COLN ST. DENNIS
Coln St. Dennis is a rural parish in the Cotswolds, 6 miles north-east of Cirencester and
adjoining Northleach on the south-west. In shape
the ancient parish formed roughly a diamond, 1,789
a. in area, and was bounded by the Foss Way on the
north-west, the ancient Salt Way from Hailes to
Ablington on part of the north-east, and the River
Coln on the south-west. (fn. 1) The river gives the parish
the first part of its name; the second part indicates
its ownership in the Middle Ages, when for three
and a half centuries it belonged to the abbey of St.
Denis, Paris. The abbey acquired Coln St. Dennis
as part of the estates of the Saxon monastery of
Deerhurst, (fn. 2) whose possession of the parish accounts
for its inclusion in Deerhurst hundred though remote
from the rest of the hundred. The river separates
Coln St. Dennis from Coln Rogers, which in 1935
was merged in the civil parish of Coln St. Dennis,
to make a total area of 3,363 a. (fn. 3) The history of Coln
Rogers, however, is reserved for inclusion in another
volume.
The parish lies mainly on the Great and Inferior
Oolite, through which the River Coln has cut a
narrow valley. The valley crosses the parish at c. 375
ft.; at right-angles to it two tributary valleys run
south-westward into it, but only the upper end of
the more easterly of the two is in Coln St. Dennis
parish. Above the relatively steep sides of the valleys
the land rises gently to 550 ft. in the eastern corner
of the parish, to 575 ft. on the north-east side at
Crickley Barrow, (fn. 4) and to 650 ft. in the northern corner. (fn. 5) The soil is mainly light and stony, and there are
several small disused quarries. (fn. 6) Along the banks of the
river, however, the soil is a deep loam. The parish
in 1964 was almost entirely mixed farming land,
broken by only a few patches of woodland. A warren
recorded in 1535 (fn. 7) survived as an inclosure called
the Conigree. (fn. 8)
The village of Coln St. Dennis lies close beside
the river not quite ½ mile downstream from the Foss
Way. In 1964 it comprised the church, rectory,
manor-house (all of which are described below), one
large farm-house, two 20th-century houses, and only
a few older cottages, of which two had been converted into a farm-house. It thus contained a large
proportion of the more important buildings but a
relatively small number of the households of the
parish. The houses centre on the church and churchyard, where there stand the base and socket of an
ancient stone cross, given a new shaft and finial in
1901. (fn. 9) The predominant building material of the
village is rubble masonry, and there are two large
rubble barns with pigeon-holes. Opposite the
church Coln St. Dennis House was built in the 17th
century, L-shaped on plan, and has a Cotswold stone
roof with dormers, windows with mullions and
dripmoulds, and a Victorian porch: like the other
houses in the village it has been altered at various
dates. The village, which stands on a bed of Fuller's
Earth, (fn. 10) was presumably the primary settlement of
the parish and throughout its history the main focus.
From early on, however, it was smaller, in terms of
the number of households, than the neighbouring
hamlet of Calcot.
Calcot, which was recorded in 1086, (fn. 11) and in 1327
had 12 taxpayers compared with 8 at Coln St. Dennis
village, (fn. 12) is ½ mile downstream and forms a compact
village street running straight up the side of the
valley. At the upper end is Calcot Farm, a small
early 17th-century farm-house, perhaps on the site
of the chief messuage of Calcot that was leased with
half the demesne in 1537. (fn. 13) For the rest the village
contains c. 20 cottages of various dates from the late
16th century. In several instances two or more have
been knocked into one. All the cottages are of rubble
with Cotswold stone roofs, though some of the farm
buildings are thatched.
Fossebridge, at the western corner of the parish
where the Foss Way crosses the River Coln, is a
third group of houses. The hamlet appears to have
developed in the 18th century, perhaps in connexion
with increasing traffic along the Foss Way after it
was turnpiked in 1755. (fn. 14) There are 9 cottages of the
18th and 19th centuries, forming a little street
leading off the Foss Way, and 3 small houses of the
mid-20th century. All are of stone.
