ARBORFIELD
Edburgefeld, Erburgefeld (xii cent.); Hereburgefeld,
Erbelgiresfeld (xiii cent.).
The parish of Arborfield has an area of 1,468½
acres, of which nearly two-thirds are arable land and
about one-third permanent grass. There is only a
small amount of woods and plantations. (fn. 1) The soil is
clay and gravel with a subsoil of London clay and
the principal crops are wheat and barley. The
average height of most of the parish is 200 ft. above
the ordnance datum, the highest point (229 ft.)
being reached near Arborfield Cross, from which
there is a fall to about 140 ft. in the north-west of
the parish, where the River Loddon forms its boundary.
Arborfield Hall
At Arborfield Cross six roads meet, of which one
runs north to join the Reading road, a second leads
west across the River Loddon to Shinfield, a third
goes south-west to Swallowfield, a fourth south to
Finchampstead, a fifth south-east to Barkham, and
the sixth is a grass lane which runs by a winding
course to East Heath. The nearest railway station
is Sindlesham Halt.
The ruins of the old church adjoin Arborfield Hall
near the north-west border of the parish, but the
village lies on the road to the south-east at Arborfield
Cross (Alfeldecrouch, Aldefeldecrosse, Awfield Cross),
partly in the liberty of Newland in Hurst parish.
The village is mostly composed of red brick cottages
with slate or tiled roofs; there are, however, a few
cottages of timber with brick filling and one or two
with thatched roofs. The modern church stands to
the north of Arborfield Cross. Arborfield Hall, the
seat of Mrs. Hargreaves, is a modern gabled building
of brick and stone built by George Pelsant Dawson
and enlarged by Sir John Conroy and Captain
Thomas Hargreaves (see manor), but the stables and
laundry belonging to it formerly constituted part of
the old manor-house, much of which was pulled
down by Mr. George Dawson. The old stables
and laundry form a rectangular building of red brick
two stories in height with a gabled roof along its
whole length; the windows of the lower story have
modern wood frames, but the first floor is lighted
on the west by small elliptical openings; in the east
face the lights have either been modernized or
covered by the later additions erected against it. The
cornice is of moulded brick and the parapet is plain;
the date 1654 is carved on the west front. The
south gable end has two oval windows and a moulded
brick coping. The old manor-house is described in
detail in Miss Mitford's Our Village as the 'old house
at Aberlegh.' (fn. 2) It is said to have been designed by
Thorpe, and, if this is so, the remaining portion must
be an addition to the original house.
Arborfield Grange stands in small but picturesque
grounds west of Arborfield Cross. It was formerly the
property of Sir John Conroy, bart., whose executors
sold it to Capt. S. H. Rickman. R. N., J.P.
Arborfield Court is a new house built by Mrs. Bruce.
When the foundations were being dug two burial
urns were discovered 10 ft. below the ground.
At Kennys Farm, in the south of the parish, are
two sides of a homestead moat which appears to have
been square. (fn. 3) Whitehall Farm, in the south-east of
the parish, occurs in the 16th century as the farm or
capital messuage of Wyffolde or Whytehall. A
Chancery suit for the recovery of the deeds of a lease
of the farm made by Frances Kemp (who is said to
have bought the estate from Henry Hynde of
Finchampstead) was brought by Robert Atkynson,
then of Whitehall, against a certain John Temple in
1571. (fn. 4)
There is a Congregational chapel in the parish,
built in 1899.
