CHURCHES.
A priest is mentioned in the account
of Sunbury manor given in Domesday Book (fn. 89) and
Sunbury church is referred to in 1157. (fn. 90) The church
continued to serve the whole parish until 1881, when
the new parish of St. Saviour's, Upper Sunbury, was
created. (fn. 91) In 1949 the Charlton district was transferred to Littleton for ecclesiastical purposes. (fn. 92)
In 1157 Sunbury church was mentioned as the
property of Westminster Abbey, which owned
Sunbury manor. The abbey did not appropriate
the church property, though later in the century
it was granted a pension of 2 marks a year from
it. (fn. 93) The lords of other manors, however, alienated
some of their tithes from the rector: the lord of
Kempton granted the great tithes of that manor to
Grestain Abbey in Normandy before 1104 and by
1291 two-thirds of the great tithes of Charlton
belonged to St. Bartholomew's Priory, Smithfield. (fn. 94)
Westminster Abbey itself held the tithes of the
demesne of Halliford manor, but all of this seems
to have lain within Shepperton parish, so that the
income of Sunbury church was not affected. (fn. 95)
In 1222 the advowson of Sunbury was transferred
along with the manor from Westminster Abbey to
the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. By the agreement which gave effect to this St. Paul's were to
appropriate the church, ordaining a perpetual and
well-endowed vicarage. (fn. 96) They still retained the
advowson in 1957, (fn. 97) but they sold the rectory
estate in 1799 to the owner of Kempton manor. (fn. 98)
They are known to have leased it from the 14th
century, (fn. 99) and from 1573 to 1711 the lessee was
usually if not always the lord of Sunbury manor. (fn. 1)
After the great tithes were extinguished in 1803 in
return for land (fn. 2) the rectory estate is not referred to
again.
The vicarage was valued at £5 in 1254, and at
£4 6s. 8d. in 1291, (fn. 3) but the valuation of £7 10s. 1½ d.
in 1311 may be more accurate than either of these
since it was apparently not made for tax purposes.
The rectorial estate at the same date was worth
£22 15s., which came only from the great tithes and a
house referred to as the site of the manor. The vicar
received the small tithes and offerings and held all
the church lands, which comprised about 29 acres. (fn. 4)
In 1086 the priest had been said to hold ½ virgate. (fn. 5)
In 1650 the vicar's glebe was estimated at 48 acres, (fn. 6)
but in 1803 there were apparently only 37 acres. (fn. 7)
In 1535 the living was worth £13 6s. 8d., and in
1650 £40. (fn. 8) In 1667, perhaps as a result of an
arrangement made during the Interregnum, the
lessee of the rectory was paying the vicar £20 a year. (fn. 9)
The living was worth £100 a year by the 18th
century. (fn. 10) In 1803 the vicar was awarded 175 acres
of land instead of his small tithes, (fn. 11) and in 1835 the
benefice was worth £336 a year net. (fn. 12) In 1842 the
vicar gave £250 to augment the living and in 1955-6
the endowment was worth £421 net and the income
of the benefice was £591 net. (fn. 13) There were still 10
acres of glebe in 1957: (fn. 14) the rest had been sold at
various dates from 1864. A farm-house had been
built on the glebe-land by 1889 and at that time the
income was augmented by royalties from brickworking. (fn. 15) The vicarage house on the west side of
Church Street was sold in 1920 and a new one was
built in Thames Street. (fn. 16) A vicarage house had been
first mentioned in 1253. (fn. 17) In 1673 it was said to be
ready to fall down. (fn. 18) The north wing of the Old
Vicarage may date from soon after this, but the main
block is of the early 19th century.
