RELIGIOUS HISTORY
A chapel subject to the former minster at Bampton was
built at Alvescot in the early 12th century; from the 13th
century it was effectively an independent rectory, though
Bampton retained burial rights until after the Reformation. The benefice was not well endowed, attracting few
prominent careerists, and some medieval rectors were
apparently local men who probably resided; certainly
from the Reformation the church seems usually to have
been adequately served, albeit sometimes by curates, and
in the 19th and early 20th century three rectors were
successive members of the resident Neate family, who
from the 1850s were also lords of the manor. A sizable
Quaker group in the late 17th century and early 18th was
supported by the Kirbys of Park Farm, but declined, like
the associated Witney group, in the later 18th century.
Particular Baptist and Primitive Methodist chapels were
opened in the 1830s and 1840s, winning adherents
among labourers and small tradesmen despite the efforts
of successive rectors; the Methodist chapel closed in the
1880s, but the Baptist one continued until the later 20th
century.
The Parish Church
Origins and Status
In the late Anglo-Saxon period all or part of Alvescot lay
within a large parochia centred on Bampton minster. A
chapel subject to Bampton was founded by Richard de la
Mare, lord of Alvescot manor, in or before the early 12th
century, when it was the subject of an agreement over
parochial rights: only Richard's tenants were to attend
the chapel, and the clerk serving it was to attend
Bampton on specified feast days and to pay 2 sesters of
wheat a year to Bampton church. (fn. 1) Henry de la Mare
presented to the 'chapel' in 1228–9, (fn. 2) but from the mid
13th century it was usually called a church and was
treated as an independent rectory, (fn. 3) notwithstanding
claims by Bampton in 1318 and later. (fn. 4) In the 13th
century it was dedicated to St Nicholas, (fn. 5) but in the 18th
and 19th centuries its dedication was uncertain, (fn. 6) and by
1881 it was dedicated to St Peter. (fn. 7)
The church had baptismal rights by the early 13th
century, the date of the existing font, (fn. 8) but burial was at
Bampton until the late 16th century. (fn. 9) Two bushels of
wheat were still paid to Bampton in the early 15th
century, (fn. 10) but by 1535 the rector apparently owed only
an annual pension of 13s. 4d.; half that amount may
originally have been for parochial rights granted by
Bampton to Clanfield church, which paid 6s. 8d. to the
rector of Alvescot from the 13th century or earlier. (fn. 11)
Both pensions continued in 1685, and the payment to
Bampton in the early 19th century. (fn. 12)
In 1963 the benefice was united with Shilton and part
of Black Bourton, and in 1979 Holwell and Westwell
were added to the united benefice. (fn. 13) In 1995 that benefice
was merged with Broadwell, Broughton-Poggs-withFilkins, Kelmscott, Kencot, Langford, and Little
Faringdon to form the benefice of Shill Valley and
Broadshire. (fn. 14)
Advowson
Around 1267 the advowson escheated with Alvescot
manor to the Crown, which retained it until 1540. (fn. 15)
Cecily de Mucegros unsuccessfully claimed it as lady of
the manor c. 1276. (fn. 16) It was reunited with the manor from
1540 to 1810, when Richard Gorges Fettiplace's coheirs
sold it to Thomas Neate of Binfield (Berks.), who
assigned it to his son Thomas, then rector of Alvescot.