Place-names occurring in Arborfield are: Reynoldestrete, (fn. 5) Useres Hayes, (fn. 6) Corversers, Downemilnelande,
Vannhowse, Shanke White, Whitesmore and Colerymes. (fn. 7)
MANOR
The manor of ARBORFIELD is not
mentioned by name in the Domesday
Survey, and at that date probably formed
part of the manor of Sonning, held by the Bishop of
Salisbury. Subinfeudation of Arborfield was apparently made later, for at the beginning of the 13th century Richard Bullock held a quarter and a twentieth
part of a fee there of the bishop. (fn. 8) He was the
successor, apparently, of Osmund Bullock, who was
patron of the church towards the end of the 12th
century. (fn. 9) Richard was succeeded by Gilbert Bullock,
who was holding the manor in 1254, (fn. 10) and who
or whose son Gilbert was living in the reign of
Edward I. (fn. 11) Robert Bullock was lord in 1331, (fn. 12) and
in 1341 settled the manor on his son Robert and the
latter's wife Joan Drokensford. (fn. 13) Robert Bullock,
either the father or the son, was convicted of perjury
and forfeited the estate, but was pardoned by the king
in 1345. (fn. 14) Robert Bullock the younger died before
1365, when 'Robert Bullock tertius' made a grant
of land in Arborfield. (fn. 15) A Robert Bullock was
sheriff in 1384 (fn. 16) and 1391. (fn. 17) It would seem he
died in 1405. (fn. 18) In 1407 Margaret widow of
Robert Bullock and Margaret his daughter and heir,
then wife of John Hertington, conveyed the manor to
Laurence Dru, (fn. 19) from whom it descended to Thomas
Dry of Seagry, Wiltshire, who in 1421 sold it to
Thomas Bullock (fn. 20) and his wife Alice. (fn. 21) The manor
continued in the hands of the Bullock family and
descended to Thomas Bullock, (fn. 22) who by will of 1557,
proved in 1558, left ornaments and vestments to
Arborfield Church. His wife
Agnes, by a provision of his
will, was to have the upper
parlour in the manor-house of
Arborfield, the chamber over
the same and 'Jaks chamber'
and '2 butteres next the
parlour, the old dyhouse for
her kitchen.' If she did not
like Arborfield she was to
have the farm of Barkham. (fn. 23)
Richard son of Thomas, who
died in 1570, desired that his
body should be buried in the
chancel of Arborfield Church
next to the tomb of Robert Bullock. (fn. 24) He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who in 1589 sold Arborfield
and Barkham to Edmund Standen. (fn. 25)
Bullock. Gules a cheveron between three bulls' heads argent having their horns or.
In 1609 Sir Henry Neville wrote to Sir Ralph
Winwood, who seems to have been negotiating for the
purchase of Arborfield, 'I am sorry you are prevented
in the purchase of Arborfield, I despair of any other
near me that will be worthy of you.' (fn. 26) The purchase,
however, did not take place.
In 1639 the manor was held by William Ball or
Bennet and his wife Margaret, (fn. 27) possibly as dower of
the latter, for the Standen family continued to hold
it. Edmund Standen was succeeded by his son
William, who died in 1639. (fn. 28) William Standen,
apparently grandson of the latter, was dealing with
the manor in 1678 (fn. 29) and Edward, his son, in 1700. (fn. 30)
Edward Standen died in 1707 and was succeeded by
his son Edward, who settled it in 1726. (fn. 31) He
was the last male heir of the family and is the
person alluded to in the ballad of 'Molly Mogg of
the Rose.' On his death in 1730 he was succeeded
by his mother's half-brother Richard Aldworth, then
a minor. The manor was sold by the latter's guardian
to Pelsant Reeves, (fn. 32) whose son John Reeves was the
owner in 1806. (fn. 33) This property devolved upon
Reeves's daughter Elmira wife of George Dawson of
Osgodby Hall, Yorkshire, at her father's death in
1814. (fn. 34) Their son George Pelsant Dawson sold the
manor to Sir Charles Russell, bart., in whose family
it has since remained (see Swallowfield), and the
manor-house and park to Sir John Conroy, bart., in
1842. After Sir John's death
the latter were bought by
Mr. John Hargreaves in 1855
for his son Thomas. (fn. 35) Captain
Thomas Hargreaves died in
1891, his heir being his second
son Mr. John Reginald Hargreaves, whose mother Mrs.
Hargreaves now resides at
Arborfield.
Hargreaves. Quarterly or and vert a fesse ermine fretty gules between three running harts countercoloured.
There was a fishery in the
waters of Arborfield appurtenant to the manor, which
is mentioned in 1589 and
later. (fn. 36) Rights of fishing were
also held by others than the
lord of the manor. (fn. 37)
The park of Arborfield is also mentioned in
conveyances. (fn. 38)
CHURCH
The church of ST. BARTHOLOMEW
is a small building erected in 1863,
mainly at the expense of Sir William
Brown, bart., and consists of an apsidal chancel with
a north vestry, and an aisleless nave with a west tower
and a south porch.
Ruins of Old Church, Arborfield
The walls are of flint with stone dressings and the
tower is of three stages with a stone octagonal spire.
On the wall by the south doorway of the nave is a
brass which came from the old church. The inscription commemorates Thomas Howard, who died in
1643, Anne his wife, and Frances 'there onely child.'
The churchyard, which contains several large elm trees,
is entered on the south side by a lych-gate.