Away from the village and its two hamlets some
scattered houses had been built along the river by
the end of the 17th century; they included Coln
(or Fossebridge) Mill, Winson Mill Farm, which is
a large modernized house in the southern corner of
the parish, and the Pigeon House. The Pigeon
House, formerly Grove House, is on the edge of
Coln Rogers village but within the ancient boundaries
of Coln St. Dennis parish, where in the late 18th
century a member of the Howse family began, but
never finished, the enlargement of a small rubble
house apparently of the early 17th century; it was
later turned into cottages, and became a single house
again in 1930. The name of the Pigeon House came
from a pair of cottages that once stood nearby and
may have incorporated a dovecot. (fn. 15) In the early 19th
century, following a Parliamentary inclosure of 1798
which completed a process begun in the early 18th
century, (fn. 16) two farm-houses with cottages, and
several isolated barns, were built on the north-east
side of the parish. Several small houses were built
in the mid-20th century away from the village and
hamlets, three of them bordering the Foss Way.
During the Second World War a group of temporary
military huts, derelict in 1964, was put up along the
Foss Way near the northern corner of the parish,
where by 1964 a petrol station had been opened.
The population appears to have declined between
1327, when there were 20 taxpayers, (fn. 17) and 1551 when
there were 41 communicants. (fn. 18) Thereafter it remained
fairly stable until the end of the 17th century, with
37 communicants in 1603, (fn. 19) 17 families in 1650, (fn. 20) and
a population of c. 80 in 16 families at the end of the
century. (fn. 21) Too little is known about the early 18thcentury inclosure to judge whether it is likely to have
stimulated a rise in population, but there were said
to be c. 100 people in 1735, (fn. 22) 112 in 26 families
c. 1775, (fn. 23) and 163 in 34 families by 1801. The
population rose steadily to 229 in 1851, and had
fallen to 149 by 1901. It remained fairly constant
up to 1931, after which the combined population of
Coln St. Dennis and Coln Rogers showed a further
decline. (fn. 24)
Apart from the Foss Way and the Salt Way on its
boundaries, a road runs from Fossebridge through
Coln St. Dennis village and Calcot to Winson, and
other roads run from Coln St. Dennis and Calcot
respectively towards Northleach. Those roads were
all specified by the inclosure award of 1798. (fn. 25) The
Foss Bridge, which was out of repair in 1710 when
the parish constable was ordered to mend it, (fn. 26) was
rebuilt later in the 18th century, perhaps by the
turnpike trustees. It comprises a causeway with
stone parapets linking bridges of one and two
rounded arches with keystones. Pincross Bridge,
which was ordered to be repaired by the constable
and surveyors two years later, (fn. 27) may be the bridge
crossing the Coln from Coln St. Dennis church
towards Pindrup and Coln Rogers, which has two
segmental stone arches with keystones and stone
parapets.
In 1795 a friendly society was meeting at the Royal
Oak Inn, Coln St. Dennis. (fn. 28) The inn may have been
the public house near the Foss Bridge recorded in
1798. (fn. 29) The friendly society numbered 63 parishioners among its members in 1803, and 123 in
1815. (fn. 30)
Bartholomew Price (1818–98), Sedleian Professor
of Natural Philosophy and Master of Pembroke
College, Oxford, was born at Coln St. Dennis, the
son of the rector. (fn. 31) Professor David Talbot Rice,
of Edinburgh University, lived at the Pigeon House
in 1964, and Colonel Robert Henriques, the author
and agriculturalist, at Winson Mill Farm. Eminent
men who were lords of the manor are mentioned
below.
Manor and Other Estates.