Thomas sold it in 1825 to the Revd Henry Elliott
Graham, briefly curate of Alvescot, but recovered it in
1828, and it remained with the Neates, lords of Alvescot
from 1853. (fn. 17) In 1996 patronage of the united benefice
was shared by a descendant, O. N. Colvile. (fn. 18) Turns were
granted in 1608 and 1701, and in the late 18th century
and the 19th many presentations were by trustees. (fn. 19)
Endowment
No endowment was specified at the church's foundation. In the mid 13th century Gunnore de la Mare
confirmed 2 a. granted by her brother Henry for wine
and offerings, and gave another 2 a. with commons for 9
beasts and 60 sheep; possibly those were the 4 a. held by a
tenant of Alvescot manor in 1279 for 1d. and the obligation of keeping two lamps burning in the church. (fn. 20) The
rector in 1279 held two half-yardlands freely for 2d. rent,
apparently in his own right. (fn. 21) In 1291 the rectory,
evidently including the Clanfield pension, was valued at
only £4 13s. 4d. a year, of which £2 4s. 4d. was said in
1341 to derive from glebe and from hay and small
tithes. (fn. 22) In 1503 it was allegedly worth no more than £3
6s. 8d. a year, (fn. 23) though in 1535 it was valued at almost £9
clear. (fn. 24) The whole rectory estate, including tithes, was
sometimes let in the 16th century and earlier 17th. (fn. 25)
By 1685 the glebe comprised 22½ a. of arable and 6 a.
of meadow, with commons for 6 beasts, 2 horses, and 40
sheep; then and later the rector received tithes from
some 40 a. of detached meadow by the Thames, and
from most of the parish except for Pitlands or Puttes
farm (2½ yardlands), which was tithable to Clanfield,
and Bazeland closes, the tithes of which were shared
between Clanfield and Alvescot. (fn. 26) Milk tithes were said
in 1704 to have been taken up only twice in 50 years, and
then only from May to Lammas (1 August). (fn. 27) At
inclosure in 1796 the rector received 338 a. for glebe and
tithes, together with a corn rent of around £50 to be reassessed every 14 years, charged on 274 a. of old inclosures
not made tithe-free. (fn. 28) Tithes of the Thames-side
meadows, compounded for in the early 19th century at
the rate of 4s. 6d. an acre, were commuted for a further
rent charge of £109s. in 1845. (fn. 29) In 1818 the benefice was
worth £300 or more, net income in 1893 being around
£275 and in 1896 around £184, chiefly from glebe. (fn. 30) Net
income in 1916 was £267. (fn. 31) Part of the glebe was sold in
1944. (fn. 32)
Rectory House
A house let with the 4 a. in 1279 perhaps belonged to the
rectory, (fn. 33) and there seems to have been a house in 1441,
perhaps already on the later site near the village's
southern edge. (fn. 34) The rectory house was there certainly
by around 1600, (fn. 35) though its distance from the church
suggests that it was not part of the original endowment.
In the early 16th century it was seriously dilapidated, (fn. 36)
and in 1662 and 1665 it was taxed on 4 hearths; (fn. 37) in 1685
there was a large hall, a parlour, a kitchen and milkhouse
with two butteries, and 5 chambers with a garrett, and
outbuildings included stabling and, in 1787, a barn. (fn. 38)
The existing L-shaped building, two-storeyed with attics
and chiefly of limestone rubble, has been successively
remodelled and extended, and externally appears Georgian; no evidence remains of the 17th-century house
except, perhaps, for a lower ceiling in the southeasternmost room. (fn. 39) A part was rebuilt in 1703, (fn. 40) in 1787
there were extensive repairs and refurbishings, (fn. 41) and by
1796 the house had reached almost its present size. (fn. 42) In
1808 it was 'considerably enlarged and completely
repaired', (fn. 43) and probably then the gabled south front was
made more regular, with tripartite sash windows. A new
entrance was made in the north-west service wing in the
later 19th century. Later alterations followed the house's
sale in 1963, after which incumbents of the united
benefice lived at Shilton: (fn. 44) in 1968 the north-west service
wing was truncated and altered internally, and in 1972
the north front was remodelled as the main approach
and was made more symmetrical, with new sash and
circular windows, and a porch with Roman Doric
columns. The entrance hall and staircase were added at
that time. (fn. 45)
Pastoral Care and Religious Life
William de la Mare, presented in 1228–9, and Hugh de
