WELLESBOURNE WITH WALTON
Wellesbourne Hastings, with Walton:
Acreage: 2,953.
Population: 1911, 682; 1921, 689; 1931, 710.
Wellesbourne Mountford:
Acreage: 1,653.
Population: 1911, 676; 1921, 582; 1931, 623.
The Wellesbournes form an irregular block of country
roughly 4 miles in breadth from east to west and about
2 miles in depth, with a southern projection containing
Walton, about 2 miles in breadth and depth. The
chapelry of Walton, which was constituted a separate
ecclesiastical parish in 1842, is bounded on the east by
the Roman Fosse Way, which rises gradually from
200 ft. at the southern end of the parish to 380 ft. at
the point where the boundary diverges from it to the
north-west. The Dene Brook, originally the Wellesbourne and still called the Wellestreme in 1399, (fn. 1) runs
northwards through Walton, being dammed up to form
a lake in the grounds of Walton Hall and again a mile
farther north for a mill-pond. At this point it turns
north-west and forms the boundary between Wellesbourne Hastings to the north and the township of
Wellesbourne Mountford to the south. There were
three watermills in Walton in 1086, each valued at
6s.; (fn. 2) one in Wellesbourne is mentioned in 1385; (fn. 3) and
two attached to the united manors of Wellesbourne
and Walton during the 16th and 17th centuries. (fn. 4)
The country in the north of the parish is low-lying
and open, but in the south it is hilly, rising on either
side of the valley of the Dene Brook, and is heavily
wooded.
The main road from Warwick to the village of
Wellesbourne Hastings, after being joined by the
Charlecote road near the church, is deflected southeastwards to Kineton and beyond. A few of the buildings, of no great age, lie along the main road, but the
village street forms a kind of back road close to and
parallel with the south side of the main road, the church
and vicarage standing at the north-west end of it. It is
probable that the long, narrow island, now partly built
over, between the two roads represents the medieval
village green. The Vicarage, south-west of the church,
was built in 1698 and is a house of red brickwork with
rusticated stone quoins. Despite later alterations it
still retains a few of the original windows with wood
mullions and transoms; others on the north side have
been walled up.
The few surviving 17th-century buildings in the
village street are on the south-west side (facing the
former green). One or two are of the farm-house
status, others are cottages, all with remains of timberframing and two with thatched roofs. From this road
another, forming a T-joint with it, runs southwards,
crossing the Dene to join with the closely adjacent
village of Wellesbourne Mountford.
A farm-house about ¼ mile south-east of the village
on the Kineton road also has some 17th-century timberframing and a chimney-stack with three diagonal shafts.
Wellesbourne Mountford has no parish church.
The village lies on the left bank of the Dene Brook,
opposite that of Wellesbourne Hastings. A little southwest of the bridge over the Dene is a small triangular
green about which are three or four old buildings
forming a picturesque group. The Stag's Head Inn at
the corner of the main village street, north of the green,
is a small building of 17th-century timber-framing with
a thatched roof. Another thatched house and shop west
of the green retains a little 17th-century framing. South
of it is a red-brick house of two stories with a tablet on
the east front inscribed w. & a. c. 1699. Adjoining it
on the north side is a lower timber-framed wing, of the
late 16th century; the front gable has a braced cambered tie-beam. Farther south-west the main road to
Stratford meets the village street at right angles. At its
north angle is the Hall, an early-18th-century house of
red and black brickwork. The south front has slightly
projecting end-wings with stone angle-dressings. The
round-headed middle doorway has flanking pilasters
and a pediment. The roofs are tiled and the chimneystacks are plain. A cottage opposite and another farther
west on the north side have 17th-century framing and
thatched roofs. It is said that some ten or twelve others
along the Stratford road have been demolished in
recent years.
