SHOTTESBROOK
Sotesbroc (xi cent.); Schotebrock, Shottesbroc,
Scotebroc (xii cent.); Sottebroc, Sotebrok, Shotebroke (xiii cent.); Shotesbroke, Shotbrok, (xiv cent.).
Several detached portions of the parish of Shottesbrook once lay within the bounds of the neighbouring parish of White Waltham. (fn. 1) In 1877, by order
of the Local Government Board, an isolated portion
of White Waltham was added to Shottesbrook, but
its outlines still preserve a curious irregularity. One
at least of its common fields, Westlowe, lay within
both parishes. (fn. 2) Probably the two parishes originally
formed a single township. (fn. 3) The whole district,
which was included in the royal demesne of Windsor
Forest, forming part of the bailiwick of Twichen, (fn. 4)
was thickly wooded and only gradually emerged into
open country by the destruction of the forest, charcoal
burning being the staple industry of the inhabitants.
Great Wood still remains on the east of the parish.
but to-day the wood land only forms a picturesque
setting to the corn-fields and orchards. One of the
old orchards is described by Hearne as having been
planted by the monks of the College of St. John
Baptist there, all its trees being trimmed in the form
of crosses. (fn. 5)
The parish covers an area of 1,395 acres, of which
547 are arable land, 370 permanent grass, and 198
woods and plantations. (fn. 6) It has a light gravel soil
with a subsoil also of gravel, but in some parts of
chalk. The principal occupation of the inhabitants
is agriculture, the chief crops being wheat, barley
and oats, but a certain number are employed in
woodcraft.
The common lands were inclosed by award of
1810 under an Act of 1807. (fn. 7) The land is low-lying,
the highest point being 181 ft. above ordnance datum
in the extreme north near Cold Harbour, and the
lowest 118 ft. near the church. The nearest railway
station is at Maidenhead, 4½ miles distant. The
parish is watered by several streams in the south, one
of which flows west and runs into the River Loddon.
Shottesbrook lies to the south of the Bath Road,
a branch of which, known in part of its course
as Broadmoor Lane, winds through the parish towards
Waltham St. Lawrence. The church and the one
or two houses which form the village are situated to
the north of this road.
Shottesbrook Park, the residence of Mr. Basil Guy
Oswald Smith, lord of the manor, stands in large
and well-wooded grounds to the north-west of the
church. The house appears to have been erected in
the latter part of the 16th century, but underwent a
complete restoration in the 18th century, when
practically all the rooms were redecorated and sash
windows were inserted throughout. Early in the
last century an attempt was made to 'gothicize' it
by the addition of a stucco embattled parapet to the
external walls, hood moulds of the same material
over the windows, and the building of a Gothic portico
on the entrance front with a loggia towards the
garden. The house faces almost due east, and in its
original state was of H-shaped plan, with three
stories in front and two at the back. The plan is
now, however, completely disguised by the addition
of the porch and loggia, while the alterations of the
18th century have destroyed all evidence of the
original offices. On the north side of the entrance
hall is a small panelled room and on the south is the
library. Behind the hall, in the centre of the house,
is a larger hall, with the fine 18th-century principal
staircase on the north, and the drawing room on
the south. The drawing room is lighted by a large
bay window added in the 18th century, and has an
elaborate plaster ceiling and carved doorway of the
same date. Over the fireplace is some good carving
of the Gibbons type. The music room, which opens
out of the drawing room and occupies the southwest angle of the house, has decoration of a similar
type. Adjoining the music room, in the centre of
the west front, is the dining room, with the service
room and a small study on the north. On the first
floor, at the head of the principal stairs, is a large
gallery divided from the staicase by two Ionic
columns supporting an entablature. Over the staircase is an elaborate painted plaster ceiling of a
French type of design. The rest of the upper floors
is occupied by the bedrooms. The elevations are
faced with red brick, and the parapets and dressings
to the windows are stuccoed. At the angles are
octagonal turrents terminating in stucco embattlements. The windows all have sashes, with the exception of the bay windows lighting the drawing room and
the gallery above it, into which wooden tracery has
been inserted.
