KINETON WITH COMBROOK
Acreage: 3,640 (including Combrook 1,145).
Population: 1911, 1,018; 1921, 950; 1931, 1,021.
The parish of Kineton, also called Kington, lies in
the centre of the hundred to which it gives its name, and
forms an irregular block with a maximum depth from
north to south of rather over 2 miles and a maximum
breadth of 4 miles. This includes the chapelry of Combrook, on the west, which was constituted a separate
parish in 1853. For the most part the country is undulating, at an average altitude of 275 ft., rising steeply
on the south-west, where the Roman Fosse Way forms
the boundary of Combrook, to 350 ft., and on the
south-east to 330 ft. on Edge Hill. At the foot of this
hill, just within the parish, was fought the first battle
of the Civil War on 23 October 1642, (fn. 1) and a mound on
the hillside still marks the common grave of some 500
dead. It was at Kineton also that King Charles met
Queen Henrietta Maria in July 1643. (fn. 2)
Just west of the town, at the foot of Pittern Hill,
which rises to a height of 400 ft., are the remains of the
earthworks of a castle of the motte-and-bailey type,
popularly attributed to King John, whose name is also
given to a well close by. (fn. 3) Adjoining this site is now
Kineton station on the Stratford-on-Avon and Midland
Junction branch of the L.M.S.
Early in the 13th century Stephen de Segrave had a
Tuesday market in his manor of Kineton, (fn. 4) and a fair
on the eve and day of SS. Peter and Paul. (fn. 5) The market
had died out by 1840, when the market-house was
pulled down and a school built on its site, (fn. 6) but the fair
on 5 February, 'which formerly regulated the price of
beans for seed', (fn. 7) continued until recently.
Kineton is now only a large village at the meeting of
four ways. The church stands at the north-west corner
of the junction and most of the older buildings are concentrated about it. East of it was probably the original
green encroached on by later (18th-century) buildings.
North of the church and west of the road running
northwards to Gaydon and Moreton Morrell is the
small market square. Deflected eastwards from the
south of the former village green is the road to Banbury,
and passing westwards from south of the church is the
road to the Wellesbournes and Warwick. Another
broad thoroughfare from Oxhill meets it at right angles
south of the church.
On the north side of the market square is an interesting row of five tenements that may have been almshouses originally, and date probably from the early
17th century. The walls are of white stone with a
moulded plinth and with yellow stone dressings. There
are five doorways, two of them with four-centred heads
and moulded labels. Of the six lower windows, two
have stone mullions and four have labels. In the upper
story are four unaltered three-light windows with
labels. There are two scratched random dates, 167 . .
and 1674. The central chimney-stack above the tiled
roof is of thin bricks. On the east side of the square,
forming part of the island between it and the village
street, are two small buildings showing remains of 17thcentury timber-framing, one, rough-casted, having a
slightly jettied upper story. On the east side of the village
street, opposite this island, are five separate long buildings of white stone, divided into tenements: generally
the windows are mullioned. One having brown-stone
dressings may be of the early 17th century, the others
are somewhat later.
The Swan Hotel at the south-west corner opposite
the former green is another 17th-century building of
ashlar stone work with moulded plinths and stringcourses and mullioned windows. A house on the east
side of the road running south to Little Kineton and
Oxhill is of stone rubble with brown Edgehill stone
dressings and has similar windows with labels. Several
of the other buildings of stone may be as old but have
been more altered.
At Little Kineton, south of the main village, there
are also two or three stone buildings of the 17th century or a little later, one with a thatched roof. The
Manor House, a fine building of Elizabethan origin
with additions made in 1720, was pulled down about
1790 by Richard Hill, who began a new house that
was never completed. (fn. 8)
North-west of the village, north of the Compton
Verney and Wellesbourne road, is a stone windmill of
the 18th century. Two windmills are recorded as belonging to the manor in 1279, (fn. 9) and again in 1325; (fn. 10) and
in 1565 Thomas Bentley farmed the two windmills and
was presented for taking excessive toll. (fn. 11)
A miller is mentioned under Combrook in 1551, (fn. 12)
and there was a watermill in 1677 attached to the
manor of Brookhampton, (fn. 13) which is on the River Dene,
the stream that forms the southern boundary of Combrook.
