RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Black Bourton had its own church by the mid 12th
century, apparently jointly established by the lords of
two Black Bourton manors. From the 13th century it
was an independent vicarage, though the former minster
church at Bampton retained burial rights until the
1580s. The benefice's relative poverty ensured that the
church was served usually by obscure resident vicars;
many seem to have been conscientious, though there
were periods of relative neglect particularly in the 16th
and 18th centuries, reversed in the 19th by the dynamic
attentions of the long-serving vicar James Lupton. Some
of the Hungerford family, resident lords of Bourton
Winslow and Bourton Inge manors, were Roman Catholic recusants in the late 16th and 18th centuries, but
seem to have had little influence, and Protestant
Nonconformity, too, remained minimal until the early
19th century, when a Primitive Methodist chapel was
established despite opposition from the vicar. The
chapel continued until the later 20th century.
The Parish Church
Origins and Status
In the late Anglo-Saxon period Black Bourton formed
part of a large area dependent on Bampton minster. A
chapel subject to Bampton was built at Black Bourton
before the mid 12th century, presumably by lords of
Bourton Winslow and Bourton Inge manors, who in the
1170s shared the advowson. (fn. 1) From the early 13th
century it was treated usually as an independent church, (fn. 2)
though Bampton, which still claimed it as a chapel in
1318, (fn. 3) retained burial rights until around 1581, (fn. 4) and in
the mid 16th century both the church and one of the
manors were sometimes said to lie within Bampton
parish. (fn. 5) The church was baptismal probably from its
foundation, since the font is late 12th-century, and from
the early 13th century the benefice was a vicarage. (fn. 6) By
1743 the church was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin; its
medieval dedication is unknown. (fn. 7)
In 1963 the ecclesiastical parish was divided, the
northern part, including Carterton, being united with
Brize Norton. The southern part, including Black
Bourton village and church, was merged with Alvescot
and Shilton to form a new united benefice, to which
Holwell and Westwell were added in 1979. In 1995 all
those places became part of the large united benefice of
Shill Valley and Broadshire. (fn. 8)
Advowson
Shortly before 1180 Ralph Murdac and Hugh of
Bourton, lords of two Black Bourton manors, each gave
half the advowson to Osney abbey, undertaking to
obtain delivery of the church from the two clerks then
holding it. (fn. 9) In the 1190s the bishop of Lincoln appropriated half the church to Osney abbey at Ralph's 'presentation', implying that Ralph had retained some claim, and
before 1235 Bishop Hugh of Wells allowed appropriation of the other half and ordained a vicarage. (fn. 10) The
advowson remained with the abbey until the Dissolution, passing in 1546, with the rectory estate, to the
dean and chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, which
retained joint patronage of the united benefice in the
1990s. (fn. 11) The Crown presented in 1597, perhaps following uncertainty over Christ Church's title, (fn. 12) and by
agreement in 1660. (fn. 13)
Endowment
The chapel's original endowment included apparently
1½ yardlands. The vicarage ordained in the early 13th
century comprised ½ yardland (later 11 a. of arable with
1½ a. of meadow), tithes of the remaining yardland and
of mills, and hay tithes of all the villeins. Later vicars
retained those and other small tithes throughout the
parish, (fn. 14) which were still collected in kind in the mid
18th century. (fn. 15) The vicarage was valued at its ordination
at £3 6s. 8d., but in 1254 at only £2, and the living
remained poor, worth not more than £45 in 1707 when
it was discharged of tenths and first fruits. (fn. 16) For much of
the 16th century the vicarage was let, and the church was
served by substitutes. (fn. 17)
At inclosure in 1770 the vicar received 14 a. for his ½
yardland and 107 a. for commuted tithes, which with
hay tithes from 45 a. of old inclosure and from
uninclosed meadow by the Thames brought the gross
value by 1778 to nearly £120, and in 1841 to £160. (fn. 18) The
remaining tithes, usually compounded for, were
commuted in 1845 for a rent charge of £27 10s., (fn. 19) and in
1864 Christ Church gave £3 a year previously awarded
for rectorial tithes. (fn. 20) The balance of funds raised between
1841 and 1844 for a new vicarage house, not all required
for that purpose, was invested in Queen Anne's Bounty,
and in 1868 total income was c. £293, of which £253
came from land and tithe rents and £40 from the
Bounty. (fn. 21) The vicar's land was sold in 1920 with the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners' permission. (fn. 22)
Vicarage House
A chaplain's house included in the vicarage ordination
stood probably east of the Burford road, site of the
vicarage house certainly by the 17th century. (fn. 23) In 1530,
when probably unoccupied, the house was in serious
disrepair. (fn. 24) In 1634 it included a possibly free-standing
kitchen of 2 bays, and in the mid 17th century there were
four principal ground-floor rooms and four first-floor
chambers, besides a cellar, two smaller rooms, and a
garret; (fn. 25) the house was taxed in the 1660s on 5 hearths. (fn. 26)
A fire probably in the mid 17th century seems to have
destroyed mostly outbuildings, and in 1686 there
remained 13 rooms, considered more than adequate for
such a modest living. (fn. 27) The parlour and a hall chamber
were 'new boarded' in the 1670s, and in 1732 a
double-flued chimney was built in the hall. (fn. 28)
In the late 18th and early 19th century the house was
an irregular building aligned east-west, with wings
projecting northwards, and with outbuildings to the
east. (fn. 29) During the same period it was let first to tenant
farmers and later to labourers, and fell into disrepair; (fn. 30) a
new house was built on the same site in 1842–3, paid for
by the vicar with help from Christ Church, Queen
Anne's Bounty, and other trusts. (fn. 31) That house was sold c.
