SHUSTOKE
Acreage: 2,094.
Population: 1911, 342; 1921, 446; 1931, 391.
The ecclesiastical parish of Shustoke includes the
detached chapelry and hamlet of Bentley, the details of
which are given separately. Shustoke proper is about
3½ miles in length from east to west, with an average
depth of about 1 mile. Its western boundary is formed
by the River Blythe, to the east of which is the hamlet
of Blyth End, and by branches of the River Tame. On
the east and north the parish was bounded by the River
Bourne, but on the north this has been partly canalized
and its old course now runs through the Birmingham
Corporation's great Shustoke Reservoir, which with the
neighbouring Whitacre Reservoir, also in this parish,
covers about 100 acres. Between these two reservoirs
lies Whitacre Station, in this parish, a junction of three
lines: (1) the main L.M.S. line from Derby, which here
turns west past Coleshill Station (formerly Forge Mills)
to Birmingham; (2) a branch line running south to
Hampton; (3) another branch east to Shustoke Station
and on to Nuneaton.
Just east of Shustoke Station is Furnace End Bridge
over the Bourne, originally a pack-horse bridge of the
14th or 15th century, 4 ft. wide, having a round arch
with four chamfered ribs. It was widened to the south
in the 17th century and again in 1925. South of the
station is the church, standing at a height of 350 ft. on
a slight hill, with a road running south, and another
west to Shustoke Green and then south-west over
Blyth Bridge to Coleshill.
Church Farm, south of the church, was a timber-framed building of the early 17th century. It is of
H-shaped plan facing west; the main block and south
wing are original, but except for the east end of the
wing were encased with red brick in the 18th century
and altered inside. The north wing is built of stone
and is dated, on the west gable end, 1669 with the
initials C/TK. The gable-heads have parapets with copings, and two or three original mullioned windows
survive. The east room has a wide fire-place of brick
with chimney-corners, perhaps later. The ceiling
beams are chamfered. South of the house is a barn
with some 17th-century timber-framing, and east of
it a red-brick pigeon-house with four gables.
The old Rectory nearly opposite Church Farm (now
two cottages) was the birthplace of Sir William Dugdale in 1605. It was the place where Anthony à Wood
chronicles that a swarm of bees came into the garden at
his birth, presaging possibly his future industry. (fn. 1)
Shustoke Hall, ¾ mile south-west of the church,
dates from c. 1680. It is a rectangular house of two
stories and attics with walls of red brick having a stone
plinth and a wooden cornice with modillions on the
front and ends. The middle west entrance has moulded
stone jambs and lintel and retains the ancient door with
two X-shaped panels formed by raised mouldings, and
with ornamental plates to the ring-knocker. The
windows are tall, with flat arches, and have wood
casement frames with transoms and mullions. The two
internal chimney-stacks have pilastered rectangular
shafts above the tiled roof; the northern has moulded
stone fire-places and the southern a wide fire-place to
the kitchen. The north-west room is lined with late-17th-century panelling and has a wall-painting over
the fire-place of a classical subject—a hunter offering
a boar's head trophy to a woman; another is of putti.
The middle entrance hall is large and has a fine staircase with heavy turned oak balusters and square newels
with moulded caps. A rectangular moat partly revetted
with masonry surrounds the house; the south arm is
crossed by a brick bridge and has steps down to the
water. The west arm is dammed for another entrance
which has a pair of gate-posts with stone ball-heads. A
human-head corbel has been reset in the south moat-wall.
Moat Farm, ¼ mile north-east of the Hall, is a house
of c. 1540 with walls mostly of modern brickwork.
The plan is T-shaped; the cross-wing, at the south end,
has an original projecting chimney-stack of red sandstone with tabled sides and three diagonal shafts of thin
bricks: on it is scratched a sun-dial. The fire-places are
modern. The stem has an internal chimney-stack with
a wide fire-place; the front (east) wall by the chimneystack has a patch of original masonry. Both parts have
original stop-moulded ceiling beams to the lower story,
and in the upper story chamfered and channelled
beams. The upper partitions are of close-set studding,
and the roof has queen-post trusses. Several of the doors
are hung with strap-hinges with flowered ends. There
are remains of the moat to the north and west of the
house.