la Penne, presented in 1295, were presumably relatives
of the lords of Alvescot and Alwoldsbury respectively. (fn. 46)
From the late 13th century to the earlier 16th all or most
rectors were Crown presentees, though few, particularly
in the 14th century, are known to have been university
graduates or royal clerks, a reflection presumably of the
benefice's comparative poverty. (fn. 47) Exceptions included
Nicholas Bubwith (1381–7), later bishop of London,
Salisbury, and Bath and Wells, (fn. 48) and some other rectors
were perhaps related to minor royal officials. (fn. 49) Long
incumbencies included those of Thomas Somenour
(1362–?81), who probably resided, (fn. 50) and Henry Halle
(1448–68), possibly a local man, (fn. 51) but in the 14th and
15th centuries there were frequent exchanges of
benefices, and several rectors remained for only a year or
two. (fn. 52) An acolyte mentioned in 1290 and a chaplain in
1396 were perhaps parochial assistants. (fn. 53) In 1503 the
rector held Alvescot in plurality by papal dispensation, (fn. 54)
and in the 1520s the rector was non-resident and had a
curate who resided only occasionally. Since both the
rectory house and the chancel were then in disrepair religious life, too, may have been neglected, (fn. 55) though
curates who witnessed local wills in the mid 16th century
were presumably resident. (fn. 56) Lay piety is suggested by
small chantries suppressed at the Dissolution: land in
Shilton given for obsequies in Alvescot church was sold
to speculators in 1575, (fn. 57) and an enquiry into concealed
chantry lands in 1581 mentioned property worth 13s.
4d. in Alvescot, Alwoldsbury, and Kelmscott, formerly
belonging to Edington monastery. (fn. 58)
Late 16th-century rectors accepted the Elizabethan
religious settlement, though Edmund Sharpe (rector
1558–77) was evidently related to a former Augustinian
canon who was living in the parish in 1561. (fn. 59) All late
16th- and early 17th-century rectors seem to have
resided at least occasionally and to have been involved in
local life, though the rector in 1610 let the rectory estate
and had a curate and 'vicar'. (fn. 60) Thomas Temple, instituted in 1627, was a brother of the lady (through
marriage) of Alvescot manor, but lived mostly at
Bourton-on-the-Water (Glos.). As an active royalist and
chaplain to the Prince of Wales he was removed in 1646,
and though he resisted the sequestration he voluntarily
resigned the benefice at the Restoration. (fn. 61) His successor
Walter Powell, who had served the church from c. 1652
or earlier, resided until his death in 1701, and was
followed by another long-lived rector, Samuel Adams
(d. 1750). (fn. 62) Local Quakers refusing the sacrament in the
1680s included members of the prominent Kirby family
and their servants, but many of the group came from
outside Alvescot, and by the early 18th century Dissent
in the parish was not especially strong. (fn. 63)
Throughout the 18th century and earlier 19th there
were usually two Sunday services with one sermon, and
communion four times a year attended by up to 20
communicants. Children were catechized for part of the
year. Most rectors resided, one (Samuel Adams) in a
private house, though in the 1770s and 1780s both the
rector and his curate lived elsewhere and allowed the
rectory house to decay, prompting complaints from
churchwardens. William Higginson (1792–5) evidently
shared the cure with his son, who succeeded him, (fn. 64) establishing a pattern which continued in the 19th century.
Successive rectors in the early 1790s were involved in a
long-running dispute with parishioners over repair of
mounds around the churchyard, which in 1793 was
allegedly in 'great disorder' caused by a neighbouring
farmer's cattle. (fn. 65)
Nineteenth-century rectors included successive
members of the Neate family, who from the 1850s were
also lords of Alvescot manor. Thomas Neate (rector
1808–29), though also vicar of Shilton and latterly
non-resident through ill health, repaired the church and
rectory house, and established a Sunday school at his
own expense. (fn. 66) His son Arthur (rector 1829–70), judged
'clever' and 'active' by the bishop, increased communion
to once a month, serving both Alvescot (where he
resided) and Shilton without a curate. Average congregations were around 100, about a quarter of the population, (fn. 67) and a choir was mentioned in 1872. (fn. 68) W. M. H.