1962, when a vicarage house was built at Carterton, and
after 1963 Black Bourton church was served from
Shilton. (fn. 32)
Pastoral Care and Religious Life
In the late 12th century Black Bourton seems, exceptionally, to have been served by two clerks or chaplains,
presented or installed by the two lords who claimed
patronage. (fn. 33) Medieval vicars presented from the 13th
century presumably resided, and, despite some
exchanges of benefices in the early 14th century, several
stayed for long periods and some for life. (fn. 34) All were
obscure, reflecting the poverty of the living, and though
an early 14th-century vicar briefly studied at Oxford (fn. 35)
only one medieval incumbent was possibly a university
graduate. (fn. 36) A vicar was presented in 1454, (fn. 37) but by the
early 16th century and probably earlier the vicar's
endowment was leased to local laymen, and the church
was served by canons from Osney abbey or by stipendiary curates, who were appointed by the lessee of the
vicarage and who in 1535 received £6 6s. 8d. a year. (fn. 38) A
curate who in 1508 witnessed a local will may have
resided, but by 1520 a canon attended only on Sundays,
and the church's dilapidation perhaps reflected more
general neglect: (fn. 39) in 1530 services were held by a
different curate or canon every week. (fn. 40) Possibly such
abuses contributed to the spread of heretical views:
Andrew Maisey, lessee of Osney abbey's Black Bourton
manor, was among several west Oxfordshire people
accused of heresy c. 1521, though he apparently
remained in the parish some years afterwards. (fn. 41) Later
16th-century curates were evidently more satisfactory,
and all subscribed to the Elizabethan religious settlement, though none was a university graduate. In 1593
the curate was 'tolerable'. (fn. 42)
From 1597 vicars were again presented. (fn. 43) James
Godman (vicar 1597–1638), like most of his successors
a graduate of Christ Church, resided despite having land
at Kencot, and apparently ran a school; his non-resident
successor appointed a curate, but thereafter until the
mid 18th century most vicars resided. (fn. 44) In 1647 the vicar
Thomas Hill was deprived following a parish petition, to
be replaced by an intruded minister who had served the
cure since 1646, and who was himself deprived in
1660. (fn. 45) His successor Christopher Reade (d. 1663),
though a Crown presentee, seems to have had connections with the local Presbyterian Henry Cornish. (fn. 46)
In 1738 there were two Sunday services with one
sermon, and prayers were read on holidays and most
Fridays. Children were catechized at Lent and the sacrament was celebrated four times a year. (fn. 47) Charles Knollys
(vicar 1732–71), styled earl of Banbury, lived at Burford
from 1747, riding weekly or fortnightly to conduct
services at Black Bourton and at Yelford, (fn. 48) and for 70
years after his death the parish was served by mostly
non-resident curates, of whom several served other
churches as well. For much of the earlier 19th century
only one Sunday service was held despite complaints
from the bishop, and the number of communicants fell
from 30 in 1738 to under 10 by 1802, rising slightly
thereafter. (fn. 49)
30. Black Bourton church from the south-east in 1821
James Lupton, vicar 1827–73, resided from c. 1843 to
1860, and transformed the parish, building a new
vicarage house and school, restoring the church,
possibly instituting a choir mentioned in 1866, and by
his own account raising the 'moral condition' of the
parishioners. By 1859 most reportedly exhibited
'favourable' feelings towards the Church, though during
the same period, and despite Lupton's avowed hostility,
Primitive Methodism appears to have flourished, particularly among poorer inhabitants. (fn. 50) Lupton's successor
William Price (1874–99), though conscientious, did not
reside constantly and was latterly old and infirm, and in
1884 the parish was served by a non-resident curate
from Oxford. Parochial life seems not to have suffered
unduly and, though several inhabitants of outlying
farmhouses attended churches in other parishes, church
attendance continued to rise, helped reportedly by
installation of new lighting in 1883. There were then
three Sunday services and a monthly sacrament. (fn. 51) Twentieth-century vicars resided until the parish's division in
1963, and there were some long incumbencies, (fn. 52) though
as elsewhere church attendance gradually declined.