West of the church is a row of three small stone-built
almshouses of 1712, of one story and attics with gabled
dormers in the tiled roof. They have square-headed
doorways with oak frames and small two-light mullioned
windows. A fourth house, at the west end, is now a
school.
The Griffin Inn opposite (south-west of) the church
has 18th-century red brick walls, but has earlier beams
and a wide fire-place inside.
Hollyers Farm, ¼ mile south-west of the church, is
an early-17th-century house with some original timber-framing, but largely refaced with later brickwork.
Two gable-heads in the north front towards the road
have lattice framing. The central chimney-stack has
three square shafts with V-shaped pilasters.
The main village, or Shustoke Green, a mile west of
the church, has eleven or twelve ancient buildings, all
detached.
The largest, north of the Coleshill road, is a red
brick farm-house called the Priory, dating probably
from c. 1600, but much altered. It is of L-shaped plan:
the west side has a projecting chimney-stack of red
sandstone with three square shafts of thin bricks.
The Old Manor House opposite it is a small
rectangular building facing east, of the late 16th
century, with a modern east wing. The walls are of
close-set studding, with some patterning of diagonal
timbers. The gabled north end has a jettied upper
story with a moulded bressummer, and the projecting
gable-head has moulded brackets which have masks
incised on them. The south end is similar, but has
been underbuilt. On the west side is a massive projecting chimney-stack covered with rough-cast.
The other nine or ten are scattered about two looproads south of the main road. They are of the late-16th- to mid-17th-century period and preserve more or less
of their original timber-framing. Two or three are or
have been farm-houses, one has the smithy, others are
cottages.
Blyth Hall stands at the west end of the parish near
Coleshill. The estate was purchased by Sir William
Dugdale the antiquary in 1625, and he built or rebuilt
the house soon afterwards. The date 1629 appears on
the south chimney-stack. The building was entirely
refronted and remodelled about 1690 by Sir John
Dugdale; a rain-water-head is dated 1733. A middle
hall-wing at the back is a later addition.
The east front, of two stories, is of 18th-century red
brickwork and has a moulded wooden eaves-cornice.
The middle entrance has a curved pediment and the
windows have sash frames. In the roof are five dormers
to the attics, with alternate curved and straight-sided
pediments. The entrance has a singularly small
entrance-hall and has an archway through what was
probably the 17th-century central chimney-stack. The
room to the south has a Tudor fire-place in the stack.
Some of the ceilings have chamfered beams, and one of
the two main staircases is of the 17th century with
turned balusters and moulded handrail. Much of the
antiquary's own furniture and a number of 17th-century portraits are preserved in the house. The
stables north-west of the house have curvilinear gables,
and a rectilinear pigeon-house has a pyramidal roof.
There are large fish-ponds west of the house, perhaps
in part a former moat.
About ½ mile north of the Hall is a pack-horse bridge
across the River Tame. It is of three bays with semi-circular arches of the 17th century and cut-waters to
the piers, all of red sandstone; the middle bay being
higher than the others causes a 'hump-back'. The
haunches and parapets are of red brick with stone
copings, and square piers above the cut-waters, of the
late 18th century. The gangway, 4 ft. 2 in. wide, has
stone pitching to the rises.
MANORS
Shustoke was held as 4 hides in 1086 by
Sotus of Geoffrey de Wirce. (fn. 2) There was
woodland 1 league long by ½ league wide,
and all this land had formerly been held by Lewin.
