured 792 a. c. 1805
when there was also a largely arable holding of
52 a.: (fn. 83) c. 1807 the farm absorbed the smaller holding. (fn. 84) By 1817 new farm buildings had been erected
north of the church (fn. 85) and the manor house was later
used as a barn. (fn. 86) By 1822 Cold Berwick Farm had
been demolished. (fn. 87) The claim by the lord of the
manor of 'Fonthill', presumably Fonthill Bishop, to
pasture on 10 a. of down was extinguished by halving the land c. 1807. (fn. 88)
The parish was subject to an inclosure Act of
1818. The award was apparently effective from c.
1822 but not enrolled until 1840. In 1822 the parish
consisted of Berwick Bushes, 14 a., and Berwick
Wood, 191 a., the down, 431 a. mostly north of the
London-Exeter road, 414 a. of arable on each side
of the road from Hindon to Chicklade Bottom Farm,
and c. 45 a. of meadow and pasture in the south.
Adjoining Berwick Wood were Upper Pennings,
19 a., and Lower Pennings, 11 a., inclosures of,
respectively, pasture and arable, either converted
from woodland or hedged in from downland. The
principal effect of the award was to create a glebe
farm of 109 a. in the south-west corner of the parish
with buildings beside the road from Hindon to
Chicklade Bottom Farm. Berwick farm was then c.
820 a. (fn. 89)
By 1824 Part of the down had been ploughed (fn. 90)
and Bake Barn, erected on Chilfinch Hill before
1886, (fn. 91) was presumably on that part. Sheep-andcorn husbandry still predominated in the later 19th
century; only occasionally were root crops grown
more extensively than cereals and very few cows
were kept. (fn. 92) Berwick farm was tenanted in the early
20th century and in 1913 was in two parts, one based
on the buildings near the church, the other on those
at Bake Barn: the former glebe then included two
50-a. farms. Berwick farm was brought in hand in
1918 (fn. 93) and has since been directly managed by its
owners as part of their Fonthill House estate. (fn. 94) In
the 1930s there was more grassland in the south part
of the parish than earlier. (fn. 95) In 1980 Berwick Hill
Dairy was built to house 350 cows and extensive
covered sheep pens were erected at Bake Barn, and
in 1983 the parish was used for dairy, sheep, and
arable farming. (fn. 96) Since 1947 the former glebe land,
then in Hindon, has been a single farm which in
1983 was mainly devoted to dairying. (fn. 97)
Berwick Wood was said to contain no more than
100 oaks and ashes in 1545. (fn. 98) In the late 17th century and early 18th the wood was cut biennially. (fn. 99)
The 205 a. of woodland in 1822 were divided into
seven coppices, including Brick Kiln Copse and
Lime Pit Copse, (fn. 100) names suggesting uses to which
the wood may have been put in the 18th century and
early 19th. In 1983 the c. 200 a. of woodland were
used mainly for commercial forestry. (fn. 101)
Berwick fair was being held in the late 13th century, (fn. 102) presumably under an early grant to an abbess
of Shaftesbury or by prescription. It was held on St.
Leonard's day (6 November) in the late 16th century (fn. 103) and was still yearly in the early 17th. (fn. 104) In 1822
the fairground was near the site of Cold Berwick
Farm and there were permanent buildings for it. (fn. 105)
In 1824 the fair was said to be worth £22: (fn. 106) in 1848
it was a sheep and horse fair and wras still held on
6 November. By 1867 it had been discontinued. (fn. 107)
Local Government.
Manor courts for Berwick held by Shaftesbury abbey in the late 15th
century and early 16th proceeded partly on presentments by the homage. In them deaths of tenants
were reported and admittances witnessed, the lord's
right to residual customary services was claimed,
and agrarian custom declared and refined: the repair
of buildings and hedges was ordered, tenants were
amerced for not raising the lord's hay from a meadow
at Tisbury, and use of the common pastures was
restricted to inhabitants of Berwick. (fn. 108) The Crown
held a court in 1541. (fn. 109) It is unlikely that many courts
were held after the Dissolution since there were so
few copyholds. (fn. 110)
In the period 1783–5 the parish spent an average
of £12 a year on the poor. In 1802–3 only two adults
and five children, presumably a single family, were
permanently relieved. (fn. 111) Average expenditure had
risen to £46 by 1816–18, (fn. 112) but was £16 in the period
1833–5. In 1835 the parish joined Tisbury poor-law
union. (fn. 113) It became part of Salisbury district in
1974. (fn. 114)
Church.
