WICK RISSINGTON
The parish of Wick Rissington (otherwise Wyck
Rissington or Rissington Wyck) (fn. 1) lies two miles south
of Stow-on-the-Wold on the east bank of the River
Dikler. It is 1,267 a. in area and compact in shape.
The western boundary follows the Dikler and, for
500 yards north of Stow Bridge, the Foss Way; the
northern boundary crosses open ground along a line
described in a 10th-century charter; (fn. 2) the eastern
boundary follows the ancient road that leads from
Evesham to Burford; and most of the southern
boundary is marked by a small stream. (fn. 3)
The land rises from 425 ft. along the river to over
800 ft. at Wick Beacon in the south-west; the western
half of the parish is nearly flat, the eastern half a
steep hillside. Several streams flow across the parish
into the Dikler, of which the largest, called the
Fulbrook in the 13th century, (fn. 4) rises beyond the
northern boundary. Wick Beacon, which was so
named in 1675, (fn. 5) is a round barrow and was known
as Wick Barrow Beacon in 1777. (fn. 6)
The soil is stone-brash and clay; the sub-soil the
successive strata of Lower, Middle, and Upper Lias;
the Inferior Oolite extends into the south-west of the
parish, and there is alluvium along the Dikler and
the Fulbrook. (fn. 7) The name of the parish suggests that
in the early Saxon period the hillside was covered
with scrub. (fn. 8) In the Middle Ages the open fields
extended into most parts of the parish, and traces of
ridge and furrow survived in 1962 in the north-west;
there was, however, a fairly large proportion of
meadow and woodland. (fn. 9) Only 30 a. of woodland
remained in 1834, (fn. 10) but in the next 30 years many
trees were planted in the parkland around Wick Hill
House in the north-east of the parish. (fn. 11)
The village is near the centre of the parish, immediately under the steep slope of the hill. Its
position is unusual for a Cotswold village: it is a long
way below the main spring line yet not beside a
stream, and this may be explained by the fact that the
site was originally chosen not for a village but only
for a 'wick' or outlying farm. The nature of the
original settlement is to be traced not only in the name
but also in the structure of the Domesday estate of
Wick Rissington, which comprised a large demesne
farm worked by servile labour and a small number of
tenant farms. (fn. 12) By the 12th century, however, there
was a village worthy of its own parish church. (fn. 13)
The church marks the upper end of the village;
the houses extend north-west of it in two widely
spaced lines on either side of a broad green flanking
the road through the village. In the middle of the
south-west side is a large gap, where popular tradition, the line of the boundary fences, and the name
Court Hayes suggest that the chief house of the
village once stood. According to one account it was
a moated manor-house, (fn. 14) to which a gatehouse recorded in 1338 may have belonged. (fn. 15) Opposite this
empty site were the village pond and the village
pound. (fn. 16) On the site of the pound Mrs. Butler, the
lady of the manor, built a reading room for the village
c. 1900; it was enlarged in 1913 (fn. 17) but was used as a
house after 1939. (fn. 18) The pond remained in 1962.
Inclosure of the parish in the early 18th century (fn. 19)
made possible the building of a farm at Heath Hill
and of Wick Hill (otherwise Wyckhill) House with
its own farm, extensive outbuildings, and lodgecottages. Other buildings away from the village are
near the site of Wick Mill, on the Dikler, (fn. 20) two houses
built in the 20th century near Wick Beacon, and a
flat-roofed concrete house at Olive Hill, above the
village.