There is a peal of six bells, the first five of which
came from the old church, now in ruins. The treble,
probably a 14th-century bell, bears the stamp of the
Wokingham-Reading-London foundry, a trefoil, lion's
face, and a coin (fn. 39) ; the second was cast by R. Catlin,
1743; the third bears the churchwardens' names and
the date 1653; the fourth has the black-letter inscription 'Pryase ye the lorde,' with a coin between the
beginning and ending of the sentence, and below this
the initials of Joseph Carter with the date 1589,
while between the initials is a shield on which is a
bell between the letters R.M.; the fifth is inscribed
'Love God 1639'; the sixth was cast by John Warner
& Sons, 1862.
The plate consists of two patens inscribed, 'Richardus
Hayes hujus ecclesiae Rector, A.D. 1793,'
a chalice, 1849, a flagon, 1886, and a
pewter flagon and paten preserved at
the hall.
The registers previous to 1812 are
as follows: (i) mixed entries 1707 to
1739; (ii) 1739 to 1812; (iii) marriages only from 1756 to 1812.
The old church, also dedicated in
honour of ST. BARTHOLOMEW,
stood on the west of the present one
near Arborfield Hall. Owing to its
bad state of repair the roof was taken
off in 1863, and the bare ruined walls
alone remain. There is a sandstone
piscina and three sedilia, and an aumbry
also exists beneath the ivy. When the
roof was removed and the later coatings
of plaster were stripped from the walls
they were found to be covered with
painted figure subjects and geometrical
and masonry patterns. Some encaustic
tiles were also discovered. The old font,
which is of wood, is preserved at the hall.
On the floor are two stone slabs, one
plain, of coffin shape, and the other rectangular, on which are traces of an inscription. Part of the south wall of these
ruins forms the north wall of a small mortuary chapel which contains tablets and
monuments to the Conroy, Standen,
Hargreaves and Dawson families. A
fine marble tomb with beautifully carved
figures commemorates William Standen,
who died in 1639, his wife Maria daughter of Samuel Backhouse of Swallowfield,
and a child who died in infancy. An
inscription states that the monument was
restored by Sir John Conroy in 1843.
ADVOWSON
The church of Arborfield was
originally a chapel of Sonning, and
about 1190 Jordan, Dean of Salisbury,
instituted a certain John, a clerk, at the presentation
of Osmund Bullock. (fn. 40) This John would seem to
have still been holding the chapel in the early years
of Henry III and was also apparently at that time
parson of Barkham. The ordinary service may have
been done by the curate (capellanus annuus). At this
time (in 1220) the chapel was still of wood and quite
ruinous. (fn. 41) The stipendiary chaplains were for the
most part illiterate, and in 1222 an old priest of
Reading, in the house of Richard Bullock, who was
serving Arborfield chapel, was found not to know a
complete (integrum) word of either the Gospel or
Canon of the Mass and forbidden to officiate. (fn. 42)
The advowson followed the descent of the manor
until the sale of the latter on the death of Edward
Standen in 1730, (fn. 43) when the advowson was reserved
to his heir Richard Aldworth (afterwards Richard
'Neville Aldworth), who was then a minor. It must
have been leased out for some time, since Elizabeth
Waterman presented in 1739 and Richard Hayes in
1755. (fn. 44) In 1793 Richard Aldworth Neville was
succeeded by his son Richard Aldworth Neville, who
made the presentation in 1797, and succeeding his
cousin as Lord Braybrooke in this year, held the
patronage until his death in 1825. (fn. 45) It was then
inherited by his successors in the title, viz., his son
Richard and his grandsons Richard and Charles. It
was bought in 1880 by Mrs. Hargreaves, the present
patron. (fn. 46)
The rectorial tithes or a part of them seem to have
been payable to Sonning in 1535. (fn. 47) Later the
church was always presented to as a rectory. (fn. 48)
CHARITIES
This parish is entitled to nominate
an inmate to Lucas Hospital (see
under Wokingham).
The parish property consists of four cottages at
Lower Arborfield, two cottages at Arborfield Cross,
and £205 18s. 5d. consols in the names of the
guardians of the Wokingham Union, arising from the
sale in or about 1845 of three cottages adjoining the
Church Piddle. The annual income, amounting to
£19 10s., is applied, after providing for repairs, in
relief of the rates.
The School. The original school premises, comprised in deed, 1840, were sold in 1874. The
present school, comprised in deed, 1871, was erected
at a cost of £1,200, the greater part of which was
contributed by the late Mr. John Walter. The
school has been recently enlarged and is also available
for poor children belonging to the parish of Barkham and the ecclesiastical district of Newland.