CHURCH.
A priest was recorded at Miserden in
1086 (fn. 58) and architectural evidence shows that the
church there is of pre-Conquest origin. (fn. 59) In 1270
Thomas de Suthinton was styled rector of Miserden (fn. 60) and the living has remained a rectory. The
living was united with Winstone in 1928 (fn. 61) but the
union was dissolved in 1949 when Miserden was
united with Edgeworth. (fn. 62)
The first recorded presentation to the benefice
was made in 1269 by Ralph Musard, lord of the
manor. (fn. 63) The advowson usually remained with the
lords of the manor and in 1970 Mrs. H. M. Sinclair,
the owner of Miserden, had the right of presentation
to the united benefice. (fn. 64) In 1429 the bishop ordered
an inquisition when John James was presented to the
living by the bishop of Bath and Wells and others. (fn. 65)
During the later 16th century, when doubt existed
as to ownership of the manor, the Kingston family
presented to the living. (fn. 66) Perhaps the Jerninghams,
as recusants, would not have been interested in the
advowson, but they may have conveyed it to Arthur
Guildford who had a claim to it in 1576. (fn. 67) The right
of presentation was sometimes exercised by the
Crown, (fn. 68) and during the 18th and 19th centuries it
appears to have been sometimes granted away for a
turn by the lords of Miserden. (fn. 69)
In 1291 the living was valued at £6 13s. 4d. and a
pension of 2s. was paid to Tewkesbury Abbey. (fn. 70) The
pension was probably connected with the grant of
two-thirds of the demesne tithes confirmed to the
abbey c. 1130, (fn. 71) but it has not been found recorded
later. The tithes were commuted for a corn-rent of
£410 in 1838. (fn. 72) In 1705 the rectory had c. 80 a. of
glebe land of which 55½ a. were in the open fields and
15 a. at Parsons Hill, (fn. 73) a close in the south-east
corner of the parish. The glebe land amounted to
86 a. in 1838 (fn. 74) but had been reduced to c. 25 a. by
the end of the 19th century. (fn. 75) In 1535 the living was
assessed at £7 19s. 1d., (fn. 76) and at £50 in 1650. (fn. 77) It was
worth £80 in the early 18th century, (fn. 78) £300 in
1814, (fn. 79) and £500 in 1856. (fn. 80)
The rectory house dates from the 17th century
and was probably much restored or rebuilt by
William Wolley c. 1665 (fn. 81) on an L-shaped plan. His
son, also William, was assessed on 7 hearths in
1672, (fn. 82) presumably representing the house, and it
was described in 1705 as a building of 3 bays with a
kitchen of 2 bays and other out-buildings. (fn. 83) The
house was enlarged in the 19th century, the garden
front being remodelled early in the century and the
east wing and entrance front c. 1842. (fn. 84) In 1970 the
house was undergoing extensive restoration at the
expense of the Sinclairs.