MANOR
At the date of the Domesday Survey
the manor of SHOTTESBROOK was
held of the king by Alward the goldsmith, whose father had held it of Queen Edith in
the reign of Edward the Confessor. (fn. 8) In 1166 the
manor is entered on the Pipe Roll as 'Sotesbroch
aurifabrorum' (fn. 9) and its tenure is returned later
as that of furnishing charcoal to the king's goldsmith for the king's crown and regalia. (fn. 10) Apparently
before 1186 the serjeanty tenure was changed for
military service for forty days in the year and the
annual payment of 20s. to the wardship of Windsor
Castle. (fn. 11) In 1339 the king released the rent of 20s.,
substituting for it the rent of a pair of gilt spurs to be
paid at the castle. (fn. 12)
In the middle of the 12th century the manor was
held by Ralph le Breton, whose lands (or some of
them) were in the king's hands in 1182, (fn. 13) when
Shottesbrook was being farmed of the Crown. (fn. 14)
Apparently about 1186 the manor was granted to
Hugh de Shottesbrook, for in 1186–7 he was assessed
for 20s., which was probably in regard of Shottesbrook, (fn. 15) and in 1189 he paid 100 marks for having
his land of Shottesbrook, which Ralph le Breton held. (fn. 16)
Hugh de Shottesbrook died before 27 October 1221,
and his son Robert did homage for his lands. (fn. 17)
In 1243 Robert de Shottesbrook was party to a fine
with William le Breton, by which William quitclaimed to him one-half of the manor consequent on
a claim made by William to the same, (fn. 18) and Robert
granted to William the advowson of the church, land
to the value of 40s., and the services of certain
tenants which were appurtenant to this half. (fn. 19) Robert
died before 1251, when his son and heir Robert was
in the custody of Eudo de Shelfhangre. (fn. 20) Robert
the younger died in 1261, leaving a son John, then
aged three years and three months, (fn. 21) who had seisin
of his lands in 1278. (fn. 22) He died in 1296, leaving
two daughters and co-heirs, Rose and Elizabeth. (fn. 23)
The younger daughter, Elizabeth, proved her age in
1297, (fn. 24) and with her husband, John de Flaschel, had
seisin of a moiety of the manor. (fn. 25) She died without
issue in 1300, (fn. 26) when this moiety reverted to her
elder sister Rose, whose husband, William Vis de
Lou, did homage for the whole manor in the same
year. (fn. 27) Ten years later they received licence to
enfeoff Reginald son of Walter de Pavely and his
wife Alice of the manor. (fn. 28) In 1332 Reginald de
Pavely conveyed the manor of Shottesbrook to John
de Oxonia, a citizen and vintner of London, (fn. 29) who
in 1335 enfeoffed William Trussell, son of William
Trussell of Kibblestone, co. Stafford, (fn. 30) called the king's
yeoman. (fn. 31) Trussell founded a college in the manor
for a warden, five chaplains and two clerks (fn. 32) to celebrate mass daily for his own and the king's soul, as
well as for those of their ancestors and descendants, (fn. 33)
and endowed it with the advowson of the church
and the rent of 40s. from the manor, (fn. 34) which
had been acquired from the heirs of William le Breton
(see advowson). In 1337 William Earl of Salisbury,
lord of Bisham, granted to William Trussell a purpresture on the forest called Benetfeldesheth, which
formerly belonged to the Knights Templars, and
also quitclaimed to him his right in lands called
Shitehangrecroftes. (fn. 35) In the next year Trussell
received a grant from the Crown of freedom from
expeditation of his dogs, so that he could hunt with
them in Windson Forest, (fn. 36) and in 1340 a further
grant of view of frankpledge in the manor of Shottesbrook. (fn. 37) A settlement on himself and his wife Isabel
in tail, with remainder to William's brother Warin,
had been made in 1339. (fn. 38) His wife Isabel died
before 1348, when he settled the manor on himself
and Ida his wife and his son John. (fn. 39) The latter
must have predeceased him, for the estate devolved
at his own death in 1363 upon daughter Margaret (fn. 40)
wife of Fulk de Penbrugge, (fn. 41) upon whom a settlement in tail was made in 1371 by Sir William
Trussell of Kibblestone, her cousin. (fn. 42) Margaret died
