BUBBENHALL
Acreage: 1,265.
Population: 1911, 225; 1921, 241; 1931, 291.
This small parish lies to the south and east of the
River Avon, close to which on a slight rise stands the
church, to the east of which lies the village, round a
congeries of small roads. The houses are almost all
timber-framed buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries,
with tiled roofs, and have been much altered and
restored. The parish, which lies for the most part at an
elevation of between 250 ft. and 300 ft., is surrounded
by large blocks of woodland, but the only block within
its boundaries is Bubbenhall Wood, in the south. About
a thousand acres of open fields were inclosed in 1726. (fn. 1)
Manor
In 1086 the 5-hide vill of BUBBENHALL was among the estates of Robert de
Stafford and was held of him by Alvric,
who had himself held it under Edward the Confessor. (fn. 2)
The overlordship remained with the Staffords, onethird of a fee being returned among the knights' fees of
Hervey de Stafford in 1212. (fn. 3) Later it figures as a whole
fee of the Earls of Stafford (fn. 4) and, in 1460, of the Duke
of Buckingham. (fn. 5)
In 1243 two-thirds of a fee were held of Robert de
Stafford by the Earl of Warwick; (fn. 6) this was presumably
John du Plessis, second husband of Margaret, Countess
of Warwick, (fn. 7) for in 1279 a mesne lordship of one-third
of a fee here was held by Hugh du Plessis, (fn. 8) son of John
by his first wife (who was daughter and heir of John de
Staundon of Hook Norton, Oxon.). (fn. 9) The only later
reference to this mesne lordship seems to be in 1420,
when Sir John Beauchamp was said to have held the
manor of Bubbenhall of Thomas Chaucer as of the
manor of Hook Norton. (fn. 10)
The tenant in fee under Hugh du Plessis in 1279
was John son of Wido (son of Robert), (fn. 11) or FitzWyth
as the name became. John's son Robert was succeeded
by his son Guy, who held the manor in 1316. (fn. 12) The
last of the male line of this family was Robert FitzWyth,
who in 1361 assigned a rent of 40s. from the manor to
John son of William Catesby for life. (fn. 13) His daughter
and heir Joan was born at Bubbenhall on 25 March
1352 (fn. 14) and married John Beauchamp of Holt. Her
mother was Agnes Catesby, the
first wife of Robert FitzWyth,
whose second wife, Joan, survived him and married William
de Tyrington of Apsley Guise. (fn. 15)
When William and Joan sued
John Beauchamp and Joan for
one-third of the manor as dower,
they replied that no dower was
due, because Joan, on the Tuesday after Michaelmas 1362,
abandoned her husband and
went to live in adultery with Roger de Careswelle in the
hospital of St. Thomas at Southwark. To this Joan
replied that Roger came to Apsley Guise with armed
force, wounded her husband mortally, so that he died
three days later, beat her, and carried her off to Southwark, but that she escaped and returned within four
days to find her husband dead, and that she had
appealed Roger and the others and they had been
outlawed; the court accepted her story and awarded
her dower. (fn. 16) Sir John Beauchamp and Joan made a
settlement of the manor on her issue or right heirs
in 1375, (fn. 17) and in 1383 granted it to John Catesby
for life. (fn. 18) Sir John Beauchamp was created a baron
in October 1387 and attainted of high treason in
December, (fn. 19) at which time the manor of Bubbenhall
was said to be held of Sir Philip la Vache (fn. 20) (probably
guardian of' the heir of Plecy, lord of Hook Norton'). (fn. 21)
On the death of his son, Sir John Beauchamp, in 1420 the
manor passed to his daughter Margaret, widow of John
Pauncefote, (fn. 22) subject to the life interest of his widow
Alice. Margaret and her second husband John Wysham
in 1422 made a settlement of the reversion of the
manor. (fn. 23) She left three daughters, of whom Alice
married John Guise, Joan married John Croft, and
Elizabeth married Thomas Croft. (fn. 24) Thomas and Elizabeth in 1472 settled their third of the manor on themselves and her heirs; (fn. 25) John Croft and Joan made a
similar settlement of their third in 1499, (fn. 26) and in 1501,
after Elizabeth had died without issue, of a moiety of
the manor. (fn. 27) After Joan's death John Croft sold his
share in 1515 to Sir Edward Grevill. (fn. 28)
FitzWyth. Gules two bends or.
