PRESCOTT
Prescott, lying on the Cotswold escarpment five
miles north-north-east of Cheltenham and two and
a half miles west of Winchcombe, was an extraparochial place that became a parish under the
Extra-Parochial Places Act of 1857. (fn. 1) The parish was
enlarged in 1883 by the area of Rushy Cockbury farm
(103 a.), formerly a detached part of Winchcombe, (fn. 2)
and in 1935 by the whole of Stanley Pontlarge
(684 a.). (fn. 3) The history printed here, however, is confined to the area of 500 a. (fn. 4) that comprised Prescott up
to 1883.
The parish was elongated in shape, 2 miles long and
less than a mile across at its widest. The western
boundary, which skirts the earthworks of Nottingham Hill and was defined in an 8th-century charter, (fn. 5)
remained unaltered in 1962. Most of the northern
boundary of the parish was marked by the Tirle
brook, and the short southern boundary touched the
turnpike road from Cheltenham to Winchcombe.
The eastern boundary followed field-boundaries
round Rushy Cockbury farm to near the head of the
combe down which the Tirle brook flows, followed
the brook for 500 yards, and then veered off towards
the minor road from Gotherington to Gretton,
meeting it at the point where it is crossed by the
railway line (fn. 6) (built 1904–6) from Cheltenham to
Honeybourne junction. (fn. 7)
The parish lies on a steep slope facing northeastward, and the land rises from under 250 ft. in the
north to over 800 ft. in the south. The successive
strata of Lower, Middle, and Upper Lias are
crowned, above 750 ft., by the Inferior Oolite, from
which stone has been quarried, (fn. 8) and the soil is clay
and stone-brash. Arable farming was practised in the
13th century, and the ridge and furrow visible on the
northern and eastern sides of Prescott in 1962
marked the position of former open fields. Since the
Middle Ages, however, most of Prescott is likely to
have provided permanent grassland, rough grazing,
woodland, and orchards. (fn. 9)
There is no village in Prescott, and no documentary
evidence that the few houses there were other than
scattered farmsteads and their associated cottages.
There may have been a small nucleated village round
the chapel. (fn. 10) The traditional site of the chapel is
a small level piece of ground near the east side of
Prescott at 400 ft., (fn. 11) 100 yards south-east of Chapel
Close Farm, which was formerly called Orchard
Farm and Manor Farm. The site, a terrace above the
stream, would have been a fairly good choice for a
village, and unevennesses visible in the pasture in
1962 may indicate the foundations of houses. Two
hundred yards south-east of this site is Manor Farm,
near which some houses were demolished in the
early 20th century. (fn. 12)
In 1327 there were five taxpayers in Prescott. (fn. 13) In
1672 eleven houses, none of them large, were assessed for tax, (fn. 14) and c. 1700 there were said to be 12
houses and about 50 inhabitants. (fn. 15) In the 18th
century the population fell, (fn. 16) but in the 19th rose
from just over 30 to over 60 in the middle of the century. By 1901 it had fallen again to 40, and from 1911
it fell steadily. (fn. 17) The houses lie between the 300-ft.
and 600-ft. contour lines, below the line of springs
issuing from the Middle Lias, on sites that have
probably been occupied since the 16th century; the
exception is Prescott Hill Farm, below the earthworks of Nottingham Hill, at 700 ft., where there
may have been no building before 1807.
The buildings at Prescott Hill Farm, all of rubble
masonry with Cotswold stone roofs, centre on a large
barn built by Thomas Peacey, son of the lord of the
manor, in 1807. The row of three small cottages, later
enlarged and thrown together to form the farm-house,
may be of the same date: one end of the cottages and
one side of the barn are covered with pigeon-holes.
Two unusual cart-houses beside the barn were built
c. 1860. (fn. 18) The farm-house of Pardon Hill farm (it was
formerly Pardon Hill Lodge) is timber-framed with
a brick filling and a thatched roof. The other houses
were built in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, of
rubble masonry or brick. Pardon Hill and Prescott
House originated in the 17th century or earlier: in
1962 there survived, built into each, the core of a
Cotswold farm-house, and though afterwards enlarged each was used as a farm-house in 1830. (fn. 19)
Prescott House was greatly enlarged by the Earl of
Ellenborough between 1848 and 1871 as an elaborate
Gothic building, on a suitably remote and commanding site. Pardon Hill was enlarged at a later
date, in the style of an Elizabethan Cotswold manorhouse.
