CHURCH
The rectory of Fyfield was never appropriated
although for a long period in the 12th century the Cluniac priory of Bermondsey
(Surr.) had the right to receive the greater
part of the tithes of the parish as well as the advowson
of the rectory.
In 1094 Roger, lord of the manor of Fyfield, with
the consent of his overlord John son of Waleran, gave
'the tithes of Fyfield' to Bermondsey priory. (fn. 7) In 1107
or later Maud wife of Hasculf de Tany and her son
Graeland confirmed this gift and also granted to the
priory the advowson of Fyfield church. (fn. 8) In 1183
the priory released the advowson to the then lord of the
manor, Hasculf son of Graeland de Tany. After this
the advowson was held by the lords of the manor of
Fyfield until 1890-1 when it was granted by William,
Earl Cowley, to George Mayor. (fn. 9) The advowson was
held by Mayor until 1897 or 1898 after which it was
held by Mrs. A. Hewitt until 1914 or 1915. (fn. 10) Mrs. J.
Worthington Atkin then held it until 1929 or 1930
after which it was held by Canford School (Dors.). (fn. 11)
The living is now (1955) in the gift of the Church
Pastoral Aid Society which controls the Martyrs'
Memorial Trust, of which the Canford School Trust
forms part. (fn. 12)
In return for the release of the advowson in 1183
Hasculf de Tany confirmed to the priory 2/3; of the tithes
from his demesne, together with those from his demesne
assarts made or to be made, and undertook to give them
I acre of land on which to erect a tithe barn, and also to
secure to them a perpetual annuity of 40s. payable by
the parson of Fyfield. (fn. 13) In about 1254 it was reported
that the rectory of Fyfield was worth 24 marks and that
the monks of Bermondsey received 2/3; of the tithes from
the demesne of 'two lords of that vill' as well as 40s.
from the parson. (fn. 14) In 1291 the church of Fyfield was
valued at £12; (fn. 15) the prior of Bermondsey had there a
portion worth £3 6s. 8d. and a pension of £2. (fn. 16) In
1342 the prior of Bermondsey brought an action against
the parson of Fyfield for payment of the annuity of 40s.
due to his house. (fn. 17) In 1427 the church was still taxed
on the valuation of 1291. (fn. 18) In 1535 the abbey of Bermondsey still held in Fyfield a pension and a portion
which were then valued together at £4. (fn. 19) At that time
the rectory of Fyfield was valued at £25 7s. 2½d. (fn. 20) The
abbey was surrendered on 1 January 1538. (fn. 21) In 1650
the 'improved' value of the tithes was £120 and the
value of the glebe lands and buildings £35. (fn. 22) The
tithes were commuted in 1842 for £741; there were
then 64 acres of glebe. (fn. 23)
Anthony Walker D.D., Rector of Fyfield from 1650
until 1692, helped in the publication of Eikon Basilike
and published various books and sermons. (fn. 24)
The rectory stands on a large moated site about 400
yds. to the north-east of the church. It is irregularly
shaped and has been altered and extended at different
periods. Running from front to back in the centre of
the house is a medieval timber roof, probably representing part of a two-storied cross-wing of the 15th century.
The north end of the roof has curved wind-braces and
in the south bay is an arch-braced collar beam with the
king-post missing. East of this roof and at right angles
to it is another timber-framed wing which may be of
medieval origin. There are additional wings of later
date at the west end of the house. In the 18th century
the whole front was faced with red brick and there are
some interior details of the same period. In about 1770
the house was described as 'a large stately brick building
almost surrounded with a moat which, with the house,
encloses a pleasant garden'. (fn. 25) In 1944 blast from a flying bomb caused considerable damage and in 1952 the
front was rebuilt in yellow brick and parts of the roof
were renewed. The porch and the original sash windows were replaced.
Although this building is certainly of medieval origin,
in the middle of the 16th century at least the rector
lived in another house, which was then known as 'the
parson's house' and was situated on the south side of the
church. In October 1546 Robert Nooke, then rector,
let to Humphrey Nycolls, servant to Sir Richard Rich,
afterwards 1st Baron Rich, for 51 years, at £25 7s. 2½ d.
a year, the rectory, church, and parsonage of Fyfield,
reserving, however, for his own residence his house
south of the churchyard called 'the parsonnes house'. (fn. 26)
By 1610, however, the house to the south of the church
was not regarded as the parsonage-house for a terrier of
1610 described the rectory as including 'a ParsonageHouse, with two barns, and other edifices within the
yard, and a house abutting upon the churchyard, then
in dispute at law'. (fn. 27) In 1650 the rectory was said to
include 'a parsonage house, glebe lands and a small tenement'. (fn. 28) Whatever the source or the outcome of the
dispute of 1610, a property at the south-west corner of
the churchyard was part of the glebe in 1842 and remained so until 1948, when it was sold. (fn. 29) In the late
19th century it was known as the Vicarage. (fn. 30) The back
part of the building is timber-framed and weatherboarded with a tiled mansard roof and dates from the
18th century, if not earlier. The front was added in
the 19th century and the building now comprises two
attached cottages.
