STOWELL
Stowell, one of the smallest parishes in the
Gloucestershire Cotswolds but long the centre
of one of the principal estates in the area, lay
near Northleach at 16.5 km. SE. of Cheltenham
and 12.75 km. NNE. of Cirencester. For much
of its history the country house called Stowell
Park, the church, and a few cottages for estate
workers were the only buildings in the parish.
From 1656 Stowell was united for ecclesiastical
purposes with Hampnett (fn. 1) and in 1935 it became
part of Yanworth civil parish. (fn. 2)
The parish of Stowell comprised 851 a. (fn. 3) (347
ha.) and had the shape of a flattened arrowhead,
its south-east boundary formed by the Foss way
and its north-east boundary by part of a salt way
leading from Droitwich (Worcs.) towards the
river Thames at Lechlade. The crossroads made
by those two ancient roads at the eastern tip of
the parish was probably the 'cross by Stowell'
where the Bradley hundred court met in the late
Middle Ages (fn. 4) and the place called Bradley
where the tithingman of Stowell was required
to perform watching duty in 1394. (fn. 5) The west
boundary of the parish left the salt way at a place
called, by 1759, Hangman's Stone (fn. 6) and ran to
a small stream, which it followed down to the
river Coln; it then descended the Coln to meet
the Foss way at Fossebridge. (fn. 7)
In 1086 Stowell was a member of the large
manor of Northleach (fn. 8) on the other side of the
Foss way but its situation and boundaries suggest a more ancient tenurial connexion with
its western neighbour, Yanworth. Such a connexion is also suggested by an agreement made
between the lords of Stowell and Yanworth in
1457, adjusting the boundaries between their
two manors and releasing all claims to intercommoning. The landmarks given in the agreement cannot be identified clearly, but the 63¾
a. of land given then to the lord of Yanworth
may have been near the boundary between the
manors in the valley of the tributary of the Coln
west of the later Oxpens farm buildings, and the
103 a. given to the lord of Stowell in exchange,
adjoining the Foss way and so presumably
forming a detached part of Yanworth, was possibly in an area to the south of the later Stowell
park. (fn. 9)
The land of the ancient parish is formed of
the Inferior Oolite and the Great Oolite, with
an intervening band of fuller's earth outcropping
on the hillsides (fn. 10) and causing the eruption of
several springs in the vicinity of Stowell Park
house. A height of just over 200 m. is reached
on the north-east boundary and the land falls to
c. 130 m. in the Coln valley. A wood called
Stowell grove, occupying part of the hillside on
the west side of the parish, covered 50 a. in 1842
and with other smaller groves and plantations
made a total of 81 a. of woodland in Stowell; it
belonged, as did the whole parish, to the Stowell
Park estate. (fn. 11) A deer park, encompassing Stowell
Park house and its attendant buildings on three
sides, existed by 1750 (fn. 12) but was possibly established much earlier. It covered 89 a. in 1842. (fn. 13)
The house was described c. 1775 as being hidden
from the Foss way by plantations, (fn. 14) perhaps
referring to the long shelter belt at the roadside;
the belt had certainly been planted by 1842,
when a similar belt (in the late 1990s replanted
with saplings) extended along the salt way on
the north-east. (fn. 15) A large new plantation called
Camp wood was formed on Foss hill at the south
end of the parish in the late 20th century after
the removal of a wartime camp. (fn. 16)
Eleven tenants or servile inhabitants were
recorded on Stowell manor in 1086. (fn. 17) Seven
people were assessed for the subsidy in 1327 (fn. 18)
and 18 for the poll tax in 1381, (fn. 19) but only the
lord of the manor was listed at Stowell in the
military survey of Gloucestershire in 1522. (fn. 20) A
single household, evidently that of the lord, was
recorded there in 1563 (fn. 21) and the nine or ten communicants recorded in 1551 and 1603 (fn. 22) were
presumably servants or members of his household. The lord's household was the only one
mentioned at Stowell during the 18th century, (fn. 23)
and in 1801 only 13 people, comprising 3 families and occupying two houses, were enumerated.