Geoffrey is thought to have died without heirs (fn. 3) and
Shustoke with the rest of his land
was granted by Henry I to Niel
d'Aubigny, the ancestor of the
Mowbrays, (fn. 4) who retained the
overlordship, while Shustoke was
held in demesne by members of
the Camvile family, to whom it
had been granted apparently in
the reign of Henry I. (fn. 5) It was
presumably part of the 9 knights'
fees which Walter de Camvile
held of Roger Mowbray in 1166, (fn. 6)
and he had been succeeded by
Roger Camvile by 1207. (fn. 7) In 1230 Roger's heirs were
said to be holding this knight's fee in Shustoke of Niel
de Mowbray. (fn. 8) Roger's heirs were his three sisters, but
the manor of SHUSTOKE is said to have gone to one
of them, namely Alice wife of Robert de Esseby. (fn. 9) It
was certainly held by their grandson William de Asseby,
who was outlawed in 1268 for killing a man in the
priory of Catesby. (fn. 10) Shustoke escheated to the overlord
Roger de Mowbray, a minor, (fn. 11) who in 1296 became
the first Lord Mowbray, (fn. 12) and was succeeded in 1297
by his young son John. (fn. 13) John was captured at Borough-bridge when fighting against Edward II, was hanged in
March 1322, and his estates were forfeit. (fn. 14) The king
then gave this manor to his own niece Eleanor wife of
Hugh Despenser the Younger. (fn. 15) In 1327, on the
accession of Edward III, however, the manor was
restored, with the rest of his father's lands, to John, the
next Lord Mowbray. (fn. 16)
Mowbray. Gules a lion argent.
The lady Alice, John's mother, held ⅓ of the manor
in dower and granted her right in it to Sir Richard de
Peshale, whom she married. (fn. 17) In May 1328 John
confirmed this grant and extended it for the life of Sir
Richard, (fn. 18) who in the next year was complaining that
John, among others, had entered his manor of Shustoke
and carried away his goods. (fn. 19) Alice was dead in 1331, (fn. 20)
but Richard de Peshale was still living in 1342. (fn. 21)
In 1343, by a series of transactions, John de Mowbray exchanged this manor with William de Clinton,
Earl of Huntingdon, for Hinton, co. Cambs.; the earl
granted it to the newly established priory of Maxstoke,
from whom it passed to his nephew John son of John
de Clinton in return for land in Maxstoke. (fn. 22) John de
Clinton then in 1346 enfeoffed William, Earl of
Huntingdon, for life, with reversion to himself and his
heirs, (fn. 23) and in 1348 the king made to the earl a grant
of free warren in his demesne lands there, with view
of frankpledge and other liberties, to pass, with the
manor, to John de Clinton. (fn. 24) William de Clinton died
in 1354. (fn. 25) In 1384 John de Clinton settled Shustoke
on himself and his third wife Joan and their heirs. (fn. 26)
In 1391 he settled the manor on himself and his fourth
wife Elizabeth. (fn. 27) He died in 1398, (fn. 28) his heir being his
grandson William, Lord Clinton, (fn. 29) who in 1399 conveyed it to his stepmother Elizabeth and her next (and
fourth) husband Sir John Russell. (fn. 30) Shustoke returned
to William de Clinton on Elizabeth's death in 1423. (fn. 31)
His son John succeeded him in 1432, (fn. 32) but was
attainted and forfeited his lands in 1459, as a result
of joining the Yorkist party. (fn. 33) In 1460 Henry VI
granted the manor in fee tail to his carver, Sir Edmund
Mountfort, (fn. 34) but in 1461, on the accession of Edward
IV, John de Clinton was reinstated (fn. 35) and held Shustoke
until his death in 1464. (fn. 36) He left a son and heir John (fn. 37)
and a widow Margaret, who married, secondly,
Walter Hungerford, and with him in 1468 and 1477
claimed one-third of the manor as her dower. (fn. 38) The
manor appears to have descended with the title. (fn. 39)
Thomas, Lord Clinton and Say, who died in 1517, had
settled Shustoke on his wife Joan or Jane, who survived
him (fn. 40) and was still holding the manor in 1540, when
Edward, Lord Clinton and Say, conveyed his reversionary interest to James Leveson (fn. 41) of Wolverhampton,
a rich merchant of the Staple. (fn. 42) In 1541 Leveson
conveyed the manor to trustees (fn. 43) and in 1544 or 1545
is said to have given it to Walter, son and heir of Sir
Edward Aston of Tixall, co. Staffs., (fn. 44) and husband of
Elizabeth, Leveson's daughter, though Richard Leveson, his son, was holding Shustoke in 1548. (fn. 45) Sir
Walter Aston died seised of it in 1589 leaving a son
Sir Edward, (fn. 46) from whom it passed in 1597 to his son
Walter. (fn. 47) In 1631 Sir Walter, now Lord Aston of
Forfar, sold it to George Devereux, (fn. 48) afterward Sir
George Devereux, of Sheldon, who was still holding
it in 1640. (fn. 49) His son George Devereux held it in
1692, (fn. 50) but in 1754 it was conveyed, as the manor of
Shustoke otherwise Shustoke with Bentley, by Robert
Moxon, Richard Price, Thomas Staunton, and
Catherine his wife to Richard Geast, (fn. 51) lord of Blyth
Hall (q.v.) with which it subsequently descended.
