CHURCH.
The reference to the Vicar of Frampton
in 1228 (fn. 67) is the earliest known record of the church
there; the only part of the fabric of the church that
is clearly of an earlier date is the font, described
below, which may either survive from a 12thcentury church at Frampton or have been brought
from elsewhere. The advowson of the vicarage
belonged to Clifford Priory, (fn. 68) the appropriators of
the rectory, and descended with the rectory estate (fn. 69)
until the 19th century. (fn. 70) In 1721 the Crown
presented, (fn. 71) apparently through lapse; (fn. 72) in 1813
J. H. Dunsford was instituted as vicar on his own
presentation as patron for one turn. (fn. 73) After the
death of Anne Wicks the advowson was held by
S. W. Silver in 1847 (fn. 74) and 1879, (fn. 75) and by the Revd.
E. W. Silver until 1910 when it was transferred to
the Bishop of Gloucester, (fn. 76) the patron in 1968. Since
1952 the Vicar of Frampton has also served Arlingham parish. (fn. 77)
The vicar's portion was valued at £4 6s. 8d. in
1291 (fn. 78) and £7 11s. in 1535. (fn. 79) Between 1603 and 1650
its supposed value rose from £8 (fn. 80) to £40. (fn. 81) The
vicar's glebe was only c. 3½ a., and most of his
income was from tithes; the division of the tithes
between the vicar and the impropriator was complex,
as were some of the tithing customs. (fn. 82) In 1684 the
owner of the rectory estate was responsible for
hiring and paying a man called the dew-hopper to
divide the tithe-corn in the fields between the
rectory and the vicarage. (fn. 83) By c. 1703, however, the
vicar received one-third of the tithes great and
small, (fn. 84) and perhaps by then the tithes of the
rectory and vicarage were farmed together, as they
were said in 1810 to have been during living
memory. (fn. 85) Queen Anne's Bounty augmented the
vicarage with two sums of £200 in 1719 to meet a
similar benefaction by John Chamberlayne, and in
1727 to meet one of £210 by the Bishop of
Gloucester, (fn. 86) and lands in Slimbridge were bought
yielding £33 a year c. 1790. (fn. 87) The inclosure award
of 1815 replaced the vicar's tithes with an allotment
of 38 a. in Slimbridge Warth and with corn-rents, (fn. 88)
increasing the value of the living from c. £100 to
nearly £300. (fn. 89) A house was recorded on the vicarage
from 1584 to 1704, (fn. 90) but there was said to be no
house in 1750. (fn. 91) In 1810 it was said that the vicarage
house had long since been taken down, (fn. 92) and despite
the fact that the glebe included a house and garden
in 1815 (fn. 93) there was said to be no suitable house for
the vicar in 1816. (fn. 94) A new vicarage house was being
built in 1842, (fn. 95) a brick building in the Tudor style,
partly rendered and later enlarged. In 1967 it was
replaced by a new house in its grounds, and the
former vicarage stood empty in 1968.
In the later Middle Ages the parish had in
addition to the vicar an endowed chantry called Our
Lady's Service. The chantry may have been founded
in 1378 when John Dopping conveyed a small estate
in Frampton to Thomas Hockley and others who
appear to have been acting as trustees. (fn. 96) From 1498
to 1540 there was a chaplain or stipendiary, (fn. 97) and
William Hayward, who filled the office in the 1530s, (fn. 98)
was called the morrow-mass priest or St. Mary's
priest, and kept a school. (fn. 99) The chantry's lands were
not recorded by the Edwardian commissioners, and
part of them were granted in 1563 to Cecily
Pickerell. (fn. 1) In 1570 the churchwardens of Frampton
complained that they had been dispossessed by
James Clifford and John Addis of a building called
the school-house, of a house given for the maintenance of the parish church and a bridge and for the
relief of the poor, and of various lands; (fn. 2) in 1572, in
the course of their suit, it became clear that the
property had in fact formed the endowment of a
concealed chantry, (fn. 3) and a jury so found in 1575. (fn. 4)
Richard Shefford, who had been the chantry
priest in 1540, (fn. 5) was vicar by 1542 (fn. 6) and in 1551 was
found to be 'entirely ignorant'. (fn. 7) He was deprived in
1554, presumably for having married. (fn. 8) John Savaker,
instituted as vicar in 1578, (fn. 9) and described as a
sufficient scholar though neither a graduate nor a
preacher, (fn. 10) remained until his death 44 years later. (fn. 11)
John Barnsdale, who as Vicar of Frampton signed
the Presbyterian Gloucestershire Ministers' Testimony
in 1648, was replaced in 1663 but became Vicar of
Cam. (fn. 12) Charles Wallington, vicar for 44 years from
1721, provided curates to serve the parish, as did
most of his successors. They included Thomas
Rudge, the writer on the history and agriculture of
Gloucestershire, whose curate, William Jenkin,
became vicar in 1784 and lived in Frampton until his
death in 1813. Jenkin's successor, J. H. Dunsford,
who became Rector of Fretherne also, lived in
Slimbridge, and after long disputes with the bishop
about his non-residence finally resigned Frampton
in 1847. (fn. 13) Soon after Dunsford became vicar he and
the impropriator were involved in disputes with the
land owners about the commutation of tithes under
the inclosure award, (fn. 14) and that dispute overlapped
another in which Nathaniel Clifford alleged trespass
by Anne Wicks, the impropriator. She had put up
railings through the middle of the pews of Clifford
and his servants, which straddled the arcades of the
chancel. (fn. 15) Dunsford's successor, George Chute, held
weekly evening services at Fromebridge in 1851. (fn. 16)
M. W. F. St. John, vicar 1853-81, was highly regarded in the parish and initiated the restoration of
the parish church. (fn. 17)
The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN (fn. 18)
comprises chancel with north and south chapels,
nave with north and south aisles, west tower, and
south porch. It is built mainly of ashlar, rough-cast
in part, and is roofed with Cotswold stone slates.
