STANFORD DINGLEY
Stanworde (xi cent.); Stanford (xiii cent.); Stanford
Dyneley, Stanford Dingley (xvi cent.).
The greater part of the parish of Stanford Dingley
lies on the north side of the valley of the Pang, but a
small portion is on the other side of the stream.
The village is situated near the ford and not far from
the south-east corner of the parish. The church
stands to the north of the village, the houses of
which run south and west in the form of an L.
The vicarage is a fine early Georgian house of red
brick, and the principal entrance is distinguished by
a wooden door-case of the Ionic order. The house
now known as 'the Garden House' is a good example
of a slightly later date.
The ground rises from a height of 190 ft. above
the ordnance datum, where the Pang leaves the parish,
to 384 ft. on the eastern boundary. The parish
contains 963 acres, of which 573 are arable, 218
permanent grass and 107 woods and plantations. (fn. 1)
The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. The soil
is principally sand and clay, the latter predominating,
though there is some chalky land near the bottom of
the valley. There is no railway or canal in the
parish, but the road from Hampstead Norris to
Pangbourne crosses the lane from Beenham to Burnt
Hill a little north of the village and both traverse the
parish. The population is purely agricultural.
A fragment of carved marble, of Roman date,
found a few years ago in the garden of the Tan
House, is now in the Reading Museum.
Manor
In the time of King Edward the
Confessor the manor was held of him in
alod by Edric, but in 1086 it was held by
William son of Ansculf. (fn. 2) As was the case in the
adjoining manor of Yattendon, the overlordship of
Stanford seems to have passed to William's daughter
Beatrice, the wife of Fulk Paynel, to their son Ralph,
and his son Gervaise, and then to the latter's
sister Avice, who married John de Somery. (fn. 3) Their
son Roger was overlord in the 13th century (fn. 4) and
died in 1273. The overlordship of this manor (fn. 5)
(which owed suit at the court of the manor of
Bradfield) descended to his son Roger, who is
mentioned as holding it in 1285–6 (fn. 6) and died seised
of it in 1290. (fn. 7) In 1292 his rights as overlord were
assigned in dower to his widow Agnes, (fn. 8) but in 1314
were held by his son John, (fn. 9) who died seised of the
overlordship of Stanford in 1322, when his heirs
were his sisters Margaret wife of Sir John Sutton and
Joan widow of Thomas Botetourt. (fn. 10) The following
year it was granted in dower to Lucy the widow of
John de Somery, with remainder to Sir John Sutton
and his wife Margaret. (fn. 11) In due course it was
inherited by their son Sir John Sutton, who with
his wife Isabel sold it in 1340 to Sir Nicholas de la
Beche. (fn. 12) From that date it followed the descent of
the manor of Aldworth (q.v.) till 1494, when Sir
John Langford (fn. 13) held it, after which no further
mention has been found of the overlordship.
Gilbert held the manor of William at the time of
the Domesday Survey (fn. 14) and in 1224–5 William de
Stanford was holding land here. (fn. 15) His son Peter de
Stanford held a fee here, (fn. 16) and died without issue
in 1252, (fn. 17) when the manor passed to his brother
Oliver, who died also without issue in 1260, when
his heirs were his sisters Isabel and Amicia, both of
full age. (fn. 18)
It seems possible that these two sisters married
Reginald son of Peter and Oliver de Punchardon,
whom we find in possession of the fee in 1273, (fn. 19)
and the same year Reginald disposed of some land
here to Isabel de Stanford. (fn. 20) Reginald is returned
in 1275–6 as having free warren here, (fn. 21) and in
1281–2 he purchased the advowson of Oliver de
Punchardon. (fn. 22) Reginald died in 1286 seised of the
fee, his heir being his son John, then aged thirty. (fn. 23)
Two-thirds of the manor was allotted in dower to his
widow Joan, who retained it until her death. (fn. 24) In
1290 (fn. 25) and 1291–2 (fn. 26) the fee was held by Sir John
son of Reginald and Oliver Punchardon, and in 1314,
on the death of Joan de Vivonia, the widow of
Reginald, it is stated that her son John was dead and
had before his death granted the manor to his son
Herbert, who was more than thirty years of age at
the time of his grandmother's death. (fn. 27) In 1315–16
this Herbert held the manor with Oliver Punchardon, (fn. 28)
and in 1316 Herbert settled two-thirds of the manor
on himself and his wife Eleanor. (fn. 29) In 1322 both
Herbert and Oliver were dead, for the manor was
then held, two thirds by Reginald son of Herbert
and one third by Robert Punchardon, (fn. 30) and the same
arrangement is found the following year. (fn. 31) Robert
settled his share of the manor on himself and his
wife Agnes, (fn. 32) and died in 1324–5 seised of it. (fn. 33) His
heir was his brother Oliver, but Reginald son of
Herbert died in 1348 seised of the whole manor, two
thirds of which he had received from his father and
the remaining third, which formerly belonged to
Robert Punchardon, he held jointly with his wife
Julian, (fn. 34) who may possibly have been eventually
Robert Punchardon's heir.