This stream runs from east to west across the parish,
separating the village from Little Kineton, and about
half a mile beyond the Fosse Way makes a right-angle
turn to run north through Wellesbourne Hastings. It
is evidently the 'welesburnan', which is the first of the
boundaries of Kineton named in a Saxon charter of
969. (fn. 14) At that date Kineton seems to have extended
slightly west of Combrook, the boundary apparently
running up the Wellesbourne to a small stream just south
of Walton House, then across to 'the street', i.e. the
Fosse Way, then following the modern boundary up
the Way and across to 'fulan pyt' (probably on the site
of Compton Pools), so to 'the springs', i.e. Spring Hill,
and mercna merc, the Mercian boundary, (fn. 15) represented
by the parishes of Compton Verney, Chadshunt, Burton Dassett, and Radway, to the grundlinga broc, the
stream which bounds Kineton on the south and southwest, and so, by two unidentifiable marks, back to the
Wellesbourne.
Brookhampton is now a farmhouse of T-shaped plan,
the cross-wing or head of the T being at the west end,
and is a two-storied building with attics and tiled
roofs. The west wing has walls of alternating courses of
ashlar and lias rubble and probably dates from the 16th
century. It is now used as a store and the mullioned
windows with moulded jambs and heads in the gabled
north end are blocked.
The stem, extending east, is built of streaky lias
masonry with yellow ashlar dressings and dates from
the early 17th century. It retains in its north and south
walls several original mullioned windows with chamfered jambs and moulded labels, and the original doorway by the central chimney-stack in the south wall also
has a label. The central stack had a wide fire-place, now
reduced, and the rooms have chamfered beams. The
chimney-stack at the junction of the two wings is of old
brickwork with small square pilasters, but the others
have been rebuilt, having been damaged by the blast
of a bomb in 1940, when also farm buildings were
destroyed.
Little Kineton is closely associated with the history
of hunting in the county, the kennels of the Warwickshire Foxhounds having been built here in 1839 for
60 couples of hounds. (fn. 16)
The Methodist chapel, erected in 1842, was rebuilt
in 1893, and in 1927 a barn was converted into a church
for Roman Catholics. (fn. 17) In 1889 there was a Congregational chapel which had been originally 'built by a
churchman for public worship when there was only
one service on the Sunday in the Parish Church'. (fn. 18)
Manors
King Edgar in 969 granted 10 hides in
Kineton to his thegn Alfwold and his
assigns. (fn. 19) At the time of his death in 1066
Edward the Confessor was holding KINETON,
called 'Quintone' in the Domesday Survey, and
Wellesbourne as a manor and its berewick. The
whole estate was assessed at only 3 hides, though
there were 38 ploughteams there and 130 acres of
meadow, as well as woodland. King William retained
the estate in his own hand, (fn. 20) and it remained with the
Crown until 1198, when King Richard gave it, then
valued at £20, to his brother Count John. (fn. 21) In 1202
King John gave to Hugh de Hersy £12 of land in Kineton; (fn. 22) this was in exchange for land in Pillerton [q.v.]
which the king had given to Hugh de Gournay and was
to revert to the Crown if Hugh de Hersy recovered
Pillerton by agreement or by suit of law. (fn. 23) Hugh in
1206 brought an action against Hugh de Gournay (fn. 24)
and evidently recovered Pillerton, (fn. 25) so that Kineton
reverted to King John, who in 1216 granted the manor
to Stephen de Segrave to hold
by fee farm of £12. (fn. 26) In 1220
Stephen had a grant of a market
on Tuesdays for his manor of
Kineton, (fn. 27) to which was added
in 1228 a fair on the eve and day
of SS. Peter and Paul. (fn. 28)
Segrave. Sable a lion argent crowned or.