A meeting held at Wellesbourne by Joseph Arch on
7 February 1872 was followed by the formation of the
Warwickshire Agricultural Labourers' Union, and may
be regarded as the starting-point of Arch's campaign
for the improvement of conditions of life for workers
on the land. (fn. 5)
Manors
Wellesbourne was a royal vill and the
scene of at least occasional meetings of the
witan of Mercia under King Burgred (in
862 and 872) (fn. 6) and apparently under his predecessor
Berhtwulf (in 840). (fn. 7) It was held by King Edward the
Confessor at the time of his death and was in the hands
of King William in 1086. (fn. 8) At this time WELLESBOURNE went with Kineton, of which manor it was
a berewick, (fn. 9) the two being assessed together at only
3 hides although there were nearly 120 bond tenants
and 38 plough-teams on the estate. (fn. 10) The whole of
Wellesbourne was evidently granted to Henry de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, who built and endowed the
church. (fn. 11) The overlordship descended with the earldom and is last mentioned in 1629, when the manor
was said to be held of the King as of the Castle of
Warwick. (fn. 12)
It was probably Earl Roger who divided Wellesbourne, enfeoffing Thurstan de Montfort in that portion south and west of the Dene Brook, and perhaps
one of the Hastang family in that north and east.
Thurstan's elder son Robert was deprived of the manor
by the king (fn. 13) in 1175 (fn. 14) and seems to have died about
1178, (fn. 15) or soon afterwards, when he was succeeded by
his brother Henry, who in 1190 recovered Wellesbourne from King Richard by payment of £100. (fn. 16)
After this the manor of WELLESBOURNE MOUNTFORD descended with Beaudesert (fn. 17) (q.v.). It was held
of the Earl of Warwick as one knight's fee in 1235 and
1242 by Peter de Montfort, (fn. 18)
who was killed at Evesham
fighting against the king in 1265,
when he held 2 carucates of
land and £10 of rents in Wellesbourne. (fn. 19) His son Peter was lord
of Great Wellesbourne in 1279,
when he had 5 free and 20 bond
tenants. (fn. 20) At this time William
son of Thomas de Bishopsdon
held of Peter half a carucate here
as a quarter-fee. (fn. 21) This had been
granted by Henry de Montfort with his daughter Julian
in marriage to William de Bishopsdon; (fn. 22) and in 1345
Roger de Bishopsdon held land here. (fn. 23) The later descent
of this quarter-fee is traced below.
Montfort. Bendy of ten pieces or and azure.
On the death of the last legitimate Montfort, Peter,
in 1369, his estates were divided between the representatives of his two sisters and Wellesbourne fell to Sir
Thomas Boteler; on the death of his son, Sir Ralph
Boteler, another partition took place and this manor
was assigned to Sir John Norbury, (fn. 24) whose granddaughter Jane married Sir Edmund Bray and died in
1558, leaving five daughters and a grandson as her
coheirs. (fn. 25) The manor was assigned in 1561 to the
grandson, William, Lord Cobham, son of the eldest
daughter of Lady Jane. (fn. 26)
The second daughter, Elizabeth, married first Sir
Ralph Verney, by whom she had a son Edward Verney
(born 1538), secondly Sir Richard Catesby, thirdly
William Clarke, and fourthly William Phillips. (fn. 27)
William, grandson and heir of the above-named Sir
Richard, came of age in 1568 and inherited a manor of
Wellesbourne, valued at £5 6s. 8d., (fn. 28) in which his halfbrothers had life interests which they surrendered to him
in 1580. (fn. 29) In 1586 this Sir William Catesby demised
the 'capitall messwadge or tenemente fearme or mannor
of Wellesborne' to the use of Elizabeth (Porter), widow
of his brother Edmund, for life with remainder to her
second son Richard. (fn. 30) This, however, was not the main
manor but represented the quarter-fee held by William
de Bishopsdon in 1279 (see above). His descendant Sir
William Bishopsdon, the last of his line, left two
daughters coheirs; the elder, Philippe, married Sir
William Catesby, whose grandson George married
Elizabeth Empson (fn. 31) and evidently settled the manor on
her. George Catesby held a court of the manor in 1495,
as did his widow Elizabeth in 1507 and, with her
second husband Sir Thomas Lucy, in 1516 (fn. 32) . On
6 February 1537 Richard Catesby, esquire, held his
first court after the death of his mother, the Lady
Elizabeth Lucy. (fn. 33) This was the Sir Richard who married Elizabeth Bray.