Church Architecture
The church of St Mary the Virgin (fn. 53) is of coursed limestone rubble with stone-slated and leaded roofs, and
comprises chancel, clerestoreyed nave with north aisle,
north chapel and south porch, and western tower (Fig.
30). (fn. 54) The chancel south door, with shafted jambs and a
semi-circular tympanum, is of the early or mid 12th
century. The nave and north aisle, with an arcade of
circular piers and pointed arches, are of the late 12th
century, built perhaps after Osney abbey obtained the
patronage around 1180: (fn. 55) part of a late 12th-century
string course survives on the nave's external south wall.
The plain tub-shaped font, on a square base, was
supplied about the same time. (fn. 56)
In the 13th century the church was greatly altered. (fn. 57)
The east bay of the north aisle was extended north to
form a small chapel, later called the Hungerford aisle,
and the east arcade arch was rebuilt as an entrance.
Windows in the north aisle and nave were replaced with
cusped lancets, and the south porch was added. The
chancel was remodelled with a new chancel arch and
lancet windows; the arrangement of two east lancets
with a rectangular window above is unusual, but
pre-dates 19th-century alterations. (fn. 58) The east wall has a
rectangular aumbry and a piscina on an ornate corbel,
and there is another piscina in the north chapel. A south
lancet has a dropped cill forming a single sedile, encased
in oak about 1887. (fn. 59) In the early 14th century a south
window with simple cusped three-light tracery was
inserted in the nave, and the south and north doorways
were rebuilt.
In the 15th century some of the chancel windows were
altered, and a stone pulpit with blind tracery (fn. 60) was
provided. The square three-stage tower, with embattled
parapet, was built into the south-west corner of the nave
in the late 15th or early 16th century, partially blocking a
tall central lancet in the west wall, and then or later the
westernmost arch of the north arcade was reconstructed.
A clerestory lit only by three rectangular windows at the
nave's east end was added in the early 16th century. A
rectangular niche in the nave east wall was presumably
for a statue: in 1508 bequests were made for lights before
the images or altars of four saints besides the Virgin, as
well as for a light before the crucifix. (fn. 61)
Private pews in the Hungerford aisle, treated from the
16th century as a private chapel, (fn. 62) were mentioned in the
mid 18th century, and large box pews in the chancel and
an 'ugly' gallery across the tower were presumably also of
17th or 18th-century origin. (fn. 63) In 1703 a former Hungerford pew at the nave's east end was converted into a
reading desk and pew for the vicar's family. (fn. 64) Occasional
repairs, including repewing c. 1799, were noted
throughout the 18th century, (fn. 65) but by the 1840s the
church was in a dangerous state with bowing and
cracked walls, insecure foundations, and roofs threatening collapse: (fn. 66) around 1845 the bishop alleged that it
was the worst in his diocese. (fn. 67) The nave was reroofed in
1847 with an open timber structure resting on restored
corbels, (fn. 68) but lack of funds prevented further work until
1866, when the architect E. G. Bruton carried out a
complete restoration paid for by the chief landowners
and parish rates; (fn. 69) unsatisfactory work necessitated
further expense in 1870. (fn. 70) The chancel was reroofed and
its walls repaired, the north aisle was rebuilt incorporating the 14th-century doorway, and the south door,
with its original ironwork, was reportedly moved to the
tower entrance, having presumably been recut. The interior was entirely refurbished, heating was installed, and
the westernmost bay of the north aisle was partitioned to
form a vestry. (fn. 71) Stained glass by Clayton and Bell of
London was fitted in the chancel and north aisle. (fn. 72) New
furnishings included a lectern, (fn. 73) and a reredos of
coloured ornamental tile 'in very bad taste'; the latter
was replaced in 1915 by a stone reredos faced with
carved oak, which was itself removed about 1966. (fn. 74) In
1931 the Hungerford chapel was fitted up by members
of the Akers family for daily services, and electric lighting
was introduced to the church in 1934. (fn. 75) An 18th-century
chamber organ was given in 1965, and about the same
time new heating was installed as part of a more general
restoration. (fn. 76)
A remarkable late 13th-century scheme of wall paintings in the nave was uncovered during the 1866 restoration, but against the vicar's wishes was then painted
over. (fn. 77) The paintings were partially visible c. 1915, and
were fully restored by E. W. Tristram in 1932; further
restorations were carried out in 1965 and in the 1980s. (fn. 78)
The paintings include, on the north wall, a Tree of Jesse,
the baptism of Christ, the stoning of St Stephen, and
possibly the vesting and martyrdom of St Thomas
Becket, with, in roundels, Saints Peter and Paul and the
Coronation of the Virgin. On the south wall is St Richard
Wich of Chichester (canonized 1262), with, below, the
Adoration of the Magi, the Angel appearing to St Joseph,
and the Massacre of the Innocents, all with foliage
borders. A St Christopher on the north wall is perhaps
the 'image' before which there was a light in 1508, and a
St Catherine on the south wall was perhaps associated
with her altar mentioned at the same time. (fn. 79) In the north
chapel, traces of stars painted on a blue background were
uncovered in the 19th century but have since disappeared. (fn. 80)
Memorials (fn. 81) to several of the Hungerford family in the
north chapel include a monument to Eleanor Hungerford (d. 1591), with a recumbent effigy, and a marble
wall cartouche to Col. Anthony Hungerford (d. 1703).