There was a water-mill in Shustoke at least by the
middle of the 13th century when the farm was given
to the chapel of Bentley (q.v.). (fn. 52) Two water-mills in
Blyth End and Shustoke were conveyed to William
Blythe in 1587 by Thomas Mootley and Francis his
son and heir, (fn. 53) and in 1597 by Humphrey and Mary
Morris, with warranty against the heirs of Mary. (fn. 54) A
fishery in the river Blythe was conveyed in 1625 by
Sir Walter Aston and his wife Gertrude to John
Cottrell, (fn. 55) and in 1637 by John Cottrell and his wife
Isabel to Michael Danyell, with the addition of
water-mills in Shustoke. (fn. 56)
In 1348 view of frankpledge and other liberties in
the hamlet of Blyth were given to William de Clinton,
lord of Shustoke. (fn. 57) In 1525 the manor of BLYTH
was said to be held of the heir of Walter Camvile, (fn. 58)
and in 1626 it was proved to be held of Lord Berkeley,
one of the Mowbray co-heirs, as of his manor of Melton
Mowbray, co. Leics. (fn. 59)
Early tenants of the manor appear to have been a
family taking their name from it. It has been suggested
that William, a younger son of William de Waver of
Cesters Over in Monks Kirby, settled here in King
John's time and took his surname from here. (fn. 60) The
family has been traced down to a Thomas de Blithe
who was living in 1400 and who left two daughters
Margaret and Alice, who appear to have succeeded
their father in 1425 or 1426. (fn. 61) Alice is said to have
married Gerard Ringley. (fn. 62) A John Ringley was seised
of half the manor in 1500 (fn. 63) and was succeeded by his
son Edmund Ringley, who died in 1525 leaving a
daughter Barbara wife of Richard Lawley. (fn. 64) In 1545
Barbara and Richard Lawley conveyed their half of
the manor then known as BLYTH alias BLYTH END
or BLYTHE HALL to Reynold Belhurst, otherwise
Bellers or Bellewes. (fn. 65)
The other moiety appears to have descended from
Margaret de Blithe and her first husband William
Bishbury, to Ralph Bishbury their son (c. 1455), and
afterwards to Rose, daughter and heir of Richard,
another son. (fn. 66) Rose married John Cleyton of Harwood
Parva, co. Lancs., and was holding this half-manor in
1525. (fn. 67) She conveyed it in 1540 to William Leveson,
husband of Helen, one of her daughters. (fn. 68) Their son
John and his wife Elizabeth were dealing with the
half-manor in 1558 (fn. 69) and in 1562 conveyed it to
Reynold Belhurst, who thus held both moieties. (fn. 70) In
1579 Reynold and his wife Elizabeth conveyed the
manor to their second son William Belhurst or Bellers, (fn. 71)
who in 1596 sold the reversion, after the death of himself and his wife, to Sir Edward Aston of Tixall, co.