The other moiety of the manor seems to have been
acquired by Sir Edward Belknap by 1513 (fn. 29) and to have
passed to his heirs, the Danetts, (fn. 30) Sir Anthony Cooke, (fn. 31)
and the Wottons. Eventually the Wottons seem to have
obtained the whole, as Thomas Wotton died in 1587
seised of the manor of Bubbenhall, (fn. 32) and his son
Edward, Lord Wotton, settled it in 1608 at the marriage
of his son Thomas with Mary Throckmorton. (fn. 33) This
Thomas, Lord Wotton, died in 1630, having settled
the manor on his wife Mary, with remainder to his
third daughter Margaret, (fn. 34) who with her husband Sir
John Tufton was dealing with it in 1652. (fn. 35) Margaret's
eldest sister Catharine, wife of Henry, Lord Stanhope,
evidently established a claim to a share, as in 1655 she
and her second husband Sir John vanden Kerckhoven,
or Poliander, were dealing with a quarter of the manor, (fn. 36)
and in 1717 her son Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, with Thomas Wrenn and Elizabeth, Martha
Smyth, widow, Thomas Hall, and Robert Mease conveyed the manor of Bubbenhall to William Bromley, (fn. 37)
in whose family it has descended with Baginton (q.v.).
At the time of the Domesday Survey there was a mill
here worth 4s. (fn. 38) This seems to have been given to
Kenilworth Priory, as after the dissolution of that house
there is mention in 1547 of 46s. 8d. rent of a messuage
in Bubbenhall with a water-mill called Milnehouse,
with the 'fludyats' and dams adjoining, let to William
Smythe for 41 years from 9 March 1528, paying yearly
to the heirs of Robert Belknap 6s. 8d. from the mill. (fn. 39)
A water-mill is mentioned in 1698, (fn. 40) and the conveyance of the manor to William Bromley in 1717
mentions three mills. (fn. 41)
Church
The church of ST. GILES is situated
in a cul-de-sac at the western end of the
village on the north side of the LeamingtonWolston road. It has a small churchyard. The church
consists of chancel, nave, west tower, vestry, and south
porch.
The church was built late in the 13th century, when
it consisted of chancel and nave. The tower was added
early in the 14th century and the top stage late in the
same century. The only evidence of an earlier church
is the 12th-century font in the tower. A modern vestry
and boiler-house have been built on the north side.
The 13th-century church is built with a dark red sandstone in roughly coursed rubble with ashlar dressings;
for the later work a lighter coloured stone was used.
The roofs are modern, covered with tiles.
The east gable wall of the chancel has been completely rebuilt, with twin buttresses, in a light-coloured
sandstone. It has a three-light tracery window with a
hood-moulding. The south side has three late-13thcentury single-light windows with pointed arches of
two splayed orders; a splayed string-course runs at sill
level, and below the westernmost window is a blocked
low-side chamfered window with a flat head, the sill
1 ft. 9 in. above ground. (fn. 42) The north side is similar
but with only two windows; a third has probably been
built up. It has a tiled roof finishing on a splayed eavescourse, and a plinth of one splay. The south wall of the
nave has two single-light windows with pointed arches
of two splayed orders, and towards the east another
with two orders of wave-mouldings and a hood-mould.
The string-course continues from the chancel and is
carried round twin buttresses at its west end; the east
buttress is modern. The 13th-century south door has
a richly moulded pointed arch, the moulding continued
down the jambs to a square stop of modern cement. It
has a label-moulding with both stops broken off. Outside this door is a modern brick porch with a tiled roof;
the roof timbers are re-used from elsewhere and have
the initials IB: PA: C: W and the date 1616. On the
north side the string-and eaves-courses carry on from
the chancel, and the string is taken across a large buttress
with a gabled head and twin buttresses at the west end
There are two single-light windows corresponding in
detail with the western on the south side. The early14th-century north doorway has a pointed arch with a
single wave-moulding continued down the jambs and
a hood-moulding with mask stops. Above, there is a
modern triangular window enclosing a cusped circle.