One vicar, Walter Richardson (d. 1602), alleged
in his will that the sins of his parishioners had made
them 'a byword and mocking stock' to neighbouring
villages. (fn. 19) By 1650 the parish had a 'pious, preaching
minister' who had been appointed by the Commissioners of the Great Seal. (fn. 20) John Turner, vicar from
1656 until he was ejected in 1662 or 1663, was a
Presbyterian. (fn. 21) The 18th-century incumbents included a few of some note. John Heylyn, vicar
1742-7, a theologian known in his time as the
'mystic doctor', probably did not reside, (fn. 22) but John
Mulso, vicar 1747-60, lived at Sunbury and was
visited there by his friend Gilbert White the naturalist, who preached in the church. (fn. 23) James Cowe,
vicar 1790-1842, kept a meteorological register at
the vicarage. (fn. 24) There was generally a curate from the
18th century until 1945, (fn. 25) and one of these was
Daniel Sandford (d. 1830), afterwards Bishop of
Edinburgh. (fn. 26)
Two Sunday services were held in the 18th
century and in 1886, (fn. 27) and services on one or two
weekdays were started in the late 18th century. (fn. 28)
Between 1886 and 1894 a third Sunday service and
daily services were started. (fn. 29) Communion services
were held six times a year in the 18th century and
about 1800 there were some 40 communicants. (fn. 30) In
1878 the vestry complained to the bishop that the
choir remained in the church during communion
services although they did not partake, and that the
vicar did not perform the manual acts of consecration
within sight of most of the communicants. (fn. 31) In 1957
a new vicar reduced the number of communion
services, so that there are one or two on Sundays and
only one during the week. (fn. 32) The main Sunday
services in 1959 were matins at 11.15, replaced by
choral eucharist once a month, and parish communion at 9.30. In 1959 there were 450 people on
the electoral roll. (fn. 33)
In 1845 the people of Charlton went to church at
Littleton, which was nearer than the parish church. (fn. 34)
Mission churches were founded at Upper Sunbury
and Upper Halliford between 1870 and 1872. (fn. 35)
The one at Upper Sunbury became independent, (fn. 36)
but the Upper Halliford church is still served from
the parish church. (fn. 37) The original mission room was
replaced in 1906 by the small brick-built Gothic
church dedicated to St. Andrew. (fn. 38) In 1957 congregations there averaged 10 or 12. (fn. 39) In 1959 communion
services at 9, evensong, and children's services were
held each Sunday.
The parish church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN
stands at the corner of Thames Street and Church
Street (see frontispiece). It was built in 1752 to
replace the medieval church on the same site. Two
drawings of the old church exist, together with a
print showing it in the distance. (fn. 40) They do not agree
in all particulars, but it seems clear that the church
had a nave and chancel, with a south aisle under a separate gable reaching half-way along the chancel. Both
aisle and chancel contained two-light 14th-century
windows. There was a low square tower which in
one of the drawings (fn. 41) is shown battlemented, with a
south-east turret, and surmounted by a spire. The
same drawing also shows a battlemented south porch.
Both the drawings are from the south side, but the
print, which is from the east, seems to show some
sort of transept on the north: no references have been
found to a north aisle, transept, or chapel. Other
evidence shows that several galleries were built in the
late 17th and early 18th centuries, one of them in
the south aisle with an outside staircase. A window in
the nave was enlarged in 1703. (fn. 42) In 1750 the church
was said to be very old and decayed, particularly in
the roof, and to be too small for the population. (fn. 43)
It was therefore demolished in 1751 (fn. 44) and a new
brick building was erected by subscriptions from the
parishioners, helped by a legacy of £1,270. (fn. 45) This
church was designed by Stephen Wright, clerk of
the works at Hampton Court, (fn. 46) and seems to have
been a plain brick building characteristic of its
time. (fn. 47) It comprised a wide nave, a small chancel,
and a west tower. The body of the church consisted
of three bays with two ranges of windows, the upper
ones round-headed. This arrangement suggests that
side galleries formed part of the original design. (fn. 48) In
the only clear view of the church (fn. 49) the west wall
appears to have been surmounted by a parapet which
was swept up on each side in a double curve to meet
the tower: the east end may have been similarly
treated. The square tower, the upper part of which
remains unaltered, has corner buttresses terminating
in stone obelisks at the belfry stage. There are
round-headed windows at this stage, and the domed
roof is surmounted by a large octagonal cupola.