Staffs. (fn. 72) Sir Edward bequeathed it to Henry Skipwith
of Tugby, co. Leics., and Jane his wife, and their
issue. (fn. 73) Henry and Jane were dealing with it in 1598, (fn. 74)
but Sir Walter Aston, afterwards Lord Aston of Forfar,
Sir Edward's son, bought it back from them again in
1607 or 1608, (fn. 75) and, with his wife, sold it in 1625 to
the great Sir William Dugdale, (fn. 76) who lived there, and
there completed his Antiquities of Warwickshire.
Blyth has descended in the Dugdale family. (fn. 77) On the
death without male heirs of Sir William's great-grandson
John, in 1749, the inheritance passed to his nephew
Richard Geast, son of Jane Dugdale and Richard
Geast of Handsworth, (fn. 78) who subsequently changed his
name to Dugdale. Blyth Hall is now the property of
Sir William Francis Stratford Dugdale, bart., F.S.A.,
D.L., J.P.
A lease in reversion for 21 years of what was described as either Packer's Farm or the manor of
PARKERS in the lordship of Shustoke was given by
the Crown in 1552 to Hugh Ellys, (fn. 79) and was said to be
parcel of the lands of Sir James Fitzgarret (fn. 80) (i.e.
Fitzgerald, who was attainted in 1537). (fn. 81) This is
evidently the manor of 'Pakkarse' held by Simon
Mountfort when he was attainted in 1495, (fn. 82) and
granted in the following year to Gerald, Earl of
Kildare. (fn. 83) It was held, as 'Pakkers', by his widow
Elizabeth at the time of her death in 1516 (fn. 84) and by
her son Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, on whose death in
1531 it passed, as 'Pakkarse alias Pakkars', to his
brother Sir James. (fn. 85) On his attainder it came to the
Crown and in 1554 'landes called Packers' were
granted to Michael Throckmorton. (fn. 86)
It is met with as
the manor of 'Parkers or Parkhurst' in the hands of
Francis Throckmorton in 1584; (fn. 87) Fisher Dilke 'of
Pakers' is mentioned in 1636 and 1650, (fn. 88) and his son
Samuel was concerned with the manor of 'Packhurst'
in 1662. (fn. 89) After this no more is known of the manor,
but the name of Packhurst (alias Packers in 1680)
survives as a field-name. (fn. 90)
CHURCH
The parish church of ST. CUTHBERT
consists of a chancel with a north organchamber, nave, south porch, and west
tower with a spire.
The church was erected in the time of Edward II,
according to Dugdale on the evidence of a figure in a
north window of John, Lord Mowbray, who was
probably a benefactor of the new church.
The top stage of the tower (resembling that at
Sheldon dated 1461) and the spire were added in the
second half of the 15th century.
The building was restored in 1873 at a cost of £3,000
when the chancel and porch were rebuilt. Lightning
in 1886 destroyed the roofs and internal fittings and
restoration in 1887 cost £6,000. Out of many Dugdale
monuments mentioned in Dugdale (fn. 91) only that of the
antiquary himself survives. A sketch of the church
made in 1854 shows the building much as it is now
except for the east window, which was a large round-headed light, and the angle buttresses, which were
shallow and wide instead of diagonal.
The chancel (about 33½ ft. by 18 ft.) has a modern
east window of three lights and tracery. In the north
wall is a window of two pointed lights and plain
spandrel in a two-centred head. The hollow-chamfered
rear-arch and two little carved human heads in the
hollows at the tops of the splays are ancient. West of
the window is a modern recess for the Dugdale monument and west of that an arch to the organ-chamber.
In the south wall are two modern similar windows, a
priest's pointed doorway and a restored low-side lancet
at the west end. The original piscina and credence has
been reset: it is of twin trefoiled arches to the single
recess and a quatrefoil piercing in a two-centred main
head formed by a hood-mould, the jambs and dividing
shafts being moulded. In the west half is a quatrefoil
basin. In the north wall is a partly ancient locker with
rebated jambs and lintel. The roof is of trussed rafter
type.