Edward Venour died in 1627 seised of a capital
messuage and a moiety of the services of the manor of
Wellesbourne Mountford, which had been settled in
1577 by his grandfather Richard Venour on his wife
Mary and his son Richard, Edward's father. (fn. 34) Edward's heir was his son John, and in 1651 John Venour
and Barbara his wife conveyed 'the manor' to Robert
Boyse. (fn. 35) In 1635 Richard Eades died holding certain
tenements in Wellesbourne and leaving a son John, (fn. 36)
who in 1675 conveyed 'the manor' of Wellesbourne
Mountford to William Robinson. (fn. 37) Whether these
'manors' had any connexion with those of which the
history has just been given does not appear.
The history of the portion of Wellesbourne north
and east of the Dene Brook is obscure. Dugdale's
assertion that it was granted by 'one of the ancient Earls
of Warwick' to a member of the Hastang family (fn. 38) is
based only on the fact that in 1279 a very small estate,
half a virgate, in Little Wellesbourne was held by
Godfrey Giffard, Bishop of Worcester, of William
Pacy, who held of Robert Hastang and he of the earl; (fn. 39)
if there was any such mesne lordship it has left no trace.
In January 1246 Mr. Simon de Wauton (or Walton)
received a grant (fn. 40) of a weekly market on Wednesday
and a fair on the eve and day of SS. Peter and Paul at
his manor of LITTLE WELLESBOURNE. This
Mr. Simon, who bought property in Walton Deyville
(see below), became Bishop of Norwich in 1258 and
died in 1265. (fn. 41) His successor Sir John de Wauton died
in or shortly before 1277, (fn. 42) leaving a widow Isabel,
who married Henry le Foun, (fn. 43) and a young daughter
Maud. She married Sir John de Strattelinges, or Stradling, and they had a regrant of the market and fair at
Little Wellesbourne in 1290. (fn. 44) Sir John was dead by
February 1293 (fn. 45) and Maud married John Lestrange of
Knockin, who died in 1309, leaving a son John. (fn. 46) As
her third husband she married Thomas Hastang, (fn. 47) who
was returned in 1316 as holding Walton with the hamlet of Wellesbourne, (fn. 48) which from this time onwards
becomes known as WELLESBOURNE HASTANG, (fn. 49)
or more often HASTINGS, or WELLESBOURNE
LESTRANGE, and descends with the manors of
Walton.
In 1086 the Count of Meulan held two estates of
WALTON. One of these was rated at 5 hides and
had been held by Saxi; the other, formerly held by
Gida and Saied, was of 10 hides. (fn. 50) Both came to the
Earls of Warwick and in 1166 Earl William, in the
return of his fees, notes that Walton used to render
the service of one knight's fee but was then in demesne
and held by his mother, the Countess Gundred, in
dower. (fn. 51) The overlordship continued attached to the
earldom and is mentioned as late as 1639. (fn. 52)
In the time of Henry I one part of Walton seems to
have been held by Theodoric, or Tierry, and the other
by Spilebert. (fn. 53) When the family of Deyville, (fn. 54) from
whom the manor of WALTON DEYVILLE acquired
its name, became enfeoffed here is uncertain, but
Walter Deyville gave the tithe of his mill at Walton
to the nuns of Pinley, probably about 1230. (fn. 55) Robert
Deyville was holding a knight's fee here from the Earl
of Warwick in 1242 (fn. 56) and Walter was granted free
warren in his manor of Walton in 1252. (fn. 57) His successor,
