ULLENHALL

Ullenhall, which lies west of Henley-in-Arden, was made a separate ecclesiastical parish on 27 June 1861, including Aspley, Forde Hall, and Mockley, all of which were formerly separate manors. Aspley, with an area of 640 acres, was in 1895 transferred from the civil parish of Wootton to Tanworth, but it remained in the ecclesiastical parish of Ullenhall. The village is known as Ullenhall Street, and is surrounded by well-wooded country. The Village Hall was built in 1935.

Some six or seven small houses scattered about the parish show remains of 17th-century timber-framing: one is thatched.

Hall End, a farm-house ³/8 mile south-east of the old church, is an L-shaped building completely of 17thcentury framing with a tiled roof. The central chimney-stack has four diagonal shafts of thin bricks, set saltirewise. Half a mile north of this is Botley Hill, a late-16th-century house with a projecting upper story and porch-wing on the north front. Much of the original close-set studding remains in the front in both stories and in the gabled east end, but the interior is almost completely modernized. East of the house are considerable remains of a rectangular moat with water.

The soil is clay, gravel, and marl and the subsoil keuper marl. Wheat, beans, and oats are grown, but before 1940 the land was mostly in pasture. The area of the ecclesiastical parish is 2,933 acres.

Barrells Hall (fn. 1) stands in a beautifully wooded park. The estate was bought by Robert Knight, Lord Luxborough (afterwards Earl of Catherlough), from his second cousin Raleigh Knight in 1730. From 1739 to 1756 Lady Luxborough (fn. 2) lived here, apart from her husband, and made the house the centre of a literary circle, including the poets Shenstone, (fn. 3) Somerville, Jago of Beaudesert, and Richard Graves. The south front of the house, with a lofty portico, was probably built by the earl about 1770. Later additions and alterations were made by the Newtons. It is now the property of Mr. J. W. Marsh, but was seriously damaged by fire in 1933.

Manors

ULLENHALL which belonged to Waga, or Wagen, in Edward the Confessor's days was granted to Robert de Stafford with Wootton at the Conquest, when it was assessed as I hide and valued at £3. (fn. 4) From Robert or his son Nicholas it came into the hands of Roger, Earl of Warwick, who enfeoffed one Roger who took the name of Ulehale. (fn. 5) This Roger was followed by one William whose son Robert in 1242 held ¼ knight's fee of the Earl of Warwick. (fn. 6) Robert was probably succeeded by William, who died about 1284, (fn. 7) and he by Robert de Ollenhal. (fn. 8) The fee then appears to have gone to the family of de Montfort of Beaudesert, being held as a hamlet of Whitley in 1316 (fn. 9) and as part of ¼ fee in Honiley and elsewhere in 1326 (fn. 10) by Peter son of John de Montfort. It then descended in that family and on the attainder of Sir Simon Montfort of Coleshill was granted by the king to Gerald, Earl of Kildare, in 1496. (fn. 11) His son Sir James FitzGerald being attainted, the manor reverted to the Crown. Queen Mary in 1553 granted the manor to Michael Throgmorton of Coughton, (fn. 12) who died seised of it in 1558, leaving his son Francis, then aged 7, his heir. (fn. 13) From him it descended to his son John, who obtained livery of the manor in 1636. (fn. 14) It had, however, already been conveyed in 1630 by his father, probably on a mortgage, to William Bolton of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, (fn. 15) who was in possession of the manor at the time of his death in 1648. In his will, proved on 21 Dec. of that year, he states that he had already settled the manor of Ullenhall on his son William at his marriage. (fn. 16) This son died in 1651 and is described as a mercer and freeman of London in his will. He left half of 'his goods and personal estate' to his three daughters Elizabeth, Dorothy, and Mary equally. (fn. 17) Elizabeth, daughter of William Bolton of Ullenhall, married on 13 July 1661 Edward Bullock of Falkbourne Hall, Co. Essex, (fn. 18) and they were dealing with ⅓ of the manor in 1665. (fn. 19) In 1696 Edward Bullock and Mary his wife and John Bullock transferred 'the manor' to Wm. Parker and John Hopkins. (fn. 20) A lease of the manor was in 1712 granted by John Parker of Henley-in-Arden and four daughters of Wm. Parker to Wm. Somerville of Edstone and Henry Neal of Allesley. (fn. 21) It then came into the possession of the Smiths of Wootton Wawen and in 1724 Charles Smith, then of Ludlow, was lord. (fn. 22) It descended with the manor of Wootton Wawen (q.v.) and Sir Edward Joseph Smythe of Wootton was holding it in 1832. (fn. 23) It then went to Robert Knight of Barrells, who in 1837 is stated to be lord of it. (fn. 24) After his death it was sold in 1856 to William Newton of Whately Hall, Castle Bromwich, who is named as lord in 1859. (fn. 25) He died at Barrells on 24 Nov. 1862 and was succeeded by his son Thomas Henry Goodwin Newton. At his death in 1907 his son Hugh Goodwin Newton inherited it, but when he died in 1924 the manor with the advowson of Ullenhall was sold to the Martyrs' Memorial Trust, now known as the Church of England Trust. (fn. 26)