By 1856 the church was again considered to be
too small and in 1857 (fn. 50) S. S. Teulon made drastic
alterations which were afterwards said to have
transformed it into a glittering Byzantine temple. (fn. 51)
A new apsidal chancel was built, with a south chapel,
and the north vestry was enlarged. Extensions were
made to the west ends of both aisles, providing staircases up to the newly constructed galleries, which
were supported on slender cast-iron columns. (fn. 52) The
lower windows were given round heads to match the
upper ones, and all were decorated with multicoloured brick heads and filled with stone tracery.
Other coloured brick decoration was added to the
exterior and the new chancel arches inside were
conspicuously decorated in the same manner. The
arcaded reredos, screens, and pulpit were constructed of stone and marble inlaid with glass
mosaic. The Gothic west porch had been added by
1876, (fn. 53) perhaps after the original restoration. In 1892
the chancel was ornamented with mural paintings. A
choir vestry was built over the existing north vestry
in 1900 (fn. 54) and the eastern parts of the side galleries
were taken down in 1953.
The church contains two monuments of the 17th
century, one of which commemorates members of
the Phelips family. (fn. 55) There are small mural tablets
of the 18th and 19th centuries commemorating
various lords of manors and other residents. Six bells
cast between 1755 and 1851 were recast in 1901 and
at the same time two new ones were bought. (fn. 56) The
oldest pieces of plate are a silver cup and paten
given by Francis Phelips in 1662 and a large silver
flagon given in 1670 by William Peirs, Bishop of
Bath and Wells. In 1746 Sir John Chardin gave
another large flagon which was a copy of the earlier
one. The other pieces have been acquired since the
18th century. (fn. 57) The registers start in 1565 for baptisms and burials and in 1566 for marriages.
In 1547 a few acres of land in the parish were held
for the repair of the church, (fn. 58) and in 1803 7 acres
were allotted in respect of this land. (fn. 59) The land has
since been sold and the income from stock amounted
to £38 14s. in 1953. (fn. 60) C. E. Goddard (d. 1933),
formerly clerk to the vestry and the urban district
council and the author of An Historical Account of the
parish of Sunbury, left £500 in trust for the repair
of the church. He left a similar sum to St. Andrew's,
which had also received a smaller bequest in 1906. (fn. 61)
The church of ST. SAVIOUR, Upper Sunbury,
in Vicarage Road, was built in 1913 to replace an
earlier mission church. (fn. 62) This had been opened by
1872 on land in the Staines Road which was given
for the purpose in 1869. (fn. 63) The surrounding district
became a separate parish in 1881, and the church
was endowed with £153. The Vicar of Sunbury was
patron of the living. (fn. 64) In 1955-6 the endowment was
worth £317 net out of a net income of £696. (fn. 65) The
parish was enlarged in 1949 to include St. Benedict's
mission church at Ashford Common and part of
Feltham parish. (fn. 66) In 1886 there were three Sunday
services and by 1894 there were four. In 1959 the
main service was parish mass and communion at
9.30. In 1894 and 1959 there was daily mass and in
1959 there was also evensong each day. (fn. 67) There were
then 187 persons on the electoral roll. (fn. 68)
By 1894 an addition which was intended to be part
of a future permanent church had been made to the
original temporary mission church, (fn. 69) but both were
discarded when the present church was opened in
1913 and they have for long been used as a garage.
The present church was designed by J. S. Alder in
the style of the 15th century. It is built of red brick
with stone arcades internally. It is not orientated, so
that the altar is at the west end. In 1952 two bays
and a 'west' porch were added to the nave in a
simplified version of the same style, so that the
church now comprises an aisled nave of four bays,
with a shallow transept in the fourth bay of each
aisle, and an apsidal chancel flanked by a small
chapel and a vestry. Among the plate is a silver-gilt
chalice which is said to have been made in Germany
in the 14th century. (fn. 70)