Apart from a short stretch of the road from Stow to
Great Barrington, which cuts across the south-east
corner of the parish, the only public road is that
which runs through the village, from the Foss Way
to the Barrington road. This road originally joined
the Foss Way opposite the road to Lower Slaughter
and had a branch starting 400 yards east of the Dikler,
opposite the track to Wick Mill, and leading to the
Foss Way north of Stow Bridge; in 1826 the branch
was closed and a new piece of road (outside the parish)
was made between the Dikler and the Foss Way. (fn. 21)
The Bourton-on-the Water Railway was built across
the north-west corner of the parish in 1862. (fn. 22)
In population Wick Rissington has always been
fairly small. Eighteen inhabitants were enumerated
in 1086, and the population may have remained fairly
constant before the 16th century. (fn. 23) Then there are
indications of an increase, from 62 communicants in
1551 (fn. 24) and 15 households in 1563 (fn. 25) to 80 communicants in 1603 (fn. 26) and 30 families in 1650. (fn. 27) Numbers
may then have fallen slightly before rising again in
the 18th century: (fn. 28) the population was 182 c. 1775, (fn. 29)
and 217 in 1801. Except for 1871 and 1881, when it
was down to 170, the population remained fairly
constant throughout the 19th century at something
over 200, but from 1901 it fell away and was down
to 141 in 1951. (fn. 30) The village did not undergo any
expansion from new building in the years following
the Second World War.
In the 19th century a few houses had water piped
from the springs above the village, (fn. 31) and in the early
20th century water was piped to a fountain and a tap
on the green. (fn. 32) Main water was supplied in 1954. (fn. 33)
Main electricity was available by 1939, (fn. 34) and there
was a small irrigation works for the disposal of
sewage. (fn. 35)
Most of the houses in the village date from the
17th and 18th centuries, though there are five 19thcentury cottages at the north-east corner of the green,
and a row of four, with red-tiled roofs, dated 1896,
a little further south. These four stand on a site occupied in the early 19th century by some tumbledown
cottages belonging to the parish. (fn. 36) All the houses in
the village are built of rubble stone, and while a few
of the roofs are of Welsh slate most are of Cotswold
stone. Stone slates were evidently used for the roof of
a kitchen in 1338, when the farm buildings were of
timber and thatch. (fn. 37) Several of the houses show the
features characteristic of Cotswold building, mullioned windows with dripmoulds, dormers, and
stone chimneys, and two of the smaller 17th-century
houses have arched doorways with keystones and
imposts. One of them, Mace's Farm, refronted in the
20th century, (fn. 38) has stone copings with kneelers to
the gable-ends. In the early 19th century it was an
inn, (fn. 39) the only one known in the village despite the
overseer's allusion in 1834 to the 'nuisance of beer
shops'. (fn. 40) It ceased to be a farm-house in 1961. (fn. 41) The
rectory house, then let to a farmer, was enlarged in
1836, and Porter's Farm opposite it was built about
the same time. (fn. 42) The number of houses remained
between 41 and 46 from 1811 to 1851. (fn. 43) In the late
19th century new cottages replaced older ones, and
there was a certain amount of modernization and
enlargement in the 20th century.
Much the largest house in the parish, and one of
much social consequence in the parish and in a wider
area, was Wick Hill House. It is of sandstone and
limestone and has a Cotswold stone roof; it stands in
a commanding position overlooking Bourton-on-theWater. The original house, two stories with dormered
attics, was built in the early 18th century, presumably
after 1722, (fn. 44) and was enlarged in the mid-18th
century, before 1775, (fn. 45) with the addition of a south
wing. It was extensively altered and enlarged after
1875. (fn. 46) After the Second World War the house was
occupied by three successive schools, and c. 1958 the
west wing, the oldest part of the house, was gutted by
fire. After that the house remained for a time unoccupied, (fn. 47) but in 1962 was being put in order for
residential use.
A few men of national distinction are mentioned
below in connexion with the parish church.
Manors.
Wick Rissington was said to have been
held before the Conquest as four manors, but in 1086
it was united in the possession of Roger de Lacy,
whose under-tenant was Hugh, (fn. 48) perhaps his brother.
