NORTH MARSTON
Merstone (xi cent.); Normerstone (xiii cent.);
Merston alias Marskton, Northmerstone (xiv cent.).
The parish of North Marston covers an area of
1,983 acres, of which the greater part (1,771 acres)
is permanent grass and only some 68 acres arable. (fn. 1)
The land varies from 334 ft. above the ordnance
datum in the north of the parish to 452 ft. in
the south-east, where the hills average 400 ft. in
height. The soil is loam and clay, the subsoil clay,
and the chief crops are wheat and beans. The
village in the centre of the parish is nearly 1 mile
in length. A fire is said to have destroyed many
houses in 'the High Street' in 1700 (fn. 2) ; nevertheless,
there still remain a number of old cottages and small
houses, mostly of half-timber with brick fillings and
thatched or tiled roofs. A few retain their wattle
and daub fillings. These date from the 16th century
and later, and there is a good deal of brickwork of
the 17th century onwards. Some of the red brick
chimney stacks are, however, of 16th-century date.
The church stands conspicuously at the north-east end
of the village, on rising ground, with the glebe farm
and vicarage to the south-east and the school to the
north-west. Manor Farm lies further to the west
of the church. It is a good example of the better
class of house, dating from the 16th century, with
a 17th-century wing and later additions. The
Wesleyans and the Primitive Methodists have each a
chapel in the village. Near the latter, to the southeast, is the Shorne Spring, a chalybeate spring of very
pure cold water which supplies the town well. It is
said to have been blessed by the venerated rector of
the parish, Sir John, St. John, or Master John Shorne,
who died at North Marston in 1314, and continued
to be one of the most popular local saints in England
until the Reformation. (fn. 3) Two or three miles west
of the village there are two homestead moats. (fn. 4)
North Marston Village
This parish was inclosed in 1778. (fn. 5)
Manors
William Fitz Ansculf in 1086 held
North marston manor, assessed
at 6½ hides. (fn. 6) It was afterwards held
of the honour of Dudley, (fn. 7) and attached to the manor
of Newport Pagnell (fn. 8) (q.v.), the last reference to
the overlordship occurring in 1615. (fn. 9) Ranulf was
tenant in 1086, (fn. 10) and the manor passed before 1154
to Wigan of Wallingford, who was succeeded about
1156 by his brother Meinfelin of Oving. Meinfelin was followed shortly after by his sister's son Alan
de Penros. (fn. 11) North Marston after this was incorporated with Oving (q.v.).
In 1346, in addition to his fee in Oving with
North Marston, Thomas Tochwick held half a fee in
North Marston with his tenants. (fn. 12) This estate
appears to have been disintegrated, but probably
formed part of the small estate extending into Oving
called in the middle of the 16th century NORTH
MARSTON MANOR. It was held by Oliver Vachell,
who on his death in 1564
was succeeded by his son
Stephen. (fn. 13) He sold it in 1573
to Richard Saunders, (fn. 14) who
added to his property in
North Marston in 1579. (fn. 15)
He died in 1602, and was
buried at North Marston. (fn. 16)
His widow Elizabeth held the
manor for life, surviving their
son Richard, who died seised
of the reversion in 1615. (fn. 17)
His son Richard obtained
livery of the manor in 1629. (fn. 18)
Another Richard Saunders
was owner in 1679, (fn. 19) and his
nephew, also Richard Saunders, in the mid-18th century. (fn. 20) He died in 1757, (fn. 21) and part of his estate
probably formed the property owned by Mary
Gibbard, widow, in 1778. (fn. 22) She shortly afterwards
sold it to Francis Wastie, who in 1779 was awarded
an allotment in respect of possible manorial rights, (fn. 23)
and died in 1816. (fn. 24) His daughter and heir Mary
Gilkes-Wastie had married in 1804 John Ingram
Lockhart, (fn. 25) who purchased other lands held by
Richard Watkins in 1778. (fn. 26) His successor of the
same name held here in the middle of the 19th century property (fn. 27) which appears to have been owned
later by John Clarke. (fn. 28)
Saunders. Party cheveronwise sable and argent three elephants heads razed and countercoloured.