It seems probable that the share of the manor held by one of the other daughters of William Bolton descended to William Richard Wilson and Jane Anne Eleanor his wife, as in 1779 they sold a moiety of the manor of Ullenhall to Thomas Fisher. (fn. 27) In a survey of 1810 Miss Fisher held a house and 210 acres of land here, and in 1814 Anne Fisher was dealing with 'the manor'. (fn. 28) It was probably acquired, with the other portion, by Robert Knight.

ASPLEY is first mentioned in 1221, when Robert de Chaucumb apparently held it by grant from Henry d'Oilly, (fn. 29) and in 1261 Juliana de Chaucumb held the manor as of the honor of Doyley which the king had given to the Earl of Warwick (who had married Henry's daughter and coheiress). (fn. 30) Juliana was probably (? second) wife of Robert and possibly previously wife of Reynold de Aspele. (fn. 31) In 1231 Robert de Chaucumb had settled half the manor on his elder daughter Mabel and her husband Gilbert de Segrave and the other half on his daughter Milicent and Ralph Basset. (fn. 32) Milicent apparently died before 1246 without issue (fn. 33) and the whole came to Mabel; she married secondly Roger de Somery, who was holding the manor in 1265, (fn. 34) and after his death she granted it to her son John de Somery, to hold of her and her son and heir Nicholas de Segrave, by rent of a pair of gilt spurs or 6d. in money. (fn. 35) This John in 1284 claimed a court leet here with assize of bread and ale, which was allowed. (fn. 36) The manor, however, returned to the Segraves and was entailed by Sir John de Segrave in 1344 upon his issue by Margaret his wife or his right heirs. (fn. 37) Margaret still had it in dower in 1372 after the death of Walter, Lord Mauny, her second husband. (fn. 38) On her death in 1399 it passed to her daughter's grandson Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, (fn. 39) who was beheaded in 1405, and his brother John de Mowbray, later Duke of Norfolk, is found to be the holder of it in 1414. (fn. 40)

In 1534 Thomas, Lord Berkeley, a descendant of the Mowbrays, died seised of it, leaving a son Henry his heir. (fn. 41) Henry, Lord Berkeley, and Katherine his wife were dealing with the manor in 1568. (fn. 42) In 1620 the six daughters of John Fullwood of Forde Hall (q.v.) inherited ⅓ of the manor from their father, (fn. 43) and in 1632 Grace, one of these daughters, came into the whole of it. (fn. 44) Grace married Angel Grey and these two were holding it in 1668. (fn. 45) Their only daughter Lora Grey sold it on 5 Dec. 1698 to John Saunders of Honiley. (fn. 46) It afterwards came to the Knights of Barrells and in 1820 Robert Knight was in possession of it. (fn. 47) Sir Edward Joseph Smythe is named as lord in 1832, (fn. 48) but in 1834 Robert Knight was holding it. (fn. 49) It then passed with the manor of Ullenhall (q.v.) and is now held by the Church of England Trust.

