43. THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL, HEYTESBURY
The church of Heytesbury, which in 1086 was
held by Alward the priest, (fn. 1) was given to Salisbury
Cathedral by Henry I about 1115, together with
the church of Godalming (Surr.) and lands lying
beside the two churches, to form a prebend. (fn. 2) The
value of the prebend was quickly augmented by a
number of other gifts. Elyas Giffard gave the
church of Hill Deverill to that of St. Peter of
Heytesbury in the time of Bishop Roger (1107-39), and the Empress Maud gave the land and
'maram' at Wilton, which Peter the clerk or
priest of St. Martin held of her there by the gift
of Henry I. (fn. 3) In another charter the empress
named two prebendaries of Heytesbury, Sylvester and Reynold, and gave them 28 acres, with
pasture for 100 sheep, both in the hills and in the
cultivated lands, pasture for 10 oxen, 2 cows, and
2 horses, and a house, together with full rights of
common, the whole to be held free of all lay
services. This gift was made to enable them to
serve the chapel of Tytherington. (fn. 4) The charter
implied that Sylvester and Reynold were prebendaries, not of Salisbury, but of Heytesbury, and
that the church of St. Peter there was already
collegiate, the head of the college being that canon
of Salisbury who held the Heytesbury prebend.
This was confirmed shortly afterwards, when in
response to a petition from Roger, Archdeacon of
Wiltshire, who then held the prebend, the Chapter of Salisbury granted to the two clerks, described as Sylvester the priest and Reynold the
clerk serving at Heytesbury, the tithes of Horningsham and Tytherington. If the total value
failed to amount to £4 in any one year the archdeacon was to make it up. Successors to the two
clerks were to be appointed by the archdeacon and
his successors as prebendaries, or failing them by
the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. (fn. 5)
Half a virgate, 1 acre of land, and a house, together with pasture for oxen, cows, horses, and
sheep, rights of common, pannage for 16 pigs, and
various tithes, were given to the two, or four,
canons by Humphrey de Bohun and Margaret his
wife on the petition of Robert de Vernon and the
men of Horningsham, in order that they might
also serve the chapel of Horningsham, founded by
Robert de Vernon. (fn. 6) Lands in Swallowcliffe were
given to the church there, which was also dedicated to St. Peter, by various benefactors, Canutus,
Ranulph, and Theobald the son of Ranulph. The
gifts were confirmed by Robert Giffard and much
later by Alice, Abbess of Wilton, and some of
them were witnessed by Sylvester, Reynold, and
Master John, canons of Heytesbury. Finally
Gerard Giffard gave all his rights in the church of
Swallowcliffe to their church of St. Peter, in order
to maintain a chantry priest. (fn. 7)
However, the real foundation of the collegiate
church must be dated from a charter of Jocelin,
Bishop of Salisbury, granted between 1150 and
1160 in response to a petition from the Archdeacon Roger. (fn. 8) This charter established four
canons in the church of St. Peter at Heytesbury,
as a prebend of Salisbury. They were granted the
tithes of Tytherington and Horningsham, with
the canon's tithes of Heytesbury, all offerings
except those of gold and ornaments and those on
the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, the
church of Hill Deverill, 'maram' in Wilton with
the possessions of Peter the clerk there, and the
church of Swallowcliffe given by Gerard Giffard,
except for the episcopal rights there. Roger, the
Archdeacon and Canon of Salisbury, was to provide sites for the canons to build their little houses
(mansiunculas). He and his successors were to
appoint the canons, who were to promise obedience to Salisbury and to Heytesbury. They were
to reside at Heytesbury and celebrate there for the
souls of members of Salisbury Cathedral Chapter
and for benefactors of Heytesbury. In a further
charter Jocelin conceded to the canons the offerings on the day of the Invention of the Holy
Cross, hitherto withheld, and on the day of the
dedication of the church, except those of gold and
silver. (fn. 9)
The possessions of Salisbury Cathedral, including the churches of Heytesbury and Godalming,
were confirmed by Henry II. Henry also issued
a specific confirmation of his grandfather's gift
of Heytesbury, and confirmed all the customs
and liberties of the churches of Heytesbury and
Godalming, then held by Roger the Archdeacon,
in lands and in men, in woods, pastures, and
streams, with all privileges held in the time of
Henry I. (fn. 10) This charter of Henry II was the last
important grant secured by Roger the Archdeacon,
and it was left to his successor, Reynold the Archdeacon and Canon of Salisbury, to complete the
foundation by securing papal confirmation of
Bishop Jocelin's constitution in a bull of Alexander III. (fn. 11) At about the same time, that is shortly
before 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket and
Bishop Nigel of Ely granted indulgences to visitors and benefactors of the church. (fn. 12) Further gifts
were made by Walter Quer de liun of 12d. on the
feast of St. John the Baptist to the fraternity of
Heytesbury church, by William de Chinok of 1 lb.
of peppers or 8d. on St. Matthew's Day to the
church of St. Peter and St. Paul and the four
canons of Heytesbury, and by Radulf de Rupe of
land in Salisbury for the soul of King John and for
his own soul, to the same. (fn. 13) These gifts indicate
that by the early 13th century St. Paul had been
added to St. Peter in the dedication of the church.