in 1399, when her heir was returned as William
Trussell (aged twelve), son of Lawrence and grandson
of Warin, the brother of William, Margaret's father. (fn. 43)
In 1407 William granted the manor for life to Fulk
de Penbrugge, with reversion to Isabel, the second
wife of the latter, and her heirs until twenty years
after the death of Fulk, when William and his heirs
were to take possession. (fn. 44) Fulk died in 1409. (fn. 45) In
1428 William Trussell was holding the manor, (fn. 46) and
in 1463 was succeeded by his son Thomas. (fn. 47) In
1481 William Trussell, apparently the son of Thomas, (fn. 48)
died seised of the manor, leaving a son Edward, then
aged three years, as his heir. (fn. 49) Edward survived only
until his twenty-first year, dying in 1499 and leaving
a son John, who was then a year old. (fn. 50) The son
died a few months after his father, (fn. 51) and his sister
Elizabeth, aged four in 1501, became her father's
sole heir. (fn. 52) She married before 1510 John de Vere,
fifteenth Earl of Oxford. (fn. 53) One of their sons, Robert
de Vere, was appointed by his father the master of
Shottesbrook College in 1539. (fn. 54)
Trussell. Argent fretty gules with bezants at the crossings of the fret.
Vere. Quarterly gules and or with a molet argent in the quarter.
John de Vere was succeeded in 1540 by his son
John, sixteenth earl, who in 1544 conveyed the manor
to his brother Robert de Vere for life, (fn. 55) and dying in
1562 (fn. 56) left a son and heir Edward, who was dealing
with the manor in 1574. (fn. 57) In 1578–9 he sold the
manor to Thomas Noke, (fn. 58) son of 'Father Noke,' (fn. 59)
who died at Reading seised of it in 1583, and was
followed by his son Thomas. (fn. 60) It is not known how or
when the manor left this family, but in 1628 Richard
Powle, registrar of the Court of Chancery, died seised
of it, bequeathing it to his kinsman Henry Powle, (fn. 61)
Sheriff of Berkshire in 1632, (fn. 62)
who in 1638 protested against
the imposition of ship-money
and refused to pay more than
a quarter of the amount demanded. (fn. 63) His elder son
Richard, who was member for
Berkshire in the Long Parliament of 1661 (fn. 64) and was made
a knight of the Bath in the
same year, (fn. 65) died without issue
in 1678 and was followed by
his brother Henry, a prominent member of the Whig
Opposition in 1677–81. He
was M.P. for New Windsor and Speaker of the House
of Commons in the Convention Parliament summoned in January 1689. He was made Master of
the Rolls in 1690 and it was he who collected the
valuable library of MSS. which now forms the
nucleus of the Landsdowne collection at the British
Museum. (fn. 66) The manor was bought before 1698 by
William Cherry, (fn. 67) who in that year joined with
John Powle, (fn. 68) Anne Powle, widow, and John Whitfield (fn. 69) in making a settlement of the manor. (fn. 70) Francis
Cherry, son of William, died in 1713. (fn. 71) Francis
Cherry was a man of great piety and learning and a
well-known Jacobite. He made Shottesbrook a refuge
and a home to many distinguised nonjurors, who,
like himself, refused to take the oath of allegiance to
William of Orange, the chief among them being
Dr. Dodwell the historian and Thomas Hearne the
antiquary. (fn. 72) In 1716 the manor was sold by his
widow Elizabeth and his daughters Anne and Elizabeth Cherry to Robert Vansittart, (fn. 73) son of Peter
Vansittart, who belonged to a German family
and came to England as a merchant venturer in
the reign of Charles II. (fn. 74) Robert Vansittart died
without issue in 1719. (fn. 75) His brother Arthur, who
succeeded him, (fn. 76) was Sheriff of Berkshire in 1731. (fn. 77)
He died in 1760 and was succeeded by his son
Arthur Vansittart, M.P. for Berkshire 1757–74, (fn. 78)
who was dealing with the
manor by recovery in the
following year (fn. 79) and again in
1800. (fn. 80) Upon his death in
1806 the manor devolved
upon his son and heir Arthur
Vansittart, Colonel of the
Berkshire Militia, M.P. for
Windsor 1804–6. (fn. 81) He died
in 1829. His son Arthur
made a settlement of the
manor in 1831 (fn. 82) and died in
1859. The property passed
to his son Captain Coleraine
Vansittart, whose sister Mrs.