In 1086 Coln
St. Dennis and Calcot, assessed as 5 hides, were part
of a group of estates (fn. 32) that had formerly belonged to
the monastery of Deerhurst and had been granted
to the abbey of St. Denis, Paris. (fn. 33) They were later
known as the manor of COLN ST. DENNIS AND
CALCOT, (fn. 34) though sometimes they were described
as though they were two separate manors. (fn. 35) With
the rest of the possessions of Deerhurst Priory the
manor passed in 1467 to Tewkesbury Abbey. (fn. 36) At
the Dissolution the abbey was leasing the manor,
in two separate portions, to Hugh Westwood (fn. 37) of
Chedworth, the founder of Northleach grammar
school and of the almshouses at Bibury. (fn. 38) In 1542
the Crown granted the freehold to William Sharington, (fn. 39) who sold the manor to Hugh Westwood the
next year. (fn. 40) On Hugh Westwood's death in 1559 the
manor passed to his nephew, Robert Westwood, (fn. 41)
who in 1593 sold it to Sir John Danvers of Dauntsey
(Wilts.). (fn. 42) Sir John died the next year, (fn. 43) and his son
and heir Sir Charles was executed for treason in
1601. Sir Charles's younger brother Henry was,
however, declared heir in 1603, and was later created
Lord Danvers and Earl of Danby. (fn. 44) In 1607 Lord
Danvers sold Coln St. Dennis and Calcot to John
Mortimer of Cirencester, (fn. 45) who settled the manor
on his son John and the son's wife, Joyce, (fn. 46) and died
between 1627 (fn. 47) and 1631. The son survived his
father and died in 1631. His wife Joyce and son
Edmund (fn. 48) in 1637 together sold the manor to Sir
William Master of Cirencester and others. (fn. 49) The
manor descended to Sir William's son Thomas (d.
1680), Thomas's son Thomas (d. 1710), and that
Thomas's son Thomas, (fn. 50) who in 1742 sold it to
Robert Darell of Richmond (Surr.). Robert Darell
died in 1777 and was succeeded by his son Edward,
who died unmarried in 1814 and was succeeded by
his sister Elizabeth, wife of the Revd. John Jeffreys
of Barnes (Surr.). (fn. 51) In 1856 Mrs. Jeffreys was said
to be lady of the manor, and by 1863 she had been
succeeded by Edmund Richard Jeffreys, presumably
her son, then a colonel (fn. 52) and later a general. On the
general's death in 1889 (fn. 53) the manor passed to his
son Capt. (later Admiral) Edmund Frederick
Jeffreys, R.N., who in 1909 sold it to the rector of
the parish, Lewis Bythesea Bubb. (fn. 54) After Bubb's
death in 1927 (fn. 55) the lord of the manor was said to be
Henry Thomas Beak, (fn. 56) but the estate which Beak
put up for sale in 1949 did not include the land held
by Bubb and his predecessors. (fn. 57) The manor farm
passed to Thomas Mercer de Cliffe Vigors, the
former tenant of the manor-house, (fn. 58) and after his
death in 1952 to Lt.-Col. Atherton Henry HayhurstFrance, who sold the estate c. 1963 to the tenant,
Mr. William H. Pratley, and Miss Pratley. (fn. 59) In the
late 19th century the manor comprised c. 800 a., just
under half the parish; in the early 18th century it had
been over 900 a., and had also included the quitrents of two freehold estates. (fn. 60) The manor-house,
called Manor Farm, (fn. 61) is an L-shaped building of
rubble with stone mullioned windows and quoins,
moulded and fluted chimney-stacks, and a Cotswold
stone roof. It appears to be of the early 17th century
and is likely to have been built by the Mortimer
family, the only lords of the manor before the 20th
century to live in the parish. (fn. 62) It is presumably the
house that had six hearths and was occupied by
Charles Turk in 1672. (fn. 63)
In 1587 the lord of the manor sold a freehold
estate to Luke Garnons (fn. 64) of Gloucester, who before
his death settled a house and 660 a. in Coln St.
Dennis on his son Peter and the son's wife Anne.