Prescott House was used from 1936 to 1956 as
a club-house for the Bugatti Owners' Club, which
exploits the steepness of the ground to provide a
hill-climb for its members' cars; since 1956 the club
has used the former dairy of Pardon Hill as its clubhouse. (fn. 20)
The road across the northern end of Prescott
leads from Gotherington to Gretton, at each of which
railway stations were opened in 1906 and closed in
1955 and 1960 respectively. (fn. 21) Several steep lanes
lead from this road to the houses and cottages. Main
water and electricity were available by the Second
World War. (fn. 22)
Manors.
Prescott, which was not mentioned in
Domesday, (fn. 23) is said to have been part of the foundation grant to the monastery at Tewkesbury. (fn. 24) The
manor of PRESCOTT was among those granted or
confirmed to the abbey by William, Earl of Gloucester (fn. 25) (d. 1183), and in 1291 the abbot had two
plough-lands in Prescott. (fn. 26) In 1535 the abbey's
income from the manor was received by the cellarer. (fn. 27)
In 1545 the Crown granted the reversion of the
manor, which had been leased in 1539 and again (for
21 years) in 1544, (fn. 28) to Walter Compton. (fn. 29) In 1570
Compton sold a chief messuage and lands said to
amount to one-third of the manor to John Dobbins,
who died in 1583 and was succeeded by his son
John. (fn. 30) The younger John at his death in 1585 held
a manor of Prescott, and left as his heir a son
Thomas. (fn. 31) The same estate, though not described as
a manor, was held by Henry Dobbins at his death in
1597, and passed to Henry's son Henry, (fn. 32) who was in
turn succeeded by his son Henry in 1622. (fn. 33) The
later history of this estate has not been traced, but
members of the Dobbins family continued to deal
with land in Prescott until the early 18th century, (fn. 34)
and one of them, Edward, was living in a small house
there in 1672. (fn. 35)
Walter Compton sold two other estates in Prescott, perhaps to the sitting tenants, in 1570, (fn. 36) and at
his death in 1585 held no land there. (fn. 37) In 1595 his
grandson Walter, son of William, sold or confirmed
the manor of Prescott to John Playdell, (fn. 38) who in
1608 sold it to Sir John Tracy of Toddington, (fn. 39) later
Viscount Tracy of Rathcoole. It then passed through
the hands of, apparently, several groups of trustees
before passing to Sir Humphrey Tracy of Stanway,
Sir John's third cousin, (fn. 40) in 1638. (fn. 41) It was presumably a separate property that was settled in 1614
on the marriage of Sir Paul Tracy of Stanway, (fn. 42)
grandfather of Sir Humphrey.
The manor then descended with the Stanway
estate of the Tracy family. (fn. 43) Sir Thomas Meres,
named as lord of Prescott and Stanway manors
1681–6, (fn. 44) was presumably a lessee, for both manors
were inherited by the elder daughter of Anthony
Tracy (otherwise Keck), Henrietta Charlotte, wife of
Edward Devereux, Viscount Hereford. (fn. 45) She sold
her estate at Prescott in 1799 to William Peacey.
Peacey bought two other estates in Prescott, owning
almost all the land there, and is the first major landowner known to have lived at Prescott: in 1801 he
was described as of Pardon Hill. On his death in 1815
the estate passed to the four children of his son, and
in 1848 they sold it to Edward Law, Earl of Ellenborough (fn. 46) and former Governor-General of India.
After his death in 1871 without surviving children (fn. 47)
the estate passed to Edward Richmond and, before
1897, to Mrs. Noblet (perhaps Richmond's daughter),
who retained it until 1934. The estate was bought by
J. P. Holborow of Rushy Cockbury and of the
Gloucestershire Dairy Co. Ltd., (fn. 48) but parts of the
estate were subsequently sold and in 1962 the
Gloucestershire Dairy Co. Ltd. owned only Pardon
Hill farm. (fn. 49)
Economic History.