Land in Aspley was granted in about 1275 by Sir John de Somery, lord of the manor of Aspley, to Roger de la Forde and Agatha his wife and their heirs (fn. 50) and later became known as FORDE HALL. In 1381–2 it passed as a manor from Nicholas Prylle of Ludlow to Henry de Bonnebury, (fn. 51) and in 1389 Robert Fouleshurst was lord of it. (fn. 52) At about the time of Henry VIII it came to John Fullwood son of Richard Fullwood of Clay Hall in Tanworth in marriage with Jane the daughter of Baldwin Heath of Forde Hall. (fn. 53) John Fullwood was succeeded by his son John, (fn. 54) and he by his son of the same name c. 1593. (fn. 55) The third John Fullwood married Katherine daughter and heir of Thomas Dabridgcourt, (fn. 56) and left issue six daughters, one of whom, Alice, and her husband Sir George Fullwood acquired the whole manor in 1619. (fn. 57) Alice in 1639, when she was a widow, transferred it to Humphrey Fullwood, (fn. 58) and in 1653 Edward Meynell and his wife Anne, daughter of Humphrey Fullwood, together with Anne Fullwood, widow, were dealing with it. (fn. 59) A moiety of the manor was transferred from Charles Fielding to Robert Hardisty in 1700. (fn. 60) Robert Knight of Barrells was lord of the manor in 1837. (fn. 61)

Fullwood. Gules a cheveron between three mulets argent.

In about 1275 Robert de Stafford gave lands in Botley to the priory of Kenilworth, and by another charter gave other lands there to Geoffrey Malory. (fn. 62) In this family the estate remained for several generations, John Malory being granted free warren for his demesnes there in 1335, (fn. 63) until in 1443 John and Anketil Malory sold the manor of BOTLEY to Richard Archer. (fn. 64) John Archer held the manor of the Duke of Buckingham at his death in 1519, (fn. 65) and Andrew Archer settled it on his son Simon on his marriage with Anne daughter of Sir John Ferrers in 1614. (fn. 66) It descended to the last Lord Archer, whose coheirs held it in 1792; one of them, Edward Bolton Clive, held it between 1815 and 1823, and Bolton King from 1826 to 1835, but by 1839 it had been acquired by Robert Knight of Barrells. (fn. 67)

The manor of MOCKLEY, which belonged to the priory of Wootton Wawen, was with other lands granted by Henry V on 20 April 1418 to Rowland Lenthall and Margaret his wife. (fn. 68) It returned to the Crown in 1442, (fn. 69) and Henry VI granted it on 12 Dec. 1443 to the Provost and Scholars of King's College, Cambridge, (fn. 70) with whom it has ever since remained. Robert Knight of Barrells had a lease of the manor from 1811 to 1831.

The reputed manor of BARRELLS is first mentioned in 1681, when it was among the possessions of John Knight. (fn. 71) In 1730 Robert Knight purchased 'the manor and estate' from Raleigh Knight. (fn. 72) In 1769 Robert Knight, then Earl of Catherlough, was still holding it, (fn. 73) and it passed at his death in 1772 to his natural son Robert Knight, (fn. 74) after which it descended with the manor of Ullenhall (q.v.)

A small estate here belonging to the Abbey of Bordesley was described in 1535 as 'the manor of Ulnall Henley with Denseyes Yende', valued at £3 13s. 5½d. including 'perquisites of the court there'. (fn. 75) After the Dissolution it was granted as 'the grange of Ownall' to Clement Throckmorton, (fn. 76) and any manorial rights were presumably lost.

Churches

The old church of ST. MARY consists of a chancel only, fitted up as a chapel, about 27 ft. by 17 ft., and is of late-13th-century date. The nave was pulled down in 1875–6.