The population rose to 43 in six houses by 1831,
and the only significant increase later in the century was from 50 in 1881 to 83 in 1891 after the
3rd Lord Eldon took up residence at Stowell
Park. In the early 20th century the parish had a
population of c. 70, and 74 people were enumerated in 1931 before the union with Yanworth in
1935. The population of Yanworth civil parish,
a total of 166 at the union, was later temporarily
boosted by the inhabitants of the camp at Foss
hill in Stowell: 830 people were enumerated
in 1951, but only 138 in 1961 after the camp's
removal. (fn. 24)
Little is known of Stowell's small medieval
settlement beyond the record of tenants in 1086
and taxpayers in the 14th century. Probably the
few houses were mainly in the area where the
manor house and church stand on the hillside
above the Coln; the springs there may be the
origin of the name, which appears in 1086 and
later as 'Stanwelle'. (fn. 25) A John de Stonwelle was
one of the taxpayers in 1327, but another taxpayer was called John le S(c)agges, (fn. 26) suggesting
that there were one or more dwellings lower
down the hill, near the Coln, where the name
Skeggs was used later for a small plantation. (fn. 27) As
the record of 1381 shows, the depopulation of
Stowell was only partly connected with the
Black Death and the general slump in arable
cultivation of the 14th century.
At the start of the 18th century the manor
house was apparently the only dwelling in the
parish. (fn. 28) In the early 19th, however, there were
also a few cottages occupied by labourers on the
large farm in which Stowell was then included:
in 1812 there were two cottages and a yard and
farm buildings at Oxpens near the north end of
the parish, one, with a dog kennel, to the south
of Stowell Park house at the later Dogkennel
Cottages, and another, (fn. 29) later occupied by a
gamekeeper, on a lane leading down from the
house to the Coln. In 1841 three families of
labourers lived at Oxpens and two at
Dogkennel. (fn. 30) Lord Eldon added more cottages
for his staff and estate workers after he took up
residence at Stowell in the early 1880s (fn. 31) and he
built a small farmhouse, Home Farm, east of the
house in 1886. In 1923 there was a total of 11
cottages on the estate at Stowell, six of them at
Oxpens. (fn. 32) In 2000 most of the houses in Stowell
(and in the neighbouring village of Yanworth)
were occupied by employees on Lord Vestey's
Stowell Park estate. (fn. 33)
In the Second World War a hospital for the
American army, comprising a large collection of
huts, was built on Foss hill in the south part
of the parish. After the war it became a school
for girls from Polish refugee families. (fn. 34) The
school continued until 1953, (fn. 35) but in 1950 the
Northleach rural district converted some of the
huts to 32 dwellings to accommodate homeless
families pending the completion of housing
schemes in its area; some huts were occupied
until 1959. (fn. 36) Later they were dismantled and the
site landscaped and planted.
Manor.
In 1086 Stowell was part of the
manor of Northleach, one of the Gloucester
abbey estates then held by the archbishop of
York. (fn. 37) Stowell has not been found recorded
again until 1236 when, having perhaps
descended for some time with Farmington,
another member of Northleach at Domesday, (fn. 38)
it was held from William of Hastings. (fn. 39) In
1285 Emme de la Penne had an intermediate
lordship between the tenant-in-demesne and
the Hastings family; (fn. 40) her right presumably
derived from John de la Penne, who had the
wardship of the tenant during a minority in
1272. (fn. 41) No later record of the overlordship has
been found, except that in 1564, apparently
through a misunderstanding deriving from his
exercise of leet jurisdiction, it was said to be
vested in the lord of Bradley hundred, Thomas
Parry. (fn. 42)
Geoffrey Martel held the manor of
STOWELL as ½ knight's fee in 1236. (fn. 43) It passed
later to Richard Martel, apparently Geoffrey's
son, (fn. 44) and Richard's heir held it in 1272. (fn. 45) Adam
Martel held it in 1285, (fn. 46) and by 1307 it belonged
to another Adam Martel, (fn. 47) whose lands were in
the hands of royal receivers in 1322, presumably
as a result of his involvement in the recent rebellion. (fn. 48) An Adam Martel, probably the same
mentioned in 1322, was later said to have
enfeoffed John Fachel with the manor to hold
in trust for his son Adam and the son's wife
