PRIORS MARSTON
Acreage: 3,577.
Population: 1911, 495; 1921, 451; 1931, 414.
The parish is bounded on the east and south by
Northamptonshire, and is separated from Priors Hardwick on the west by the road leading north from
Bodington. The country is mostly undulating, between
400 ft. and 500 ft., but near the eastern boundary,
overlooking the village, Marston Hill reaches a height
of 662 ft.
The village is a fairly large one at the junction of the
Welsh Road, north-westwards to Southam, and four
others, north to Lower Shuckburgh, east to Charwelton,
Northants, south-east to Byfield, Northants, and southwest to Priors Hardwick.
The church stands about 300 yards north of the
junction, to the east of the road to Shuckburgh. As
well as the group where the main roads intersect, a large
number of the buildings lie to the north of it about and
within a large irregular four-sided loop formed by a
side road connecting the Shuckburgh and Charwelton
roads, within which is a smaller four-sided loop south
of the church.
Most of the houses are built of local stone, a number
retaining their thatched roofs or stone tiles, but a few
have ugly corrugated iron roofs. A number of them are
probably of the 16th and 17th centuries, but in only a
few are the original windows, &c., left.
The Vicarage, about 150 yards north-east of the
church, was an early-17th-century two-storied farmhouse, facing south, that was enlarged and heightened
in the 18th century. The south front preserves several
original stone-mullioned windows with labels and an
arched and square-headed doorway. Inside is a wide
fire-place, a moulded ceiling beam, &c. A thatched
house at the north entrance to the churchyard, of
T-shaped plan, the head facing east, is also of the 17th
century. It has a similar window in the south side of
the back wing, but the front windows have been
modernized. The gables are coped.
The Falcon Inn, about 250 yards south-east of the
church, at the south-east corner of the smaller loop, is
a picturesque building facing west; it is of L-shaped
plan and of two stories and attics, the last with gabled
flush dormers in which are blocked windows. Practically all the windows are mullioned and have moulded
labels of the normal type. The entrance doorway has a
four-centred arch in a square head, with a label having
diamond-shaped volute stops, but its mouldings are of
a later-17th-century form. There are several other
houses with similar mullioned windows. A threestoried house, 100 yards farther west, facing west towards the Southam road, has a doorway like that at the
'Falcon', but the house is obviously of the early 18th
century and has tall windows with eared architraves.
In most of the houses the chimney-stacks have been
rebuilt with brick.
'The Priory', about ½ mile north of the church, is a
small stone building, now tenements, and has no claim
to the name. The only old feature is a mid-17th-century fire-place of hard grey stone; this is moulded and
has a three-centred arch in a square head. The face
above the arch has a row of four raised lozenges.
Manor
Marston was, like Hardwick, one of the
24 vills which Earl Leofric bestowed upon
his foundation of Coventry Priory. (fn. 1) At the
time of the Domesday Survey it formed part of Hardwick and is therefore not recorded by name. The fees
of the prior of Coventry in 1236 included ¼ fee in
Marston held by Peter de Montfort, and 1/10 fee there
held by Thomas atte Hall (de Aula). (fn. 2) They were
probably tenants for a term of years only, as no more
is heard of these fractional fees, and in 1242 Marston
was part of the prior's demesne. (fn. 3) It was one of the
manors for which the priory received a grant of free
warren in 1257, (fn. 4) and in 1279 the prior of Coventry
had here 37 bond tenants holding 23 virgates. (fn. 5) From
1316 (fn. 6) the manor is usually distinguished as PRIORS
MARSTON. It remained in the possession of the
monks, and in 1535 the manor was farmed at £4 13s. 4d. (fn. 7)
and there were rents from tenements there amounting
to £19. (fn. 8) After the Dissolution the manor was granted
to Sir Edmund Knightley (fn. 9) with that of Priors Hardwick (q.v.), and is said to have followed the same
descent. (fn. 10) It was certainly in the hands of Robert,
Lord Spencer, by 1599, when William Grant died
holding land of his manor of Priors Marston; (fn. 11) but in
1585 Robert Beale, the diplomatist and antiquary, (fn. 12)
had a grant of a manor of Priors Marston, (fn. 13) and when
he died in 1601 he was holding that manor of the
Crown by knight service, with court leet and view of
frankpledge. (fn. 14) His son and heir Francis Beale had
livery of the manor in the following year, (fn. 15) but no
more is heard of this so-called manor. Lands in the
parish, however, continued to be held in chief of the
king; thus in 1618 William Lanckton died holding a
cottage and 7 selions of land in Priors Marston of
Robert, Lord Spencer, and a messuage and 1¾ virgates
of the king. (fn. 16) The main manor, however, continued
in the Spencer family and has descended to the present
Earl Spencer.
Church
The parish church of ST. LEONARD
consists of a chancel with a north vestry,
nave, north aisle, south porch, and west
tower.
The earliest material in the building is the late-13thcentury north arcade, indicating an aisle of that period
added to an earlier nave that was probably shorter than
now. The aisle may have been widened late in the
14th century. There seems to have been a medieval
tower, which was entirely remodelled about 1720, when
the upper half was added or rebuilt. There is no detail
by which the lower half can be dated. In the vestry is
a tablet recording that the south wall of the nave was
rebuilt and the nave and aisle reroofed, the interior
refitted, and the vestry added in 1863. The chancel
is not mentioned, and it was evidently subsequent to
this that it was entirely rebuilt, probably in 1875, the
date of the glass in the east window. The north arcade
also seems to have been reconstructed with the old
material, except for the western bay, which is all
modern. Except for repairs the aisle seems to have
been undisturbed.