Oswald A. Smith succeeded to Shottesbrook at his
death in 1886. Her son Mr. Basil Guy Oswald
Smith is the present lord of the manor.
Powle. Azure a fesse engrailed ermine between three leopards or.
Smith. Or a cheveron cotised between three demi-griffons sable.
The COLLEGE OF SHOTTESBROOK and its
site and the manorial estate belonging to it, which
fell into the king's hands at the dissolution of chantries in 1547, were granted in 1548 to Thomas and
Edward Weldon, (fn. 83) and the latter died seised of them
in 1551, (fn. 84) and was followed by his son Thomas,
who died in 1590 seised of the mansion-house and
site of the college. (fn. 85) William, his heir, who was
then eight years old, was dealing with the property
by fine in 1603 (fn. 86) and 1620. (fn. 87) In 1667 George
Weldon, the third son and ultimate heir of William
Weldon, (fn. 88) conveyed the manor of the college to
Richard Powle, (fn. 89) lord of Shottesbrook, and the descent
of the college estate is from this date identical with
that of the manor. (fn. 90)
CHURCH
The church of ST. JOHN BAPTIST
is a cruciform building consisting of a
chancel 30ft. by 21 ft. 6 in., a central
tower 14 ft. 5 in. by 14 ft. 1 in. surmounted by a
tall stone spire, north and south transepts 16 ft. by
17 ft. 8 in. and 15 ft. 5 in. respectively, a nave
24 ft. by 21 ft. 6 in., and north and south porches.
These measurements are all internal.
Though an earlier church had existed here, the
present building dates from about 1337, when Sir
William Trussell founded a college at Shottesbrook
and endowed it with the parish church. (fn. 91) Towards
the end of the reign of Edward III the church and
college are said to have been almost destroyed by
fire, (fn. 92) but from the design of the existing church the damage then done must
have been almost entirely confined to
the secular buildings. The building is
remarkable both for its beauty and
symmetry of design and its present
good state of preservation. It is recorded that on Wednesday, 20 July
1757, a violent thunderstorm passed
over Shottesbrook, and the church was
so damaged by the lightning that it had
to be shut up for more than a year,
during which time the parishioners
attended at White Waltham. It was
opened again on Sunday, 24 September
1758, after being repaired. The chief
damage appears to have been done to
the spire, which was so shivered that it
was at first thought that it would have
to be taken down. A gallery across
the north transept (evidently an 18th-century addition, removed in 1854)
was also damaged, and the north porch
did not escape uninjured. The falling
stones from the spire slightly damaged
the roof, and some rafters were set on
fire, but the fire was soon extinguished,
and the injury done to the roof does not appear to
have been of any very great consequence. In 1852–4
the church was thoroughly restored under the supervision of the late G. E. Street, R. A.
The church is built of flint with stone quoins and
dressings and is plastered internally. The flint facing
of the walls of the chancel and tower is neatly
squared, but that of the walls of the nave and transepts
is of a rougher character. A moulded string runs
round the building at the level of the sills of the
windows, and there are buttresses at the angles, and,
in the case of the chancel, between the windows.
The east window is of five trefoiled ogee lights
with tracery under a pointed head; the outer jambs
are moulded, and the head has an external moulded
label, while the inner jambs are splayed and the rear
arch is ribbed and moulded. In the north wall of the
chancel are two windows, each of two trefoiled ogee
lights, with a pointed traceried head, and of the same
detail as the east window. East of these two windows
is a doorway with a trefoiled head, now blocked, and
having a buttress built against it externally, leaving the
eastern jamb visible. The inner jambs are moulded,
and are rebated for a door opening outwards, the iron
staples and fastener of which remain. The original
purpose is uncertain, though it probably opened into a
small vestry or gave communication to the collegiate
buildings. To the east of the doorway is a small
aumbry, still in use, to which iron gates have been fixed.