Roger Deyville, became heavily indebted to the Jews (fn. 58)
and sold the manor to Simon de Wauton, who granted
it to his son John. (fn. 59) This Simon may have been identical with the Mr. Simon who held the manor of Wellesbourne Hastings (see above) and who in 1240 bought
from William Mauduit and Alice his wife 6 acres in
Walton called Litlemede lying beside the Portwey. (fn. 60)
Mr. Simon was elderly when he became bishop and
may well have been married when young. (fn. 61) John de
Wauton died in 1277 (fn. 62) and his widow Isabel married
Henry le Foun. (fn. 63) John's heir, his daughter Maud, was
a child, and in 1278 Henry and Isabel conveyed the
manors of Walton and other lands to Walter Giffard,
Archbishop of York. (fn. 64) On the death of Walter in the
following year these estates passed to his brother Godfrey Giffard, Bishop of Worcester, who in 1281 conveyed them to Robert Burnel, Bishop of Bath and
Wells, for life, with remainder to Maud, whom he
undertook to marry to one of the elder sons of either his
brother Hugh Burnel or of Sir Robert de Escales. (fn. 65) As
already mentioned, however, Maud married first Sir
John de Strattelinges and secondly John Lestrange of
Knockin, and thirdly Thomas Hastang. At the time
that Henry le Foun and Isabel conveyed their rights to
Walter Giffard, Thomas son of Gervase de Wauton
lodged a protest against the fine, and in 1285 he
granted to Bishop Robert Burnel the homage and ser
vice of Maud for these estates, which she held of him. (fn. 66)
Although Burnel's interest was apparently only for life,
his heir Edward Burnel at his death in 1316 was said
to possess a knight's fee in Walton Deyville which
Thomas Hastang was holding in right of his wife
Maud. (fn. 67)
In 1200 Waleran, Earl of Warwick, granted to
Godfrey, Bishop of Winchester, the manor of Walton,
worth £18, to hold so long as the Countess Maud (his
brother's widow) retained the manor of Knoyle (Wilts.),
which she had in dower. (fn. 68) It was probably in connexion with this that in 1200–1 Waleran de Mara
brought a suit against the earl concerning the vill of
Walton, which his father had held in the time of
Henry II. (fn. 69) The earl seems to have given the manor
in marriage with his daughter Alice to William Mauduit, as when the latter was involved in rebellion against
King John the manor of Walton was among his lands
seized and granted on 3 March 1216 to Fawkes de
Breauté. (fn. 70) But the representative of the de la Mare
family must have protested his right, as on 19 April the
manor was assigned to Robert de Mara to hold during
the king's pleasure. (fn. 71) On the death of John, William
Mauduit returned to his allegiance and his estates were
restored to him in October 1217. (fn. 72) William's son
William became, in right of his mother, Earl of Warwick in 1263 and on his death in 1268 it was noted that
he had alienated the manor of WALTON MAUDUIT; (fn. 73) it is not stated to whom, but probably it was
bought by Mr. Simon de Wauton, who may also have
acquired the de la Mare interest, as in 1279 Maud
daughter of John de Wauton was lady of Walton
Mauduit, held as 1/20 fee, (fn. 74) and in 1316 Thomas
Hastang held both the knight's fee in Walton Deyville
and 1/20 fee in Walton Mauduit, (fn. 75) and the two henceforward descended together, with Wellesbourne
Hastings.