The chancel (25 ft. by 18 ft.) has a modern east
window of three lights and one north and two south
of two lights, all with tracery in the late-13th-century
style. The walls of coursed rough ashlar have some
ancient stones re-used. The roof has arched trusses
forming two bays and is tiled. The responds of the
modern pointed chancel-arch are triple-shafted, with
moulded capitals and bases.
The nave (about 60 ft. by 19½ ft.) is long and narrow.
It has a north arcade of five 11½-ft. bays of late-13thcentury date, excepting the west bay, with its pillar and
respond, which is modern. The pillars are octagonal
and have moulded capitals and bases, the latter mostly
mutilated. The arches are semicircular, of two chamfered orders; the voussoirs are small and from their
unevenness have evidently been reset.
In the rebuilt south wall are five modern windows,
three of two lights and tracery, the third a lancet, and
the fourth a single light with tracery, perhaps forming
a clue to the dates of the original windows. The south
doorway, between the third and fourth, is of the 15th
century except for modern base-stones. The yellow
stone jambs and two-centred head are moulded on a
splay of 45°, and the innermost hollow is decorated with
square foliated paterae, except for two near the apex
which are blank shields; they are irregularly spaced
from 4 to 9 in. apart. The head, which is of two stones
only with a middle mitre-joint, has a hood-mould with
return-stops. While the masonry of the upper part of
the wall is modern, with many re-used stones, the lower
part up to about 7 ft. is ancient rough ashlar in yellowgrey stone. The south-west angle buttress is also ancient,
and has a 15th-century double plinth. The others and
the south porch are modern. The modern roof is of
hammer-beam type in five bays.
The north aisle (10½ ft. wide) has four north windows; the first three are of the late 14th century and are
each of two trefoiled lights and tracery in a square head;
the easternmost and parts of the others had lost their
cusps and these have been restored outside the glass,
with other renovations. The westernmost window is
modern, of two trefoiled lights and different tracery.
The north doorway, between the second and third, has
chamfered jambs and a four-centred head of c. 1500.
The west window is of two plain four-centred lights
under a square head, of the same period. The north
wall is of ancient yellow-grey rubble, partly squared,
but the east and most of the west wall are of coursed
yellow rough ashlar. Only the middle part of the north
wall, east of the doorway, has a plinth. The buttresses,
except that west of the third window, are also ancient;
the eastern is diagonal. The lean-to roof is modern.
The west tower (12 ft. square inside) is built of
coursed yellow ashlar in two stages, divided by a plain
string-course. The ashlar of the lower stage is probably
medieval, and it has a chamfered plinth of which the
top course is of the 18th century, but the lower part of
ancient squared rubble. There are clasping buttresses
at the angles, 2½ ft. wide and 7 in. projection, of a
deeper yellow ashlar, the courses of which do not align
with those of the walling; they have 18th-century
moulded caps at the level of the string-course, and
moulded bases level with the main chamfered plinth.
There was a round-headed archway to the nave, now
walled up by a thin wall on the nave side with a modern
doorway in it. In the north-east angle is a stair-vice
entered by a round-headed doorway in the splayed
angle and lighted by north loops. In the south wall is
a round-headed doorway. In the west wall is an 18th-century round-headed window, also of stone differing
from that of the walling and not coursing with it; it has
been fitted with a modern mullion and transom and
tracery bars in an attempt to Gothicize it.
The upper stage is of 18th-century ashlar, more even
and regular than the lower, and has a plain pilastered
parapet. The bell-chamber windows are like the west
window and similarly treated with modern mullions,
&c. The clock-chamber below has two small west windows and north and south clock faces.
The font and other furniture are modern. In the
south porch is a slab with a brass inscription to Richard
West, buried 1691, and his wife Elizabeth, buried
1 January 1688–9. There are also a few late-18th and
19th-century monuments, and in the churchyard a
number of early-18th-century carved head-stones and
high tombs.
There are six bells, the tenor recast by Taylor &
Sons, 1845, and the others by Henry Bagley, 1721. (fn. 17)
The registers date from 1689.
Advowson
Marston was a chapel of Priors
Hardwick in 1279, (fn. 18) and that was still
its status in 1535, (fn. 19) at which time the
tithes were farmed by Coventry Priory at £10. (fn. 20) It
continued to be a perpetual curacy attached to Priors
Hardwick until 1861, when it was separated under an
Order in Council, being constituted a vicarage in 1866,
only to be reannexed to Priors Hardwick in 1920. (fn. 21)
Charities
The Rev. Edwin Robert Birch by
codicil to his will proved 1 August 1896
bequeathed to the vicar and churchwardens £200, the income to be distributed amongst
poor widows and widowers. The income, amounting
to £4 11s. 4d., is so applied.
James and Aholiah West gave £200 to the minister
and churchwardens to be laid out in land, the rent
thereof to be distributed yearly on 29 April to the poor
of the parish. The sum of £200 together with sums
of £10 and £5, the gifts of Thomas and Job Baseley,
purchased an estate in Charwelton in the County of
Northampton. The land is let at an annual rent which
is applied for the benefit of the poor.
Charity for upkeep of churchyard. By a deed dated
31 December 1931 land known as Church Meadow,
containing 8 a. 2 r. 26 p., was conveyed to the Coventry
Diocesan Trustees upon trust to apply the net income
towards the upkeep of the churchyard at Priors Marston. The land is let at an annual rent which is applied
as directed.