The chapel has an east, a north, and two south windows. The east window is of the late 13th century, of three lights and intersecting tracery in a twocentred head with an external hood-mould. The eastern window in the north wall is a pair of trefoiled lights in pointed heads: the cusps have sunk spandrels except over the mullion inside. The eastern south window is closely similar. The second south window is of three trefoiled ogee-headed lights, the middle light the tallest; it is probably of the 14th century.

The gabled east wall has an old coping and a foiled and pierced gable-cross. At the angles are plain diagonal buttresses. On a stone near the south end is cut a cross with triple dots at the ends of the arms.

The north wall has a chamfered plinth. In the middle is a 15th-century buttress with moulded offsets. The upper half of the south wall has been rebuilt. The west wall, west doorway, and porch are modern, but remains of ancient gable-crosses have been set on the bellcote and porch. The roof also is modern, of trussed rafter type.

In the south wall in the usual place of the piscina is a rectangular locker with rebated edges.

The font, of the 15th century, has an octagonal bowl with a moulded lower edge, and a plain stem. In the bowl one of the two staples remains.

The communion rail is dated 1735, and the seats ranged sideways are of about the same period. On the south wall between the windows is some 17th-century panelling. A carved high-back chair is probably of the late 17th century, repaired. In the floor before the altarstep are some 4½-in. encaustic tiles, some with the arms of Edward the Confessor and other patterns; probably 15th-century.

On the north wall is a monument to Francis Throckmorton, born in Mantua and buried there in 1617. (fn. 77)

Above the east window is a moulded stone panel with an achievement of arms of Knight of Barrells.

On the west wall outside is a stone with an ovalframed inscription, now illegible, but said to commemorate William Mortiboyes of Studley, who by his will of 18 Jan. 1733 left money for the poor.

Several loose stones with a good 13th-century moulding may have belonged to a door-jamb.

The bell appears to bear an alphabet inscription and is perhaps from the Leicester foundry, of late-16thor 17th-century date.

There is a cup and cover paten of late-16th-century type but with only a maker's stamp.

The registers begin in 1855.

About ⁵/8 mile south-south-west is the modern parish church of ST. MARY, erected in 1875; it has an apsidal chancel, transepts, nave, and aisles. In the vestry is an inscription to William Mortiboyes, mentioned above, and to Barbara Ingram of Lapworth, who also left money for the poor.

Advowson

When Ullenhall was made a separate ecclesiastical parish from Wootton Wawen on 27 June 1861 the advowson became vested in the Newton family of Barrells and descended with the manor of Ullenhall (q.v.). It is now held by the Church of England Trust.

Charities

Chapel Lands. By an indenture dated 30 Dec. 1683 certain properties in Ullenhall were conveyed to feoffees upon trust for the repair of the chapel of Ullenhall and for the maintenance of the bridges and highways in Ullenhall. The rents now amount to about £75.

Francis Brittain by will dated 21 Aug. 1774 gave a rent-charge of £3 out of his messuage (now 'The Limes') in Henley-in-Arden, to buy 6 gowns for 6 poor women of Ullenhall. The charge is distributed in clothing to 6 poor persons.

The above-mentioned charities are regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 30 March 1906, which appoints a body of trustees and provides that 8/11 of the net income of the Chapel Lands Charity shall be applied in the maintenance of the parish church of Ullenhall and of the mortuary chapel; the remaining 3/11 to be paid to the Rural District Council of Stratford-on-Avon towards the repair of highways.

William Mortiboyes of Studley by will dated 18 Jan. 1733 (–4) gave a rent-charge of 40s. out of Bare Leys in Aspley for teaching 6 poor children to read. This is now paid to the Church of England School.

The Rev. John Ellis, vicar of Wootton Wawen 1809–54, collected money towards the provision of a school for Ullenhall, but it was not so used and the income of £6 15s. from its investment is paid to the Church of England School.

Miss Henrietta Caroline Mary Knight by will proved 28 April 1915 left £1,500, the interest on which is given to the poor of Ullenhall.

Footnotes