Peter died in 1622, and his daughter Magdalen in
the same year; she had married William Vaughan
and left a son to whom, in 1627, the manor was to
revert after the death of his grandmother, Anne
Garnons. (fn. 65) In 1712 Garnons Vaughan was the
lessee of Calcot farm, (fn. 66) and in 1714 William Vaughan
was described as of Calcot, gentleman. (fn. 67) In 1717
conveyances of land in the parish were made both
by William Vaughan (fn. 68) and by his widow Sarah. (fn. 69)
By 1798 Calcot farm (315 a.) belonged to Charles
D'Oyley, (fn. 70) who was one of two owners of substantial freehold estates in the parish mentioned in
1803. The other estate belonged to the Howse
family, and it seems that John Howse, (fn. 71) a tenant
farmer in 1798, had acquired the 214 a. that John
Millington had then owned. (fn. 72) In 1806 D'Oyley's
heirs put Calcot farm up for sale; (fn. 73) half of it was
bought by Stephen Eeles, whose son and heir Henry
conveyed 137 a. to John Howse Millington in 1824. (fn. 74)
In 1853, after Millington's death, part of the land
was sold, (fn. 75) and the rest was held by members of the
Howse family, being put up for sale in 1898. Part
of the estate was bought by Henry Thomas Beak,
who between 1912 and 1949 owned a large proportion of the parish. (fn. 76)
Economic History.
The demesne land of the
manor was not extensive in the Middle Ages: it
amounted to 1½ plough-land c. 1270 (fn. 77) and 1 ploughland in 1291. (fn. 78) In 1341 the Prior of Deerhurst was
liable for only 1/10 of the village's tax assessment. (fn. 79)
The demesne had evidently increased in extent by
1621, when it was said to be 7½ yardlands, (fn. 80) but in
the late 17th century a potential purchaser of the
manor complained that the demesnes were small. (fn. 81)
In the Middle Ages other estates in the parish held
in fee were also small: one of 1 yardland was recorded
in 1244 and 1245, (fn. 82) one of 2 yardlands in 1410. (fn. 83)
Copyhold estates, to which no reference earlier than
the 16th century has been found, appear to have
averaged about 1 yardland in 1539. (fn. 84) The late 16th
century, which is likely to have been the period when
much of the copyhold land was enfranchised, appears
also to have seen the amalgamation of small estates
into larger holdings. In 1621 the manor included
three copyholds, one of 3½ yardlands, one of 3, and
one of a mill and ½ yardland. (fn. 85) The yardland was
c. 24 statute acres, if the 2 yardlands of glebe (fn. 86)
measuring 48 a. (fn. 87) were typical. By the mid-18th
century, when the land held of the manor by copy,
by lease, and at rack-rent amounted to 930 a., there
were still two copyholds, one of a mill and 24 a.,
the other of 210 a. The copyholds were subject to a
widow's right of freebench and were held for terms
of lives; one paid heriots in cash, the other in kind.
The largest holding was a leasehold of 323 a., the
lessee of which held another 290 a. at rack-rent.
The lord of the manor apparently had no land in
hand, and the remainder of the parish was largely
accounted for by the two substantial freeholds
mentioned above. (fn. 88)
Although the land beside the river was meadow,
partly and perhaps mostly held in severalty in the
17th century, (fn. 89) most of the parish was open-field
arable land until the early 18th. In 1593 an estate of
660 a. included 500 a. of arable. (fn. 90) In 1674 the glebe
land, which had apparently increased in extent since
the beginning of the century, included 107 pieces in
the open fields, of which only a quarter were pieces
of more than a single acre or half-acre. There were
two large fields, the North field and the East field,
each containing twenty or more furlongs; the fields
were separated by hedges. (fn. 91) North field, along the
edge of which the Foss Way ran, was later called
Foss field, and East field became Barrow field. (fn. 92)
Although there was no large extent of permanent
pasture, considerable numbers of sheep were kept in
the parish. If one of the two fields was left fallow
each year stubble and fallow would have provided
adequate pasture. A shepherd was listed among the
inhabitants in 1608. (fn. 93) In 1647 the sheep-commons
were rated at 60 for each yardland, and two sheeptellers were appointed in the manor court. The sheeptellers were still appointed in 1720, (fn. 94) after the
partial inclosure of the open fields.