The manor passed to Reginald's daughters Margaret and Elizabeth, who were then both under age,
but a few years later an inquiry was held owing to
the abstraction of some deeds relating to the manor.
From this it appeared that Herbert son of John had
granted the manor to his younger son Reginald, and
that later Matthew, the elder brother, quitclaimed
to him all his right as eldest son and heir. After
Reginald's death Julia his widow was induced to
give up this conveyance, and John de Tidmarsh,
who afterwards married Julia, gave all the remaining
charters and deeds, eighty-five in number, to Sir
William de Burton, who was acting as guardian to
Reginald's heirs. Edmund de la Beche, the overlord, was ordered to produce the deed of quitclaim
under a penalty of £100, and the deed was soon
after sent by Edmund, who was then too infirm to
bring it, and was duly enrolled in Chancery and then
handed over to Sir William de Burton. (fn. 35)
For a time the history of the manor is obscure,
but by 1405 it had come into the hands of Thomas
Foxcote, who that year conveyed it to William
Stokes, Robert Taillour and John Erle, (fn. 36) apparently
as trustees for a settlement, for in 1407 they
reconveyed the manor again to Thomas Foxcote and
Christina his wife, with remainder to John son of
William Stokes (fn. 37) ; William
Stokes died seised of it in
1427. (fn. 38) The following year
Robert Dingley is mentioned
as holding a fee here. (fn. 39)
Dingley. Argent a fesse sable and in the chief a molet between two roundels sable.
This Robert Dingley seems
to have been a son of William
Dingley, whose widow Margaret lies buried in Stanford
Church (fn. 40) ; he conveyed the
manor in 1458–9 to Edward
Hampden and others, apparently trustees, and was succeeded by his son Edward.
Edward's widow, Sanchea,
married as her second husband Peter Carvanell, and
died in 1493–4, when the manor passed to her son
Thomas, then aged fifteen or more. (fn. 41) Thomas died
in 1502, leaving the manor to his widow Philippa to
hold for life, with remainder to any issue there might
be of their marriage. (fn. 42)
A daughter Elizabeth was born some months later,
who in due course was married to George Barrett,
and in 1524 they conveyed the manor in trust to Sir
Andrew Windsor and others. (fn. 43) Their son Edward
Barrett was holding the manor in 1572, (fn. 44) and died
in 1586 seised of the manor and advowson. He had
married in 1570 his second wife Elizabeth, and had
apparently soon after settled the manor on his two
daughters by her, Elizabeth and Ann, with remainder
to Edward and Walter, sons of Charles, his son by his
first wife. Charles had married Christian daughter
of Sir Walter Mildmay and
had died in 1584. (fn. 45) It would
seem that Elizabeth and Ann
died without issue, for in
1610 Sir Edward Barrett was
holding the manor, (fn. 46) and in
1625 he conveyed it to Christine Leveson, widow, Richard
Leveson, esq., and two others,
apparently in trust, (fn. 47) for he
was still holding it in 1641,
when he had been raised to
the peerage under the title of
Lord Barrett of Newburgh,
co. Fife. (fn. 48) He died without
issue at the end of 1643, and
in 1653 Catherine his widow with her two trustees
sold the manor to George Browne and Thomas Foley,
apparently in trust for the latter. (fn. 49)
Barrett, Lord Barrett. Party argent and gules and barry of four pieces countercoloured.
