TIDMINGTON
Tidelminc Tune (x cent.); Tidelintun, Tidelmintun (xi cent.); Tydamintun (xiii cent.); Tydilmynton, Tydlemynton (xiv cent.).
The parish of Tidmington, which was formed out
of the parish of Tredington in 1719, (fn. 1) is one of the
outlying parishes of Worcestershire, being surrounded
by Warwickshire on the east and west and by
Gloucestershire on the south, with the parish of
Shipston-on-Stour, another of the detached parishes
of Worcestershire, on the north. The River Stour
forms the southern and the greater part of the eastern
boundary, while Pig Brook, a small tributary, forms
the northern boundary of the parish.
The area of Tidmington is 774 acres, of which
4 are covered with water, 2 are woodland, 64
arable and 630 pasture land. (fn. 2) The soil is stiff loam
on a subsoil of Lower Lias.
The village, which consists of a few scattered
houses, mostly modern, is situated on the high road
from Woodstock to Shipston-on-Stour, on the left
bank of the Stour. Near the church to the east of
the high road is Tidmington House, the residence of
Miss Staunton, a large three-story stone building of
c. 1600, much altered and added to in the Queen
Anne period, and refronted on the west later in the
18th century. The three gables on the east with
their stone-mullioned windows are of the early date,
while there is a Queen Anne brick addition on the
north and a wing at the south-east with a semicircular termination. The wooden balustraded verandah
on the south side of the house is of the same date as
these additions. The later west front has projecting
wings at either end, the recessed central space being
occupied by a Tuscan portico, over which is a
Venetian window. The village is about 250 ft.
above the ordnance datum. To the west the land
rises to 300 ft. or more.
MANORS
TIDMINGTON, which was a member of the manor of Tredington, was
probably granted with that manor to
the church of Worcester by Eanberht. (fn. 3) In 977
Archbishop Oswald (fn. 4) gave five manses at Tidmington
to Alfward for three lives. (fn. 5) In 1086 the Bishop of
Worcester held Tidmington as a member of his
manor of Tredington, (fn. 6) and the bishop's overlordship
was recognized in 1636, when he still received a rent
of wheat from the manor. (fn. 7)
The family of Croome were under-tenants of the
bishop in this manor from very early times. Bishop
Samson (1096–1112) gave 3 hides at Tidmington
to Adam de Croome with Earl's Croome. (fn. 8) Ellis
de Croome held it about 1182, (fn. 9) but it must soon
after have passed to Simon son of Adam de Croome,
who was probably an elder brother of Ellis, for Simon
is returned as holding the manor in a survey of about
the same date. (fn. 10) Early in the 13th century it was
held by Adam de Croome of Earl's Croome. (fn. 11) Adam
obtained a grant of free warren there in 1252. (fn. 12)
The manor then passed with that of Earl's Croome
to Adam's grandson Simon, who in 1291 granted it
to Geoffrey de Hambury. Geoffrey in the same year
regranted it in free marriage to Simon and his wife
Maud daughter of Alexander de Escote. (fn. 13) Simon
settled it in 1314–15 upon himself and his wife
Joan, (fn. 14) and, as Sir Simon, granted it in 1328–9 to
his son John and his wife Joan daughter of Richard
Hawkeslow, and to their eldest child, with reversion
to the donor. (fn. 15) John de Croome and Roger de
Ledbury were joint owners in 1346. (fn. 16) It is not
known whether John's son Richard (fn. 17) ever held the
manor, which passed under the above grant to John's
brother Godfrey son of Simon de Croome and Maud
de Escote. (fn. 18) On his death without issue the manor
was claimed by Thomas Corbett in right of his wife
Joan, but in 1364 Reginald de Hambury instituted a
successful claim against them, on the ground that the
manor had been granted by his grandfather Geoffrey
de Hambury in frank marriage to Simon and Maud de
Croome, and by the form of the gift ought to revert,
on the failure of Godfrey de Croome's issue, to the
heir of the donor. (fn. 19) In 1366 the manor was given
by Richard Patty, who was evidently acting for
Roger (fn. 20) de Hambury, (fn. 21) to the Abbot of Evesham. (fn. 22)
It remained in the possession of successive abbots
until the dissolution of the abbey in 1540. (fn. 23) It was
granted by the king in 1545 to Richard Ingram and
Anthony Foster. (fn. 24) Richard died seised of the manor
in 1562, and was succeeded by his son Anthony, (fn. 25)
who settled it in 1565 on himself and his wife
Dorothy and their heirs. (fn. 26) In 1596 Anthony settled
the manor on his son John on his marriage with
Cecily daughter of Robert Williamson, but John
predeceased his father, (fn. 27) on whose death in 1600
the reversion of the manor on the death of Cicely,
then wife of Simon Clifford, passed to Hastings son
of John Ingram. (fn. 28) Hastings and his wife Katherine
conveyed the manor in 1626 to William Baldwin. (fn. 29)
In 1636 George Savage and his wife Eleanor conveyed it to Edward, Richard and John Walker. (fn. 30)
Richard Walker was still in possession in 1650, (fn. 31)
but after this date the history of the manor is very
obscure. In 1716 Thomas Wentworth (fn. 32) of Wentworth Woodhouse, co. York,
settled it on himself and his
wife Alice Proby for their
lives. (fn. 33) The manor afterwards
passed to the Snow family, (fn. 34)
and in 1794 was held by
Thomas Lambert Snow. (fn. 35) He
was succeeded by the Rev.