Sir Stephen de Segrave died in
1241 (fn. 29) and was succeeded by his
son Gilbert, whose son Nicholas
forfeited Kineton for his opposition to Henry III. The manor
was given to the king's son Edmund, who granted it to
Ralph le Boteler in 1266 (fn. 30) but in the following year
restored it to Nicholas, (fn. 31) Ralph being compensated with
the promise of £400. (fn. 32) Nicholas Segrave was lord of
the manor in 1279, when he had 4 carucates of land in
demesne and 31 virgates held by sokemen, and had
view of frankpledge, gallows, free warren, and other
liberties. (fn. 33) The see farm rent of £12 from the manor
was granted in 1303 to Queen Margaret (fn. 34) and in 1327
to Queen Isabelle. (fn. 35) John, Lord Segrave, the son of
Nicholas, died in 1325 seised of the manor, the tenants
of which included 8 'burgesses', (fn. 36) and his son Stephen
died very shortly afterwards, leaving a young son
John. (fn. 37) This John died in 1353, having married Margaret, Countess (and later Duchess) of Norfolk, who
survived him 46 years, and leaving a daughter Elizabeth, (fn. 38) born in 1338. (fn. 39) Elizabeth married John de
Mowbray, who died in 1368 seised of the manor of
GREAT KINGTON, (fn. 40) which is called 'Cheping
Kington' in 1399 on the death of his second son, and
eventual heir, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk. (fn. 41) The manor
then descended in the Mowbray family until the main
line became extinct with the death of Anne, Duchess of
York, in 1481. (fn. 42) On the division of the estates between
the descendants of the two daughters of Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, Kineton came to William,
Marquess Berkeley and Earl Marshal, (fn. 43) who in 1490
settled the manor on himself and the heirs of his body,
with remainder in default of such heirs to the king in
tail male. (fn. 44) Accordingly, on the death of the Marquess
without issue in 1492 the manor, then valued at £10, (fn. 45)
passed to Henry VII. It remained with the Crown
until Edward VI died without issue, when it returned
to the right heir of the Marquess (the great-grandson of
his brother) Henry, Lord Berkeley. (fn. 46) He sold the
manor in 1575 to Francis Aylworth, (fn. 47) who was apparently already tenant of the estate. (fn. 48) Peter Aylworth,
son of Francis, in 1617 sold the manor to Sir Fulk
Greville, (fn. 49) whose descendants retained it until about
1806, when George, Earl Brooke and Warwick, sold it
to John Peyto, Lord Willoughby de Broke, (fn. 50) in whose
family it still remains.
Part of Little Kineton was held in 1279 by Nicholas
de Segrave as a member of the main manor. (fn. 51) King
Stephen granted to the priory of Kenilworth the lands
of Miles son of William the Sheriff and Turgis in
Kineton (fn. 52) , which were confirmed to the priory by
Henry II. (fn. 53) After the Dissolution Richard Andrewes
and Leonard Chamberleyn, land speculators, acquired
in 1542 the site and demesnes of the manor of LITTLE
KINETON, late of the monastery of Kenilworth,
formerly in the tenure of John Knyght and afterwards
of Leonard Savage. (fn. 54) They alienated it to Robert Burgoyn, (fn. 55) who died seised of the manor in 1545, leaving
a son Robert, then aged 5. (fn. 56) In 1576 Henry, Lord
Berkeley, conveyed the manor of Little Kineton (presumably the Segrave 'member') to William Burton, (fn. 57)
who, with his wife Elizabeth, transferred it in 1596 to
Sir John Puckering, Keeper of the Great Seal. (fn. 58) Sir
John died almost immediately after this, (fn. 59) and his son
Sir Thomas Puckering, bart., died in 1637, having
settled the manor on his wife Elizabeth for life, with
remainder to Thomas, son of Thomas Puckering, D.D.,
his uncle. (fn. 60) This Thomas in 1638
conveyed the manor to Sir David
Cunningham, bart., and Peter
Newton, (fn. 61) and they with Sir
Henry Puckering alias Newton,
bart., who had succeeded to the
Puckering estates on the death
of Jane, only daughter of Sir
Thomas Puckering, (fn. 62) conveyed it
in 1652 to Simon Neale, (fn. 63) probably for sale. In 1650 Charles
Bentley is found dealing with
the manor, (fn. 64) presumably as either lessee or mortgagee.
