CHURCHES.
The church of Fretherne existed by
1281, when John of Dursley was instituted to the
rectory on the presentation of Hugh son of Otto. (fn. 34)
The next known rector, William of Fretherne, (fn. 35) may
have belonged to the same family as the lords of
Fretherne manor, and the next known patron after
1281 was Geoffrey of Fretherne, lord of the manor,
in 1307. (fn. 36) The association of the church with the
manor and its nearness to the manor-house suggest
that it was founded by the lord of Fretherne for his
tenants, perhaps in the same period as Saul church
became a chapel of Standish, (fn. 37) for the intermingling
of the lands of Fretherne and Saul indicates that
they originated as one parish. The advowson of
Fretherne descended with the manor until 1778; (fn. 38)
the Revd. John Hayward who was patron for one
turn c. 1750 (fn. 39) was presumably the representative of
one of the sisters and coheirs of the last William
Bayly. R. G. D. Yate, after selling the manor, (fn. 40)
continued as patron, but by 1812 the advowson had
passed to Edward Bloxsome. In 1824 James Hartley
Dunsford was instituted on his own presentation, (fn. 41)
and in 1834 the Revd. C. F. Fenwick was patron.
Edward Tierney acquired the advowson, and in
1844 (fn. 42) presented his son-in-law, W. L. Darell, who
succeeded him as patron. The advowson then
descended with the Darell baronetcy, (fn. 43) and in 1967
Sir Jeffery Darell was joint patron of the united
benefice, formed in 1950, of Saul with Fretherne
and Framilode. (fn. 44)
Although it was a rectory the living of Fretherne
was comparatively poor, being assessed at £4 13s. 4d.
in 1291 (fn. 45) and just over £5 clear in 1535. (fn. 46) In 1650
it was said to be worth £30. (fn. 47) The glebe included 44
ridges in the fields c. 1710, (fn. 48) and amounted to 24 a.
in 1842. (fn. 49) Dorothy Bayly (d. 1728) by her will gave
Jackson's Farm, Wheatenhurst, subject to life
interests and annuities, in trust for the incumbents
of Fretherne and Wheatenhurst equally, thus nearly
doubling the value of Fretherne rectory. (fn. 50) In 1856
the rectory was worth £288 clear. (fn. 51) The rector
received all the tithes; the customs for the payment
of small tithes were stated in 1705. (fn. 52) The rectory
house, mentioned c. 1390, (fn. 53) had only two hearths in
1672, when perhaps it was being rebuilt, (fn. 54) and in
1690 it was a fairly small house containing a hall, a
schoolroom, three bedrooms, and a cheese-loft. The
old rectory was demolished c. 1850 to make way for
Fretherne Court, built by the rector as his own
property, and a new rectory was built ¼ mile north
by 1862. (fn. 55) The new rectory, a two-story building of
rendered brick with wide eaves and two projecting bays enclosed by a castiron verandah, was used as a
private house in 1967, when the incumbent lived at
Saul Vicarage.
In 1339 and 1340 the rector, Roger Abraham, was
licensed to be absent from his benefice in the service
of John de Sapy, knight. (fn. 56) In 1383 William Fairoak,
Rector of Fretherne, began to make an exchange of
the benefice, (fn. 57) but he either returned to Fretherne
or failed to complete the exchange. The failure may
have caused or resulted from the hostility of James
Clifford, lord of Fretherne manor, who brought
charges of felony and rape against the rector and in
1386 dispossessed him, keeping him out of the living
for seven years. In 1394 James entered a bond not
to harm the rector, but continued by threats to
prevent the rector's proctor from receiving the
income and the curate from living in the parish.
William Fairoak was still rector in 1402, (fn. 58) but a new
rector was instituted in 1404. (fn. 59) The rector in 1540,
Thomas Harper, was excused attendance at the
visitation because he was old and blind. His curate
then, William Luffingham, (fn. 60) was rector 1542-82, (fn. 61)
and was followed in turn by James Luffingham,
rector 1582-1632, (fn. 62) and Richard Luffingham, rector
1632-64. (fn. 63) The Luffinghams, who thus held the
living for a continuous 122 years without interruption by either the Interregnum (fn. 64) or the Restoration, (fn. 65) also had a small freehold estate in the 17th
century. (fn. 66) George Perkins, rector from 1673, (fn. 67) and
brother of the poet Joseph, (fn. 68) was licensed in 1678
to serve as master of the public school of Fretherne, (fn. 69)
which may explain the presence of the schoolroom,
mentioned above, in the rectory in 1690. John
Talbot, rector 1695-1704, went as a missionary to
North America. (fn. 70) In 1750 and 1824 Fretherne
church had only one service each Sunday: (fn. 71) Henry
Gorges Dobyns Yate, rector 1781-1812, lived at
Bromsberrow, where he was rector; (fn. 72) J. H. Dunsford, rector 1824-34 (fn. 73) and also Vicar of Frampton,
resigned after the archbishop had upheld the
bishop's refusal to continue to license his nonresidence. (fn. 74) William Lionel Darell (d. 1883), who
became a baronet and the chief landowner in
Fretherne, and was largely responsible for rebuilding
the church, was rector 1844-78. (fn. 75) Of the 20th-
century rectors, A. C. Oliver, 1918-28 and 1933-
1944, (fn. 76) took an active interest in the history of the
parish. (fn. 77)
Saul church was at one time a chapel of Standish.