In the south wall of the chancel are three two-light
windows of the same design as those in the north
wall, which is followed throughout the building.
Under the western half of the first, and continuing
to the east jamb of the second, window is a piscina
with a credence bracket and cinquefoiled basin in range
with three sedilia; all have trefoiled ogee heads,
with cusped panels in the spandrels, and vertical
dividing mouldings which mitre with a square label
inclosing the whole group. The backs of the sedilia
are panelled, and are carried up into mock vaulted
heads.
Plan of Shottesbrook Church
The tower arches are pointed; those to the
chancel and nave are each of three moulded orders,
the inner supported by attached semicircular shafts,
the outer by quarter round shafts, while the mouldings of the middle order are continuous. The
transept arches are each of three chamfered orders
dying on to single chamfered responds, and each arch
has moulded labels on both faces, those on the inner
face of the tower being stopped by carved heads,
while those on the outer face return upon themselves. Externally the tower is divided above the
crossing into two stages by a moulded string, and is
crowned by an embattled parapet. At the northwest is an octagonal stair turret entered through a
doorway with a trefoiled head in the west wall of
the north transept. The ringing chamber is lighted
from the south by two small trefoiled openings which
have widely splayed inner jambs and pointed rear
arches, while the bell-chamber has a pointed window
of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil tracery in each
wall. Below the parapet, which slightly overhangs
the walls, is a moulded string, and at the angles are
grotesque head-gargoyles, now much decayed. Like
the chancel, the tower is faced with squared flints
with stone quoins, though the parapet is entirely of
stone, as is also the upper part of the stair-turret.
The spire, which is octagonal in plan, has been
rebuilt, and has large stone dormer windows lighting
the bell-chamber in its cardinal faces.
Shottesbrook Church: The South Chancel Wall
In the east and west walls of the north transept are
two-light windows of the ruling type, and to the
south of the window in the east wall is a piscina with
a trefoiled ogee head and a cinquefoil basin. The
north window is of three trefoiled ogee lights with a
pointed traceried head; the inner james are widely
splayed, and the ribbed rear arch is two-centred
and segmental. In the wall below the window,
occupying the whole width of the transept, is a
beautiful double tomb recess of the middle of the
14th century, cut in chalk and stone, with a panelled
base and embattled cornice. In the centre, dividing
the two recesses from each other, is an image niche
flanked by pinnacled buttresses and having a cusped
pointed head surmounted by a tall acute gable rising
high above the cornice level, both head and gable
being crocketed and finialled. The head of each
recess is formed by four multifoiled ogee arches,
enriched with crockets and finials, and separated from
each other by small pinnacled buttresses rising from
the carved pendant corbels from which the arches
spring; the outer arch of each recess takes its bearing on buttresses of equal height with the flanking
buttresses of the central image niche. The panelled
base is divided into fourteen rectangular compartments, each of which is divided saltirewise into four
cusped panels. The back of each main recess is
divided by small attached shafts with moulded capitals
and bases into four bays, each again recessed to form
a semi-hexagonal niche, the three sides of which are
panelled with trefoiled ogee-headed panels having
their vertical mouldings continued upwards to form
imitation vaulting. The soffits of the main recesses
are elaborately carved in imitation of lierne vaulting,
and their sides have semi-hexagonal niches similar in
design to those at the back, with the addition of a
small image bracket to each face. To the south of
the window in the west wall is the doorway leading
to the tower stair-turret.
The south transept, which is now utilized as a vestry
and organ chamber. has windows like those of the
north transept, with the exception that the jambs of
the south window are not nearly so widely splayed as
those of the corresponding window in the opposite
transept. At the south-east is a piscina with a
trefoiled ogee head, having a cinquefoiled basin
above which is a credence shelf; at the other end of
the wall there appears to have once been a doorway,
the external relieving arch of which can still be seen.