There was presumably a church at
Berwick c. 1120 served by the clerk of St. Leonard
who held land and tithes as a tenant of Shaftesbury
abbey's manor of Tisbury. (fn. 115) A priest held the church
as the abbey's tenant c. 1130. (fn. 116) There was then no
right of burial at Berwick, and bodies were taken to
Tisbury. (fn. 117) The church later had all rights, from 1299
or earlier abbesses presented rectors, and the living
remained a rectory. (fn. 118) The inhabitants of Sedgehill,
who had been buried at Shaftesbury, became parishioners of Berwick in 1395 when a graveyard at
Sedgehill was consecrated and the church there was
annexed to the church of Berwick as a chapel. (fn. 119) In
circumstances which are obscure and may have
arisen from the exception of all advowsons but that
of Berwick St. Leonard church from the grant of
Berwick manor by the Crown in 1545, (fn. 120) the Crown
presented rectors of Sedgehill in 1619 and 1622, (fn. 121)
but after the Restoration Sedgehill church was again
a chapel of Berwick. (fn. 122) The chapelry was detached
in 1914. (fn. 123) The rectories of Berwick St. Leonard and
Fonthill Bishop were held in plurality from 1914
and united in 1916. The parishes were united in
1966. From 1939 the united benefice was held by the
rectors of Fonthill Gifford. (fn. 124) Berwick church was
declared redundant in 1973 and placed in the care of
the Redundant Churches Fund in 1976. (fn. 125)
The advowson belonged to Shaftesbury abbey
and none but an abbess is known to have presented
before the Dissolution. Thereafter it passed with the
manor until 1823: (fn. 126) John Benett presented in 1822.
John Maclntyre, a general serving the East India
Company, presented in 1823 and 1826, (fn. 127) presumably by grant of John Farquhar, formerly a gunpowder contractor in India, (fn. 128) who bought the manor
from Benett in 1823. (fn. 129) Maclntyre's right to present
was disputed by Benett, (fn. 130) possibly on the grounds
that he had not conveyed the advowson with the
manor. Benett had recovered the advowson by
1840 (fn. 131) and in 1847 he sold it to Richard Grosvenor,
marquess of Westminster. (fn. 132) It passed with the Fonthill Abbey estate to Lady Octavia Shaw-Stewart (fn. 133)
who in 1915 transferred it to the bishop of Oxford, (fn. 134)
already patron of Fonthill Bishop. (fn. 135) The patronage
of the united benefice of Berwick St. Leonard with
Fonthill Bishop was transferred to the bishop of
Salisbury in 1965. (fn. 136)
In the early 12th century the priest holding Berwick church held with it ½ hide with feeding rights,
wood for his fire, and other things from the manor,
and he was entitled to all tithes from Berwick. (fn. 137) The
yearly value of the church, £6 13s. 4d. in 1291, (fn. 138)
£8 6s. 8d. in 1535, (fn. 139) and £374 c. 1830, (fn. 140) was average.