It was perhaps because of failures in the organization of open-field husbandry (fn. 95) that the inclosure,
effected by private agreement, was made. In 1712
the number of sheep-commons was abated because
of inclosures, and again in 1718. (fn. 96) In 1714 landowners were exchanging land that had been marked
out for inclosure, (fn. 97) and in 1717 meadow-land that
was marked out for fencing was conveyed. (fn. 98) On the
assumption that little land was inclosed either before
the inclosure or between it and Parliamentary
inclosure in 1798, between a half and a third of the
parish was inclosed c. 1712–18. There is no evidence
of extensive conversion from arable to permanent
grass-land. Over half of the manorial estate of 930 a.
remained uninclosed c. 1742 (fn. 99) and the glebe was
apparently unaffected by the early 18th-century
inclosure. Under an Act of 1797 (fn. 100) the 637 a. that
remained open were inclosed the following year.
Apart from small allotments to the churchwardens
and overseers and for stone- and gravel-pits for
roadmaking, only three landowners received allotments: 398 a. to the lord of the manor, 166 a. to
John Millington, and 70 a. to the rector for glebe.
Tithes were commuted for corn-rents charged on
25 separate estates, of which only 11 were 10 a. or
more and 5 were over 30 a. (fn. 101)
The inclosure of 1798 did not bring any great
changes either in the division of the land for farming
or in the nature of its produce. In 1831 there were
5 agricultural occupiers, all employing labour, (fn. 102) and
the number of farms was 5 in 1863, and 4 from
1897 to 1939. (fn. 103) Manor farm, a mixed farm of 725 a.,
was much the largest in the 19th century, (fn. 104) but the
others also were of considerable size. The inclosure
of 1798 was said to have increased by one-fifth the
acreage sown with each kind of grain, (fn. 105) but in 1801
not quite half the area of the parish was returned as
sown to crops. The acreage of turnips was then
unusually large. (fn. 106) The proportion of arable land was
high in the 19th century — 7/8 of Calcot farm in 1853, (fn. 107)
9/10 of Manor farm in 1884 (fn. 108) — but appears to have
fallen at the end of the century. (fn. 109) Before and after
the Second World War about half the parish was
arable land, mainly the higher, flatter parts. (fn. 110) In
1964 the farming was mixed, with a high proportion
of arable on the high ground. There were five farms,
of which two were in the hands of Mr. Oscar Colburn
of Crickley Barrow Farm, Northleach, who specialized in breeding a new type of sheep. (fn. 111) At Calcot
farm in 1948 Professor Talbot Rice introduced the
poll variety of Hereford cattle to Britain. (fn. 112)
There were two water corn-mills in the parish,
in addition to Winson Mill of which the buildings
were partly in Coln St. Dennis. (fn. 113) The mill in Calcot
was mentioned in 1327, (fn. 114) and during the 17th
century was held as copyhold of the manor by
members of the Howse family. (fn. 115) It was a freehold
by 1798, but later references to it have not been
found. The other mill recorded in 1798 (fn. 116) was
presumably at Fossebridge, where a mill was marked
on a map of 1824. (fn. 117) Fossebridge Mill, or Coln Mill,
remained in use as a corn-mill at the end of the 19th
century. (fn. 118) The buildings, which are mainly of the
18th century but include older parts, were afterwards converted into a private house.
In the early 19th century trade and industry
provided a living for a quarter of the population or
less. (fn. 119) References to occupations outside agriculture
are not numerous: there was a carpenter in 1608 (fn. 120)
and in 1707, (fn. 121) a cordwainer in 1726, (fn. 122) a blacksmith
in 1745, (fn. 123) and a breeches-maker, with an apprentice,
in 1788. (fn. 124) There were shoemakers in the village
1863–1931, shopkeepers 1870–1923, and builders
and representatives of various building trades from
1870 onwards. (fn. 125) In 1964 building provided some
employment for the inhabitants; few went outside
the parish for work; and retired people formed a
high proportion of the population. (fn. 126)
Local Government.