The nave is lighted by two windows of two lights in
each side wall, and between them are the north and
south doorways, which each open into porches and
have continuously moulded outer jambs, and drop rear
arches springing from a level above the heads of the
outer openings. In the west wall is a similar though
somewhat larger doorway with a large window over,
of three trefoiled ogee lights, with geometrical
tracery under a pointed head. As with the others,
this window is of the 14th century, though the
mullions have been restored. The porches are both
alike, having pointed openings with continuously
moulded jambs in their gable walls, and small ogee
trefoiled lights in the side walls; at the angles are
considerably restored diagonal buttresses with trefoiled
gable heads, while at the apex of the gable walls are
modern crosses. The north porch is now used as a
cupboard, and between it and the north transept has
been built a modern heating chamber. The crosses
on the end gables of the nave and transept are
modern, but there are original carved wall finials
where the roofs abut against the walls of the tower.
With the exception of those of the porches all the
open timber roofs are of the 14th century and are
covered with tiles. The rafters of the chancel roof
are framed in the shape of a pointed barrel, while the
steep-pitched roofs to the transepts and nave have
trussed rafters, and are each divided into three bays
by king-post trusses, from the king-posts of which
spring struts supporting a principal collar transversely,
while longitudinally they carry a central beam holding in position the collars to the common rafters.
The original 14th-century font remains. It is
octagonal and has small crocketed and pinnacled
buttresses at the angles, while the sides are panelled
with trefoiled ogee-headed panels having crocketed
labels surmounted by carved finials. Round the foot
runs a moulded base which is continued round the angle
buttresses. The pulpit is modern, but the old hourglass is still preserved. In the heads of some of the
windows are a few fragments of 14th-century glass.
The north-east window of the chancel contains a few
odd pieces, while in the west window of the same wall,
on a background of black and white flowered glass, is
a shield, Gules a saltire argent. In the centre window
of the wall opposite are some mixed fragments, and
in the west window are parts of a shield, Party fessewise sable and gules a cross engrailed or with a bend
ermine over all. The head of the west window of
the north transept contains a quartered shield of
France and England, while in the east window of the
south transept is a rood. The glass in the head of
the west window of the nave is also of a fragmentary
character, but contains two shields, the first of Stafford,
the second apparently a jumbled, and perhaps reset,
shield of Jasper Tudor.
In the floor of the nave is a large late 14th-century
brass with the full-length figures of a priest and a
layman, under two crocketed and finialled canopies
having pinnacled buttresses on either side. The
priest is in full eucharistic vestments and holds his
hands in prayer, while the layman, who is in a
similar attitude, wears a loose skirted garment and
a cloak rolled down at the neck, and has a sword
suspended from his left side. The lower end of
the dexter buttress and the pinnacles of both are
gone, and the inscription is also missing.
Set in a slab in the floor of the north transept are
the remains of a large brass with the figure of a
woman in the centre of the slab, wearing a loose
flowing dress, caught in at the waist with a belt, and a
cushion head-dress; on her hands, which are in prayer,
are mittens, and her head rests on a pillow. Round
the slab are the matrices for a border inscription with
quatrefoils at the four corners, on which were engraved
the symbols of the Evangelists. Of the inscription
all that remains is 'Icy gist' along the top and 'Pennebrygg Cheva …' along the foot, with the symbols of
St. Matthew and St. Mark in the top dexter and bottom
sinister corner. It probably commemorates Margaret
wife of Fulk de Penbrugge, who died in 1399. (fn. 93)
In the north-east corner of the floor of the north
transept is a brass inscribed in black letters,
'Here lyeth the body of Richard Gyll squyer late
sergeaūt | of the Bakehous wt kyng henry VII and
also wyth | kyng henry the VIII and bayly of the
VII hundred of Cokam | and Bray the whiche
Richard deceesced ye VII day of August | the yere of
our lord god MoVcXI ō whose soule Jhu have mèy.'
Above the inscription is the figure of a man standing
with his hands in prayer, and wearing early 16th-century armour.
Built against the north wall of the chancel is a
long alabaster box made to represent a coffin, in
which lies the carved figure of a man, wearing a long
loose garment, and holding his hands in prayer.
Across the middle of the coffin is an alabaster panel
in which are set two brasses. The upper one is
inscribed in black letters, 'here lyeth wyll[iam] Throkmarton prest doctor | of lawe late gardēn of this
church which deces-|-sid the XII day of
Januari Ano Dñi MoCCCCC | XXXV on whous
soule Jeshu have mercy amen,' while the lower has
an inscription in Latin verse.