In 1726 another Charles Bentley was lord of the
manor, (fn. 65) and he was succeeded by Edward who owned
it in 1740. (fn. 66) Edward is said to have left the estate to his
three sisters, of whom Charlotte, the last surviving, died
in 1765 and bequeathed it to Bentley Gordon on
condition of his taking the name and arms of Bentley. (fn. 67)
He sold Little Kineton in 1786 to Richard Hill of
London, (fn. 68) on whose death in 1804 it passed to his
daughter Elizabeth Bishop, and she, with her daughter
Mrs. Dormer, sold the estate in 1825 to Lord Willoughby de Broke; (fn. 69) after which time it descended with
the main manor of Kineton.
Bentley. Azure a mermaid or.
King John in 1199 gave land in Kineton to Luke de
Trublevill and Ralph his brother (fn. 70) to hold as ¼ knight's
fee. (fn. 71) In 1217 this estate, which had apparently been
escheated from Luke about 1209, (fn. 72) was restored to his
brother Ralph and was said to be in Kineton, Combrook, and Brookhampton; (fn. 73) and in 1231 it is definitely called a quarter-fee in BROOKHAMPTON. (fn. 74)
Ralph died in 1232 (fn. 75) and his nephew Henry de
Trublevill had livery of his lands in Combrook and
Brookhampton in 1233, subject to the dower of Ralph's
widow Alice. (fn. 76)
By 1235 the quarter-fee had apparently reverted to
the Crown. (fn. 77) According to Dugdale (fn. 78) Thomas de
Wapenbury granted the manor
'to John Mile, who had issue
Richard, and he Henry Mile;
whose daughter and heir called
Margaret was wedded to William
de Welham, and overlived him,
being a widow in 30 E. 3. To
this Margaret succeeded Sir John
Brauncastre, Knight, as owner of
this Mannor . . . which John
demised all or the greatest part
thereof, to one Robert Dalby, and
John Dalby, his son, in 51 E. 3, and afterwards sold it
to Hugh Dalby, whom I conceive to be son to the said
John.' Before 1398 Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, had
granted Brookhampton and Combrook, as members of
Great Kineton, to Robert and Hugh Dalby; (fn. 79) and
Hugh Dalby died in 1439 seised of these manors and
leaving a son John. (fn. 80) Richard Dalby held the manor of
Brookhampton at his death in 1477, when he was succeeded by his son Robert. (fn. 81) Edmund Dalby died in
1558 and the manor, subject to the life interest of his
widow Isabel and an annuity to his fifth son Thomas,
passed to his son Richard, (fn. 82) who died in 1560, leaving
an infant son Edmund, (fn. 83) father of Richard Dalby (fn. 84)
who held the manor in 1640. (fn. 85) The manor was bought
by Ambrose Holbech, apparently in 1677, (fn. 86) and remained in that family until at least 1795, (fn. 87) not long
after which date it was bought by Lord Willoughby de
Broke. (fn. 88) The manorial rights, however, of Brookhampton and Combrook appear to have become
attached to Little Kineton, as Sir Thomas Puckering
kept a court baron for Combrook c. 1630 (fn. 89) and the
Bentleys and Hills appear as lords of these manors
from 1725 onwards. (fn. 90)
Dalby. Barry wavy of six argent and gules.
Church
The parish church of ST. PETER
consists of a chancel with a north organchamber and vestry, nave with north and
south transepts and a north aisle, and a west tower.
The west tower is said to date from 1315, but its
west doorway is probably earlier and its windows later.
The remainder of the building contains no ancient
features. It was partly rebuilt by Sanderson Miller of
Radway in 1775, (fn. 91) when the transepts and aisle were
added, and again largely renovated during the period
1877–89, being furnished with new windows, pierced
parapets, &c. The organ-chamber and vestry were
added in 1897. The whole church is built of dark brown
Hornton stone. An old view of the church shows the
chancel with square-headed windows and the nave and
south transept with plain four-centred lights.
The chancel (40½ ft. by 16½ ft.) has an east window
of five lights and tracery. The north wall has two and
the south three windows of three lights of similar design,
and the former an archway to the organ-chamber. The
walls are buttressed and have pierced parapets of 14thcentury style. The chancel arch is of three moulded
orders. The arches to the organ-chamber are similar,
of two orders, and the chamber has a north window of
four lights. The nave (49 ft. by 22½ ft.) has a north
arcade of three bays and a similar arch to the south
transept. There are two windows, of three lights, in
both north and south walls, and similar windows at
the ends of the transepts. At the west end of the aisle is
a pointed doorway. The nave parapets are embattled
and have pinnacles.