In 1225 Walter de Lacy, grandson of Roger's nephew
Gilbert, (fn. 49) was disputing the right to two knights' fees
in Wick with the heirs of Hugh de Cuillardeville, (fn. 50)
who in 1227 sold two hides in Wick Rissington and
the advowson of the church to Paulinus of Theydon, (fn. 51)
lord of Little Rissington. Paulinus gave the land to his
brother Henry of Theydon, who had a house in Wick
Rissington in 1241 (fn. 52) and before 1264 gave it with land
and rent to Eynsham Abbey (Oxon.), which in the
same period and in the early 14th century acquired
land in Wick Rissington from other donors. (fn. 53) The
manor of WICK RISSINGTON, among other
possessions of Eynsham Abbey, was granted in 1539
to Sir George Darcy, (fn. 54) and in 1543 to Sir Edward
North, (fn. 55) who in the same year sold it to John Stratford
of Farmcote. (fn. 56)
Walter de Lacy continued to hold another part of
Wick Rissington after 1225. In 1235 he was returned
as having two knights' fees there which were held of
him by Henry le Fleming, (fn. 57) lord of Great Rissington,
but it is possible that there was confusion between
Great Rissington and Wick Rissington. In 1231
William de Lucy held one-sixth of two knights' fees
in Wick. (fn. 58) This William was apparently the William
de Lucy (d. 1250) that was lord of Charlecote
(Warws.), whose grandson Fulk (fn. 59) held a manor of
Wick in Gloucestershire c. 1266. (fn. 60) Fulk's descendants
held a manor of WICK RISSINGTON of the earls of
March, (fn. 61) who had inherited the overlordship through
Maud de Geneville, granddaughter of Walter de
Lacy and grandmother of Joan, wife of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March (d. 1330). The overlordship
passed, with the earldom of March, (fn. 62) to the dukes of
York. (fn. 63) Fulk de Lucy (d. 1303) appears to have given
the estate during his lifetime to his son William, (fn. 64)
who in 1303 was holding one-sixth of one knight's
fee in Wick Rissington (fn. 65) and had been succeeded by
another William by 1346. (fn. 66) The Lucys of Charlecote (fn. 67)
retained the manor (fn. 68) until it was sold c. 1530; (fn. 69)
in 1533 it was conveyed by Sir John Russell to
John Bush, (fn. 70) and in 1539 from Bush to William
Mounslow (fn. 71) of London from whom it was bought
by John Stratford, purchaser of Eynsham's manor
of Wick Rissington, before his death in 1553. (fn. 72)
John Stratford was succeeded by his grandson
Henry Stratford, who died in 1558 holding both
manors. Henry's son John, aged five at his father's
death, (fn. 73) was dealing with the estate, described as
a single manor, in 1586, (fn. 74) but by 1604 had been
succeeded by his son George, (fn. 75) who died in 1612
leaving as his heir his son William then aged ten. (fn. 76)
William Stratford of Farmcote died in 1685; his
eldest son William had married Anne, daughter of
Walter Overbury, (fn. 77) and Wick Rissington passed
into the hands of the Overbury family. Mrs. Overbury alias Oakley was lady of the manor c. 1700. (fn. 78)
Soon afterwards the estate was said to have been
divided among various freeholders, (fn. 79) but the
manorial estate held by Vincent Oakley, perhaps Mrs.
Overbury's son, in 1705 (fn. 80) and at his death in or before
1729 amounted to rather over half the parish. (fn. 81) In
1738 the estate was bought from William Overbury
Oakley by Francis Dickinson, (fn. 82) who was succeeded
c. 1746 by Marsh Dickinson. (fn. 83) After the death of
Marsh Dickinson, who had enlarged Wick Hill
House and spent three years trying to find coal under
his land, the estate was sold to a Mr. Cox, (fn. 84) who in
turn sold the manor, but not the house, to Sir Charles
Pole, Bt. (fn. 85) On Sir Charles's death in 1813 the estate
passed to his second son, Charles Van Notten Pole,
who acquired Wick Hill House and lived there until
his death in 1864. (fn. 86) In 1868 the whole estate within
the parish, nearly 1,200 a., (fn. 87) was sold to William
Lawton, (fn. 88) and in 1875 to Paul Butler (fn. 89) (d. 1875),
whose widow continued to own it, though she did
not long remain at Wick Hill House, until her death
in 1913. (fn. 90) The next owner, Arthur Edward Wrigley,
sold the estate in 1931, when the greater part of the
land was separated from Wick Hill House and the
lordship of the manor. (fn. 91) The house and manor, after
changing hands again, were themselves separated in
1955 when the lordship of the manor was given to the
parish council. (fn. 92)
Economic History.