The estate in North Marston sometimes called
NORTH MARSTON MANOR, belonging to the
President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen's College,
Oxford, originated in a hide of land held before
the Conquest by Alwi, Brictric's man. (fn. 29) In 1086
Bernard held it under William Fitz Ansculf. (fn. 30) In
the middle of the 13th century Robert Chetwode was
tenant, (fn. 31) and in 1264 his son William alienated it to
St. John's Hospital, Oxford. (fn. 32) A grant of other land
in North Marston was also made to this hospital by
Nicholas Dewey in 1272. (fn. 33) In 1456 its possessions
were given to William Waynflete for the endowment
of St. Mary Magdalen's College, Oxford. (fn. 34)
Magdalen College, Oxford. Lozengy ermine and sable a chief sable with three garden lilies proper therein.
Oseney Abbey. Azure two bends or.
Oseney Abbey held lands in North Marston
granted to it in free alms by William de Thoreny
before 1320, when his charter was confirmed. (fn. 35) In
1535 Randolph Bell leased the greater part of this
land from the abbey. (fn. 36) Oseney Abbey surrendered
in 1539, (fn. 37) and its lands in North Marston were
granted first in 1542 to the new cathedral, (fn. 38) and
afterwards in 1545 to the Dean and Canons of Christ
Church, Oxford. (fn. 39)
In 1086 Miles Crispin held a hide of land in
[North] Marston, (fn. 40) and 5 virgates were held in 1284
as a quarter of a fee of the honour of Wallingford. (fn. 41)
This overlordship continued in North Marston, (fn. 42) being
transferred in the mid-16th century to the honour of
Ewelme, (fn. 43) and rights appertained to George Earl of
Macclesfield in respect of it in the middle of the 19th
century. (fn. 44) Seric, formerly Brictric's man, was tenant
in 1086 (fn. 45) and John Carbonel in 1284. (fn. 46) Part of
his holding passed with Beachendon in Waddesdon
(q.v.), with which it formed one fee in 1346. (fn. 47)
In 1086 the Bishop of Bayeux also held a hide
of land in [North] Marston which he had subinfeudated to Robert. (fn. 48) Three virgates of this
land were apparently held in chief in 1284 by St.
Albans Abbey, the other virgate having been
absorbed into the honour of Wallingford. (fn. 49) Land in
North Marston was granted with the other possessions of this abbey in Buckinghamshire in 1540 to
Richard and Margery Breme. (fn. 50)
A virgate of land in [North] Marston held in 1086
by the Bishop of Coutances, (fn. 51) and under him by
Ranulf, sub-tenant of the manor (q.v.), afterwards
passed to the honour of Dudley, as did his land in
Oving (q.v.), and, being absorbed into North Marston
Manor, does not reappear.
Church
The church of ST. MARY THE
VIRGIN is a fine building, doubtless
owing the excellence of its later developments to the fame of one of its rectors, Master
John Shorne, who died here in 1314. On account of
the many miracles worked at his shrine, it was carried
off to St. George's Chapel by the Dean and Canons
of Windsor in 1478. (fn. 52) The church has a chancel
40 ft. by 20 ft., with a two-storied north vestry, and
nave 35 ft. by 18 ft., with north aisle 6 ft. 6 in. wide,
south aisle 10 ft. wide, and south porch, and a west
tower 9ft. 6 in. square, all measurements being internal.
The nave is the oldest part of the building,
representing in plan an aisleless structure, to which
a north aisle was added in the middle of the 13th
century and a south aisle about 1320. The east end
of this aisle was rebuilt c. 1350, and a south porch
added, and it is possible that the cult of Master
John Shorne may have been the cause of this, and
that his shrine may have stood at the east end of the
south aisle. The chancel with its vestry is good 15thcentury work, and the west tower is of much the
same period, the clearstory of the nave having been
added at the end of the century, and some alterations
made to the two west bays of the south arcade.
North Marston Church: The Nave looking East
The chancel is of excellent detail, built of ashlar
with well-designed moulded plinths, strings, cornices
and embattled parapets; the buttresses are surmounted
by tall crocketed pinnacles with panelled shafts.