Up to the Dissolution
Prescott was a single estate, though in 1535 there
were evidently freehold as well as customary
tenants. (fn. 50) In 1570 the estate was divided so that there
was one large freehold (the manor), one intermediate,
and several small freeholds. (fn. 51) At the end of the 18th
century the large estate absorbed almost all the
smaller ones, (fn. 52) but in the mid-20th century ownership was again divided. In 1962 there were four
farms, of 100–200 a. (fn. 53)
The existence of two plough-lands in Prescott
belonging to Tewkesbury Abbey in 1291 (fn. 54) suggests
arable farming, and the arrangement of ridge and
furrow visible in 1962 showed that at some date the
land had, where flat enough, been used for open
fields. From the late 16th century, however, until the
mid-19th century, when the chief crops were said to
be wheat and roots, (fn. 55) there is no evidence for arable
husbandry in Prescott. In 1535 nearly a third of
Tewkesbury Abbey's income from Prescott was
from the farm of a sheep-house, (fn. 56) and subsequent
particulars of land specify closes of pasture, orchards,
and woodland, but no arable. (fn. 57) The mention in 1517
of a pasture called Cockbury furlong (fn. 58) may indicate
that there had once been open fields at the south end
of the parish, where the land is high but relatively
flat. In the early 19th century Rudge reported that
the land was largely pasture, (fn. 59) and there are indications that there was little arable land at the end of
the century. (fn. 60) In the 1930's about one-seventh of the
land was arable, half was permanent grassland, and
the rest was woodland, orchards, and rough grazing. (fn. 61)
In 1962 nearly the whole of Prescott was grazing
land, and it was used for raising beef-cattle, sheep,
and pigs.
In 1327 two of the five taxpayers in Prescott were
surnamed 'mason', (fn. 62) and may be presumed to have
followed that calling. The population has otherwise
been almost exclusively agricultural: in 1801, 1811,
and 1821 agriculture was the only occupation. A
solitary retail tradesman occurs in 1831, (fn. 63) but in
directories from 1856 to 1939 the only occupation
listed under Prescott was that of farmer. (fn. 64)
Local Government.
Administratively, Prescott was a member of Tewkesbury Abbey's manor of
Stanway, and the view of frankpledge for Prescott was
taken at Stanway in 1287 (fn. 65) and 1535. (fn. 66) This dependence ceased (fn. 67) when Prescott and Stanway were
tenurially separated after the Dissolution, and in the
late 17th century view of frankpledge for Prescott was
taken at the manor court there. The only court rolls
known to survive are for 1681–6, when nuisances
were presented, reliefs and alienation fines were
levied from freeholders of the manor, and a constable
was appointed. (fn. 68)
Although Prescott was extra-parochial it possessed
some of the officers of parish government and
exercised the function of poor relief. Expenditure on
the poor rose as much as the county average between
1775 and 1803, but the parish rate was unusually low
in 1803 and only one or two people were regularly
relieved in the early 19th century; a large proportion
of the expenditure was on purposes other than poor
relief. (fn. 69) Prescott joined the Winchcombe Poor Law
Union under the Act of 1834, (fn. 70) and became part of
the Winchcombe rural sanitary district in 1872 (fn. 71) and
of the Winchcombe highway district in 1864. (fn. 72) On
the dissolution of Winchcombe Rural District in
1935 Prescott was transferred to Cheltenham Rural
District. (fn. 73) No parish meeting was held in 1962. (fn. 74)
Church.
Prescott was presumably once part of
the large parish of Winchcombe. In 1175 a chapel at
Prescott was confirmed to Winchcombe Abbey as a
dependency of the parish church there, (fn. 75) and at about
the same period it was said that the burial of the
inhabitants of Prescott belonged to the abbey. (fn. 76) The
ownership, however, by Tewkesbury Abbey of a
compact stretch of land and the tithes from it (fn. 77) (the
tithes were later conveyed with each piece of land
on which they were payable, (fn. 78) so that Prescott was
in effect tithe-free) made possible the severance of
Prescott from the parent parish. It is not clear
whether Winchcombe or Tewkesbury monks, if
either, served the chapel at Prescott; no document
has been found giving evidence of the chapel between
1175 and 1570, when it had gone out of use and its
site alone was mentioned. (fn. 79) Prescott entries occur
in the Toddington parish registers, (fn. 80) and the inhabitants in the 19th century used the chapel at
Stanley Pontlarge, (fn. 81) a chapel of ease to Toddington;
these facts suggest that the connexion with Winchcombe had been altogether forgotten before the
chapel at Prescott went out of use. The site of the
chapel was between Chapel Close Farm and Manor
Farm. (fn. 82)
Nonconformity.
None known.
School.
None known. Prescott became part of the
Winchcombe United Schools District in 1875; (fn. 83)
from 1885 to 1906 the children went to school in
Gretton, and from 1910 in Southam and Gotherington. (fn. 84)
Charities.
None known.