SHUTTINGTON
Acreage: 1,420.
Population: 1911, 614; 1921, 699; 1931, 588.
Shuttington is a long narrow parish, 3 miles from
north to south with an average width of between ¾ and
½ mile, lying west of Polesworth and Seckington
and south of the Staffordshire border. The church and
village stand centrally on the highest ground, at about
280 ft., and from here the land falls fairly sharply
westwards to the River Anker, which is here bridged.
The bridge at this point was known in 1650 as Black
Bridge, (fn. 1) and in 1670, when orders were given for its
repair by the county at a cost of £260, as Broken
Bridge. (fn. 2) Half a mile south-east of Shuttington Bridge
is another bridge (fn. 3) over the Anker, close to Alvecote
Mill.
There was a mill in Shuttington in 1086, (fn. 4) and in
1221 Robert de Bramcote complained that the Prior
of Alvecote had drowned his land by raising the mill
pool. (fn. 5) The mill is mentioned in 1291 as worth 14s. (fn. 6)
South of the mill pool, and now separated from it by
the Trent Valley branch of the L.M.S. Railway and
the Coventry Canal, is the site of Alvecote Priory.
Very little of it survives, and there is no trace of the
original plan. The dwelling-house on the site is a
rectangular building of the 18th century with walls of
ashlar; in its south wall is incorporated a 14th-century
doorway, with moulded jambs and pointed head, and
some of the masonry of the wall east of it appears to
be much more ancient than the remainder of the house.
East of the north half of the house is a wall a few
feet high, apparently the south wall of the nave of a
ruined chapel of the 13th or 14th century. (fn. 7) It is
about 30 ft. long and has a diagonal buttress of yellow
ashlar at its east end and a short return east wall with
the south jamb of a low arch (chancel arch ?) and a
few voussoirs of what may have been a semicircular
head. In the middle of the south face of the wall is a
shallow buttress dividing it into two bays. In the east
bay was a small window and in the western a doorway.
The west end of the wall is broken.
A 16th-century barn west of the house retains some
timber-framing with curved braces below the wall-plates. The roof-trusses have, on shaped story-posts,
cambered tie-beams supported by curved braces and
carrying king-posts that rise to the ridge. The side
purlins have curved wind-braces.
MANOR
Before the Conquest the 5-hide vill of
SHUTTINGTON was divided, half being
held by Godric and Celred, and the rest by
Godric alone. Each moiety was entitled to half the
mill and half the wood. After the Conquest, the whole
went to the Count of Meulan, Godric holding one
moiety from him and one Lewin the other. (fn. 8)
On the foundation of Alvecote Priory in 1159 the
manor of Shuttington was presented to it by William
Burdet, who had obtained it from the Earl of Leicester,
the son of the Count of Meulan. (fn. 9)
The manor remained with this priory until the Dissolution. In 1543 Henry VIII granted (fn. 10) to Lord
Chancellor Audley, in exchange for other lands, 'the
house or late priory or cell of Avecote alias Alvecote',
with all its possessions, to hold as 1/20 part of a knight's fee
by rents of 44s. 6½d.