At the time of the Domesday survey agriculture was apparently expanding in
Wick Rissington: land assessed at eight hides supported nine ploughs and had increased in value since
the Conquest. (fn. 93) In 1220 there were 13 ploughs. (fn. 94) In
1323 an estate of one plough-land was said to contain
four yardlands of 24 acres each (another of four
yardlands contained 94 acres of arable), but both
arable and meadow were valued low because the
land was hilly and infertile. (fn. 95) Most of the land in the
11th century belonged to the demesne, which had
seven ploughs and a labour-force of 12 servi and two
ancillae. The four villani, sharing between them two
ploughs, (fn. 96) may have been comparatively independent
tenants, and no later reference has been found to
customary rents or labour services or copyholds; (fn. 97)
in the early 16th century a heriot due (but not paid
because there was only one animal) was evidently for
a freehold, for which the heir was distrained for relief
and fealty. (fn. 98)
The manor farms (there were two manors from the
13th century to the 16th) are likely to have been
the largest: in the early 18th century over half of the
total number of yardlands in the parish were the lord
of the manor's. (fn. 99) In the 16th century, and apparently
earlier, (fn. 100) the rest of the parish was mainly if not
entirely divided between substantial free tenants. (fn. 101)
Their estates may have originated either from the
alienation of manorial demesne or from assarts.
Some of the families of free tenants persisted a long
time: the Spencers, for example, are recorded from
the mid-13th century (fn. 102) until 1471, (fn. 103) and the Hopes,
appearing in 1518, (fn. 104) survived as freeholders until the
mid-19th century. (fn. 105) Spanning an even longer period
were the Minchins: in 1471 Richard and Thomas
Minchin were among the trustees of a grant apparently to the chantry in the parish church; (fn. 106) in 1518
William Minchin farmed the Lucys' demesne, (fn. 107) and
Richard Minchin, father of another William, was
lessee of the manor in the later 16th century; (fn. 108) Sarah
Minchin, her son Thomas, William Minchin, and
Anthony Minchin held three yardlands between them
in 1729, (fn. 109) and Hannah Minchin was farming in Wick
Rissington in 1863. (fn. 110)
In the mid-13th century there were five fields, (fn. 111) in
which most of the land seems to have lain in single
acres and half-acres. (fn. 112) Such acres are likely to have
measured considerably less than a statute acre each,
for if the number of plough-lands approximated to
the number of ploughs in 1222 and if each ploughland was a little under a hundred acres there were
about as many field-acres of arable as there are statute
acres in the parish. A fair proportion of the land was
not arable: two meadows, Champions mead (fn. 113) and
Fittocksham, (fn. 114) were mentioned in the 13th century,
as was also the wood or grove which separated two of
the fields (above the grove, and under the grove), (fn. 115)
and in 1312 an extensive pasture was held in severalty
by the Abbot of Eynsham, William Lucy, and two
others. (fn. 116) It is possible that extensive woodland
enabled the village to support a large number of
pigeons: in 1323 the small value of a messuage and
plough-land was attributed in part to its lack of
a dovecot. (fn. 117) Sheep were kept in large numbers:
a shepherd is recorded in 1359, (fn. 118) and in 1338
Eynsham Abbey's bailiff accounted for 200 sheep in
Wick Rissington. (fn. 119) In 1268 the abbey had contracted for the sale to a merchant of its wool from
Wick Rissington among other estates. (fn. 120) The other
landowners also ran flocks: in the late 16th century
60 sheep-commons was the rate for each yardland. (fn. 121)
In the absence of other substantial evidence, a
glebe terrier of 1705 and an estate terrier of 1720
show how far the agricultural arrangement of the
parish had changed. The number of fields had been
reduced to four, and there is no reference to any
extensive area of woodland; the glebe included a
dovecot, and its land lay scattered in 70 separate
pieces. Some of the meadow was lot meadow, in which
the rector appears to have had no share. The rate for
sheep-commons was 40 or 60 for a yardland. A modus
was paid for some tithes, but tithe-milk was still
collected in kind. (fn. 122) By 1720 there had been some
consolidation of open arable land, of which a third
lay fallow each year. (fn. 123)
In 1729 an Act was obtained to confirm and ratify
an agreement for inclosure. The lord of the manor's
estate, 30 yardlands out of the 58, had already been
consolidated, apparently in 1722, and the other 15
estates in the parish, of which seven were one yardland and only one was over three yardlands, were to
be divided and inclosed before the spring of 1731. (fn. 124)
The details of the inclosure are not known.