Maud de Wauton's second husband, who became
1st Lord Lestrange of Knockin in 1299, died in 1309, (fn. 76)
and their eldest son John died in 1311, his heir being his
brother Roger, 4th Lord Lestrange. (fn. 77) The Walton
manors, however, came-into the hands of a John
Lestrange who married one Ida and had a son John. (fn. 78)
The latter Sir John in 1385 settled his estate here on
himself and his wife Mabel, (fn. 79) who survived him and
was holding the Walton fees of the Earl of Warwick in
1400. (fn. 80) John's son Alan died in 1417, leaving by his
wife Margaret (daughter of John Wyard) (fn. 81) a daughter
Alice, then aged 12. (fn. 82) Alice died without issue and
was succeeded by her father's brother Sir Thomas
Lestrange, (fn. 83) who died in 1436. (fn. 84) He had settled the
manors in 1431 on himself and his wife Elizabeth, (fn. 85)
who survived him by 55 years, dying in 1491, when the
manors passed to Anne and Margaret, the daughters of
her son Thomas, (fn. 86) who had died in 1486. (fn. 87) They married, respectively, Robert and John, sons of Henry
Lestrange, or Strange, of Hunstanton (Norf.), (fn. 88) distant
connexions. The Walton manors were divided and
when Margaret Strange died in 1522 she held one
moiety of them and her sister Anne, then remarried to
Edward Knyvett, the other. (fn. 89) Margaret's heir was her
daughter Barbara, wife of Robert Mordaunt. In 1541
Anne Knyvett, widow, with her son Sir Thomas
Lestrange and his son Sir Nicholas, sold her moieties
of the manors and advowsons to Robert Mordaunt. (fn. 90)
Barbara's son Robert (fn. 91) died in 1602 and the manors
passed to his brother Henry's son Lestrange Mordaunt, (fn. 92) who was created a baronet in 1611. After
this the manors of Walton Deyville and Mauduit and
Wellesbourne Hastings, alias Lestrange, descended
with the baronetcy (fn. 93) until the death of the 11th baronet, when the title went to a collateral branch but the
estates were held by Lady Mordaunt, on whose death
in 1947 they passed to her daughter. (fn. 94)
Lestrange. Gules two lions passant argent.
Mordaunt. Argent a cheveron between three stars sable.
Church
The parish church of S. PETER is a
large one consisting of a chancel with a
north organ-chamber and vestry, south
chapel, nave, north and south aisles, south porch, and
west tower.
The building dates from the 12th century, but the
original plan is lost in later additions and all that survives of that period is the former chancel arch, which has
been reset on the north side of the chancel. A south
aisle was added to the nave in the 13th century and the
west tower built late in the 14th century. The church
was almost wholly rebuilt and enlarged in 1847 at a
cost of £8,000 and the only parts left in situ were the
south arcade and the tower. The nave was lengthened
eastwards by one bay and the chancel was newly constructed. The south aisle, 10 ft. wide, is probably on
the lines of the original aisle and retains a 14th-century
west window, this wall being probably rebuilt when
the tower was added.
The chancel (30½ ft. by 16 ft.) has a three-light east
window, and, in the south wall, a two-light window
and an archway to the south chapel. In the west part
of the north wall is the reset 12th-century chancel arch,
all of brown Edgehill stone. The jambs are of two
orders, the inner with attached half-round shafts with
plain cushion capitals. The outer has detached nookshafts with cushion capitals enriched with relief carving, the eastern with scroll ornament and the western
with zigzag. The abaci are chamfered and the vertical
faces decorated with various carvings—lozengy, doublebillet, hatch, diaper, and zigzag. The bases are moulded
with a series of small rounds, partly buried below the
floor. The inner order of the semicircular head is like
that of the jambs but the face towards the chancel has
two orders, a half-round and an edge-roll, the last flush
with the shallow hood-mould, which has a hollow with
a raised middle cable-ornament.
The south chapel (14½ ft. by 13 ft.) is lit by a twolight east window and three south lancets. Below the
east window outside is reset the masonry of a late-13thcentury quatrefoil bull's-eye window surrounded by a
chamfered hood-mould or ring, all of weatherworn
Edgehill stone. It appears to have been previously reset
in the gable-head of the nave above the chancel arch,
where there is a circular patch in the plaster that seems
to be of the same size.
The nave (about 60 ft. by 22 ft.) has north and south
arcades of five bays. The southern is of late-13thcentury date, excepting the modern easternmost bay
with the pier west of it. The other three piers are
cylindrical with four small attached shafts standing on a
hollow-chamfered base of octagonal plan. The moulded
capitals follow the contours of the piers.