Another brass in the floor of the north transept commemorates Thomas Noke and his three wives; it is
inscribed in black letters, 'Here lyeth buried Thomas
Noke who for his great age and vertuous lief was
Reverenced | of all men and comenly called Father
Noke created Esquier by Kyng Henry the VIII he
was of | stature high and comly and for his Ecellencie
in artilarie made yoman of the Crowne of Eng-| land
which had in his lief three wifes and by every of
them som fruyte and ofprynge and De-| ceassed the
XXIth day of August 1567 in the yere of his age
LXXXVII, leaving behynde hym | Julian his late
wief, two of his brotherne one sister one only sonne
and II daughters lyving.' Below is a further inscription in Latin.
Above the inscription are the figures of Noke and
his three wives, one wife being on his right and two
on his left, while in the upper part of the slab in
which they are set is his shield, a fesse between three
leopards' heads with three crowns on the fesse, and a
helm crested with a lion's paw razed coming out of
a crown and holding an arrow. Below the inscription are the figures of five children, three boys and
two girls, and on either side of this is the matrix for
a similar group. These evidently, when complete,
represented the 'fruyte and ofprynge' by each of his
respective three wives.
In the floor of the north transept is a sepulchral
slab incised with the inscription, 'Here lieth Anne
first wife of Richard Powle Lord of the Manor of
Shotesbrook she departed the 23 August 1603.' In
a marble panel on the south wall of the south transept
is a brass inscribed, 'In memory of Mary Grove | ye
beloved wife of Robert | Grove late of Shotesbrooke | who died ye 14th day of December | anno
dom 1678 in ye 24th year of her age.| Dear soule
thou now art gone from me & art at rest | In this I
am unhappy but in this thou art blest.'
There is a peal of five bells : the treble is by
T. Mears of London, 1811; the second is inscribed,
'Campana cantare d[omin]o in eclesia Willyam Foster
1634'; the third, 'Campana cantare dno in eclesia
Humfrey Turnor 1634'; the fourth was recast by
Mears & Stainbank in 1904 ; while the tenor is
inscribed, 'Campana cantare dno in eclesia de Shottesbrooke 1634.'
The plate consists of two silver patens, one of
1709, the other of 1712, a silver chalice of 1714,
and a silver flagon of 1762.
The registers previous to 1812 are in one volume
containing baptisms 1585 to 1812, burials 1567 to
1811, marriages 1566 to 1812. There is a tithe
apportionment and map dated 1844.
ADVOWSON
A church at Shottesbrook is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. (fn. 94)
In 1243 Robert de Shottesbrook,
lord of the manor, quitclaimed the advowson to
William le Breton, (fn. 95) but in 1276 the advowson was
claimed by the guardian of John de Shottesbrook
against Alina wife of Walter Danvers, daughter and
heir of William le Breton, to whom, however, the
advowson and 40s. rent from the manor were
adjudged. (fn. 96) Apparently Alina left two heirs, since John
de Goldingham and his wife Maud, who were
parties to a settlement of it in 1303, (fn. 97) and Robert
de Waltham and his wife Christine released their
right in this rent and the advowson to Reginald
de Pavely in 1327. (fn. 98) In 1332 John son of John
de Goldingham also quitclaimed to Reginald de
Pavely. (fn. 99) The advowson then passed with the manor
to William Trussell, who alienated it in 1336 with
the rent of 40s. to the College of St. John Baptist
in Shottesbrook. (fn. 100) The church was appropriated by
the college. After the Dissolution the church was
confirmed as a parish church, a vicarage was ordained,
and the rectory (with reservation of the glebe lands)
was granted to the vicar. (fn. 101) The advowson came with
the college to the Weldons, (fn. 102) and was conveyed to
Richard Powle in 1667. (fn. 103) Conveyances of the advowson, however, were made by the lords of the
manor of Shottesbrook in dealing with the manor,
and it appears that they, who had been patrons of
the college, claimed the advowson of the parish
church after the Dissolution. Apparently the presentations were actually made by the owners of the
college estate. Since 1667 the advowson has descended
with the manor. (fn. 104)
In 1634 a charge of simony was brought against
Nathaniel Cannon (cf. Hurley), the incumbent, and
William Weldon, the patron, for an agreement made
before Cannon's institution for a lease of the vicarage
to be made to Weldon at a far undervalue. It was
deposed that Weldon was in necessity, and that
Cannon had neither house to dwell in nor barn, and
was forced to lease out the profits of the vicarage.