The witnesses to the last charter included Philip
de Winesham, Canon of Heytesbury, and three
other canons, Master John, Elyas, and Master
Bartholomew.
The early heads or deans of the church of
Heytesbury were archdeacons or other canons
of Salisbury, but from about 1220 the prebend of
Heytesbury came to be annexed to the deanery
of Salisbury, and from then until the collegiate
church was abolished by the Cathedrals Act of
1840 (fn. 14) the Dean of Salisbury was also Dean of
Heytesbury. It is clear, therefore, that at no time
can the head of the collegiate church have resided
at Heytesbury except for short periods. Thus the
development of a collegiate life was handicapped
almost from the beginning; and if, as the early
charters suggest, the canons were at first resident,
they did not long remain so. Four prebends were
created for the canons, with the names of four of
the five dependent churches and chapels, the
neighbouring Hill Deverill, Horningsham, and
Tytherington, and the more distant church of
Swallowcliffe. A fifth chapel, that of Knook, was
and still is dependent on Heytesbury, but did not
give its name to a prebend.
William de Wanda, then precentor, became
Dean of Salisbury in 1220, and after that date all
the known prebendaries of Heytesbury were also
deans of Salisbury. (fn. 15) On becoming dean, de Wanda
immediately began a visitation of the churches of
his prebend. His findings confirmed that Heytesbury was a collegiate church dedicated to St.
Peter and St. Paul with four canons, holding the
dependent churches and chapels as prebends.
There were two priest prebendaries, Elyas de
Watelegh and Hugh de Middleton, one having
a vicar and the other not, and two deacon prebendaries, Hugh de Templo and Master Bartholomew, one with one vicar and the other with
two. There was also a deacon for the dependent
chapel of Knook. The books, ornaments, and
muniments of the church were listed, the last
comprising the 23 charters, which now survive
only as copies in the Register of St. Osmund, and
which contain all that is now known about the
foundation of the church. (fn. 16) Shortly afterwards
John de Wanda, presumably a relation of the
dean, became a canon of Heytesbury, and in 1222
William secured a grant from the Chapter of
Salisbury, which freed the church of Swallowcliffe, amongst others, from the jurisdiction of the
archdeacon. (fn. 17)
In 1281 Bishop Robert Wickhampton ratified
the estate of the Dean of Salisbury as prebendary
of Heytesbury, thus making permanent an association which had apparently been in existence since
1220, (fn. 18) and in 1294 this prebend was valued at
£22. The two canonries of Swallowcliffe and
Hill Deverill in Heytesbury were valued at
£6 13s. 4d. each, and the other two, Horningsham
and Tytherington, at £5 each. (fn. 19) Three years later
only two canons of Heytesbury, Thomas de Litlinton, who was to hold his canonry for another
50 years, (fn. 20) and Master John de Bukyngham,
were named with Dean Simon de Micham in a
list of clergy. (fn. 21) In 1317 William Mount had
licence to alienate a messuage, 1 virgate, and 30s.
rent in Heytesbury to maintain a chantry chaplain
to celebrate in the church there, (fn. 22) and from this
date until at least 1315 there was a chantry,
valued at £4 per annum, the advowson of which
belonged to the lord of the manor. (fn. 23) In 1415 Sir
Walter Hungerford secured a licence to transfer
this chantry from the church to the private chapel
in his own manor house, and to augment its resources. (fn. 24) A chantry chaplain was admitted by
Dean Simon Sydenham in 1421. (fn. 25)
Meanwhile, from 1297 to 1379 the deans
of Salisbury were non-resident foreigners, (fn. 26) and
foreign clerks did not disdain to accept prebends
in Heytesbury church. John de Pynibus held the
prebend of Hill Deverill from 1324 to 1342, with
other English preferments, and was succeeded by
John Radulphi. (fn. 27) Other prebends were held by
John de Tarenta and Bartholomew Patricii, (fn. 28) but
Swallowcliffe prebend, on the other hand, remained in the possession of clerks with distinctively English names. (fn. 29) Several canons were
papally provided, including some king's clerks, (fn. 30)
and in 1351, when the temporalities of the alien
dean were in the king's hands, a royal appointment to a canonry was made. (fn. 31) At this period
several canons were appointed to await the next
occurring vacancies, (fn. 32) and in the late 14th and
15th centuries the church became almost a
preserve of royal clerks, the prebends being held
by such officials as Master Michael Northburgh,
Canon of Salisbury and afterwards Bishop of London, (fn. 33) John Chittern, afterwards Archdeacon of
Salisbury and Wiltshire, (fn. 34) John Wakering, Keeper
of the Privy Seal, Master of the Rolls, and Bishop
of Norwich, (fn. 35) and John Frank, another Master of
the Rolls. (fn. 36)
John Chandler, Dean of Salisbury (1404-18),
visited Heytesbury and its dependent churches
with the other churches of his peculiar in 1408.