Thomas Lambert Snow, probably his son, whose eldest
daughter Mary Ann married
John Staunton of Longbridge.
On the latter's death in 1888 (fn. 36)
the Tidmington property was
divided between his two
daughters Anne Elizabeth, now Mrs. Thomas Tufnell Staunton, and Caroline Standert Staunton, who
are at present joint owners of the manor. (fn. 37)
Staunton of Longbridge. Argent two cheverons in an engrailed border sable.
CHURCH
The church, the invocation of which
is unknown, is a small one, and consists of a chancel, nave, west tower and
south porch.
The building dates from about the year 1200, and
was then probably of the same size and plan as at
present except that the chancel may have been shorter.
This was rebuilt at the beginning of the 16th century.
The nave windows have all been restored with
modern stonework and the early 13th-century tower
has been repaired. The south porch is modern. The
east window of the chancel has three lights under a
traceried square head. On either side is a plain
stone bracket and below the southern a small recess.
The side walls are pierced by three windows of two
lights under square heads, one on the north and two
on the south. To the east of the south-east window
is the bowl of an early 13th-century pillar piscina,
with a part of the shaft re-used. The chancel arch
is pointed and of two chamfered orders, dying on
to the jambs, the lower parts of which may be of the
early 13th century. The north-east window of the
nave and the two south windows are modern and of
two lights each; the north-west window appears to be a
restored and widened single light. The north entrance
is modern, but the south doorway is early 13th-century
work; the head is round within and square outside,
with a tympanum above it, on which is an incised
cross. An acute arch of three chamfered orders, the
inner springing from octagonal corbels, opens into the
tower from the nave.
The tower is of three stages, the lowest having
a small square-headed west window and being
strengthened by clasping buttresses at the angles. A
later buttress has been added in the middle of the
south wall. The second stage is lighted by plain
square-headed loops on the north, south and: west.
The belfry windows are apparently original, each being
of two lancets with a common semicircular label and
divided by a semi-octagonal shaft with moulded base
and capital. The pyramidal roof rests on the original
corbel tabling, the corbels being moulded or carved
with heads. The lowest stage of the tower is of
ashlar, the upper stages of rubble with quoin stones.
To the north of the tower is a small modern
vestry. The font is round and tub-shaped and quite
plain.
There are a few old seats with traceried ends, and
a good chest, with the initials and date 'R B 1692,' is
preserved in the church.
There are four bells, (fn. 38) one of which is a sanctus
bell. The first was cast by Robert Atton of Buckingham, 1619; the second is inscribed '+ Bartelmew
Aton' (crown), with the lettering and marks used by
the Newcombes of Leicester, and was cast there about
1580 (Atton, who afterwards set up a foundry at
Buckingham, was then acting as foreman to the
Newcombes); the third is inscribed in black letter
'Sancte Petre ora pro nobis,' with a shield bearing a
cheveron between three laver-pots, originally used by
W. Dawe of London (1385–1420). As some of his
stamps went to Reading and occur on other bells cast
there in the 16th century, probably this bell is the
work of William Welles of that town about 1550.
The sanctus bell has an unintelligible inscription in
early Roman capitals, and probably dates from the
reign of Elizabeth.
The plate consists of a silver cup of 1753 and a
paten of 1845.
The registers (fn. 39) before 1812 are as follows: (i)
baptisms 1691 to 1803, burials 1691 to 1801 and
marriages 1693 to 1777; (ii) baptisms 1804 to
1811 and burials 1806 to 1812; (iii) a smaller
book, of which the first page is missing, containing
marriages 1762 to 1773, banns 1762 to 1771 and a
baptism of 1790. There are also some churchwardens' accounts from 1704.
ADVOWSON
Tidmington was a chapelry annexed to the church of Tredington
until 1719, when Tidmington and
Shipston-on-Stour were formed into a separate parish
and endowed with a third of the rectory of Tredington. (fn. 40) Tidmington is still a chapelry annexed to the
rectory of Shipston-on-Stour.
Towards the end of the 13th century the Croomes
seem to have had a manorial chapel at Tidmington,
for the advowson of the chapel of Tidmington was
included in conveyances of the manor in 1291 (fn. 41) and
1328–9. (fn. 42)
CHARITIES
This parish is entitied to an eighty-fourth part of the dividends arising
from several sums of stock forming
the endowment of Richard Badger's charity, founded
by will proved at London 7 December 1907. This
is applicable for church purposes. In 1910 a sum of
£9 6s. was received.
The parishes of Tidmington and Burmington, in
the county of Warwick, are also entitled to receive a
forty-second part of the dividends arising from the
endowment of the same charity for distribution to the
poor in coal. In 1910 a sum of £18 12s. was
received. (See under Shipston-on-Stour.)