In the seventies Rudder commented on the high
fertility of the soil, and noted that the parish was
nearly equally divided between pasture and arable. (fn. 125)
There may have been an increase in soil fertility as
the result of agricultural improvements: an inhabitant
invented a revolving plough for throwing all the soil
one way and a draining machine, (fn. 126) and in 1834 the
use of drainage in the fields was noted. (fn. 127) In 1801
less than one-sixth of the parish was returned as
sown for crops, (fn. 128) and soon afterwards Rudge remarked the high proportion of pasture. (fn. 129) By 1834 the
amount of arable had apparently increased, but there
was still a surplus of agricultural labour in the parish. (fn. 130)
At this period there were eight farms, all but two of
them employing labour; (fn. 131) it is not certain how far
ownership of the land had been concentrated, and
some at least of the small freeholders survived. (fn. 132)
By 1868, however, all but about 100 a. of the parish
belonged to the Wick Hill estate and no working
farmer owned his own land. On the Wick Hill estate
there were six farms, ranging from 34 a. to 224 a.;
only 206 a. were arable. (fn. 133) The number of farms,
seven c. 1900, did not greatly diminish: (fn. 134) in 1931
there were five, all over 150 a., (fn. 135) and in 1962 though
they had changed their composition, there were still
five, two of which were c. 500 a. Most of the farming
was dairying, with cereals grown for feed; there
were few sheep. (fn. 136)
There is little evidence of occupations other than
agriculture in the village before the 19th century:
there was a tailor in the mid-13th century, (fn. 137) a smith
in 1338 and in 1789, (fn. 138) and a mason in 1608. (fn. 139) The
absence of other references to textile and building
trades may reflect only the small amount of documentary material that is available. In the early 19th
century one family in five was mainly supported by
trade or handicraft. (fn. 140) Later in that century the
village contained an inn, (fn. 141) a smithy, (fn. 142) a shop, a mason,
and a carpenter, but of these only the shop survived
into the 20th century. (fn. 143) In 1962 a high proportion of
the houses was occupied by people who had retired to
Wick Rissington from elsewhere, and only four had
not changed hands in the preceding 15 years. (fn. 144)
Mill.
A mill in Wick Rissington mentioned in 1086
and 1227, when it belonged with half a yardland to
the estate acquired by Paulinus of Theydon, (fn. 145) was
presumably on the site of Wick Mill. This was part
of the endowment of Bourton-on-the-Water chantry
in the early 14th century, and in 1548 it was granted
by the Crown to Sir Michael Stanhope and John
Bellowe. (fn. 146) At that time it was held on lease for a term
of years. (fn. 147) The freehold was sold to Thomas Dutton,
later of Sherborne, in 1551, (fn. 148) and belonged to his
descendant in 1650. (fn. 149) Other local landowners were
dealing with a mill in 1689, (fn. 150) but the Dutton estate
in Wick Rissington apparently included the mill in
1729. (fn. 151) Its subsequent ownership has not been
traced. By 1868, when the mill house was used as a
farm-house and milling on any significant scale may
therefore have ceased, it once again belonged to the
chief estate in the parish. (fn. 152) In 1962 the site of the
mill could be traced on the ground, but the only
buildings standing were old barns and a pair of
derelict 19th-century cottages.