Ellen, who were both minors at the time of their
marriage. In 1343 Adam Martel, the son, settled
Stowell on himself, his then wife called Cecily,
and their heirs, with remainder to Robert of
Staverton and his heirs. That same year, however, John Fachel's grandson, also John Fachel,
claimed the manor against Adam on the grounds
that his grandfather had been seised in his own
right, and the younger John is said to have been
awarded the manor in court; (fn. 49) Adam had a grant
of free warren in the manor in 1345, (fn. 50) but John
was presumably in possession of it in 1355 when
he presented to Stowell church. (fn. 51) Claimants
under John's supposed title were later in possession of the manor and were challenged by
James Clifford and his wife Margaret, daughter
and heir of Robert of Staverton. The Cliffords'
claim was upheld, (fn. 52) and they were dealing with
the manor in 1374. (fn. 53) In 1389 William Weston
and Thomas Bird, presumably feoffees in trust,
presented to Stowell church. (fn. 54) The same or
another James Clifford was lord of the manor in
1394 when, in preparation for accompanying
Richard II's expedition to Ireland, he granted
his lands to four feoffees, Anselm Guise, John
Haresfield, Thomas Alford, and Matthew
Clifford. (fn. 55) Haresfield and Matthew Clifford
apparently still held the manor in 1410, when
they presented to the church. (fn. 56)
William Clifford owned Stowell manor in
1457 and it passed later to his daughter
Elizabeth, who married first Edmund Catesby
and second Thomas Limerick. (fn. 57) Limerick was
patron of Stowell church in 1467 (fn. 58) and died in
1486. His second (or later) wife Joan may have
survived him (fn. 59) and held the manor for a few
years before it passed to his daughter and heir
Agnes. Agnes, who married first William Tame
and second Sir Robert Harcourt (fn. 60) (d. by 1504),
settled the manor, from after her death, on her
son Thomas Tame, (fn. 61) who held it, apparently as
the sole landowner in the parish, in 1522. (fn. 62)
Thomas Tame died c. 1545, having settled the
manor on his wife Joan, who survived him, with
reversion to his daughter Elizabeth and her
husband Edmund Horne; Edmund survived
Elizabeth and died in 1553, having settled
Stowell on a later wife, Amy (or Anne), and
leaving a daughter called Elizabeth. (fn. 63) In 1559
the patrons of Stowell church were Walter
Baskerville and his wife Jane (in her right), (fn. 64) and
Walter was living at Stowell in 1567. (fn. 65) In 1575
Anthony Bourne and Elizabeth his wife were
dealing with the manor, (fn. 66) which they conveyed
in 1577 to Robert Atkinson and his wife Joyce. (fn. 67)
Robert died in 1607 and was succeeded by his
son Henry, (fn. 68) who in 1627 with his wife and his
brother John settled the manor, presumably
in reversion, on his nephew Sir Thomas
Wentworth (later earl of Strafford) and his
heirs. (fn. 69) In 1655 the manor was evidently owned
by John Atkinson, (fn. 70) later Sir John, who died in
1662, (fn. 71) and by 1667 it had passed to Thomas's
son William Wentworth, earl of Strafford. (fn. 72)
About 1689 the earl of Strafford sold Stowell
manor to John Grubham Howe, (fn. 73) who was then
M.P. for Cirencester and sat for the county
1698–1705. A politician of pronounced Tory
views, Howe was made a privy councillor in
1702 and was joint paymaster-general from 1703
to 1714. He died in 1722 (fn. 74) and was succeeded at
Stowell (with Hampnett, which had usually
been in the same ownership since the late 15th
century) by his son John, who in 1735 inherited
the adjoining estates of Chedworth, Yanworth,
Compton Abdale, and Cassey Compton in
Withington from another branch of the Howe
family. The younger John was created Lord
Chedworth in 1741 and died in 1742, his
estates and title passing in turn to his sons John
Thynne Howe, who was lord lieutenant of
Gloucestershire from 1758 to his death in 1762,
and Henry Frederick Howe (d. 1781). Henry
was succeeded by his nephew John Howe, Lord
Chedworth (d. 1804). (fn. 75)
The 4th Lord Chedworth devised his estates
to his solicitor Richard Wilson and a friend
Thomas Penrice, who were to sell them in order
to finance numerous and valuable legacies, the
largest for the executors themselves and the
others mainly for friends and acquaintances connected with the theatre. After ineffectual efforts
by an heir-at-law to upset the will, (fn. 76) the
Gloucestershire estates were sold in 1812.