In June of the same year Lord Audley was granted (fn. 11)
a licence to alienate the same to Joan Robinson widow
of George Robinson, mercer of London. After her
death it passed to her son William (fn. 12) and then to her
grandson Thomas. (fn. 13) In 1566 he held the manor,
rectory, and tithes, with 12 messuages, 5 cottages, one
dove-cote, one water-mill, lands, and rents. (fn. 14) Within
the next ten years this Thomas appears to have got
into financial difficulties. He entered into various
transactions concerning Shuttington, culminating in an
alienation of the manor in 1575 to Richard Paramore,
merchant tailor of London. (fn. 15) Fifteen years later Sir
Francis Willoughby brought an action against him for
that he unlawfully made over his assets to the said
Richard Paramore to avoid paying his debts, and that
this was not a genuine transaction, but merely designed
to prevent the complainant from enjoying peaceful
possession of the estates on foreclosure. (fn. 16) By that time,
however, the lands had gone beyond recall, for, by
1579, the Earl of Leicester had purchased them from
Paramore. In the same year the earl exchanged them
to Queen Elizabeth. (fn. 17) A survey of this date shows that
rents of free tenants brought in 12s. annually, rents of
customary tenants £11 17s. 8d., and those of tenants
at will £2 17s. 4d. The lands late of Alvecot cell were
leased to tenants for a total rent of £81 16s. 8d., with
rights of common and wood. In addition to this 'to
this manour dothe belong a lete and a Lawe daye and
is orderlye kept twyse in the yeare'. (fn. 18)
The Queen leased the manor in 1596 to William
Blounte (fn. 19) and again in 1602 to Lettice, Countess of
Leicester. (fn. 20) In 1609 Alvecote mill was leased separately
to Edward Ferrers, mercer, of London. (fn. 21) In the course
of the next twenty years there were other leases, notably
another in 1617 to the Countess of Leicester, but these
were all for short periods, and nothing important was
done until 1629, when the manor was granted to
Henry, Earl Holland, and other trustees in trust for
Queen Henrietta Maria. (fn. 22) About this time the estate
of just over 600 acres was valued at £210 13s. in a
survey which gives the names of all the tenants, and
also many field names. (fn. 23) At the time of the Common-wealth the lands were confiscated, and extremely detailed surveys were made both of the lands (fn. 24) and of the
manor-house (fn. 25) which had been built on the site of the
Priory: 'a mantion house . . . consisting of 9 rooms
below stayers and 6 above', all the rooms and the garden
being minutely described.
Previous to this the estate had been leased to Sir
John Finch, afterwards Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas, (fn. 26) and, in 1660, on his surrender was leased again
to his wife Dame Mabel Finch. (fn. 27) When this lease
expired others were made until, in 1697, William III
granted the whole to Thomas, Lord Coningsby. (fn. 28)
On the death of Lord Coningsby in 1729 the manor
went to his widow (and second wife) Margaret, (fn. 29) by
whom he left two daughters. The
elder, Frances, married Sir Charles
Hanbury - Williams, and their
daughter Frances married William,
4th Earl of Essex, (fn. 30) and the manor
passed to their son, (fn. 31) so that in
1804, when an Inclosure Act was
passed for Alvecote and Shuttington, (fn. 32) the Rt. Hon. George Capel
Coningesby, Earl of Essex, was
lord of the manor. He died in
1839 and the manor passed with
the title to his half-brother Arthur
Algernon, the 6th earl, who was lord in 1850. (fn. 33) His
grandson is the present Earl of Essex, but the manor
appears to be extinct.
Capel, Earl of Essex. Gules a lion between three crosslets fitchy or.
CHURCH
The parish church of ST. MATTHEW
is a small building standing on high ground
overlooking most of the surrounding
country on all sides. The nave dates from about 1150,
with many later alterations. The chancel was rebuilt
probably in the 13th century. The church was restored
in 1844 and in 1908–9; the later medieval windows
seem to have been removed and both chancel and nave
furnished with windows of 12th-century type.
The chancel (about 18½ ft. by 11 ft.) has a modern
east window of 12th-century style with external nook-shafts, &c., and the north and south walls each have a
similar but smaller window. East of the southern are
the remains of a 13th-century trefoiled pointed light.
At the west end of the wall is a 14th-century window
of two very narrow ogee-headed lights under a square
head. The walls are mostly of small cream and grey
rubble masonry with grey and yellow sandstone angle-dressings. The roof of two bays is modern and covered
with tiles.
Plan of Shuttington Church.
The chancel arch of 12th-century style with nook-shafts, &c., is modern.