Local Government.
Despite an attempt in
1269 by Eynsham Abbey to resist claims of jurisdiction made by the bailiff of the hundred of Slaughter, (fn. 153)
Wick Rissington owed suit to the hundred in the
ordinary way. (fn. 154) The only manorial court rolls that
are known to have survived are those of 1518 and
1519 for the Lucys' manor. (fn. 155) The earliest records of
the parish officers begin in 1818. (fn. 156)
There appears to have been only one overseer of
the poor (fn. 157) and, from 1697 to 1886, only one churchwarden. (fn. 158) In 1834 these two officers were allowed
considerable freedom of action; they decided the
amount of rates and of poor relief, and the vestry
met only once a year. No special measures such as
Speenhamland or the roundsman system were
adopted (fn. 159) to deal with an expenditure on poor relief
which, while it rose fairly typically in the late 18th
century, appears not to have been thought oppressive
by the ratepayers. (fn. 160) The financial position of the
parish may have been made bearable by the possession of six or eight cottages in which old people were
housed. (fn. 161) These cottages were sold in 1859, and the
capital from the sale was made over to the parish
meeting for general expenditure in 1930. (fn. 162)
The parish became part of the Stow-on-the-Wold
Poor Law Union under the Act of 1834, (fn. 163) of the
Stow-on-the-Wold highway district in 1863, (fn. 164) and of
the Stow-on-the-Wold Rural Sanitary District in
1872 (being transferred to the newly formed North
Cotswold Rural District in 1935). (fn. 165) A parish council
was established in 1939. (fn. 166)
Church.
Architectural evidence shows that there
was a church in Wick Rissington by the 12th century.
In 1227 the advowson belonged to the estate held by
the heirs of Hugh de Cuillardeville. (fn. 167) When Paulinus
of Theydon gave the rest of the estate to his brother
he evidently retained the advowson, for it later
belonged to Paulinus's successors as lords of Little
Rissington manor. (fn. 168) The record of the consecration
by the Bishop of Worcester in 1269 of a church of
Wick in honour of St. Lawrence (fn. 169) presumably refers
to Wick Rissington, since there is no other likely
church; Wick Rissington church, however, though
rebuilt at that period, had been standing for many
years by then.
The right of presentation to the rectory was exercised by the lords of Little Rissington manor up to
1529. (fn. 170) After that manor had passed in 1540 to the
Crown, however, the advowson was not alienated
with it, and successive rectors were presented by the
Crown and the Lord Chancellor until c. 1870. (fn. 171) Then
the new owner of Wick Rissington manor acquired
the advowson, which descended with the manor
until c. 1935 when it passed to the Diocesan Board of
Patronage. (fn. 172)
The living was valued at £4 6s. 8d. a year in 1291, (fn. 173)
and at £16 2s. 6d. clear in 1535. (fn. 174) In 1650 it was valued
at £80, (fn. 175) and the increase was perhaps due in part to
the enlargement of the glebe from 13 a. in 1535 (fn. 176) to
three yardlands at the end of the 16th century. (fn. 177)
The total value had risen to c. £150 (fn. 178) a dozen years
after inclosure under the Act of 1729, as a result of
which the endowment of the living included 76 a. of
land and rent-charges of £84. (fn. 179) The value of the
living rose to over £200 in the mid-19th century. (fn. 180)
In 1301, during the minority of an heir to the
advowson, the Crown presented Adam de Brome, a
royal clerk and one of the founders of Oriel College,
Oxford. (fn. 181) The next two rectors were both licensed to
be absent. (fn. 182) Adam of Witchford, rector 1323–34,
served as chaplain to his patron, Aline Burnell. (fn. 183)
It may have been the non-residence of successive
rectors that stimulated Thomas le Spencer to grant
land, in 1331, for the support of a chaplain. (fn. 184) This
chantry, called Our Lady's service, survived in 1547
when its income was 36s. 6d.; there was then, however, no chaplain. (fn. 185) In the early 15th century there
were frequent changes of rector, (fn. 186) but from 1436 to
1474 the rector was John Wakefield, (fn. 187) who may have
made some of the alterations in the church though
clearly he was not, as has been stated, (fn. 188) responsible
for its building.