In the mid 13th century it was said that some 200
years earlier the tithes of the fishery at Framilode
were given to the parish church of Saul. (fn. 78) Saul may
therefore have originally been independent of
Standish church, becoming subject to it because
both Saul and Standish belonged to Gloucester
Abbey. Saul was stated to be a chapel of Standish
between 1218 and 1236, but nevertheless the
inhabitants were described as parishioners of Saul
and they had right of burial there. (fn. 79) The chaplain of
Saul was provided by the Vicar of Standish. (fn. 80) The
church of Saul continued to be named as a chapel of
Standish up to 1839, (fn. 81) but by then the gradual
endowment of the chapelry had made it an independent living, usually called a perpetual curacy, (fn. 82) and
Saul had all the characteristics of a separate parish.
The living was declared a vicarage in 1866. (fn. 83) In
1937 it was united with Whitminster, and Fretherne
and Framilode were added to the united benefice in
1950. In 1961 Whitminster was separated from the
united benefice and joined with Moreton Valence. (fn. 84)
The patronage of Saul remained with the Vicar of
Standish, who was one of the three patrons of the
united benefice in 1967. (fn. 85)
In the late 16th century the chaplain of Saul had
5¼ a. in the fields as an endowment. (fn. 86) In 1705 the
curate was said to receive, according to an old
custom, 6s. 8d. a yardland for small tithes, (fn. 87)
totalling £5 a year. (fn. 88) The tithes were commuted in
1842 for a rent-charge of £42, (fn. 89) and the glebe, some
of which seems to have been lost, (fn. 90) was replaced by
an allotment of 1 a. at inclosure in 1843. (fn. 91) Meanwhile, between 1740 and 1792, the living had been
augmented by three capital sums of £200 each from
Queen Anne's Bounty and one from Thomas
Savage, Vicar of Standish, (fn. 92) with which land in
King's Stanley was bought. (fn. 93) The living, which had
been worth £13 6s. 8d. a year in 1650, when it was
proposed to unite it with Fretherne, (fn. 94) had increased
to £107 by 1786 (fn. 95) and to £132 clear by 1856. (fn. 96) No
house for the curacy is recorded before 1839, when
a private house in Frampton occupied by the
incumbent was constituted the glebe house. (fn. 97) A new
vicarage, a two-story brick house, was built in Saul
c. 1850. (fn. 98)
John Taylor of Saul, chaplain, for whose death
James Clifford received a pardon in 1385, (fn. 99) may
have served the chapel of Saul. (fn. 1) In 1408 Philip,
chaplain of Saul, was charged with incontinence. (fn. 2)
Several of the 16th-century chaplains or curates
appear to have devoted their attentions exclusively
to Saul, (fn. 3) though in 1563 William Luffingham,
Rector of Fretherne, was curate. (fn. 4) In 1586 the
unnamed curate of Saul was accused of seditious
speeches. (fn. 5) Except for George Perkins, Rector of
Fretherne, in 1673, (fn. 6) the names of the 17th-century
curates have not been found, and perhaps then, as
in the 18th century, Saul shared a minister with
Fretherne or another neighbouring church. (fn. 7) From
the 1830s until the 1930s Saul had its own minister, (fn. 8)
and in 1967 its vicarage remained the parsonage
house of the united benefice.
Framilode church, the third one of the united
benefice, was consecrated in 1854 (fn. 9) and had a parish
assigned to it in 1855. The parish stretched along
the river bank, and included, in addition to Upper
and Lower Framilode, the settlements at Epney in
Moreton Valence, Baldwins in Moreton Valence and
Whitminster, and Priding in Arlingham. (fn. 10) The
perpetual curacy, which was declared to be a rectory
in 1866, (fn. 11) was liberally endowed and by 1879 was
worth £300 a year. (fn. 12) The patron was the Bishop of
Gloucester, who was joint patron after the formation
of the united benefice. (fn. 13) A parsonage house, in stone
in a Gothic style, had been built immediately west
of the church by 1863. (fn. 14) After the union with Saul
and Fretherne in 1950 the parsonage became a
private house.