In 1668 Thomas Foley and Anne his wife, who
was a daughter of John Browne, and Paul Foley their
son, conveyed the manor to John Lane, senior, and
John Lane, junior, in trust, on the occasion of Paul's
marriage with Mary daughter of John Lane. (fn. 50) Paul
was holding the manor in 1683, (fn. 51) and in 1694 he
and Mary his wife and Thomas their son conveyed it
to Sir Thomas Lane and Humphrey Hethrington,
apparently again in trust. (fn. 52) Thomas Foley married
Ann daughter and heir of Essex Knightley of Fawsley,
and died in 1737, leaving a son Thomas, who died
in 1749.
It would appear that Thomas Foley the younger or
his father must have sold the manor to John Hilsdon,
though no record of this sale has been found, and
John again sold it to a Mr. Barker, whose daughter
held it in 1759. (fn. 53) In 1773 the manor was held by
Thomas Cornish, (fn. 54) who may perhaps have married
Mr. Barker's daughter, and in 1806 we find it in
the hands of Mrs. Cornish. (fn. 55)
Mrs. Sarah Cornish died before 1820, in which
year the devisees under her will sold the manor to the
Rev. Winchcombe Henry Howard Hartley, who died
in 1881, leaving no issue. The manor then passed to
his four nieces, daughters of his only sister Elizabeth
Ann Hartley. She had married Count Demetrius de
Palatiano of Corfu, a member of the Greek diplomatic
service, and had by him five children. Of these the
only son, Count H. L. H. de Palatiano, died in 1880,
just before his uncle, and so the manor passed to his
four sisters. In 1907 this manor and the other estates
which had belonged to Mr. Hartley were divided
among the co-heirs, the manor of Stanford Dingley
falling to the share of Olivia, Mrs. White, who is the
present possessor. (fn. 56)
There was a house called Rushdens in this parish
in the 16th and 17th centuries which belonged to
John Lyford, citizen and merchant tailor of London,
who was knighted before 1608–9 and died here in
1610, when a brass was set up in the church to his
memory. In 1563 he had a grant of the manor of
Peasemore (q.v.), which remained for many generations
in the hands of his descendants. John's son Richard
died here on 16 May 1640, and a descendant of his,
also Richard Lyford, who was born at Rushdens in
1651, was High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1716 and died
during his year of office. The estate passed in due
course to a Mr. Grainger, an attorney, who lived at
Worting near Basingstoke, and who had married the
Lyford heiress, but nothing now remains of the house
but a barn which still retains the name. (fn. 57)
The Domesday Survey makes mention of a mill, (fn. 58)
but it is not referred to again until 1324, when Robert
de Punchardon died seised of a third of the watermill (fn. 59) ; in 1348 Reginald son of Herbert died seised
of this third of a mill and of the remaining two thirds. (fn. 60)
A water-mill is again mentioned in 1602 (fn. 61) and
1683. (fn. 62)
Church
The church of ST. DENIS consists
of a chancel about 19 ft. 6 in. by
11 ft. 11 in., nave 39 ft. 2 in. by
12 ft. 1 in. at the east end and 15 ft. at the west end,
north aisle 32 ft. 3 in. by 7 ft. 2 in. at the east end
and 5 ft. 2 in. at the west end, a south aisle about
21 ft. 4 in. by 8 ft. 8 in., a wooden bell-turret at the
west end of the nave, and a modern south porch.
These measurements are all internal.
The present building appears to be an enlargement
of a small pre-Conquest church without aisles or
structural chancel, the north and south walls of
which may still exist in the narrower eastern portion
of the nave, though pierced by later arches. In the
first half of the 12th century the nave was extended
westward on wider lines, the original building being
probably reserved solely as a chancel; the walls of
this extension measure about 3 ft. 3 in. in thickness,
while those of the earlier portion of the nave measure
only about 2 ft. 3 in. At the end of the same century
a new chancel was built to the east of the former
chancel, and the north aisle was added to the nave,
followed a few years subsequently by the south aisle.