The parish church of ST. NICHOLAS consists of
nave, north and south aisles, chancel, central tower,
north porch, and organ chamber. The nave and the
first stage of the tower are mostly of flint rubble with
some Roman brick. The second stage of the tower is
largely of red brick. There is a timber belfry. The exterior of the church is mostly covered with cement, now
in poor repair, and numerous buttresses of the 18th and
19th centuries show where weaknesses have developed
in the structure. The building differs in several respects
from the type of parish church found in the district.
The 12th-century plan with the tower standing 'cathedralwise' (fn. 31) is unusual, and it is evident that large sums
were spent on improvements during the 13th and 14th
centuries. The chancel in particular has some good
interior features.
The nave was built in the 12th century. The walling
at each end of the two arcades is 3 ft. thick and is evidently the original 12th-century work. The lower part
of the tower is of the same date, including the large stair
turret on the north side reaching to the second stage.
The stair has a circular newel of Roman brick and there
are arches of Roman brick to the round-headed windows
in the south and west walls of the second stage of the
tower. The former window has been blocked by brickwork and the latter opens into the roof space above the
nave. There is one very small rectangular opening in
the north wall of the stair turret, and there are two in
the east wall.
In about 1220 a north aisle of three bays was added
to the nave. The pointed arches are of two chamfered
orders and rest on circular columns with moulded capitals and bases. Attached half-columns form the responds
against the ends of the 12th-century walls. In the middle
of the 13th century the south aisle was added. This is
similar in general arrangement to the north aisle but the
arches are moulded and the supporting columns are
octagonal. The single-light window in the west wall is
probably of the 13th century but its four-centred head
was added later. There are traces of colour decoration
of uncertain date on both arcades.
The chancel was built about 1330-40. The date
can be fixed approximately by the detail of the interior.
All the windows are of the 14th century and have
moulded labels and head stops. The tracery of the east
window has been replaced, but the fine carving of the
jambs and rear arch survives. On the north side the
arch has beasts of the chase and on the south a series of
cowled heads. The jambs are carved with flowers and
leaves in high relief. In both north and south walls are
two windows, the easternmost being two-light with
shafts to the internal splays. The other windows are
single light, the sill of that on the south side being taken
down to form a 'low side' window. Between the windows in the south wall are stepped sedilia of three bays.
The arches are cinquefoiled and between them are
octagonal shafts of Purbeck marble. The moulded label
has four carved head stops, one head wearing a mitre. (fn. 32)
and another a curious pointed head-dress terminating
in a flower. In the spandrel above a third head are three
balls carved in relief; it has been suggested that these are
the emblems of St. Nicholas. (fn. 33) East of the sedilia is
a piscina of similar detail and farther east there is a
credence with one jamb cut off by the east wall of the
chancel. (fn. 34) Below the chancel is a vault which has a
wide arched opening externally under the east window.
This opening was sealed during the restoration of 1893,
but one account of the church suggests that it was formerly pierced with quatrefoil openings, (fn. 35) possibly for
the viewing of relics. Another account, given in 1898
by the then rector, the Revd. L. Elwyn Lewis, referred
to the existence of arcading internally below the east
window. (fn. 36) The fact that part of the credence is now
cut off suggests that the lower part of the east wall has
been widened, perhaps obliterating the arcade.
Some windows were inserted elsewhere in the church
in the 14th century. These include one in the south
wall of the tower and the westernmost windows in the
north and south aisles. The other aisle windows may
have been of the same date, but if so they were replaced
in the 19th century. The south doorway has 14th-century splays and the stoup on the north side has a 14thcentury trefoiled head, probably taken from a window.
The arch between the tower and the nave is of the
14th century, much restored. The responds have three
attached shafts. The north porch retains moulded
timbers of the late 14th century and a pointed timber
arch of which the spandrels were probably once filled
with tracery.