The west tower (14¼ ft. by 12¼ ft.) is of four stages
marked by plain string-courses, and has a chamfered
plinth. The modern parapet is pierced and embattled
and surmounted by crocketed pinnacles. Below its
string-course, which has gargoyles at the angles, is a
frieze of triangular trefoil panels. The string-course
below this band is the original early-14th-century hollow-chamfer sparsely decorated with ball-flower and
human head carvings. Near the angles of the tower are
original narrow buttresses, 22 in. wide, around which
the string-courses pass; in the top stage the width of
the buttresses is reduced to 8 or 9 inches and the top
offset is at the enriched string-course. At the south-east
angle is the square projecting stair-turret reaching
nearly to the same height. It is lighted by plain loops
and has the gnomon of a sundial in the third stage.
The pointed archway to the nave is of three chamfered
orders dying on to the splayed responds. The west doorway is an exceptionally fine one for a village church
but it has suffered badly from detrition. It dates from
the mid 13th century. The two-centred head is of four
orders, the innermost with a plain roll-mould continued
from the jambs. The other three are more elaborately
moulded with filleted rolls and hollows: they are carried
on detached shafts against the splayed jambs; the shafts
have moulded capitals, much perished, the bases are
buried. Between them, cut from the solid of the splays,
are filleted roll-shafts stopped by the abaci of the
capitals. The hood-mould has practically lost all its
form from decay: it was enriched with dog-tooth ornament which has now almost disappeared. Above it in
the second stage is a window of two trefoiled ogee
headed lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred head
with a hood-mould. The third stage has a plain rectangular west light and a modern south clock-face. The
bell-chamber windows are each of two cinquefoiled
lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred head with a
hood-mould.
The font and pulpit are modern. The communion
table is of mid to late 17th-century date; it has turned
legs and the top-rails are carved with honeysuckle and
strap-work ornament. Set below it is a chest of earlier
date with four panels in the front carved with raised
diamond-shaped centres and low relief scroll-work.
The panels at the ends are similar.
There are two elbow chairs in the chancel, one with
the back carved with a lozenge having a central rose
inscribed H B 1637. The other has an early-17thcentury round-headed panel in the back with enriched
pilasters and head.
Under the east arch of the north transept is a roundheaded iron-bound coffer of the late 16th century with
nine hinges and three hasps and padlocks.
A framed painted Royal Arms in the aisle is dated
1724.
The chancel screen of Italian Renaissance design
was set up in 1905 in memory of the 18th Lord
Willoughby de Broke, died 19 December 1902.
In the chancel are a number of monuments and floor
slabs to members of the Bentley family. One slab to
Charles Bentley, 7 July 1677, and Alice his wife, 1686,
has a shield of arms. A brass plate on the east wall of
the nave has a Latin inscription to John Venour, a
distinguished surgeon, died 11 February 1729–30.
Set on a modern base at the west end of the aisle is
the 15th-century stone effigy of a priest in mass vestments: the tonsured head rests on two cushions and
there is a dog at the feet.
There are six bells: the treble of 1716, the tenor of
1717, and the others of 1703; all by Abel Rudhall. (fn. 92)
The communion plate includes a cup and a flagon
given by J. Venour in 1729, with his arms, and a paten
given by Elizabeth Bentley in 1735. (fn. 93)
The registers of baptisms and burials start in 1538,
of marriages in 1577, but the earlier years are defective. (fn. 94) Separate registers for Combrook begin for
marriages in 1716, baptisms 1715, burials 1701–3
and 1716 onwards; there are no marriages after 1786. (fn. 95)
The small parish church of ST. MARY AND ST.
MARGARET at Combrook consists of a chancel, nave,
with a small west bell-cote, north and south aisles, and
a north vestry. The chancel was rebuilt in 1831, (fn. 96)
and the nave in 1866. The masonry of the chancel,
of roughly squared white stone rubble with Hornton
stone angle-dressings, appears to be partly ancient, but
all the windows and other features are modern, the
only medieval fitting being the font, which is of
flower-pot shape with no indication of date.
In the churchyard is the stump of the shaft of a cross
on an octagonal and square base with broach-stops at
the angles.