The pitch of the roof is low, and over the five-light
east window is a niche, which, it has been suggested,
once contained a figure of John Shorne. The head
of the window is filied with good tracery, and in the
north wall are two three-light windows, and in the
south wall three of similar detail but plainer design.
The middle bay of the north wall, against which the
vestry is built, has stone panelling of the same design
as the windows, pierced only by a small squareheaded opening to the upper floor of the vestry.
The vestry door is below this, opening to the ground
floor of the vestry, which has a three-light east
window and a much-restored square-headed fireplace
in the north wall. The stair from the upper floor is
at the south-west, contained in an octagonal turret,
but this floor is reached by a modern wooden stair.
There is in its north wall a fireplace, as below, and
single-light windows in the north and west walls,
with a two-light window on the east, all rebated for
wooden shutters. The chancel has a south doorway
corresponding to that on the north, and at the southeast a fine set of sedilia, unfortunately a good deal
damaged, and a piscina in two stages, the upper
having a stone shelf under a cinquefoiled crocketed
head; in the vestry is another similarly arranged.
The sedilia have projecting canopies with vaulted
soffits flanked by pinnacled buttresses. The chancel
retains six stalls at the west end, of 15th-century
date, with good misericordes, panelled fronts and
carved poppy heads, while on the north and south
walls the old back panelling remains, but the fronts,
seats and desks are represented by modern benches
only. The external niche over the east window
is unusually elaborate, being treated as a pinnacle
carried forward on a carved corbel flanked by angels
holding scrolls; the soffit of the canopied recess is
vaulted. The chancel roof is modern, but rests on
the original corbels, four of which are carved with
the evangelistic symbols. The chancel arch is plain,
of two chamfered orders, the outer continuous, the
inner springing from moulded corbels.
The nave has a north arcade of three bays, with
pillars of four engaged rounded shafts, moulded bell
capitals and plain chamfered pointed arches with
indented labels, of c. 1250. The north aisle has
two two-light north windows, the one of c. 1450,
the other of somewhat later and coarser detail, having
large shield-stops to its external label; on one shield
is a cross and a ring, on the other some roughly cut
heraldry, quarterly, two quarters containing a wreath
and two being blank. Between the windows is a
14th-century doorway and in the west wall a single
14th-century light. The south arcade, of three bays,
has an east bay of c. 1350, with an octagonal pillar
with moulded angles alternating with flat fillets,
a moulded bell capital carved with four-leaved flowers,
and a segmental pointed arch of two moulded orders
and a hollow. The east respond has a similar halfpillar, pierced with a contemporary opening to the
aisle, with a cinquefoiled head and carved flowers in
the jambs and sill. The other two bays of the arcade
have arches of c. 1320, with moulded inner orders,
but the octagonal pillar and west respond have
concave faces and are clearly rebuildings of the end
of the 15th century or later. The clearstory has
three four-light square-headed windows on each side,
of late 15th-century date, with cinquefoiled lights.
The south aisle has a three-light east window of
c. 1350, with tracery and carved flowers in the
jambs; it is flanked by contemporary image niches,
cinquefoiled, and below runs an enriched stringcourse returning along the north wall. At the northeast is a squint to the chancel, now blocked, and
at the south-east a cinquefoiled piscina, with a
crocketed head and flanking buttresses. There are
two south windows, both of three lights and of
16th-century date, and the south doorway between
them is of c. 1350, with a moulded arch of three
orders. The south porch, of the same date, has an
outer arch of two orders, and the south door, though
of modern woodwork, has old wrought-iron hinges,
which are probably mediaeval.
The roofs of nave and aisles are plain, low-pitched
work of 16th-century date, with moulded timbers,
and tracery in the spandrels of the wall brackets in
the nave; the corbels are angels holding shields.
There are a number of plain late mediaeval benches
in the nave, and in the south aisle an Elizabethan
poor-box. The 15th-century font has an octagonal
panelled bowl, three of the panels containing shields
much defaced, and the other five foliated ornament;
on the stem are five angels.
The tower is of three stages, with a south-west
staircase, and has a west doorway with a two-light
window over it with cinquefoiled lights and tracery.