Early in the 15th century there were some alterations
at the east end of the north aisle. An east window was
inserted of which the tracery is now missing; the window itself was blocked by the early 19th century. (fn. 37)
Also in the 15th century a niche was built across the
north-east corner of the aisle. It has an elaborately
carved canopy with a ribbed vault and probably once
held a figure of the Virgin. (fn. 38) The nave roof has three
15th-century trusses; the square king-posts have fourway struts and two have moulded capitals and bases.
Some years before 1768 (fn. 39) part of the tower fell, perhaps after being struck by lightning. (fn. 40) Before the end
of the 18th century the second stage was largely rebuilt
in red brick and a window was inserted on the north
side. Above the brickwork is a hipped roof, above
which is a square weather-boarded belfry with ball
finials at the corners. There is a small boarded spire.
The west wall of the nave may have been rebuilt in the
18th century.
In the first half of the 19th century a vestry was
formed by extending the north aisle eastward as far as
the stair turret of the tower. (fn. 41) In 1853 the church was
restored (fn. 42) and in 1875 tracery was inserted in the east
window at the expense of W. S. Horner. (fn. 43) In 1893
£1,300 was spent on restoration. (fn. 44) Some blocked windows were uncovered and a new west door and window
inserted. The window replaced a 'hideous wooden
structure' of the 18th century. (fn. 45) Both the tower arches
were largely rebuilt and the chancel roof may have been
reconstructed at the same time. The oak reredos and
chancel seating were installed, the oak coming from
St. Paul's, Knightsbridge. (fn. 46) The seating in the nave is
also of the late 19th century, incorporating some 16th-century moulded rails.
During the incumbency of the Revd. L. Elwyn Lewis
(1895-1905), who held high church views, a surpliced
choir was started and the old organ was moved from the
west end of the church into the vestry. (fn. 47) In 1901 a new
organ was installed against the north wall of the tower, (fn. 48)
largely at the rector's own expense. (fn. 49) The vestry is now
an organ chamber.
The square font bowl of Purbeck marble is of the
late 12th century. (fn. 50) Two of the sides are decorated
with recessed arcading and the other two have a central
fleur-de-lis flanked by vine leaves.
The oak screen between the nave and the tower was
carved by A. J. B. Challis of Clatterford Hall in 1914. (fn. 51)
The pulpit is of the same date.
There are six bells, all modern or recast. One was
originally of the 15th century, recast twice. The sixth,
which is inscribed 'Salus et Victoria', was added as a
war memorial and was dedicated in 1952. (fn. 52) Under the
organ on the north side of the chancel there is said to be
a slab bearing the indent of a foliated cross, flanked by
square pennons or axes. (fn. 53) There is a tradition that this
covers the headless body of Henry, Lord Scrope, beheaded in 1415. (fn. 54) Also in the chancel are some 18thcentury floor slabs with shields of arms to members of
the Pochin family and to one of the Beverley family.
There are also several 18th-century slabs to the Collins
family of Lampetts and to the Brands of Herons.
The plate includes a large cup of 1699 given by Dr.
Anthony Walker, one paten of 1638 and another of
1798. (fn. 55)
In 1570 Elizabeth I granted to Thomas, 2nd Lord
Wentworth, in fee such 'concealed' estates as he could
discover to a total annual value of £200. (fn. 56) In March
1572, in fulfilment of this grant, she conveyed many
concealed estates, including one in Fyfield, to Richard
Hill of Heybridge and William James of London. (fn. 57)
The Fyfield estate consisted of 3 messuages or cottages,
called the Church Houses, and an acre belonging, then
or lately in the tenure or occupation of the inhabitants
of the vill of Fyfield, appointed for the maintenance of
an obit, a guild, and other similar objects. (fn. 58) Despite
the grant of 1572, Fyfield church property undoubtedly
included three houses in the early 17th century. In
May 1659 it was agreed at a vestry meeting that the
rental of the church rents, then torn and defaced, should
be copied out 'and be esteemed as the former rental
was'. (fn. 59) The 'Rental of the church houses of Fyfield'
was then copied into the vestry minute-book. It totalled
£3 3s. 4d. and included £1 from 'the church house at
Widney Green', £1 from 'the house in Fyfield street',
15s. from 'the house by the church in which the Clarke
dwelleth', 3s. from 'Pyckerells', 2s. 7d. from 'Long
Harry's', 1s. 10d. from 'John Palmers houses', 9d. from
'½ a. meadow in moor-mead', and 2d. from 'the tenement called Hatches'. (fn. 60) In 1668 the 'church field belonging to the church house on Widney Green and
containing 1 a.' was let by the churchwardens to Henry
Spooner for twelve years at a rent of £7 for the whole
term 'which money was advanced and employed towards the now [or new] building of the church house
aforesaid'. (fn. 61) In 1687 Dr. Anthony Walker devised a
house called Bruetts, in Fyfield Street, for the church
clerk to dwell in free. (fn. 62) By 1710 the church house 'by
the church' seems to have been occupied by a poor man
whose rent of £1 10s. was paid for him by the parish. (fn. 63)
The total of the church rents was then £4 10s. 5d., the
increase since 1659 being due partly to the higher rent
for the house by the church and partly to a new item of
16s. for 'the hoppit by the churchyard'. (fn. 64) The annuities
amounted to 6s. 5d., being 2s. 6d. from John Bull for
Long Harris field, 11d. from 'Thomas Palmer', and 3s.