Advowson
The church of Kineton, with its
lands, tithes, and 'church-scot' (cerchez)
was granted to Kenilworth Priory by
Henry I. (fn. 97) In 1291 the rectory was valued at £14, (fn. 98)
and between that date and 1300 it was appropriated to
the priory. (fn. 99) The endowment of the vicarage seems
always to have been a sum of £8 6s. 8d., which was paid
by the monastery in 1535, (fn. 100) at which time the rectory
was farmed for £26, including the chapelry of Combrook. (fn. 101) After the Dissolution the advowson was retained by the Crown until about 1624, (fn. 102) in which year
Edward Bentley presented. (fn. 103) From 1650 the rectory
and advowson descended with the Bentley manor of
Little Kineton, (fn. 104) the patrons now being the Bishop
of Coventry, Lord Willoughby de Broke, and Lord
Bicester. (fn. 105)
When Stephen de Segrave died in 1325 he was
seised of 'a rent from the keeper of the chapel of Little
Kyngton', (fn. 106) but no other reference to this chapel has
been found, except that 'the late chapel of Kyngton
and its site', with 1 acre of arable in Great and Little
Kineton, was included in a multiple grant to Thomas
Fisher. (fn. 107)
There was a chapel in Combrook which was consecrated by Bishop Simon (1125–50) in honour of St.
Margaret. (fn. 108) The small tithes of the hamlet and the
oblations were valued at £5 6s. 8d. in 1535. (fn. 109) In 1853
the hamlet, with part of Compton Verney parish, was
constituted a separate parish, at first as a curacy under
Kineton, but subsequently consolidated with Compton
Verney. (fn. 110) The patronage was acquired from the executors of Lord Willoughby de Broke, with the Combrook estate, by Lord Manton in about 1930, and since
1932 has been held by Samuel Lamb of Compton
Verney House. (fn. 111)
Charities
Mrs. Frances Bentley, who died in
1684, left £30 to be added to the poor's
stock in Kineton to be laid out for their
benefit and the interest to be divided yearly among
the poor at the discretion of the minister and churchwardens for the time being.
R. Burbridge gave £30, the interest to be laid out
in bread to be distributed amongst the poor of Great
and Little Kineton on St. Thomas's Day and St. John
the Baptist's Day in equal portions.
Mrs. Norton gave the sum of £10 for the use of the
poor.
The above charities are administered together by the
minister and churchwardens. The income, amounting
to £2 9s. 6d., is applied for the benefit of the poor.
Samuel Kilby by will proved 13 Aug. 1841 bequeathed to the rector and churchwardens £10, the
income to be paid to the poor of the parish on Whit
Monday in such manner as the trustees shall deem most
proper. The income of 7s. 8d. is distributed to the poor.
Josiah Woodley by will proved 7 March 1887 bequeathed to the vicar and churchwardens £1,000, the
interest to be applied on New Year's Day for the benefit
of such of the necessitous poor of Kineton as in the
discretion of the trustees shall be deemed deserving
persons. The legacy produces £29 5s. 4d. annually in
dividends, which are applied as directed.
The Bentley Charity for apprenticing. It is recorded
that certain premises comprising a house with a barn
and close thereto adjoining called the Poor's House
were given by some of the Bentley family with directions that the rents and profits should be applied towards setting out poor children of the parish apprentice
to any trade. The house was burnt down in 1800 and
the land sold in 1923. The proceeds were invested and
the income is applied for apprenticing as directed.
Thomas Aylworth by will dated 1 Feb. 1660 bequeathed £200 to be bestowed in lands or an annuity
for providing four gowns for two poor men and two poor
women inhabitants of Great Kineton yearly upon St.
Thomas's Day and for one dozen of bread to be distributed to the poor there every Sunday; and for three
gowns to be given on the same day to two poor men
and one poor woman inhabitants of St. Mary Warwick,
and one dozen of bread to be distributed every Sunday
to the poor of that parish. The legacy was laid out in
the purchase of lands and now consists of a farm containing 27½ acres at Staverton, let at an annual rent,
which is applied for the benefit of the poor of Kineton
and St. Mary Warwick. The charity is regulated by
a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 10 Dec.
1889.