The rector instituted in 1529 (fn. 189) put the living to
farm, (fn. 190) and left the parish in the care of a curate. (fn. 191)
His successor, Henry Bassingbourne, had been Prior
of Woodbridge (Suff.) (fn. 192) and in 1548 was said to have
allowed the parsonage to decay, to have celebrated
neither mass nor matins for a fortnight, and to pass
his time in an ale-house in Bourton-on-the-Water;
in 1551 he was enjoined to correct himself and to
preach more often. (fn. 193) The next rector was deprived in
1553 for marrying; (fn. 194) four of the next five after him
were pluralists, and two at least were non-resident. (fn. 195)
The succession of not wholly satisfactory rectors
culminated with Robert Knollys, rector 1614–41,
who also held the livings of Hampnett and Bibury, (fn. 196)
and against whom his parishioners of Wick Rissington
alleged that he had neither read prayers nor prayed
in their church for five years, employed the cheapest
curates he could get, and was thus responsible for the
lack of services, sermons, and spiritual consolation
for the dying. (fn. 197) In the late 17th century and for most
of the 18th and early 19th pluralist or absentee
rectors appointed curates for the parish. (fn. 198) The last
but one of such curates was William John Deane
(1823–95), the theological writer, and the last nonresident rector was George Leigh Cooke (d. 1853),
Sedleian professor of natural philosophy at Oxford. (fn. 199)
From 1853 the rectors were normally resident, but
unlike most other parishes Wick Rissington had no
rector that remained more than 20 years. (fn. 200) From the
Second World War the livings of Wick Rissington
and Little Rissington were held jointly, as they were
in 1962, though there was no formal union of the
parishes or the benefices. (fn. 201)
The church of ST. LAWRENCE (fn. 202) is built of ashlar
and rubble with a Cotswold stone roof, and comprises chancel, nave, north aisle, north porch, and
west tower. The church is remarkable for its 13thcentury work, which survives with little change in the
chancel and tower. Traces of a corbel-table in the
north and south walls of the nave and the massiveness of the walls of the tower (nine feet thick at
the bottom) indicate the 12th-century origin of the
fabric. The chancel and tower were rebuilt in the
mid-13th century. Later changes in the building,
apart from minor changes in the chancel, cannot be
traced until the 19th century. The church was
described c. 1700 as 'one entire aisle', (fn. 203) which suggests
that the nave and chancel roofs were continuous. The
church, said to be in excellent repair in 1828, (fn. 204) was
enlarged in 1822, when proprietary north and south
transepts were added, (fn. 205) and in 1836. (fn. 206) The work in
1836 may have included the blocking of the 12thcentury north doorway, the removal of mullions and
tracery from the south windows of the nave, (fn. 207) and the
further lowering of the nave roof, for up to 1879 it was
lower than that of the chancel, which had a western
corbie-gable. (fn. 208) The church was extensively altered
in 1879, under the direction of J. E. K. Cutts. (fn. 209) The
transepts were removed; the nave was thoroughly
restored, its roof-line being raised to the steep pitch
of an earlier roof marked on the east wall of the
tower; (fn. 210) the north aisle was built, with a lean-to
roof; a new north doorway was opened; and a porch
was added, with a door to the aisle through a re-used
12th-century arch that was the original north doorway. (fn. 211)
The chancel is lit by two pairs of tall lancets in the
east wall and by two windows in each of the north and
south walls. The north windows are lancets in deeply
splayed openings; the south windows were originally
similar, but have been replaced by a 14th- and a
15th-century window, each of two lights with tracery.
