CHURCHES.
A tradition, first recorded in the 16th
century, that there was anciently a college of secular
priests at Frocester (fn. 4) is given some support by the
description of the church there as 'the old minster'
in 1313. (fn. 5) The church was evidently of a fairly early
foundation and once served a wider area than
Frocester parish. When first found recorded c. 1150
it had parochial rights over Nympsfield, (fn. 6) and in
1185 it was agreed that the chaplain serving the
chapel at Nympsfield should swear fealty and pay an
annual pension to the mother church, which retained burial rights over the wealthier of the
Nympsfield tenants. (fn. 7) Frocester church may also have
once served Coaley parish, (fn. 8) and a portion of the
tithes of Alkerton owned by the church and commuted for 20s. a year in 1377 (fn. 9) may have represented
the remnant of parochial rights over that tithing.
In the mid or later 12th century Frocester church
was held by Cardinal John de Columpna and was
served by a chaplain. (fn. 10) In 1185 rights in the church,
presumably as patron, belonged to Gloucester
Abbey (fn. 11) which had licence to appropriate the church,
reserving a portion to a vicar, in 1225. (fn. 12) The living,
which remained a vicarage, was united with the
rectory of Eastington in 1953. (fn. 13)
Gloucester Abbey retained the rectory (fn. 14) and the
advowson until the Dissolution. Edward Welsh
presented to the vicarage for one turn in 1552 under
a grant from the abbey. (fn. 15) In 1554 the Crown granted
the advowson to George Huntley (fn. 16) whose successors
to the Frocester Court estate were patrons until
the mid 19th century. (fn. 17) In 1869 and 1871 the advowson was exercised by the Revd. W. H. Bloxsome, in
1872 and 1873 by George Atkinson, and in 1875 by
Daniel Sykes. (fn. 18) In 1879 the incumbent Robert
Henniker held the advowson; by 1885 it had passed
to J. G. and R. P. Henniker, by 1919 to R. J. A.
Henniker, and by 1935 to John Graham-Clarke, the
lord of the manor. (fn. 19) In 1968 the advowson of the
united benefice was shared by Lady Cooper and the
Diocesan Board of Patronage.
The grant of 1225 assigned to the vicar the corntithes of five yardlands, all the hay-tithes of the
villeins, and the tithes of the wages of the abbey's
servants at Frocester. (fn. 20) In 1680 the vicar was receiving all the small tithes and the great tithes from
certain lands in the parish, later estimated at a
third part of all the great tithes; most of the produce
was tithable in kind but a payment of 1d. a cow was
made for milk. The Frocester Court estate, as the
former Gloucester Abbey demesne, was tithe free. (fn. 21)
In 1817 a composition was being paid for all the
vicar's tithes but his proposal to raise it caused the
tithe-payers to revert to paying the old moduses;
soon afterwards a new sum was fixed for the tithes
of the manorial estate and shared among the tenants.
Commutation under the Tithe Act was delayed by a
dispute over the vicar's refusal to accept the validity
of the old modus for milk; (fn. 22) under a compromise
solution he was awarded a corn-rent of £260. (fn. 23)
A close of c. 5 a. awarded to the vicar in 1225 (fn. 24)
remained the only glebe. (fn. 25) The vicarage was valued
at £40 in 1650, (fn. 26)
c. £60 in 1754, (fn. 27) and £229 in
1856. (fn. 28) The vicar was assigned a house in 1225. (fn. 29) In
1613 the vicarage house had a parlour, hall, and
kitchen on the ground floor, and other rooms above. (fn. 30)
It was rebuilt c. 1668, (fn. 31) and in 1828 had three
rooms and a pantry below and six rooms above. (fn. 32)
George Hayward, then vicar, claimed that it was too
small and unfit for residence and lived in his own
house in the parish. (fn. 33) The vicarage was rebuilt as a
gabled house of stone by Charles Jones c. 1838. (fn. 34)
After 1953 the incumbent of the joint benefice lived
at Eastington, and the vicarage house was sold.
There was a chapel of ease in the village by 1282
when it was decided that repairing it was the vicar's
responsibility; (fn. 35) according to tradition it stood near
Frocester Court. (fn. 36) It was evidently in use in 1537
when some inhabitants were described as parishioners of the church and chapel of Frocester, (fn. 37) and c.
