CHURCH.
Cowley church was in existence by the
12th century, (fn. 27) having presumably been founded by
Westminster Abbey or one of its tenants to minister
to the needs of the manor. It continued to serve the
same area (fn. 28) until 1865 when the four detached parts
of the parish nearest to Uxbridge were assigned to
the new parish of St. Andrew, Hillingdon. (fn. 29) In 1884,
before a similar change was effected in the civil
boundaries, the area of Hillingdon west of the Pinn
and south of St. Andrew's was transferred to Cowley
ecclesiastical parish, thus considerably increasing
its size. (fn. 30)
Westminster did not appropriate the church of
Cowley to its own use, perhaps because the patronage may have always belonged to the abbey's tenants,
who are known to have held it from the mid-13th
century. (fn. 31) The advowson continued to descend with
the manor, though occasional single turns were
granted to other persons, (fn. 32) until 1924, when the
members of the Hilliard family in whom it was
vested conveyed it to the Bishop of London. (fn. 33)
The rectory was valued at 8 marks in 1254 and
1291, and at £11 in 1535. (fn. 34) By 1650 it had risen to
£70, 'if [the tithes were] duly paid', and between
c. 1770 and 1835 it rose from £74 to £230. (fn. 35) In 1884
the living was worth only £150, but it was increased
by £50 from Hillingdon vicarage in 1886, after part
of Hillingdon had been transferred to the parish. (fn. 36)
In 1955 the endowment provided £478 out of the
net income of £637. (fn. 37) The endowment comprised
the income from the glebe and all the tithes. The
glebe consisted of the rectory house and about 20
acres, mostly lying in Cowley Field. (fn. 38) After the
inclosure of 1796 most of it lay near the rectory. It
was increased to 34½ acres at the inclosure because
the tithes of Cowley Field and of some old inclosures
were at the same time commuted for land. (fn. 39) In 1850
the tithes of the rest of the parish were commuted
for a rent-charge of £46. (fn. 40) By 1959 virtually all the
glebe had been sold. The rectory house by the church
was rebuilt c. 1807 (fn. 41) and was sold about 1947, when
it was replaced by a smaller house across the road. (fn. 42)
Virtually nothing is known of the life of the parish
in the Middle Ages: one rector was ordained deacon
in 1299, apparently after his appointment. (fn. 43) The will
of another (d. 1412) makes no mention of any lights
or altars in the church. (fn. 44) The rector appointed in
1550 was deprived in 1554 for being married and was
restored in 1558. (fn. 45) He resigned in 1562, perhaps
because he had for some years held another living, (fn. 46)
and his successor was suspended in 1586, and was
said to be old and ignorant. (fn. 47) He was deprived the
following year, and tried unsuccessfully to make the
next incumbent pay the arrears of tenths which had
been accumulating unpaid since 1535. (fn. 48) The next
vicar also held the living of Willesden, and another
(1629-48), who was a fellow of Eton and canon of
Windsor, held that of Ruislip during part of his
incumbency. He probably resided occasionally at
Cowley, since he was buried there. (fn. 49) No rector
appears to have been ejected either by Parliament or
at the Restoration: the 'preaching minister' of 1650
had been appointed by the regular patron. Between
1654 and 1751 many non-parishioners were married
at Cowley: it may have been a recognized church
for marriages of doubtful propriety. (fn. 50) One 18thcentury rector (1718-71) was resident but also helped
the vicar of Ruislip with his parish, while the next,
Richard Dodd (rector 1771-1807), seems to have
taken some interest in Cowley, (fn. 51) though he did not
reside there regularly. He also kept a curate. About
1723 there were two services each Sunday and four
communion services a year. By 1766 there was only
one Sunday service, held in the evening, and there
were only 10 or 12 communicants. (fn. 52) John Hilliard
was presented to the rectory in 1807 by his father,
the lord of the manor, and continued to hold the
living until his death in 1851. (fn. 53) He had rebuilt the
parsonage house by 1810, but moved to Cowley
House when he succeeded to his father's estates.
By 1810 there were 20 communicants, and by c. 1828
Hilliard had reintroduced a second Sunday service. (fn. 54)
In 1834 he was said to visit the poor and to be 'one
of the best of men, and attentive to their necessities'. (fn. 55)
Two members of the Hilliard family succeeded him
in turn, the first serving for 31 years and the second
for 20, so that for nearly a century Cowley had only
three rectors, all of the same family. (fn. 56) By the end of
this period there was a third Sunday service, but the
rector appointed in 1902 was the first to hold 8 a.m.
communion services. He also started a number of
parish societies and organizations. By 1923 he
held choral eucharists on some Sundays, and by 1930
there were services on saints' days. (fn. 57) Daily communion services were started in 1952. (fn. 58) In 1959
sung eucharist was the principal Sunday service two
or three times a month and sung matins twice. There
were then 129 names on the electoral roll. (fn. 59)
The church of ST. LAURENCE, Cowley, is the
smallest medieval parish church in the county. (fn. 60)
It is built mainly of flint rubble, with freestone
dressings, and has a tiled roof. It consists of chancel,
nave, north vestry, west porch, and bell-turret. The
nave dates from the 12th century. One original
round-headed window survives, though it has been
slightly enlarged, and there is a two-light window of
c. 1300: the rest of the windows were enlarged or
inserted later. The chancel was rebuilt in the 13th
century and retains three partly restored lancet
windows at the east end. The chancel arch was
removed about 1500 and the church may have been
reroofed at this time. The roof is ceiled but has
three king-post trusses below the ceiling. The truss
dividing the nave and chancel, which is a notable
feature of the interior of the church, is filled with
timber arcading, apparently much restored. In
1780 Thomas Dagnall paid for the erection of a new
west porch of brick, a new wooden bell-turret, and
a spire. (fn. 61) He also 'beautified the inside of the . . .
church and chancel', and was perhaps responsible
for plastering and panelling the arcaded roof-truss
(now uncovered). (fn. 62) The south door of the nave was
perhaps blocked up at this time.
In 1673 the archdeacon ordered the removal of a
seat in the chancel from just in front of the communion table, (fn. 63) but in 1849 the church was still said
to be in 'a grievous state from pues and galleries', and
the pews were of 'all sizes, shapes, and colours.' (fn. 64)
They had been replaced by 1880, but the chancel
gallery, which was entered through a window by
steps from the outside, probably remained until
1897, when the church is known to have been restored. (fn. 65) The double gallery at the west end, which
incorporates the four angle-posts supporting the
bell-turret, still survived in 1959. Other changes
made in the second half of the 19th century (fn. 66)
include the addition of a north vestry and a south
porch, the 18th-century west porch, from which the
new one opened, becoming a baptistry. The present
font dates from this time: in 1849 a 'minute cavity'
in the sill of one of the north windows was being
used as a font. The bowl of what appears to be a
medieval font lies in the churchyard below the east
window. (fn. 67)
There is a palimpsest brass of 1502, with figures
of a man and wife, a number of 17th- and 18thcentury floor slabs, (fn. 68) and several 19th-century wallmonuments. Some of these, with some of the stained
glass in the windows, commemorate members of the
Hilliard family. On the porch is an inscription to
Dr. W. Dodd, brother of the then rector and at
one time chaplain to George III, who was executed
at Tyburn in 1777 for forgery and was buried in the
churchyard. (fn. 69)
The plate includes two patens of the 18th
century. A large flagon of 1709 was replaced in 1906
by a smaller one. (fn. 70) The first volume of the registers
contains baptisms and burials from 1562 and marriages from 1563. (fn. 71)