View of frankpledge
in Coln St. Dennis belonged in the Middle Ages to
the lords of the manor, who were also lords of the
hundred. In 1535 two views a year were held in the
parish. (fn. 127) Draft rolls of the manor court, with view
of frankpledge, survive for a number of years from
1641 to 1844. After 1647 all the courts recorded were
held in the autumn, suggesting that at most there
was only one court each year. The rolls record little
business in the court, though in 1710 the customs of
the manor were set down; apart from the death of a
copyholder in 1766, the only business recorded after
1756 was the appointment of a constable and (from
1763) a tithingman. A gap in the records and
documents connected with the holding of the court
suggest that the court lapsed from 1805 until it was
revived c. 1825. (fn. 128)
Although there were two churchwardens in the
16th century, (fn. 129) there was only one in 1734, (fn. 130) in
1784, (fn. 131) and up to 1894. Until 1803 there was usually
only one overseer of the poor, and in the 1770's and
1787 one man was both churchwarden and overseer. (fn. 132)
In 1803 the parish rate was high compared with
neighbouring parishes, and expenditure on poorrelief had risen seven-fold over the preceding 30
years. A small sum was spent on materials to provide
the poor with work at home. (fn. 133) By 1815 both the
expenditure and the number of people relieved had
been reduced. (fn. 134) From the late 18th century until
c. 1850 the dominant influence in vestry was that of
the rector, and it may have been resentment at his
assumption of the vestry's responsibilities that
caused friction between him and some of the leading
parishioners in the 1850's. (fn. 135)
Coln St. Dennis became part of the Northleach
Poor Law Union in 1836 and of the Northleach
highway district in 1863. (fn. 136) It remained in the Northleach Rural District in 1964. A parish council was
established in 1948. (fn. 137)
Church.
Architectural evidence shows that there
was a church at Coln St. Dennis by the early 12th
century, and perhaps earlier. The Prior of Deerhurst
was patron of the church c. 1270 (fn. 138) and made the
first recorded presentation to the rectory in 1282. (fn. 139)
The living remained a rectory; in 1915 it was united
with that of Coln Rogers, the ecclesiastical parishes
remaining distinct. (fn. 140) The patronage of the rectory,
though often exercised by the Crown in the 14th
century when the alien priories were in its hands
because of war, (fn. 141) belonged to the lords of the manor
until 1584 or later. (fn. 142) In 1586, however, George
and Henry Lygon claimed the advowson as sons
and executors of Roger Lygon, and they presented
in 1587. (fn. 143) In 1597 a presentation was made by 'Mr.
Smith, preacher of the word of God', (fn. 144) and Elizabeth
Danvers, widow of Sir John, the lord of the manor,
was patron in 1603. (fn. 145) Joyce Mortimer, who sold the
manor in 1637, (fn. 146) presented in 1635 and 1646. (fn. 147) In
1661 Thomas Hughes became rector, and in 1675
his son John was instituted on his own petition as
rector. (fn. 148) John Hughes made a settlement of the
advowson in 1682, and his son Thomas, a mercer of
Cirencester, later held it. (fn. 149) In 1727, 1738, 1742,
1754, and 1775 presentations were made by trustees
of the Hughes family. (fn. 150) William Roberts, who
presented in 1793 and 1797, was apparently acting
in his own right, but by 1810 the advowson had
passed to Pembroke College, Oxford. (fn. 151) After the
union of the benefice with that of Coln Rogers
alternate presentations belonged to the college and
the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester until 1931,
when the whole patronage passed to the dean and
chapter. (fn. 152)
The rectory was valued at £6 13s. 4d. a year in
1291 (fn. 153) and at £7 clear in 1535. (fn. 154) From £52 in 1650 (fn. 155)
it rose to £190 in 1797 (the year of the Inclosure
Act) and to £400 in 1815. (fn. 156) The rectory was endowed
with glebe amounting to 48 a. in the 16th century, (fn. 157)
and the glebe appears to have been enlarged during
the 17th century. (fn. 158) At inclosure in 1798 the rector
received an allotment of 70 a. for his glebe. (fn. 159) The
glebe house, recorded in 1674, (fn. 160) was enlarged in
1810 by the builder Richard Pace of Lechlade, (fn. 161)
and is a square, stuccoed building with a Welsh slate
roof and wide eaves. In 1964 the rector retained 3 a.
of glebe in addition to the house and garden. (fn. 162)
In 1294 the rector, John de la Grave, was a minor.