1600 the chapel was being used for some marriages. (fn. 38)
Between 1677 and 1691 the chapel was rebuilt on a
new site, north-west of the main crossroads, given
by Anne, Lady Brooke. (fn. 39) From that time the chapel
was used for almost all services; the parish church,
used only for burials, fell into disrepair, and was in
ruins in 1828. (fn. 40) In 1849, however, the GrahamClarke family and others promoted the rebuilding of
the old church, although the vicar, Charles Jones,
opposed the plan because of the church's inconvenient position and favoured building a new
church in the centre of the village. The rebuilt
church was consecrated in 1852 and services were
shared between it and the chapel (fn. 41) until 1873, when
the chapel ceased to be used and in its turn fell into
disrepair. In 1889, after a poll of the parishioners, it
was decided once again to hold some services in
the chapel, which was restored in the 1890s, (fn. 42)
and both buildings were used until 1952, when the
parish church was largely demolished (fn. 43) and all
services transferred to the chapel.
In 1540 and 1544 the vicarage was being farmed
and the farmer was paying a curate. (fn. 44) In 1554 the
vicar, John Dyston, was deprived for marriage, (fn. 45)
but he apparently regained the vicarage before
1563. (fn. 46) Thomas Tully (1571-1610) (fn. 47) was described
as a good scholar in 1576 (fn. 48) and as a preacher in
1584. (fn. 49) His successor was Richard Hathway from
whom the vicarage was sequestered in 1646; (fn. 50) in
1648 the minister was Walter Pritchard who signed
the Presbyterian Gloucestershire Ministers' Testimony, (fn. 51) and in 1650 John Chappell was described as
a preaching minister; (fn. 52) Richard Hathway apparently
regained the living at the Restoration. (fn. 53) John Hayward (1729-76) was also Rector of Nympsfield from
1754; his successors to the vicarage, George Hayward
(1776-1814) and George's son George Hayward
(1814-37), were both also rectors of Nympsfield. (fn. 54)
A church house was held on lease from the manor
by a number of parishioners in 1607, (fn. 55) and was
presumably the old church house leased to a single
tenant in 1688. (fn. 56)
The parish church of ST. PETER, so called by
1313, (fn. 57) stood on a site occupied in Roman times. The
church mentioned in the mid 12th century apparently
comprised a wide but short nave, a narrower
chancel, and a transeptal tower on the north.
In the 13th century the nave was rebuilt on a
narrower plan, the chancel was extended eastwards,
and the tower was remodelled with double cusped
lights at the belfry stage and given a short broach
spire of timber. In the 14th century the church
was again extended to the east and a north aisle
made east of the tower with an arcade on the line
of the old chancel wall extending into the west end of
the nave; at the same period the nave was given new
windows and a gabled south porch was added. The
east windows of the chancel and aisle and one in the
north wall of the aisle were replaced in the 15th or
early 16th century. (fn. 58)
The church was not properly roofed or glazed and
the chancel was out of repair in 1563, and the church
remained unrepaired in 1572. (fn. 59) It was allowed to
decay during the 18th and early 19th centuries (fn. 60)
until 1849, when it was rebuilt to the designs of
Francis Niblett. The new church was on the same
plan with much the same detail as the old one,
except that the new tower, which had a broach spire
with gabled lights, stood further to the north
projecting fully beyond the eastern part of the aisle,
and the previously narrow western part of the aisle
was widened; (fn. 61) much of the stonework of the old
church, including some of the window tracery, was
apparently re-used. (fn. 62) In 1952 the church was
demolished except for the tower and spire, the
porch, and a few courses of the outside walls.
Some of the stone was used to rebuild the chapel at
Wycliffe College, Stonehouse, (fn. 63) and Eastington
church acquired the ring of six bells. (fn. 64)
The chapel of ST. ANDREW
(fn. 65) comprises nave
and chancel. It was built in the late 17th century
but incorporated some materials from the chapel
recorded from 1282, (fn. 66) including presumably the
small Norman light in the north wall of the chancel,
and the wagon roof decorated with carved bosses
over the nave which is dated 1637. In the late 18th
century the chapel had small square windows on the
south, a narrow round-headed south door, a squareheaded chancel door, an east window of three
arched lights possibly also from the medieval chapel,
and the small gabled bellcot which survives over
the east end of the nave. (fn. 67) In 1812 the chancel was
extended eastwards and given a new east window with
wooden mullions and a brick chancel arch; external buttresses were added and the chapel was
repaired and given a west gallery. (fn. 68) The chapel was
in a very bad state of repair after the period of disuse
in the late 19th century; some repairs were made in
1888-91 and during extensive restoration in 1896-7
the nave was almost completely rebuilt, a new set of
Gothic windows inserted, and a new stone chancel
arch made. (fn. 69) The 17th-century font, with an octagonal bowl on a pedestal adorned with trefoilheaded niches, (fn. 70) is probably the one mentioned at
the chapel in 1680. (fn. 71) The single bell was cast by
Abraham Rudhall in 1719, (fn. 72) and the plate includes
an elaborately decorated flagon of foreign workmanship given c. 1885. (fn. 73) The parish registers are
virtually complete for baptisms and marriages from
1559, and for burials from 1570. (fn. 74)