'out of Pickrills'. (fn. 65) By March 1719 the rents totalled
£5, there being another fresh item of 13s. for 'the
hoppett by Berrys Green', later known as Cannon's
Green. (fn. 66) In February 1720 a vestry meeting agreed
with John Pochin of Witney Green that he should demolish a cottage upon the green belonging to the church
on condition that he erected another cottage of equivalent value. (fn. 67)
In 1786 it was stated that unknown donors had given
to the parish for purposes also unknown 'a rent-charge
of 6s. 5d'., tenements of the then annual value of
£2 4s. 7d. and land of the then annual value of £1 9s. (fn. 68)
The value of the land was evidently the same in 1786
as it had been in 1719 but the value of the houses was
apparently reduced. (fn. 69)
In 1835 rents totalling £12 9s. from the church
houses and lands as well as annuities totalling 6s. 5d
went into the churchwardens' general account. (fn. 70) The
hoppets by the church and on Cannon's Green were
both let to the rector for 16s. and 13s. a year respectively, the sums at which they had been let early in the
18th century. (fn. 71) The church houses which the overseers
rented from the churchwardens at £11 a year for the
use of the poor were described in 1835 as 'Street
House', a 'house by the church', and 'a house on Cannons Green' which was said to have been 'built by the
parish upon the site of an old house, of which the rent
used to go to the churchwarden's account'. (fn. 72) The
church cottage on Witney Green, whose demolition
had been ordered in 1720, had apparently been replaced by a house on Cannon's Green which, it would
seem, was rebuilt before 1835. By 1842, however, the
church owned only two cottages. (fn. 73) One of them was
on the east side of the church, fronting upon Church
Lane, and was undoubtedly the house which had appeared as 'by the church' in the rentals drawn up before
and after 1659. (fn. 74) The other cottage, situated immediately north of the Black Bull Inn (fn. 75) on what is now
known as Dunmow Road, is probably to be identified
with 'Street House'. The church still owned some land
at Cannon's Green in 1842, but by that time it had
apparently disposed of its house there. (fn. 76) The hoppet
south of the churchyard still belonged to the church. (fn. 77)
In 1903 part (c. 29 p.) of the meadow called Church
Hoppet, situated south of the churchyard, was sold
for £14 to the parish council for use as a burial ground. (fn. 78)
When the sale was made it was established in the
face of some doubt that the trustees of the church
estate were the churchwardens: in fact then and in 1922
the 'parish warden'-presumably the people's warden
-acted as trustee, though later the rector and parochial
church council took some share in the administration of
the estate. (fn. 79) In 1922 a further part (1 r., 12 p.) of
Church Hoppet was sold for £20 to the parish council
also for use as a burial ground. (fn. 80)
From the latter part of the 19th century until shortly
after 1930 a small outbuilding at the back of the cottage
near the Black Bull Inn was let as a separate dwelling. (fn. 81)
In about 1930 the three dwellings were let for a total
of about £19. (fn. 82)
In 1947 the cottage, then known as Walker Cottage, (fn. 83)
on the east side of the church, was sold for £190, most
of which went to repay Dr. Walker's School Foundation and the parochial church council for money spent
on it in the past. (fn. 84) The residue was invested. (fn. 85)
In 1951 the charity was divided into two: one part,
the Church Estate, had an endowment of £50 14s.,
presumably arising from the sales of church land, of
which the income was used for general church purposes. (fn. 86) The other is known as the Charity for the
Poor, and has an endowment of £61 4s. 3d., which was
provided by the sale of the 'Walker Cottage'. (fn. 87) Its
income was to be devoted to the poor of the parish,
since the cottages of the charity were in 1834 used for
the benefit of the poor. (fn. 88)
The cottage north of the Black Bull Inn still belongs
to the church but is at present up for sale. (fn. 89)