The nave (28 ft. by 17½ ft.) has two north and two
south modern windows like the others. East of, and
close to, the western south window a cutting has been
made outside to reveal the inner order of the east jamb
of an original 12th-century doorway, that had an edge-roll. It appears to have been buried at some medieval
period by ashlar facing. There is also more of the
ashlar facing at the east end, as well as the angle-dressings, but the wall is chiefly of rubble work with
yellow and some very dark brown ironstone. Under
the western north window there are straight joints and
ashlar jambstones of a medieval doorway; no detail is
visible by which it can be dated: it was also blocked by
ancient ashlar. The north wall is mostly of yellow stone
rubble, larger than that of the chancel, with east angle-dressings. A seam between the two modern windows
suggests a former medieval window. (fn. 34) The west wall
contains a 12th-century doorway, 5 ft. 3 in. wide, the
only complete original feature surviving although much
weather-worn. It has jambs of two orders with large
edge-rolls and nook-shafts with badly decayed capitals
and chamfered abaci. The round head is of three
orders, the inner and outermost with edge-rolls continued from the jambs; the middle has a keeled
edge-roll and cheveron ornament on both faces. The
hood-mould is decorated with pyramidal floral paterae at
intervals. The inner reveals have edge-rolls continued
in the segmental-pointed rear-arch. On either side of
the doorway outside are ashlar square pilasters capped
by a string-course which is carried across to meet the
hood-mould. Outside these at the top are trefoiled
lights in pointed heads, probably of the 15th century,
with square labels above them, and high up in the
middle is a 13th-century window of two trefoiled
lights and tracery in a two-centred head; it is apparently
a resetting; being above the ceiling-level, it is not seen
inside. The wall is of ashlar of the 15th century with
a chamfered plinth that is carried round the north and
south sides a short distance. The head is gabled, but
has a semicircular top. The masonry, including the
doorway, has been treated with thin cement washing.
The gabled roof of two bays is modern. Above the
west end is a clap-boarded square bell-turret with a
pyramidal roof: it contains one bell of 1664 by George
Oldfield of Nottingham.
The font has a plain round bowl, splayed in the
lower half, and a cylindrical stem and chamfered base:
it may be ancient.
The pulpit is of c. 1730: it is of half-hexagonal plan,
and has two tiers of fielded panels and a moulded
book-rest.
The registers begin in 1557.
ADVOWSON
The church of Shuttington was
given by William Burdet in 1159 to
Malvern Priory for the formation of
the Priory of Alvecote. (fn. 35) It was appropriated to that
cell before the end of the 12th century (fn. 36) and, at any
rate in the 14th century, was served by the prior. (fn. 37)
In 1535 the rectory was farmed at 72s., (fn. 38) and the
church was presumably served by one of the monks of
Alvecote, as there is no trace of any payment to a
chaplain. When, however, the manor was granted to
Lord Audley after the Dissolution, it was definitely
charged with the payment of £6 annual stipend to the
minister of Shuttington. (fn. 39) The living subsequently
became a perpetual curacy, and later a vicarage, and
remained in the gift of the lord of the manor until
c. 1930, when it was conveyed to the Bishop of
Birmingham. (fn. 40)
In the evidence (fn. 41) taken from various persons in
connexion with a dispute over tithes in 1628, one
deponent maintained that Alvecote was a distinct
parish from Shuttington 'as she has many times seen the
inhabitants of Shuttington perambulate their bounds
and they never perambulate Alvecote'. This statement,
however, was contradicted by other deponents who
stated that, although possibly distinct once, the two
parishes were then one. (fn. 42)
In 1653 Thomas Hill, a Nonconformist minister,
became vicar of the sequestrated vicarage of Orton in
Leicestershire. At the Restoration his predecessor was
replaced, and Hill was presented by the second Earl of
Chesterfield (the then lessee) to the perpetual curacy of
Shuttington. Because he did not conform he removed
from the parish later back to his house at Orton and
provided a substitute. (fn. 43)
In 1672 Edward Boucher, Presbyterian, was granted
a licence to preach at the house of Widow Allen in
Shuttington. (fn. 44)
CHARITIES
The Rev. John Piddocke by will dated
5 November 1828 gave £100, the interest, now amounting to £2 14s. 8d.,
to be distributed by the incumbent of Shuttington
amongst the poor inhabitants of the parish.
The Rev. John Clarke in July 1716 granted to
trustees all the tithes arising within Shuttington and all
glebe lands and premises thereto belonging, for the use
and maintenance of a minister for the church of
Shuttington. The lands were sold in 1918 and the
income amounting to £105 7s. 2d. is paid to the
minister of the parish. Trustees of the charity are appointed by an Order of the Charity Commissioners.