Stowell and much of the land in the adjoining
parishes were bought by Sir William Scott, (fn. 77) an
eminent judge and M.P. for Oxford University,
who was created Lord Stowell in 1821. He died
in 1836 and was succeeded by his daughter
Marianne (or Mary Anne), the wife of the
former Prime Minister and Home Secretary,
Henry Addington, Vct. Sidmouth. (fn. 78) She died in
1842 and was succeeded in the Stowell estate by
her kinsman John Scott, 2nd earl of Eldon. The
earl died in 1854 when the estate, including the
whole of Stowell parish and several adjoining
manors and large farms, totalled 5,756 a. It
passed with the earldom to his son John, who
came of age in 1866 (fn. 79) and held the estate until
1923. A large part of it, comprising Stowell,
Yanworth, and Chedworth woods, was then
bought by the Hon. Samuel Vestey, (fn. 80) son of
Lord Vestey, the owner of refrigerated food and
shipping concerns. Samuel Vestey succeeded to
his father's title in 1940 and died in 1954. He
was succeeded by his grandson Samuel George
Armstrong Vestey, Lord Vestey, (fn. 81) who owned
the estate in 2000. Cassey Compton had been
reunited with the estate in 1927 and lands in
Hampnett and Compton Abdale parishes had
been acquired later, and in 2000 the Stowell
Park estate formed a compact unit of 2,400 ha.
(5,930 a.). (fn. 82)
Most of Stowell's owners resided on the estate
from the time of Thomas Limerick in the late
15th century (fn. 83) until the death of the 3rd Lord
Chedworth in 1781. (fn. 84) The 4th Lord Chedworth,
however, lived at Ipswich (Suff.) and rarely visited his Gloucestershire estates; (fn. 85) all the household goods at Stowell Park were offered for sale
in 1782. (fn. 86) For the next 100 years the house was
leased as the farmhouse of a large farm, though
the 19th-century tenants, members of the
Councer and later Walker families, kept a considerable household; in 1841 Richard Councer
had six servants living in. (fn. 87) In the early 1880s
the 3rd earl of Eldon took up residence at
Stowell and altered and improved the house and
grounds, (fn. 88) and Stowell remained the country
residence of the Vestey family in the 20th
century.
Fig. 17. Stowell Park from the west after remodelling in the 1880s; behind the house (on left) is Stowell church and (on right) the new stables
Stowell Park stands high on the hillside,
facing over the Coln valley to the extensive
Chedworth woods which were long part of its
estate. It incorporates a 16th-century or slightly
earlier stone house, which was extended in the
17th century and disguised by alterations and
additions made for the earl of Eldon in the
1880s.
The original house can be identified with the
west seven bays of the north range and the north
three bays of the west range. Probably of the
16th century, it seems to have been on an L or
H plan with south projecting wing or wings; it
was probably entered from the south. The walling is of coursed rubble, later roughcast. The
westernmost of two bay windows on the north
front is apparently older internally in its lower
parts than the eastern one and may represent the
hall bay window. There are three small doorways with plain-chamfered, four-centred heads
in the thick walling, one leading into the east
wing, one (blocked) on the south wall, and one
(also blocked) leading from the north range into
the west range. Under the north end of the original west range is a barrel-vaulted cellar with
unmoulded transverse ribs. (fn. 89) In the mid 17th
century the west range seems to have been
extended to seven bays by the Atkinsons, whose
arms appear over the west door (fn. 90) though not in
situ. That range has a south-east staircase projection and may have contained a parlour. (fn. 91) The
north range was probably also altered at the
period, judging from the east gable. There is
some mid 17th-century panelling, which was
moved to the library in the late 20th century. In
1685 it was reported that 'the rooms are very
little, all but the parlour and hall, which are fit
for a country gentleman'. (fn. 92) The extent of the
house remained the same throughout the 18th
century and the early 19th, (fn. 93) though sash windows were inserted. (fn. 94) On the north side of the
house there were farm buildings, including a
large barn, stables, and a detached dovecot.