Most of the fabric survives from the 14th century,
but it is apparently of a date later than the dedication
of the church and the high altar recorded in 1315. (fn. 19)
The 14th-century features include the ogeearched north doorway, a small cusped light above
the west window of the north aisle, the chancel and
nave arcades of two and four bays respectively, the
south window of the south chapel and the piscina
beneath it, with the projection of its bowl cut away,
and the south porch. The south porch has a plain
inner doorway, a moulded outer doorway with
dripmould and headstops, stone benching, and a
small cusped light, later blocked, on each side. An
upper story was added to the porch in the later 17th
century. (fn. 20) A blocked priest's door to the south
chapel may also be of the 14th century. In the 15th
or early 16th century some of the windows were
remade or inserted, and the west tower was built.
The tower, with a moulded west doorway, is of three
stages and the diagonal buttresses are carried right
up to form the pinnacles of a pierced and embattled
parapet. The rebuilding of the tower in 1734 (fn. 21)
appears to have been superficial, designed for the
accommodation of the recast bells, (fn. 22) and to have
amounted to little more in mason's work than the
provision of the dated stone screens in the belfry
lights. (fn. 23)
A singers' gallery, described as handsome, was
built in 1773. (fn. 24) The placing of railings c. 1814 under
the arcades of the chancel (fn. 25) reflected the ownership
of the two chapels by the impropriator, while the
chancel belonged to the vicar. (fn. 26) One of the chapels
was presumably that of St. Anne, recorded in 1565, (fn. 27)
where there was an image of the saint, (fn. 28) and in the
20th century the north chapel was used as a chapel
called St. Anne's. The south chapel housed the
organ, built by J. W. Walker of London in 1866, and
also served as a vestry. The church was undergoing
repairs in 1825, (fn. 29) and was restored in 1850-2 under
Francis Niblett (fn. 30) and in 1870. (fn. 31) At one of the
restorations the chancel, of which the east wall had
formerly been flush with those of the chapels, (fn. 32) was
doubled in length, the chancel arch was rebuilt, and
the chapels were remodelled. The whole eastern part
of the church, including the east ends of the nave
and aisles, was reroofed, though in the western part
the old trussed-rafter roofs survived with plastered
ceilings and various tie-beams and posts.
The monuments include effigies, in recesses in
the north aisle, of a knight of the Clifford family, of a
lady of the same family, and of a civilian, all of
about the early 14th century, (fn. 33) and mural monuments to members of the Clifford, Clutterbuck,
Winchcombe, and Wade families. (fn. 34) Fragments of
medieval coloured glass remain in the windows of
the aisles, and the east window of the north chapel
has what appears to be the remains of glass depicting
the Seven Sacraments. (fn. 35)
The font has a lead bowl apparently of the third
quarter of the 12th century, one of a group of six
Gloucestershire fonts from the same blocks. (fn. 36) The
pulpit of carved oak is inscribed 'William Knight,
William Shering, churchmen, 1622.' There were
five bells c. 1703; (fn. 37) they were recast in 1733 by
Abraham Rudhall, (fn. 38) and a sixth, added by c. 1775, (fn. 39)
was replaced or recast by J. Rudhall in 1791. (fn. 40) The
earlier church plate was replaced by a set of solid
gold for which Anne Wicks (d. 1841), the impropriator, (fn. 41) specifically left £1,000; that set was
sold in 1869 for £608 and a set of silver-gilt plate
bought in its stead, the balance of £500 being used
for the restoration of the church. (fn. 42) The registers
begin in 1625 and are virtually complete.