At Heytesbury he found five chaplains, of whom
two were chantry chaplains and one was responsible for the dependent chapel of Knook. The
rector was the Dean of Salisbury, and there were
three prebends, Tytherington and Horningsham
having been combined, but since the combined
prebend was henceforth divided into two parts
there was no effective change. At Horningsham
John Chittern was the prebendary, and there were
two chaplains. At Swallowcliffe the prebendary
was John Wakering, there should have been a
vicar but the office was vacant, and there was one
chantry chaplain. (fn. 37) In 1412 and 1428 the values
assigned to the prebends were those of 1294, (fn. 38) but
by the time of the Valor Ecclesiasticus the values
appear to have risen slightly: Heytesbury was then
valued at £40, Tytherington at £19 9s. 11d.,
Horningsham at £13 7s. 5d., Hill Deverill at
£10 4s. 1½d., and Swallowcliffe at £8 13s. (fn. 39)
The collegiate church was destined to survive,
at least in name, for 300 years after the Reformation. The church of Heytesbury was served by a
vicar appointed by the Dean of Salisbury, and the
churches of Hill Deverill and Horningsham by
perpetual curates appointed by the respective prebendaries. Tytherington had no curate and divine
service was only celebrated there four times a year
by the prebendary or his representative. At Swallowcliffe the prebendary leased the glebe for a
period of three lives, and the lessor was supposed
to find a priest to serve the church. In 1829 the
residence provided for the clergyman was said to
be in ruins. (fn. 40) The four prebendaries continued
to be regularly appointed by the deans, and since no
duties, apart from those just mentioned, were required of them, the prebends provided welcome
additions to the stipends of various parish priests.
Most of the canons were undistinguished, occupying country rectories or vicarages, not necessarily
or usually in Salisbury Diocese. Some, however,
were also canons of Salisbury, and one at least was
a bishop. This was William Bradbridge, prebendary of Horningsham from 1568 to 1576 and
Bishop of Exeter from 1571 to 1578. (fn. 41)
In 1835 the Commission on Ecclesiastical
Revenues reported on the collegiate church. Hill
Deverill prebend was then held by the Vicar of
Tuxford (Notts.), Swallowcliffe by the Vicar of
Hurstbourne Priors (Hants), Horningsham by the
rector of a Glamorganshire parish, and Tytherington by a priest who was only required to conduct
four services a year there. The prebendaries of
Hill Deverill and Horningsham had no duties
attached to their prebends, but at Swallowcliffe
the prebendary, who had no house there, was
bound to provide for the services of the church. (fn. 42)
As a result of this inquiry and of the report of the
Ecclesiastical Duties Commission (fn. 43) the four prebends were abolished by the Cathedrals Act of
1840, (fn. 44) after the death of the existing canons. The
property of the prebends was accordingly taken
over by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners: Tytherington in 1849, being valued at £80 per annum,
Swallowcliffe in 1853, valued at £980, Horningsham in 1855, and Hill Deverill, valued at
£780, in 1863. (fn. 45) The patronage of the church
of Heytesbury was transferred from the Dean of
Salisbury to the bishop, who still held it in 1954. (fn. 46)
Deans of the Collegiate Church of Heytesbury
Roger, occurs c. 1150-60. (fn. 47)
Reynold FitzJocelin, occurs c. 1165-70. (fn. 48)
Savaric, occurs c. 1180. (fn. 49)
Philip de Winesham, occurs temp. John. (fn. 50)
Thomas de Disci, occurs c. 1215. (fn. 51)
William de Wanda, occurs 1218. (fn. 52)
From this date the only known prebendaries or
deans of Heytesbury were the deans of Salisbury,
and from 1284, if not before, until 1840 all deans
of Salisbury were also deans and prebendaries of
Heytesbury. (fn. 53)
No seal of the church, independent of those of
the deans of Salisbury, is known. (fn. 54)