The west respond is semi-hexagonal with an angle
in the middle of the reveal, and has a double-round
base on a square sub-base and a plain capital resembling
that of the tower archway. The pointed arches are of
two hollow-chamfered orders with medium and small
voussoirs. The western bay is narrower than the others
and therefore the arch is lower. It may have been
altered when the west respond and aisle wall were
rebuilt with the erection of the tower. There has been
a fair amount of modern repair to the arcade.
The north arcade is a modern replica of the other.
The north aisle is 16½ ft. wide and the south 9¾ ft.
wide. The south aisle has a rebuilt south wall of old
brown and grey rough ashlar, but its west wall is
ancient, with the buttress, of brown stone, south of it.
It has a late-14th-century window of two cinquefoiled
lights and foiled tracery under a square head with a
label; the jambs and head are moulded with a wide
casement. The other windows—of three lights and
tracery in the side walls, a lancet in the west wall of the
north aisle—and the north and south doorways, are
modern.
The west tower (about 12½ ft. square) is of three
stages with walls of smooth grey ashlar and a moulded
plinth. At the west angles are diagonal buttresses with
moulded offsets rising nearly to the parapet, which is
embattled and has modern angle-pinnacles. The east
buttresses are square. The archway to the nave is
pointed and of two hollow-chamfered orders, the inner
with a moulded capital. The bases are square, the
northern higher than the southern.
The west window, of the late 14th century, is of
three cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights and vertical
tracery on a two-centred head. The external hoodmould is crocketed and has a foliage finial; it has
abnormally large stops, the northern carved as an owl
and the southern a human head. The jambs have a
wide casement mould. The lower stones appear to be
modern and possibly a later doorway (17th or 18th
century) once encroached on the window. In the west
and south walls of the second stage are small trefoiled
lights with crocketed hood-moulds. The bell-chamber
has windows of two cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights
and a quatrefoil, also with crocketed hood-moulds with
head-stops. In the south-west angle is a stair-vice
entered by a four-centred doorway in a splay inside
and lighted by crocketed loops in the south wall. The
roof and all the fittings are modern.
In the floor of the chancel is a stone slab with a brass
effigy, 23½ in. high, of Sir Thomas Strange, 1426. He
is shown in armour, his hands in prayer, and his feet
resting on a lion. There are four shields, two of them
charged with two lions passant. The marginal inscription reads: 'Hic jacet dominus Thom' le Straunge
miles|—nuper Constabularius Regis in Hibernia qui
obijt|—tertio die Maij anno domini mcccc|—xxvi et
Regni Regis Henrici sexti quarto cujus animae p.pitietur deus.'
On the south wall of the chancel is a small black
marble tablet to Paul Aylworth, died 2 March
1659[60], and Isabella his wife, 1677: it is in a
moulded stone frame and above is an achievement of
arms. There are other later monuments including a
tablet in the tower to Robert Boyse, 2 March 1714[15],
and his wife Damaris, 1726. A pilastered high tomb in
the churchyard with an almost obliterated inscription
has the Aylworth arms and the date 1670.
There are six bells of 1681 by Henry Bagley.
The registers begin in 1560.
The church of ST. JAMES at Walton, originally
a chapel of Wellesbourne, was rebuilt by Sir Charles
Mordaunt in 1750 and was 'much admired for the
modesty and simplicity of its architectural style'. (fn. 95) In
1842 it was very much enlarged and was constituted a
parish church. It is built of grey stone and consists of
chancel, nave, west porch, and a small turret containing
one bell; the only medieval feature is the font, which
was found in the churchyard and may be Norman. (fn. 96)
Advowsons
The church of Wellesbourne was
given by Roger, Earl of Warwick, to
the canons of Kenilworth Priory and
confirmed to them by Henry I. (fn. 97) It was valued at
£14 13s. 4d. in 1291 (fn. 98) and must have been appropriated to the priory about this time, as in 1303 the prior
and canons presented a perpetual vicar. (fn. 99) A formal ordination of a vicarage, however, was made by Bishop Wolstan de Braunsford in 1348, when the small tithes were
assigned to the vicar, who was also given a dwellinghouse with half a yardland and a yearly render of
straw. (fn. 100) In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £7 11s. 8d., (fn. 101)
while the rectory was farmed for £3 6s. 8d. (fn. 102) At the
Dissolution the advowson of the vicarage came into the
hands of the Crown and was not alienated, so that it is
now in the gift of the Lord Chancellor.