Of the rectors of Miserden in the early 14th
century, Nicholas de Suthinton, perhaps from a
tenant family on the Musards' estate at Siddington, (fn. 85)
was absent from the benefice in the service of Hugh
Despenser between 1310 and 1314. (fn. 86) John de
Keston, Nicholas's successor, was imprisoned in
Gloucester Castle in 1322. (fn. 87) William Brescy,
rector 1336-44, spent most of his incumbency
absent at university or in the service of the bishop
of Durham. (fn. 88) After Brescy's departure the living
changed hands four times in seven years. (fn. 89) Henry
Adams, instituted before the break with Rome,
survived as rector through all the religious changes
until his death in 1566; (fn. 90) in 1551 he was found
unsatisfactory in his knowledge of religion. (fn. 91) His
successor, Richard Rawlins, a pluralist who failed
to catechize his flock, employed a curate who was
not in orders in 1576. (fn. 92) William Wolley, rector
1636-70, (fn. 93) held Miserden in plurality with Brimpsfield until at least 1650, (fn. 94) and in 1658 the parliamentary commissioners considered uniting the
benefices. (fn. 95) Samuel Rich succeeded at Wolley's
death in 1670 but Wolley's son William (fn. 96) refused to
allow Rich access to the parsonage and procured
his imprisonment in Gloucester gaol. (fn. 97) Rich, who
appears to have moved to Ledbury, stood surety for
William Stansby, his successor at Miserden, in
1673. (fn. 98) Stansby had been presented by Christopher
Guise but in the meantime Wolley had procured a
nomination to the living from the Lord Chancellor,
on pretence that the living was in lapse, and,
although in 1678 the House of Lords decided in
favour of Stansby, (fn. 99) Wolley appears to have
continued as rector until his death in 1681. (fn. 1) Giles
Mills, who owned Honeycombe Farm, (fn. 2) was rector
1728-85 although the living was served by curates
for most of that period. (fn. 3) John Washbourne, D.D.,
held Miserden in plurality with Siddington. (fn. 4) He
was succeeded by two more members of the Mills
family, William Mills, rector 1797-1848, who lived
at Shellingford (Berks.), (fn. 5) and William Yarnton
Mills, rector 1848-70. (fn. 6)
Land which brought in an income of 4d. in 1548
for a lamp in the church (fn. 7) was next to the churchyard
wall, where the elder William Wolley built a house,
known as Lampacre, in the mid 17th century. (fn. 8)
The church of ST. ANDREW (fn. 9) is mostly built of
rubble with freestone dressings and stone tiled
roofs and comprises chancel with north vestry and
south chapel, nave with north and south chapels and
south porch, and west tower. The nave is of the
11th century and retains the outlines of the original
round-headed north and south doorways. (fn. 10) The
chancel is 12th-century and contains a contemporary
window in the north wall; it was altered during the
13th century when a lancet window was placed in
the north wall. Both doorways to the nave were
reduced in height by the insertion of new arches in
the 14th century, when the south porch was added.
The manorial chapel, on the south of the chancel,
and the tower were added in the 15th century, when
the nave windows and east windows were enlarged
and a stairway made for access to a rood-loft. The
south chapel to the nave was added in the earlier
18th century by the owners of the Sudgrove estate, (fn. 11)
and in 1730 the rector Giles Mills and William Mills
of Hazle House, in Bidfield, built the north chapel. (fn. 12)
A west gallery was inserted in the 18th century. (fn. 13)
At a restoration in 1866, to designs of the Revd.
W. H. Lowder, (fn. 14) the nave chapels were arcaded
to give them the appearance of aisles, the gallery
was removed, the nave and chancel reroofed, the
chancel arch enlarged, and the nave windows
altered.
There is a Norman font with a plain cylindrical
bowl scored with chevrons, and, in the chancel, a
14th-century aumbry. The glass is all modern except
for the badge of the duke of York in the window on
the north wall of the nave. (fn. 15) In 1970 there was one
large and one small bell, cast by Abraham Rudhall
in 1722 to replace four ancient bells, (fn. 16) one of which
had possibly been cast by Roger Purdue in 1629. (fn. 17)
In the manorial chapel is an alabaster monument
to Sir William Sandys and his wife Margaret
(d. 1641 and 1644). The work, possibly by Edward
Marshall, (fn. 18) is of two full-size recumbent figures with
children carved round the tomb-chest. Traces of the
rich gilding and colour were still on the monument
in 1970. Also in the chapel, to which it was removed
from the chancel in 1866, (fn. 19) is a tomb with an effigy to
William Kingston (d. 1614), attributed to Samuel
Baldwin of Stroud. On the north wall of the chancel
is a monument to Anthony Partridge and his wife,
also attributed to Samuel Baldwin, which incorporates kneeling figures in a deep plinth surrounded by classical columns. (fn. 20) In the churchyard
are some 18th-century carved tombs. The church
plate includes a chalice and paten cover of 1735, a
salver of 1754, and a flagon of 1780. (fn. 21) The registers
for Miserden are complete from 1574. (fn. 22)