Memorials in the north aisle include a brass to the vicar
James Godman (d. 1638), formerly in the chancel, and
inscriptions to members of the Dring and Whitton families, lay rectors. A stone slab to Sir Arthur Hopton (d.
1649), related to the Hungerfords by marriage, was
moved under the communion table in 1866. (fn. 82)
In 1757 there was a ring of 5 bells including the
saunce, three of them, of 1618–19, by Henry Knight I.
The present third, of 1743, is by Henry Bagley III. In
1866 the bells were rehung, the second, long cracked,
was recast, and a new treble was added; the new bells
were by Mears & Stainbank. The tenor, of 1619, was
transferred to the church of St John the Evangelist at
Carterton in 1963. The late medieval oak frame, restored
and extended in 1866, required replacement in 1965. (fn. 83)
The plate includes a silver patten of 1638, a silver chalice
of 1733, and an almsdish given by the vicar in 1866. (fn. 84) The
registers begin in 1542. (fn. 85)
The churchyard was extended southwards in 1894–5
and westwards in 1937. The latter extension was consecrated in 1942 and 1989. (fn. 86)
Nonconformity
Roman Catholicism
Sir Anthony Hungerford (d. 1627), lord of Black
Bourton from 1591, was brought up as a Roman Catholic, but converted to Anglicanism probably before
settling in the parish, where he wrote two anti-papist
tracts. (fn. 87) One or two Roman Catholic tradesmen noted
from the 1730s to 1750s were associated with Edward
Hungerford (d. 1748), a convert to Catholicism, and his
wife (d. 1766), who both lived at Bourton Place, (fn. 88) but as
there were no papists in Black Bourton in 1768 their
influence was presumably limited. (fn. 89) Four papists
reported in 1823 had no priest or place of worship, and
none were mentioned later. (fn. 90)
Protestant Nonconformity
In the later 17th century two Black Bourton tradesmen
and their wives were Quakers and attended the meeting
house at Alvescot. (fn. 91) A single parishioner attended an
unspecified meeting house outside the parish in 1802, (fn. 92)
but otherwise there were no reported Dissenters until
the emergence of Primitive Methodism in the early 19th
century. (fn. 93) The only other Dissenters were 'a few' Particular Baptists attending Alvescot chapel in the 1830s, and
in the 1860s there was one 'respectable' Baptist of independent means. (fn. 94)
Primitive Methodists A meeting house certificate in
1824 related probably to Primitive Methodists attached
to the Witney circuit, and in 1826, when there were 22
members at Black Bourton, a barn north of the Alvescot
road was fitted up as a chapel. It was licensed the
following year, (fn. 95) and from 1836 belonged to the newly
formed Faringdon circuit, merged with the Witney
circuit about 1964. (fn. 96) Membership rose from 2–4 in 1839
to over 20 in the 1840s, and in 1850–1 average attendance was 80 and increasing; the building was still used
for agricultural as well as religious purposes, and the
preacher was the farm's tenant, John Maisey. (fn. 97) The
chapel faced hostility from the vicar who, while
acknowledging its popularity among the poor, considered it a 'scandal to the neighbourhood', and its adherents 'misguided'; in 1859 he claimed that it had closed, (fn. 98)
but in 1861–2 there were still 22 members, and a
purpose-built chapel of red brick, with 90 sittings, was
erected a little to the west of the barn, on a small piece of
former waste bought from a local labourer (Fig. 23). (fn. 99)
Membership reached 38 in 1864, when Sunday attendance was usually around 100, though several Dissenters
also attended church, despite continued animosity from
curates. From the 1870s there was some decline, said to
have been accelerated by introduction of evening
services in the church in the 1880s, and in 1921 there
were 9 members and 30 regular attenders. (fn. 100) From 1932
the chapel belonged to the United Methodist Church;
nine members were still noted in 1964, but about 1970
the chapel was closed and sold. (fn. 101)