The church of ST. MARY, (fn. 15) Fretherne, was
entirely rebuilt in the mid 19th century and retains
of its ancient fabric only three 13th-century coffinlids, which appear to be earlier than the first known
documentary reference to the church in 1281, noted
above. An enlargement or rebuilding of the church
may be indicated by the fact that it was one of those
dedicated by the Bishop of Worcester in 1315. (fn. 16) In
the early 18th century it was said to be a small
church of one entire aisle with a wooden tower at
the west end. (fn. 17) A view of the church in 1841 shows
it to have been a simple building with no break
visible on the outside between chancel and nave.
The tower, with a pitched roof, was little more than
a bellcot, and there was a porch near the west end
of the north wall. The east window was a square
opening with mullions and transoms; the north
windows were two tall lancets, perhaps of the 13th
century, and between them, placed high up, was a
small window which may have been of the 12th
century. (fn. 18) In 1835 a faculty for a gallery under the
belfry was granted, (fn. 19) but the accommodation
remained inadequate. (fn. 20)
The rebuilding of the church in 1846 and 1847
to the designs of Francis Niblett was largely the
result of the efforts of the rector, W. L. Darell. (fn. 21) The
new church, in brown sandstone with Bath stone
dressings, comprised chancel with south vestry,
nave, north aisle, and north-west tower with
pinnacles and a crocketed spire. The lowest stage of
the tower forms an entrance porch. (fn. 22) In 1857 Darell
enlarged and embellished the church, (fn. 23) adding a
south aisle with a transeptal chapel and a mortuary
chapel to Sir Edward Tierney on its south side and
an organ chamber at its east end. The whole
building is enriched with much carved stonework;
all the glass is coloured, the internal fittings are
elaborate, including the Victorian royal arms on
carved wood, and the woodwork of the roofs is
richly painted. There was one bell c. 1703, (fn. 24) which
was replaced by a new one in 1847. (fn. 25) There is a
chalice of 1766 and a communion service of 1847. (fn. 26)
Monuments include several to members of the
Darell family; older monuments (fn. 27) were removed or
covered up in 1847. The registers begin in 1631, and
are virtually complete.
The church of ST. JAMES
(fn. 28) at Saul comprises
chancel, nave, north aisle, west tower, south porch,
and north-east vestry and organ-chamber. The
chancel and tower are of ashlar, the nave of large
blocks of roughly hewn stone: the roofs have
Cotswold stone slates. The church was described c.
1703 as a small chapel with a strong tower at the
west end. (fn. 29) The chancel may date from the 14th
century, and retains an eaves cornice carved with
leaves and flowers; the windows, however, including
the pairs of cusped lancets in the side walls, are part
of the extensive 19th-century restorations. The
embattled tower was built in the 15th or 16th
century: it is of two stages, with diagonal buttresses
to the west angles, louvered windows to the belfry,
and a west door. A 19th-century stone screen fills
the lower part of the tower arch. The nave has
three-light windows apparently of the 15th or 16th
century, with restored tracery, on each side of the
south doorway. There was formerly also a north
doorway, which was blocked in 1741 to provide
space for an extra pew. (fn. 30) It therefore seems likely
that the projection on the north side of the nave in
1843 (fn. 31) was a former porch rather than a vestry. A
faculty for a gallery containing four pews was
granted in 1833. (fn. 32)
The church was enlarged c. 1850 (fn. 33) by the addition
of a north aisle with a lean-to roof running the
length of the nave and opening from it through an
arcade of four bays in the Early English style. The
renewing of the rest of the church, including the
provision of new roofs, chancel arch, and south
porch, was done either at the same time or in 1864,
when a further restoration was made. (fn. 34) There is a
tub-shaped 12th-century font, greatly cut down and
standing on a modern pillar, (fn. 35) and a carved oak
pulpit inscribed 'Edmond Beerd, John Moren,
1636'. The monumental inscriptions within the
church recorded in the 18th century (fn. 36) were not
visible in 1967. The 19th-century stone reredos
depicting the Last Supper, with figures in full
relief, is said to have been brought from a Gloucester
church. The single bell, inscribed 'Sancte Toma ora
pro nobis', (fn. 37) is thought to have been cast by William
Warwick in the later 15th century. (fn. 38) A clock was put
in the tower in 1887 to mark the queen's jubilee. (fn. 39)
The plate includes a flagon of 1573, used as a
chalice, (fn. 40) and a chalice of 1697. (fn. 41) The registers begin
in 1573 but were badly damaged by water in 1809. (fn. 42)
The church of ST. PETER, Framilode, was built
of marlstone with ashlar dressings to the designs of
Francis Niblett (fn. 43) in a simple, Italianate style. It
comprises a large nave, small apsidal chancel, south
vestry, and north-west tower with a pyramidal roof,
of which the ground-floor stage serves as a porch.
The church, consecrated in 1854, was 'adorned and
beautified' in 1857 by the Rector of Fretherne and
his wife Harriet Mary, (fn. 44) who appear to have taken
a leading part in founding the new church. The
internal painting, notably on the woodwork of the
roof, survived in 1967. There is one bell, and an
organ of 1860 by Joseph Walker of London. (fn. 45)