Church (1870–6) restored the church, and in 1875 there
was a small Deaconess house community of two sisters
under his direction; one sister, a nurse, held cottage bible
classes, while the other helped in the school, and both
worked 'constantly' among the poor. (fn. 69) Arthur Neate's
son Walter (rector 1878–1916) also resided, and in the
1880s blamed falling church attendance chiefly on
Dissent: Baptists and Primitive Methodists had been
active in the parish from the 1830s and 1840s, attracting
mostly agricultural labourers. (fn. 70) There were some long
incumbencies during the earlier 20th century, when
Alvescot continued to be held with Shilton; Baptists
continued in the parish throughout that period. (fn. 71)
Church Architecture
The church of St Peter, (fn. 72) built of coursed limestone
rubble with stone-slated roofs, is cruciform and has a
three-stage embattled tower with stair turret. (fn. 73) The plan
of chancel and short aiseless nave with transeptal chapels
seems to have been established by the early 13th century,
to judge from the plinth round the chancel and east sides
of the chapels; of that date are the arch into the north
chapel and the chapel's east window, the blocked north
doorway of the nave, a chancel window, and the square
font with angle shafts. The existing south doorway is
14th-century, with a contemporary porch attached to
the south wall of the south chapel, whose east wall has a
14th-century piscina. (fn. 74) During the 15th century the arch
into the south chapel was rebuilt, apparently blocking an
existing squint into the chancel, the chancel arch was
rebuilt, and the nave was reroofed; 15th-century stone
corbels indicate its original line. Traces of wall paintings
survive on the south face of the south chapel arch, and in
a 15th-century niche at the nave's east end. (fn. 75) The tower
was added perhaps about 1499, when a parishioner left
100 sheep or 100s. towards its building. (fn. 76) New windows
were also inserted in the nave (whose large south
window is similar to one in the tower), and in the east
walls of the chapels, though the chancel was in serious
disrepair in the 1520s. (fn. 77)
The south end of the south chapel was rebuilt in the
late 16th or early 17th century, with a plain three-light
window and a high, moulded plinth, work possibly associated with repairs to lead, glass, windows, and walls
financed by a church rate in 1631. (fn. 78) The porch may also
have been rebuilt. The remains of a round-headed
doorway in the west wall of the north transept may be
associated with its use by the Turfrey family, who in the
1620s claimed it as virtually a private chapel, prompting
disputes after pews were erected there for the lord's
servants; the claim was apparently overturned after it
was proven that all parishioners shared in its upkeep. (fn. 79)
Family pews were noted also in the south transept, (fn. 80) and
a west gallery mentioned in 1866 (fn. 81) was perhaps of
17th-century origin. Repairs to the chancel were
mentioned c. 1728, and to the roof in 1807, (fn. 82) while a
'thorough repair' in 1811 (fn. 83) perhaps involved major alterations to the chancel, said in 1823 to have been 'rebuilt
not many years since'. (fn. 84) In the mid 19th century the
chancel had no east window and no visible medieval
features, two segmental-headed sash windows in its
south wall flanking a modern central doorway. (fn. 85)
Despite alterations to the tower entrance in 1861 and
a collection towards the fabric in 1865, (fn. 86) in 1871 the
church was 'dilapidated', and in 1871–2 a major restoration was carried out to designs by W. Slater and R. H.
Carpenter of London, the cost met by mortgage,
subscriptions, and grants from the Diocesan Church
Building Society. (fn. 87) The builder was Robert Plaster of
Bampton. The chancel was rebuilt using Taynton stone
and old materials, with new windows in Decorated style,
and new north windows were inserted in the north
chapel. The chapel roofs were replaced and the nave roof
was rebuilt, re-using 17th- or 18th-century tie-beams.