The modern pointed chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner carried on corbels carved as
crowned heads. The nave (about 55 ft. by 30 ft.) has
three pointed windows in the north wall of two
chamfered orders, the outer orders with the hood-moulds being 14th-century, the rest modern. The
eastern is of three lights and net tracery, the second
of two trefoiled lights, and the third of two plain lights,
both with plain spandrels. The north doorway between the second and third is blocked; it is of an ovolo-moulded order with a pointed head and a hood-mould
with ball-flower stops. The eastern south window is
like that opposite but higher in the wall. The other
two are each of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and
tracery: all have old outer orders and hood-moulds.
The pointed south doorway, also original, is of two
ovolo-moulded orders with defaced head-stops to the
hood-mould. The walls are of ashlar, modern inside
and old outside, with plinths of two splayed courses:
they drop to lower levels westward so that only the
top course is seen above ground in the west wall. The
buttresses divide the walls into three bays, those at the
west angles being diagonal. High up on the south-east
buttress is scratched a mass-dial; another is half covered
by the west wall of the modern porch. The modern
roof is divided into five bays by arched trusses.
The west tower (about 10 ft. square inside) is of
three stages divided by plain set-backs and with a
chamfered plinth. At the west angles are diagonal
buttresses finishing with four or five short stages at the
top of the second main stage. The two lower stages are
of 14th-century ashlar. In the east wall is a modern
pointed doorway to the nave. The west window of one
chamfered order is of two pointed lights and a plain
spandrel. In the second stage is a plain loop in each
outer wall.
The late-15th-century top stage contains the clock-chamber and bell-chamber, undivided by a string-course. It has smaller diagonal angle-buttresses with
moulded offsets. The clock-chamber has small ogee-headed lights with crocketed and finialled hood-moulds:
over them are skeleton clock-faces. The windows of
the bell-chamber are each of two trefoiled lights with
a quatrefoiled spandrel in a depressed four-centred
head. The hood-moulds have large stops carved as
winged monsters. The parapet is embattled and has
gargoyles in the string-course and pinnacles above the
angles. Above the tower is an octagonal stone spire
with three tiers of spire-lights. The lower two tiers
have ogee trefoiled lights and hood-moulds with
crockets. The third tier are plain pointed loops with a
string-course carried over them as hood-moulds.
Above the string-course the masonry has been restored.
At the apex is a ball and weather-cock.
Reset in the east window of the organ-chamber are
some pieces of ancient glass including a former foil
with two yellow pyxes (?) with ruby infilling and
another with plain green and ruby, both 14th-century,
also 15th-century white quarries with yellow foliage.
In the west window of the tower is a shield of the
Dugdale arms.
The font is modern, said to be a copy of the 12th-century font that was damaged by the fire. It has
interlacing arches with pellet-enriched caps. There is a
dug-out chest of exceptional length—8 ft. 3 in. The
lid is a single 2-in. plank hung with strap hinges and
with straps and hasps for three locks.
In the recess in the chancel is the high tomb of Sir
William Dugdale, Garter King at Arms; married
Margery daughter of John Huntbach of Seawall, Staffs.;
died 10 February 1685(6). It is of stone and has a shield
of his arms. On the wall of the recess is a black tablet
with a Latin inscription set in a stone moulded frame
which has a cornice and curved broken pediment with a
cartouche of the same arms. Above the sides are ballfinials. On the north wall of the organ-chamber is
another tablet, blackened, and the inscription nearly
obliterated, to Mary eldest daughter of Sir William
Dugdale.
A memorial on the south wall is to members of the
Dilke family, the earliest apparently 1716.
In the churchyard is the table tomb of Thomas
Huntbach [1712, date obliterated] and Margaret his
wife: also on the east wall of the nave a white stone
tablet (date also missing) to them with an English
verse of 20 lines.
In the churchyard is a plain square base of a cross
and part of the octagonal shaft with broach stops.