He received sub-deacon's orders in 1295, (fn. 163) and
deacon's orders in 1305. (fn. 164) In 1314, when he was
commissioned to sequestrate the profits of Deerhurst Priory, he was rector, (fn. 165) and he retained the
living until he exchanged it for another in 1328. (fn. 166)
Many of the rectors later in the 14th century lasted
much less time: in the years 1348–50 three rectors
were presented, and there were five in the years
1386–90. (fn. 167) In 1551 the rector was also Rector of
Coln Rogers, (fn. 168) but three years later he was deprived
because he was married. His successor, John
Williams, was chancellor of the diocese and a
pluralist. Thomas Taylor, rector 1559–86, (fn. 169) had a
bad reputation, (fn. 170) but he was resident in 1563 (fn. 171) and
in 1576 was described as a perfect Latinist and of
good religion. (fn. 172) In 1584 he was an old man, employing a curate to serve the parish. (fn. 173) From 1661 to 1793
the rectory was held by seven successive members of
the Hughes family, which owned the advowson.
William Price, instituted in 1810, held the living for
50 years; he was also Rector of Farnborough (Berks.)
and served as curate of Coln Rogers, living at Coln
St. Dennis. (fn. 174)
By the late 16th century the maintenance of the
parish church had been endowed with lands and
houses in the parish, yielding £2 a year in the late
17th century. (fn. 175) In the mid-19th century the administration of the Church Lands and of the income from
them caused disputes in vestry. (fn. 176) Some of the land
was sold in 1952 and 1954, and in 1955 the endowment was represented by land and £3,200 stock,
the income being spent on the maintenance of the
church. (fn. 177)
The church of ST. JAMES THE GREAT (fn. 178) was
called St. Katherine's in the late 13th century, (fn. 179)
St. Dennis's in the 18th, (fn. 180) and was thought to have
once borne an invocation to St. Kenelm. (fn. 181) It is built
of ashlar with lead and Cotswold stone roofs, and is
unusual in retaining from the 12th century not only
the ground-plan but also the walls and central tower.
It comprises chancel and narrow nave; the chancel
is of two compartments, the western compartment
forming the base of the tower. The church has been
altered by heightening and buttressing the tower,
by adding a north porch and south vestry near the
west end of the nave, and by inserting new windows.
The older features of the church are characteristic
of the earlier 12th century. (fn. 182) The remains of billeted
string-courses survive externally on the east and west
walls, and internally in the nave. The chancel east
of the tower had originally a vaulted roof supported
on shafts with scalloped capitals which survive at the
four angles. The eastern tower arch was supported
on attached shafts with scalloped capitals; the shafts,
two on each side facing the nave, one on each side
facing the chancel, survive. The western tower arch
was similar, with the same arrangement of shafts,
and survives nearly complete but distorted. Above
each tower arch, in the 12th-century belfry, is a
plain, blocked semicircular-headed doorway. The
north and south belfry windows were evidently of
two semicircular-headed lights; the north one has
been blocked and defaced, the south one altered.
At ground level on the south side of the tower is a
small blocked 12th-century doorway, and another
12th-century doorway opens from the chancel on a
stair-turret leading to the second stage of the tower.
In the nave are some corbel-heads which appear to
have formed part of the 12th-century corbel-table of
the chancel. There is one small semicircular-headed
window recessed and deeply splayed. The south
doorway of the nave, leading to a later vestry, and
the rather more elaborate north doorway, have large
billets on the chamfers of their hood-moulds.
In the 13th century two cusped lancets were
inserted in the north and south faces of the lower
stage of the tower, and in the 14th a two-light
window, with a plain sedile in the sill, was put into
the south side of the eastern part of the chancel.