Squints from chapels to chancel were reopened, necessitating the insertion of a narrow arch east of the south
chapel arch. Ceilings and the west gallery were removed,
and all the doors were replaced; the church was refloored
and repewed, and heating was installed.
Discovered in the chancel during the restoration were
two tiny niches, perhaps for sanctus bells, and a 13th-century window with a bookrest within its east jamb,
both in the north wall. In the east wall was found a
miscellany of stonework probably used for repairs, but
mistakenly thought to have belonged to an Easter Sepulchre and a reredos; the fragments were assembled
against the chancel's north wall, the structure incorporating part of a gravestone of 1804. A family vault on the
chancel's north side, perhaps that in which Sir William
Ashcombe was buried in 1627 (fn. 88) and which had caused
the north wall to crack, was filled in. A medieval stone
altar found beneath the north chapel was used in the
chancel as a communion table, and piscina fragments
were set in the chancel south wall. The triple-decker
pulpit was replaced, and an hour-glass stand, probably
18th-century, was restored. New fittings installed in
1871–2 included choir stalls, the elaborate stone reredos
on the east wall, and stained glass in the window above,
made in Munich in memory of the rector Arthur Neate.
Heraldic glass mentioned in the early 18th century (fn. 89) is
lost.
A north vestry was added around 1883 in memory of
Martha Ann Nalder (d. 1882), and a lean-to boiler
house, later demolished, was built into the angle
between it and the chancel about 1925. (fn. 90) Electric lighting
was introduced in 1938 (fn. 91) and a derelict harmonium was
replaced with an electric organ in 1962. (fn. 92) In 1955 the
churchyard was extended eastwards. (fn. 93) Restoration in the
1980s included re-covering the roof with stone slates. (fn. 94)
Memorials include a brass in the south transept to
Alice Malorye (d. 1579/80), and elaborate marble wall
tablets to Goddard Carter (d. 1725), the rector Samuel
Adams (d. 1750), and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1728). The
plate, some of it stolen in 1973 and the rest in 1995,
included a silver paten of 1694 given in 1702, a silver
flagon of 1711, a silver almsplate of 1788 acquired in
1826, and an almsdish commemorating members of the
Neate family, given in 1973. (fn. 95) A ring of four bells was
recast as a ring of five by Abraham Rudhall II of Gloucester in 1727; the third was recast by R. and J. Wells of
Aldbourne (Wilts.) in 1796, and the second by George
Mears of the Whitechapel foundry in 1859, all five bells
being rehung. (fn. 96) A new frame was installed in 1978–80,
and a sixth (treble) bell was added in 1985. (fn. 97) The registers begin in 1663. (fn. 98)
Nonconformity
A former Augustinian canon lived in Alvescot in 1561, (fn. 99)
and a few mid 16th-century wills contained Roman
Catholic invocations, (fn. 100) but only Protestant Dissent was
recorded later. John Saunders of Butlers Court was associated in the 1660s with the Presbyterian Samuel Birch,
and may have been one of the 'friends' from Alvescot
who attended a conventicle at Birch's vicarage house in
Bampton in 1660. (fn. 101) No other Presbyterians were noted,
but from the late 17th century to the mid 18th there was
a sizable Quaker group, succeeded in the 19th century by
Baptists and by Primitive Methodists drawn mostly
from poorer inhabitants. A slight fall in church attendance around 1887 was attributed by the rector to the
Salvation Army. (fn. 102)
11. Alvescot Particular Baptist chapel in 1986, shortly before its closure
Society of Friends (Quakers)
A group of 30 or more Quakers met by the later 1660s in
the house of an Alvescot bodice-maker, where local JPs
broke up a meeting in 1675; some of the group were
prosperous, though many came from outside Alvescot