There are five bells: the treble by Taylor's 1887;
the second by William Bayley of Chacomb inscribed:
'Of fore he cast us into five, 1698'; the third inscribed:
'Repaird our church and bellfree here 1698'; the
fourth and tenor by Lester and Pack, 1768.
The registers date from 1538 and include the paper
original as well as the parchment copy which is carried
on to 1642. The second has entries from 1605 to 1659,
the third 1661 to 1721, all recently well rebound.
ADVOWSON
The advowson of the church of
Shustoke seems at first to have followed
the descent of the manor. In 1250
presentation was made by Ralph son of Nicholas,
custodian of the young Robert de Esseby, (fn. 92) and the
advowson was still described as being held by the heirs
of Roger de Camvile in 1298. (fn. 93) Aline widow of John,
second Lord Mowbray, conferred it with the manor on
her second husband Sir Richard de Peshale in 1328,
and her son John de Mowbray extended this grant to
cover Richard's lifetime; (fn. 94) but though Richard only
died in 1342, (fn. 95) yet John de Mowbray presented in
1335 and 1336. (fn. 96) In 1343 the advowson passed with
the manor to Maxstoke Priory, (fn. 97) who appropriated it
and from that same year appointed vicars down to
1536. (fn. 98) On the suppression of the priory the Crown
retained the right of presentation to the vicarage of
Shustoke, (fn. 99) and it is now in the gift of the Lord
Chancellor.
A lease of the RECTORY of Shustoke for 21 years
was given by the king in 1537 to Richard Breme, a
member of his household, (fn. 100) and in 1538 the reversion
of the rectory was granted, with the rest of the possessions of Maxstoke Priory, to Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk. (fn. 101) This grant included tithes of corn and hay,
a meadow, pasture, and rent worth £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 102) The
duke sold the rectory in 1540 to Robert Trappes, a
London goldsmith, and his wife Joan. (fn. 103) Joan was dead
by 1564, when it passed to a grand-daughter Mary,
daughter and co-heiress of Nicholas son of Robert
Trappes, who had died in 1544. (fn. 104) Mary married Giles
Paulet. (fn. 105) The rectory then descended with the priory
manor of Maxstoke (fn. 106) (q.v.), Lord Leigh of Stoneleigh
being the present lay impropriator. (fn. 107)
CHARITIES
Thomas Huntbach the elder by will
dated 6 December 1709 gave six almshouses for poor widows and others fallen
into poverty, together with a yearly sum of £12 to be
paid out of the rents and profits of the Moathouse and
certain lands for the maintenance of the almshouses;
and Randall F. T. Croxall by will proved 21 March
1887 bequeathed £1,000 to the trustees of Thomas
Huntbach's Charity for the general purposes of the
charity. The charities are now regulated by Schemes
of the Charity Commissioners of 5 January 1869 and
24 June 1913 under the title of the Almshouse Charity
of Thomas Huntbach and Randall Francis Tongue
Croxall. The 1913 scheme appoints a body of eight
trustees and the 1869 scheme provides for the management of the almshouses and directs the payment out of
income of stipends to the almspeople, and the expenditure in providing fuel, clothing, and other necessities
for the inmates. The endowment now consists of
six almshouses and stock producing an income of
£84 2s.
Dame Elizabeth Dugdale, who died in 1713, by her
will gave an annual rentcharge of 12s. issuing out of a
piece of ground lying on the north side of St. Michael's
Church, Coventry, to be distributed by the minister
and churchwardens to the needy poor of Shustoke.
The charge was redeemed in 1903 in consideration of
a sum of £25 Consols producing 12s. 4d. annually in
dividends which are distributed to the poor of the parish
in money or in kind.
William Hollier by will proved 9 August 1614 gave
to his son a cottage adjoining Gennets Croft between
Atherstone and Coleshill on condition that he should
pay yearly to the use of the poor of Shustoke 5s. for
ever. The charge is received and distributed to the
poor in money.
George Pinder by will dated 10 July 1658 gave to
the poor of Shustoke 7s. yearly issuing out of Calder
Croft. The charge is received and distributed to the
poor of the parish in money.