There was a chantry in Wellesbourne Church to
which Sir Thomas Hastang in 1320 nominated the
chaplain to the prior and convent of Kenilworth, who
presented. (fn. 103) The advowson of this chantry 'at the
altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary' was held by Sir John
Lestrange in 1385. (fn. 104) The endowment apparently consisted in a payment by the convent of 6 quarters of
wheat and 4 of rye, 2 cartloads of straw, 8 pounds of
wax, and 20s. in money. (fn. 105) In 1369 and 1391 the
chantry is described as at 'the altar of SS. Stephen and
Thomas, martyrs' and on the latter occasion the Lestrange rights of patronage are said to be derived from
Simon de Wauton who founded the chantry. (fn. 106) The
advowson of the chantry was still attached to the manor
in 1529 (fn. 107) and, after the Dissolution, in 1542. (fn. 108)
The rectory of Wellesbourne with its tithes was
leased by Kenilworth in 1538 for eighty years at £16 to
Sir Andrew Flamock. (fn. 109) The lease passed to George
Kevett and was bought from John Kevett by Sir
Richard Verney. (fn. 110)
Walton Deyville was a chapel of Wellesbourne and
during the reign of Henry II William Deyville made an
agreement with the canons of Kenilworth by which
they should provide a priest to serve it and the inhabitants might be buried either there or at Wellesbourne;
in return William gave to the priory 40 acres of land
and certain pasturage rights and undertook to contribute yearly 6d. and his tenants 1d. for every yardland
towards the upkeep of the chapel. (fn. 111) The high altar in
this chapel of St. James was dedicated in 1381, (fn. 112) which
suggests that it was rebuilt, or enlarged, at this time.
Subsequently the chapel appears to become independent of Wellesbourne; the advowson of the church of
Walton Deyville had come to Robert Mordaunt by
1529, (fn. 113) and in 1535 'the parish church', served by a
rector, was rated at £4 13s. 4d. (fn. 114) The patronage was
apparently attached to the manor, as Sir Lestrange
Mordaunt held the advowson of the chapel or rectory
of Walton Deyville at his death in 1627, (fn. 115) as did his son
Sir Robert in 1638; (fn. 116) and yet the Crown presented in
1618, 1629, and 1691, (fn. 117) and the rectory was united to
the vicarage of Wellesbourne in 1633. (fn. 118) The union
continued in force, the king presenting to Wellesbourne
with Walton in 1730 and being returned as patron of
both benefices at various dates for the next hundred
years, but the chapel seems to have decayed until it was
completely rebuilt by Sir Charles Mordaunt some time
about 1750. (fn. 119) This, in turn, was much enlarged by Sir
John Mordaunt in 1842, when it was constituted the
church of the newly formed parish of Walton and the
patronage was vested in the Mordaunt trustees. (fn. 120)
A grant made in 1588 to Edward Wymarke of a
great number of estates formerly held for 'superstitious' purposes included both the free chapel or rectory
of Walton Deyville and the chantry or chapel of
Walton 'Mawdick'; (fn. 121) this was presumably 'the chapel
of St. Michael' which, with its yard and lands at
Walton, was included in 1570 in a grant to Nicase
Yetsweirt and Bartholomew Brokesby. (fn. 122)
Charity
The Rev. Arthur Kennet HobartHampden by will proved 15 Feb. 1933
gave to the vicar and churchwardens £40
for the upkeep of the churchyard of the parish. The
legacy was invested and the dividends, amounting to
£1 4s. 2d. annually, are so applied.