The second stage is lighted by a single square-headed
window, and the belfry windows are square-headed,
each of two trefoiled lights, under an embattled
parapet. The tower arch is of two chamfered orders
dying out at the springing.
There are three brasses, one in the nave to John
Ingram (Yngrame) (d. 1459), and two in the chancel
to Richard Saunders (d. 1602), and Elizabeth his
widow (d. 1615). There is also on the north wall of
the chancel a curious tablet to John Virgin, minister
of North Marston (d. 1694), with a hand pointing to
his burial-place, and the words 'He lise just doune
thare.' In the vestry are kept several books belonging
to the church, Erasmus's Paraphrases, in three volumes,
undated; Jewell's Sermons, 1609; Homilies, 1600; a
Bible of 1603; and the Commentaries of D. Wolfgangus Musculus, 1578. There is also a chest in the
vestry of early 16th-century date, with a shaped lock
plate and iron straps.
On the nave clearstory are several old rain-water
heads, probably of mid-16th-century date; one has
the figure of a bishop in mass vestments, and seems
to be an unusually early example.
There are five bells and a sanctus: the treble,
second and third by James Keene, 1627; the fourth
by Richard Chandler, 1699; and the tenor by
Lester & Pack, 1763. The sanctus is blank.
The communion plate includes a cup and cover
paten of 1569.
The registers begin in 1587.
Advowson
North Marston Church was granted
about 1154 to Eynsham Abbey,
Oxfordshire, by Wigan of Wallingford
and his brother Meinfelin. (fn. 53) Henry II confirmed the
gift soon after his accession, (fn. 54) as did also Robert
Bishop of Lincoln, (fn. 55) and later Alan de Penros, Wigan's
nephew, (fn. 56) and Archbishops Theobald, (fn. 57) Richard (fn. 58) and
Hubert. (fn. 59) An agreement made between Eynsham
Abbey and Dunstable Priory (fn. 60) proving unsatisfactory, the abbey surrendered its rights to the Knights
Hospitallers, (fn. 61) who granted them to the priory in
1185. (fn. 62) It made a presentation to North Marston
Church in 1223 (fn. 63) and obtained a licence to appropriate it in 1306, (fn. 64) and a papal mandate to that effect
in 1332. (fn. 65) In 1334 Dunstable Priory alienated a
pension of 26s. 8d. from this church to the see of
Lincoln, (fn. 66) and a vicarage was ordained in 1335. (fn. 67)
The advowson and rectory were conveyed in 1480
by Dunstable Priory to the collegiate church of
Windsor. (fn. 68) The dean and canons have since retained
both. In 1778 their lessee of the impropriate
rectory, consisting of the tithes and three yardlands
with right of common, was the Rev. James Cutler. (fn. 69)
James Neild of Chelsea, memorable as a visitor of
prisons, (fn. 70) and his son John Camden Neild, who on
his death in 1852 left his large property to Queen
Victoria, (fn. 71) were afterwards lessees. (fn. 72) The lease was
next held by Sir Thomas Fremantle, bart., (fn. 73) afterwards
Lord Cottesloe, and his son Thomas Lord Cottesloe (fn. 74)
now holds it.
Joan Ingram in her will dated 1519 is said to have
left small sums of money for the rood light and for the
lights of St. Katherine, St. Christopher, St. John,
St. Margaret, and St. Anne in the church of North
Marston, in addition to 1lb. of wax for Master Shorne's
light, and also for the sepulchre light, and 5 marks for
the parish highways. (fn. 75)
Charities
The Clock Land, comprised in a
decree of Commissioners of Charitable
Uses, 28 August 1600, consists of
14 acres in the parish, let to various tenants, and producing £13 a year or thereabouts.
By a scheme of the Charity Commissioners twothirds of the net income is applicable towards the
maintenance and repair of the parish church and onethird for the benefit of the poor.
The Poor's Allotment, under the Inclosure Act of
1778, consists of 12 acres in Long Marston, producing
£5 a year or thereabouts, which is applicable under
the same scheme for the benefit of the poor.
In 1910 the sum of £8 8s. was distributed in
blankets.