No further alterations appear to have been made to
the fabric till the latter part of the 14th century,
when the timber bell-turret at the west end of the
nave was constructed and a new west doorway with
a window above it was inserted. The chancel was
rebuilt of brick in the 18th century and the whole
church was restored in the year 1885.
The east window of the chancel has an elliptical
head clumsily set out, while the windows in the north
and south walls have semicircular heads. The chancel
arch is of original late 12th-century date. It is twocentred with roll-moulded angles and springs from
chamfered abaci. The angles of the responds are
also roll-moulded with the exception of the western
angle of the north respond, in the face of which
some mediaeval encaustic bricks have been inserted.
The north arcade of the nave consists of three
independent openings. The eastern, which is also the
smallest, bay has a chamfered segmental arch of a
single order. The east respond is flush with the east
wall of the aisle on its north side, but projects slightly
on the south. The west respond has shafted angles
with modern cushion capitals, probably faithful restorations. The abaci to both responds are plain chamfered. The centre arch is of a single two-centred
order with roll-moulded angles, and has shafted
responds with grooved and chamfered abaci, and a
chamfered label on the nave side. The shafts have
cushion capitals and moulded bases. The westernmost
arch of the arcade is in the widened portion of the
nave, and there is a break back of 1 ft. 4 in. in the
wall between it and the central arch, with which it
is contemporary. It is two-centred and of a single
order with a chamfered label on the nave side,
the angles of the arch having a roll mould
within a hollow. The responds are plain and
have grooved and chamfered abaci. In the
west wall is a blocked 14th-century doorway,
above which is a window of two trefoiled lights
with pierced and foliated spandrels, a segmental
rear-arch and a square external head. The south
arcade is of two independent arches. The eastern
arch is semicircular and was probably pierced at
the same period as the north arcade, though
the work does not appear to have been completed until a few years afterwards, the western
arch, which, like the corresponding arch of the
north arcade, is two-centred, having a marked
13th-century character. The pier between
both arches was evidently rebuilt at the later
date; it has shafted angles and a continuous
abacus, the angle shafts having foliated capitals.
All the detail is modern, though probably faithfully restored, as the pier was almost entirely renewed
in 1885. The west respond, which has detail of
the same type, is original. The south aisle does not
extend further than this arch, and in the south wall
of the western portion of the nave is a modern coupled
lancet window, between which and the western arch
of the arcade is a break corresponding in depth to
that in the north wall, but about 2 ft. further westward, at the lower part of the wall, the break setting
back above about the same distance, while the break in
the north wall overhangs to a corresponding extent;
these breaks probably mark the position of the original
west wall. The walls are faced externally with flint.
In the east wall of the north aisle is a small late
12th-century lancet window with a semicircular reararch. The north-eastern window, which though much
restored is probably of the early 13th century, is of
two trefoiled lights with soffit cusping. There is no
rear-arch, the head being formed internally by a wood
lintel placed immediately below the wall-plate of the
roof. West of this are two trefoiled lancets, the westernmost apparently modern. In the west wall is a plain
original lancet. Between the windows and at the
east and west ends of the aisle are modern buttresses.
The east window of the south aisle is of an uncommon type and is formed by a quatrefoiled ellipse
splayed to a circle internally. The south doorway is
of two orders externally; the inner order has a
trefoiled head with a circular ornament introduced
at the apex and roll-moulded external angles. The
two-centred and elaborately moulded outer order has
jamb shafts with foliated capitals. The three-light
window east of the doorway and the lancet in the
west wall are modern.
The west tower or bell-turret is of timber on four
uprights standing within the wider western portion of
the nave. It is weather-boarded externally and
finished by a pyramidal slated roof. The framing
is probably of the 14th century, but the weatherboarding is modern. The roof of the nave is of
timber and high pitched and seems to be of about the
same date as the bell-turret. The aisles have plain
lean-to roofs.