Cannon was therefore acquitted of the charge. (fn. 105)
The institutions to the church after 1693 (fn. 106) were
made as to a rectory. In 1800, however Arthur
Vansittart, lord of the manor, was dealing with the
rectory, (fn. 107) Lysons gives Vansittart as impropriator
of the great tithes formerly belonging to the college. (fn. 108)
Possibly arrangements were made at different dates
between the incumbents and the patrons. The
living is now a rectory.
The vicarage of White Waltham was annexed to
Shottesbrook in 1744 by the Bishop of Salisbury at
the request of Dr. Dodwell, the rector, and Mr. Vansittart, the lord of the manor, of Shottesbrook.
There have been several distinguished incumbents
in this little parish, notably Dr. White Kennett the
antiquary (1660–1728), who was presented by William
Cherry in 1695 and who was afterwards Bishop of
Peterborough, and William Dodwell (1709–85),
Archdeacon of Berkshire, son of the famous Camden
professor at Oxford, who is buried in the church.
He was born at Shottesbrook, his father having
settled there in a house fitted up for him by his
friend Francis Cherry, lord of the manor. (fn. 109)
CHARITIES
In 1625 Richard Powle, as stated
on an ancient tablet in the church,
by his will left to the poor 40s. chargeable upon the manor of Shottesbrook, now in the
possession of Mr. Basil G. O. Smith.
In 1735 Mrs. Anne Cherry left £100 for the poor
of Shottesbrook and £50 for five poor widows of
White Waltham. These legacies were laid out in
the purchase of about 5 acres at Littlewick in White
Waltham, in respect of which an osier bed containing
3r. 10 p. in Shottesbrook was allotted on the inclosure
in 1811. In 1873 1 acre of the land was conveyed
as a site of a Church of England school at Littlewick.
The land is let in allotments at rents amounting to
£10 18s. a year and the osier bed at 20s. a year.
White Waltham receives one-third of the net
income.
A sum of £66 13s. 4d. consols is held by the
official trustees as representing the investment of
accumulations of sacrament money.
The income of these charities, amounting together
to about £10 13s. 4d., is applied in distributing
groceries to poor persons of the parish by tickets of
the value of 4s. to 9s. each.
In 1859 William Newman Warberton, by his will
proved at London 5 November, bequeathed to his
trustees £600 upon trust to invest the same in the
government funds, and, after the decease of his wife,
and subject to an annuity to his sister, in trust to
apply the annual proceeds thereof in setting up
and keeping in order a tablet in the church as a
memorial of the bequest, and to keep in order
his family vault, and to apply £5 a year towards
the support of the parish school, and the residue
of the income for the benefit of poor persons
residing in the parish. No tablet was erected in
the church, and the trust for the vault, which is
situated in the churchyard, being void, the whole of
the trust fund became applicable for the charitable
purposes mentioned. Testator's sister predeceased
his widow, who died in 1874, whereupon the trust
fund was transferred to the official trustees, and the
dividends were invested from time to time in augmentation of the endowment until the year 1891, at
which date the trust fund amounted to £1,048 0s. 2d.
consols.
In 1891 a scheme was established for the administration of the charity whereby (inter alia) £5 a year
was directed to be applied for the advancement of
the education of scholars attending a public elementary
school, a sum of £200 consols being set aside for this
purpose as the educational foundation, and £848
0s. 2d. consols as the eleemosynary branch, producing
£21 4s. a year, of which £16 yearly is made applicable
by the scheme in aid of any provident clubs for the
supply of coal or clothing, or in aid of any dispensary
or convalescent home, and the residue for the benefit
of deserving and necessitous persons generally.