At the end of the 15th century, or perhaps later,
two new windows were inserted at the east end and
three in the nave, the roofs of chancel and nave were
rebuilt, (fn. 183) and a third, embattled stage was added to
the tower. Although the third stage is narrower than
those below it, the extra weight thus placed on the
lower stages distorted the tower arches. Though the
western arch survived, the eastern arch was rebuilt
as a four-centred arch of three orders with concave
chamfers, the inner order lying within the responds
of the original arch. It may have been the distortion
of the tower that necessitated the rebuilding of the
chancel roof. The corbel-heads that apparently
came from the chancel were used to support the
new flat, parapeted roof of the nave. Between the
late 15th and early 17th century the north porch
was built or rebuilt, and the south vestry may have
been added at the same time: the outer door of the
porch bears the date 1637. In 1904 money was raised
for rebuilding the tower, and the whole church was
restored by William Weir, architect to the Society
for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. (fn. 184)
The font, which in 1891 was outside the church, (fn. 185)
has a tub-shaped 12th-century bowl, chamfered into
scallops to fit an octagonal pedestal. (fn. 186) In the chancel
is the semi-circular head of a small 12th-century
piscina, and a simple 15th-century piscina is cut
into the wall near-by. The monuments include
murals and floor-slabs for members of the Howse
family, and murals for Joan Burton (d. 1631), Sir
Benjamin Kemp, Bt. (d. 1777), and members of the
Bridges, Howse, Kirrill, and Price families. There
were four bells c. 1700; (fn. 187) they were replaced with
five of 1734 by Abraham Rudhall, which survived
in 1964. The plate includes an 18th-century chalice
and almsdish, given by members of the Hughes
family. The church was repewed in 1817, and in
1847 the floor was repaved and the pews lowered,
but all the old pews were removed in the early 20th
century. An ancient clock rebuilt in 1839 (fn. 188) by
Bartholomew Price, the rector's son, with the help
by a local blacksmith, was replaced in 1957 with an
electric clock given by members of the Price family. (fn. 189)
There is a small organ. A new burial ground was
consecrated in 1933. (fn. 190) The registers begin in 1561
but have gaps 1642–79. (fn. 191)
Nonconformity.
Apart from references to
five Baptists in the parish in 1735, 1743, and 1750, (fn. 192)
no record of nonconformity has been found.
Schools.
In 1818 Coln St. Dennis had a day
school with 40 children and a Sunday school for 70,
both schools taking the children of Coln Rogers also.
The schools were supported by voluntary contributions and were under the supervision of the rector. (fn. 193)
In 1833, when the day school had grown to 50
children and the Sunday school had shrunk to 13,
they were paid for wholly by the rector except for
£5 5s. a year from a charity for the children of Coln
Rogers. (fn. 194) In 1846, when there were 47 children, in
1856, and in 1870 the parochial school was said to
be supported by the rector. (fn. 195) In 1875, however, a
new National school for the two parishes was built,
and opened in 1876; its expenses were paid by
voluntary contributions and school pence, and it had
a certificated teacher. (fn. 196) Attendance was 90 in 1889,
45 in 1897, and 40 in 1914. (fn. 197) In 1904 it became a
council school. (fn. 198) By 1938, when the older children
went elsewhere to school, attendance had fallen to
20, (fn. 199) and in 1952 the school was closed. The school
stood a little west of Calcot hamlet. The site and
buildings belonged to the trustees of the Church
Lands and included an old cottage called Amerdines
adjoining the school and used as the teacher's house.
After the school was closed the buildings were
converted into a Cotswold-style house. (fn. 200)
Charities.
Before 1683 Laurence Westmacott
gave £4, the interest to be distributed among the
poor of the parish. (fn. 201) This gift was recorded c. 1700, (fn. 202)
but had evidently been lost by 1790. (fn. 203) Charlotte
Turk by will proved 1870 gave £102 stock for the
poor; (fn. 204) in 1963 the income was distributed in cash. (fn. 205)