The house, then described as having 'no outstanding architectural character', was extensively remodelled in French Renaissance style
for the 3rd earl of Eldon to the designs of John
Belcher (fn. 95) and was probably that architect's most
important country house commission; work had
begun by 1885 and was completed before 1889. (fn. 96)
Belcher replaced the sash windows with
mullioned and transomed windows, probably
refaced the south front in ashlar, and recast
the north bay windows, perhaps adding the
easternmost one. He reroofed the house
and renewed most, if not all, of the embattled
parapet. Inside he reorganized the staircase,
improved the circulation, and redecorated the
interior, re-using much old panelling; the staircase and dining room at the south end of the
west range were in Jacobean style, and bedrooms
have panelling in late 17th- and 18th-century
styles. He made a walled 'Green Court' on the
north side of the house, enclosed by the existing
barn, which he planned to convert to a banqueting hall, ballroom, or billiard room. Belcher also
added a south wing, which included a new
entrance and a 'Lower Hall', and provided, on
the north-east, service accommodation in 17thcentury Cotswold style with English baroque
style interiors. The octagonal kitchen is based
on medieval monastic examples. A laundry was
built north-east of the Green Court.
Belcher's proposals were completed c.
1918–20 to the designs of Sydney Tatchell, (fn. 97)
who built a south smoking room, a vaulted corridor linking service wing and laundry, and perhaps added the Flamboyant-style chimneypiece
in the Lower Hall. Tatchell also made a south
terrace with a conservatory at the west end, and
replaced part of the outbuildings north of the
Green Court with a badminton court (fn. 98) (later
converted to a banqueting hall) in early
Elizabethan style. Alterations for the Vesteys in
the late 20th century included the building of a
new badminton court adjoining the Green Court
and the demolition of the smoking room and the
west wall of the Court. Belcher's decoration was
removed from the reception rooms, some of
which were amalgamated.
Ponds and watercourses found by Belcher in
the gardens (fn. 99) may have dated from the 16th or
17th century. He laid out the grounds with a
terraced west garden, decorated with statuary,
and added various outbuildings including, to the
south-east, a large stable court, walled kitchen
gardens, and a gardener's house; (fn. 100) a timber
peach house seems to have been contemporary.
A second garden with brick-lined walls, the east
one designed as a forcing-wall, was added on the
east c. 1914, and a second timber peach house
was built. A large new motor house was built
for the Vesteys in the 1960s. (fn. 101) The lodge in
French style, at the end of the drive on the Foss
way east of the house, had been built by 1900, (fn. 102)
presumably to a design of Belcher.
Economic History.
In 1086 Stowell
manor formed part of the large manor of
Northleach, but it was described as if a separate
agricultural unit and possibly the owner, the
archbishop of York, had a tenant there, though
none was named in the survey. The demesne at
Stowell was then worked by two ploughs and
employed 4 servi and 2 ancille, and the tenantry
were 5 villani, working five ploughs. (fn. 103) Those
figures and the 8 ploughteams recorded there in
1220 (fn. 104) show that the small parish was fairly
intensively cultivated during the early Middle
Ages.
Little later evidence has been found before the
19th century for the agricultural development of
Stowell, and in particular for the process by
which, at some time after the late 14th century, (fn. 105)
the tenant holdings were replaced by a single
inclosed farm based on the manor house. The
Cotswold location of the manor, particularly its
proximity to Northleach, suggests the possibility that the small village was cleared for the purposes of sheep farming. The ownership in the
first half of 16th century by Thomas Tame, of
the prominent Gloucestershire family of woolmen and sheep graziers, may also be significant.