At the east end, overlapping the chancel, is a modern
vestry built of sandstone ashlar. The tower rises in four
stages, unmarked by string-courses, but with a splayed
offset for the later top stage. There are twin buttresses
in three stages at the north-east and south-west angles,
which only reach to the top of the first stage. On the
west side a battered brick base has been built between
the buttresses, and it extends to the height of the second
stage of the buttresses. There are single lights with
pointed arches of two splayed orders to the second and
third stages, except on the north side, which has one
to the third stage only. On the south side there is a
similar modern window to the lower stage. The wall is
built of light-coloured sandstone ashlar, patched with
red bricks, and the upper stages of the buttresses at the
south-west angle are rebuilt with red brick. The top
stage is built of a mixture of red and light-coloured
sandstone ashlar, with a plain parapet and crocketed
pinnacles at the angles. On each face is a tracery
window of two trefoil lights, of two splayed orders, with
four-centred arches and hood-mouldings with grotesque
head stops. On the east face there is a roof line of steep
pitch with a clock-face above.
The chancel (25 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. 3 in.) has a modern
hammer-beam roof resting on stone corbels, and a
modern tiled floor. The window recesses have widesplayed reveals and pointed arches with stopped hollow
splays, and at the sill level there is a large continuous
roll-moulding which is carried on round the nave. The
splayed window-recess at the west end of the south wall
is carried down to the floor to embrace the blocked lowside window, the sill moulding being stopped against
its moulded arris.
The nave (43 ft. by 20 ft.) has a modern roof similar
to that over the chancel, and a modern tiled floor. The
window recesses are splayed and have segmentalpointed arches with stop-chamfers; the arches over both
the north and south doorways are similar. The large
roll-moulding at sill level in the chancel is continued
on both sides of the nave. The chancel arch is tall and
narrow with a pointed arch of two hollow splays supported on moulded corbels decorated with carved
knots, and on either side are similar arches, but lower,
which appear to be modern. The centre arch has been
rebuilt 2 ft. east of its original position, and the wall
now overlaps the splay of the low-side window recess.
The tower (9 ft. 3 in. by 9 ft. 3 in.) has no staircase, and access is now by a ladder from a modern
boiler-house to a door broken through the wall on the
north side of the tower. The pointed tower arch has
two orders, the inner a wave-moulding, the other a
splay on the nave side, and two chamfers towards the
tower. It rests on moulded corbels with grotesque
masks. The modern window recess has a segmentalpointed arch.
The font dates from the 12th century and has a
tapered circular basin, supported by a central shaft and
eight detached columns with moulded capitals and
bases on a modern step.
The seating is modern varnished pitch-pine. The
pulpit is a large modern one of stone and coloured
marbles, and is placed on the south side of the chancel
arch. Opposite is a reading-desk of similar materials.
There are three bells: (fn. 43) one (c. 1600) by Newcombe,
the second by Henry Bagley, 1670, and the third by
T. Mears, 1803.
The registers begin in 1698, but the first volume is
imperfect.
Advowson
The church was valued in 1291 at
£6 13s. 4d. (fn. 44) Not long after this date
it was appropriated to form a prebend
of Lichfield Cathedral. Accordingly the parish church
was not valued in 1535, the whole profits going to the
prebend, of which the nominal value was 20s. (fn. 45) The
curacy was in the gift of the prebendary, but under the
Act of 1840 was transferred to the Bishop of Worcester,
and in 1918 to the Bishop of Coventry, on the formation of that see.
Charity
Mary Turner's Charity: 6s. 8d. is received each year for the benefit of the poor
of this parish in respect of this charity, for
particulars of which see under the parish of Baginton.