Several remains of 13th-century mural decoration
survive. The voussoirs of the arches of the nave
arcades are painted with a masonry pattern in red and
yellow and their soffits with scrolls of trefoil foliage.
This appears to be in the main original, though
it has been gone over and restored in modern times.
On the north wall of the nave over the central
arch of the arcade is a Doom. On the soffit of the
western limb of the arch is painted a crowned figure
of St. Edmund, king and martyr, carrying in his right
hand a sceptre and in his left his heart pierced by
three arrows. On the eastern limb is the head of
a bishop. On the west respond of the western arch
of the south arcade of the nave is a figure with hands
in prayer; the upper part is now all that remains in
good preservation. There is a plain tub-shaped 12thcentury font. The ironwork of the south door appears
to be of original 13th-century date and includes a
sanctuary ring.
Plan of Stanford Dinglby Church
In the floor of the north aisle is a brass with a
rhyming Latin inscription and the effigy of Margaret
Dyneley, who died on St. Romanus's Day, 1444. In
the floor of the same aisle is a brass to John Lyford,
citizen and merchant tailor of London, who is said
in the inscription to have had eighteen children and
to have died on 10 April 1610.
There are three bells inscribed as follows: (1)
'Henri Knight made this bell 1609'; (2) 'Henri
Knight made me 1607'; (3) 'Te Deum Laud
Amus.' This bell has the later lion's head stamp of
the Wokingham foundry, and would appear to date
from the end of the 15th century.
The communion plate consists of a chalice bearing
the date letter of 1718, a paten bearing the date
letter of 1697, and a modern flagon.
The registers previous to 1812 are in three volumes:
(i) baptisms 1538 to 1756, burials 1538 to 1756,
marriages 1539 to 1754; (ii) baptisms 1757 to 1812,
burials 1757 to 1814; (iii) marriages 1755 to 1813.
Advowson
The first reference to a church
here is in 1282, when Oliver de
Punchardon agreed to present alternately with Reginald son of Peter, (fn. 63) and it is stated that
Sir John son of Reginald and Oliver de Punchardon
were holding it of Roger de Somery, lately deceased,
in 1290. (fn. 64) About the same time the value of the
church is returned at £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 65) In 1340–1 the
churchwardens made return that the rector held
2 virgates of land, which with the tithes were worth
yearly £1 3s. 4d. (fn. 66) Reginald son of Herbert died
in 1348 seised of the advowson, (fn. 67) which followed
the descent of the manor. The advowson was sold
with the manor in 1653 by Catherine Lady Barrett
to Thomas Foley, (fn. 68) who presented in 1662, (fn. 69) and it
was still attached to the manor in 1668, 1683 and
1694. (fn. 70) It appears to have been sold soon afterwards, for Thomas Walker presented in 1757 and
Benjamin Walker, clerk, in 1775, 1784 and 1799. (fn. 71)
In April 1800 the Rev. Benjamin Walker and
Thomas Walker sold the advowson to the Rev. Dr.
Valpy, who granted it in June 1812 to the Rev.
Edward Valpy. He, by his will in 1832, left it to
his wife Anne Valpy, from whom it passed to her
daughter by a former marriage, Anne Baldock. In
1865 Miss Baldock granted the advowson to the
Rev. A. B. Valpy, who in 1898 conveyed it to
Mr. Herbert Watney, M.D., the present patron. (fn. 72)
Thomas Tesdale, one of the founders of Pembroke
College, Oxford, was born here in 1547, and Francis
Pordage, brother of John Pordage, the astrologer
and mystic, was rector of Stanford Dingley in the
17th century. (fn. 73)
Charities
Annuities of 10s. for four poor
people and 6s. for the clerk are paid
by Sir Cameron Gull, bart., of Frilsham, as owner of Coxlands in this parish, an
estate of about 30 acres, which were charged thereon
by Sebastian Lyford in 1607.
An annuity of 10s. towards the reparation of the
church is likewise paid by Mr. G. C. Grace as the
owner of an estate of about 20 acres in this parish
charged thereon by Richard Lyford by deed dated
31 August 1622.