parish. (fn. 103) Eleven Nonconformists noted in 1676 and 24
inhabitants (including wives and servants) who refused
the sacrament in 1685 were probably also Quakers, and
included members of the prominent Kirby family, who
seem to have hosted meetings probably at Park Farm. (fn. 104) In
1701 the meeting was temporarily moved to the house of
the farmer Henry Briscoe (d. 1715), after doubts were
raised about Richard Kirby's suitability; in 1708,
however, a meeting house was built near Park Farm on
land given by Walter Kirby (d. c. 1719), some £10 of the
£50 cost being collected from within Alvescot. (fn. 105)
Marriages were recorded from the late 17th century and
burials from the early 18th, though in 1718 some gravestones were ordered to be removed. (fn. 106) Thereafter the
group declined: in 1738 only one worshipper (a 'poor
woman') came from within the parish, and from 1754 or
earlier monthly meetings only were held. Repairs, paid
for by the Witney meeting, were noted in 1762, but by
1759 there were no resident Quakers, and in 1771 all
members were either 'dead or removed'. (fn. 107) Meetings were
quarterly from 1773 and were discontinued in 1786,
after which the chapel was 'seldom used'. About 1811 it
was demolished, and in 1823 the graveyard was sold. (fn. 108)
Baptists
An Independent or Anabaptist at Alvescot was mentioned in 1738, and in 1774 an Alvescot Anabaptist
attended a meeting house 'some way away', perhaps at
Cote in Bampton parish. (fn. 109) Particular or Strict Baptists
established a group in Alvescot in 1833, and the same
year a rubble-and-slate chapel with 160 sittings (Fig. 11)
was built south of the main road on land provided by
E. H. Butler of Faringdon, the owner of Butlers Court. (fn. 110)
Members included local farmers and agricultural
labourers. (fn. 111) Average attendance in 1850–1 was said to be
120 for the morning service, though in 1854 the rector
asserted that most were outsiders, and that within
Alvescot there were no more than a dozen Dissenters;
certainly the 1851 return was signed by a Clanfield
grocer. (fn. 112) Dissent was nevertheless acknowledged to be
more 'palatable' and 'intelligible' to the poor, and by the
mid 1870s there were nearly 30 resident Dissenters,
although many attended church services also. By 1881
there were 40 Dissenters including children, many of
them newcomers to the parish; (fn. 113) most were probably
Particular Baptists, (fn. 114) and in 1880 the reopening of the
'Calvinistic' (i.e. Particular Baptist) chapel, presumably
after refurbishment, was attended by 200 from the
surrounding area. (fn. 115) Large numbers reportedly attended
the chapel in the late 19th century and early 20th, when
converts were sometimes baptized in Shill brook near
the mill, and the chapel remained open in 1972. (fn. 116) It was
closed and became a private house about 1987. (fn. 117)
Primitive Methodists
A meeting house licence in 1842 (fn. 118) related perhaps to
Primitive Methodists, who held meetings in Alvescot by
1843. The group, with 8 members in 1844, belonged to
the Filkins mission, which from 1845 formed part of the
Highfield circuit and from 1873 of the Faringdon
circuit. (fn. 119) A chapel with 100 sittings was built south of the
Kencot—Black Bourton road in 1850–1, on land reportedly given by E. H. Butler; (fn. 120) the building was sold to Frederick Butler in 1860, but was leased back and continued
as a chapel. (fn. 121) Average attendance in 1850–1 was allegedly
100, but membership fell from 17 in 1862 to 7 ten years
later, when 'interference' from the rector was blamed for
the break-up of the Primitive Methodist Sunday
school. (fn. 122) Declining attendance at the parish church was
blamed in 1881 on opposition from the chapel's
non-resident supporters, (fn. 123) but by 1885–6 the chapel had
been unused for services for some years and was
converted into a parish reading room. (fn. 124)