From 1395 the rector presumably had the income
from Sedgehill. (fn. 141) The income from Berwick was
leased for £13 6s. 8d. c. 1570. (fn. 142) The rector had all
tithes and 5 a. of glebe in Berwick in 1677 and 1705
when he was also entitled to all tithes from Sedgehill. (fn. 143) At inclosure c. 1822 the tithes from Berwick
were exchanged for 104 a.: (fn. 144) the glebe in Berwick
was sold in 1912. (fn. 145) The income from Sedgehill was
assigned to the vicar of Sedgehill in 1914. (fn. 146) The
rector had a house at Berwick until it was somehow
attached to the manor, apparently in the later 16th
century. (fn. 147) He had a house in 1677 and 1705 (fn. 148) but
apparently not in 1783 (fn. 149) and certainly not at Berwick
in 1840. (fn. 150)
Stephen Duraunt, rector from 1300 to 1315 or
later, (fn. 151) was licensed to study for five years on condition that he appointed a chaplain. (fn. 152) Homilies were
delivered in place of sermons in 1553, (fn. 153) and in 1565,
when almost certainly Edward Powton was rector, (fn. 154)
it was reported that there had been no service for a
year. (fn. 155) John Cowte, rector from 1568 to c. 1572,
apparently served both Berwick and Sedgehill. (fn. 156)
George Powton and William Powton were rectors
respectively 1575–1605 and 1605–25 (fn. 157) and seem to
have lived at Berwick. (fn. 158) Thomas Aylesbury, pre
sented in 1625, (fn. 159) may have served the church for a
few years. (fn. 160) In the early 17th century chaplains served
Sedgehill. (fn. 161) Aylesbury held several other livings: he
was a Clubman, his Wiltshire livings were sequestrated between 1646 and 1648, and he was imprisoned. He was restored at Berwick, where the
intruder had been J. Barnes, in 1660. (fn. 162) In 1662 the
church had no Book of Homilies, no copy of Jewell's
Apology, no surplice, no register, and no table of
degrees. (fn. 163) In 1731 William Nairn was instituted to
both Berwick and Pertwood: (fn. 164) in 1767 John Nairn
was curate of both. (fn. 165) In 1783 a curate living at
Chicklade served Berwick, Fonthill Bishop, and
Fonthill Gifford, holding a Sunday service at each.
Communion was celebrated at Berwick four times a
year with no more than five or six parishioners. (fn. 166)
From c. 1826 to 1914 rectors lived at Sedgehill (fn. 167) and
curates continued to serve Berwick. (fn. 168) The curate
lived at East Knoyle in 1864. He held either a morning or an afternoon service on Sundays with an
average congregation of 22; he held services on
Christmas day, Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday
at which the average congregation was increased to
40 by non-parishioners; and he administered the
sacrament four times a year to some 10 communicants of whom half came from other parishes. (fn. 169) The
church was closed in 1966. (fn. 170)
The church of ST. LEONARD, so called in the
late 13th century, (fn. 171) is of flint and limestone rubble
with ashlar dressings, and consists of a chancel and
a nave with a south porch surmounted by a low
tower. The nave is 12th-century. The chancel was
possibly rebuilt in the early 14th century when the
porch and tower were added and new windows set in
the nave. (fn. 172) In 1861 the chancel was rebuilt and the
church was provided with new roofs, windows, and
interior fittings. (fn. 173)
Plate weighing 2 oz. was taken for the king in 1553
and a chalice of 10 oz. was left. New plate consisting
of a chalice, a paten, and two flagons, all hallmarked
for 1674, was given in 1677. (fn. 174) In 1969 a flagon was
sold to raise money to repair Fonthill Bishop church:
the remainder of the plate was in the care of the
Redundant Churches Fund in 1983. (fn. 175) Two bells
hung in the church in 1553. They were replaced by
a bell cast by William Cockey in 1725 and another
dated 1766, both apparently rehung in the early 19th
century. (fn. 176) The registers date from 1723. (fn. 177)
Nonconformity.
Most of the 28 dissenters in
the parish in 1676 (fn. 178) presumably lived at Sedgehill. (fn. 179)
There is no unequivocal evidence of dissent in
Berwick St. Leonard.
Education.
In 1818 there was a day school in
Berwick said to be attended by some 20 children, (fn. 180)
presumably most from other parishes since the
population of Berwick was only 44 in 1821. (fn. 181) There
was no school in the parish in 1833 (fn. 182) and children
living in Berwick have since gone to school in Fonthill Bishop, (fn. 183) Hindon, (fn. 184) and possibly elsewhere.
Charity for the Poor.
The income from
£5 stock bequeathed by William Bisse was being
distributed to the poor in the 1660s. (fn. 185) That charity
was afterwards lost and no other endowed charity for
parishioners is known.