Both internally and externally the windows, together
with a small south doorway, are drawn into a coherent
design by continuous string-courses, which are somewhat interrupted by the new work to the windows on
the south. The treatment of the east end is particularly elaborate. Pairs of small buttresses ornament
rather than support the angles, each pair of lancets is
surmounted by a concave lozenge-shaped light, and
near the apex of the gable is a plain lozenge-shaped
light, once filled with masonry; the upper and lower
string-courses are carried round these various
features. Internally the upper string-course forms a
sort of arcading, and the lower is connected with two
piscina niches (one trefoil-headed with rich moulding
and a scalloped bowl), two aumbries, and four other
recesses, of which one contains a rectangular stone
tank with drain. Below, stone benching survives
along the south and much of the north wall. The
chancel has a medieval trussed rafter roof; in the
windows are a few fragments of 14th-century
coloured glass. (fn. 212)
The tower is of four stages separated by stringcourses; the western angles have buttresses to the
two lower stages similar in style to those of the chancel.
To the first stage there is an external west door, to the
second a tall single-light west window with a stringcourse around the arch and extending across the
west face of the tower. The third and fourth stages
are each stepped back; on each face of both, except
the east face of the third stage, is a single louvred
light. The parapet is pierced by trefoil openings, and
the angle pinnacles repeat the style of the buttresses.
The tub-shaped font of c. 1200 was for many years
buried in the churchyard. In the chancel are 12
carved wooden plaques, found c. 1890 at Wick Hill,
depicting scenes from the life of Christ; they are
thought to be Flemish, and of the 16th century. The
altar-table stands on a stone slab that was once the
top of a medieval altar and was subsequently used
as a memorial floor-slab; part of a carved and
coped stone coffin lid is reset in the porch. In the
tower are four bells: there were four c. 1700 (fn. 213) and in
1828, (fn. 214) but in 1844 only three were recast; a fourth
was added in 1888. (fn. 215) The plate includes a chalice,
paten, and flagon of the 18th century. (fn. 216) The organ
bears an inscription recording that Gustav Holst
(d. 1934) played on it as parish organist in 1892 and
1893. The registers begin in 1739.
In or before the 17th century land that produced
£2 a year c. 1700 was given for the repair of the
church. (fn. 217) The land, known as Clerk's mead, was just
under 3 a. and produced £7 a year in 1828, (fn. 218) and
£8 10s. a year in 1962. (fn. 219)
Nonconformity.
In 1676 there were said to
be three Protestant dissenters in the parish; (fn. 220) no
other evidence has been found of nonconformists
there before the 19th century.
Schools.
In 1826 there were 25 children attending
day school and 36 at Sunday school. (fn. 221) At about this
time there was a dame school for 12 children at the
north-west end of the village, (fn. 222) and perhaps one
other dame school provided for the other day school
children. In 1848 the rector built a new school on the
glebe beside the church at his own expense, and the
site was conveyed in trust for a National school. A
certificated teacher was appointed in 1870, when
attendance was 20; (fn. 223) this had risen to 41 in 1904, with
the children still in one department. (fn. 224) Attendance
had fallen to 15 by 1932, (fn. 225) and the school was closed
in 1938 (fn. 226) after the county council had resolved to
stop maintaining it. (fn. 227) Thereafter the children went to
school at Bourton-on-the-Water, (fn. 228) and the school
building became a cottage and Post Office.
Charities.
Richard Minchin, by will proved
1619, gave a rent-charge of 10s. for distribution to the
poor, and, though the gift was effective in 1705 (fn. 229) and
the manorial estate was charged with 20s. a year for
the poor in 1729, (fn. 230) it had evidently lapsed by 1828. (fn. 231)
Some tradition of this charity lingered on in 1869.
By her will dated 1879 Hannah Plumbe gave £92
stock for the distribution of coal, (fn. 232) and in 1962
the interest of £2 4s. was allowed to accumulate until
a worth-while amount of coal could be distributed. (fn. 233)