His will of 1545 left various legatees a total of
100 sheep, (fn. 106) presumably part of a much larger
flock kept at Stowell.
Stowell apparently had two open fields in the
Middle Ages. By an agreement of 1457 William
Clifford, lord of Stowell, gave 63¾ a. in the
north field of Stowell to Winchcombe abbey,
lord of Yanworth, in exchange for 103 a. of less
fertile land and meadow (then regarded as a part
of Yanworth manor) in a field called Southfield
Nevylle. The parties made a mutual release of
all claim to commoning rights, not only in the
exchanged lands but in the whole of their
respective manors, (fn. 107) suggesting ancient arrangements for intercommoning between the tenants
of the two manors. Southfield Nevylle was evidently 'le Nevele' recorded earlier, in 1355,
when the lord of Stowell held 15 a. freely there
from Winchcombe. (fn. 108) It adjoined the Foss way
and if, as suggested above, it lay south of the
later Stowell park, (fn. 109) part would have been
included later in a large inclosed pasture there
called Foss hill (mostly planted in the late 20th
century as Camp wood). Foss hill, the only field
specifically mentioned among the lands of the
manor in a mortgage of 1750, (fn. 110) comprised 141
a. in 1842. (fn. 111)
At the end of the 18th century and for much
of the 19th the parish formed part of a large
tenant farm, based on Stowell Park house. John
Handy was the lessee in 1786 (fn. 112) and 1801; at the
latter date his farm, at a rental of £600, was the
most valuable on Lord Chedworth's Stowell
estate. (fn. 113) In 1842, when Richard Councer was the
tenant, the farm included all the farmland (733
a.) in the parish and the buildings and labourers'
cottages at Oxpens. (fn. 114) In 1851 Councer was
described as the farmer of 1,100 a. employing
28 labourers (including 4 women and 7 boys). (fn. 115)
In 1857, when he had been succeeded by John
Councer, the farm comprised 958 a. in Stowell,
Hampnett, and Yanworth and was held for a
rent of £900. (fn. 116) It was later held by Thomas
Walker (fn. 117) before being taken in hand by Lord
Eldon when he came to live at Stowell Park in
the early 1880s. (fn. 118) The earl retained it in hand
for the remainder of his ownership until 1923. (fn. 119)
It was leased for some years under Samuel
Vestey in the 1920s and 1930s (fn. 120) but during the
second half of the 20th century it was kept in
hand by the estate as part of a much larger farming unit. (fn. 121)
In 1842 the farmland at Stowell was cultivated
as 298 a. of arable and 432 a. of permanent pasture, (fn. 122) and in 1866 318 a. on Stowell Park farm
was returned as under crops, mainly wheat,
barley, roots, and clover or grass seeds, and 400
a. as permanent grassland. (fn. 123) The farm had a
stock of 209 cattle in 1866, including a small
dairy herd, and a flock of 1,544 sheep and
lambs. (fn. 124) By 1896, against the usual trend and
presumably as a reflection of hobby farming on
the part of Lord Eldon, the land returned as
under crops had increased to 521 a., with 310 a.
of permanent grassland. The cattle and sheep
had been reduced by 1896; (fn. 125) Lord Eldon had dispersed a flock of pure-bred Cotswold sheep kept
by Thomas Walker, though he had built up
flocks of Cotswolds on other farms of his estate. (fn. 126)
In 1926 for the large tenant farm based on
Stowell 466 a. was returned as cropped and 503
a. as permanent grassland and the farm supported a flock of 1,028 sheep and lambs; it then
employed 18 farmworkers. (fn. 127)
From the mid 20th century the bulk of the
farmland of the Stowell Park estate was managed
as one large farm. In 1956 it comprised c. 3,500
a. and employed c. 50 farmworkers. It had a
large acreage of permanent grassland and rough
grazing but was predominantly arable, cropped
with cereals, principally barley, and with grass
seeds. The farm supported a large herd of
beef cattle and a flock of over 900 breeding
ewes. (fn. 128) In 2000 the Stowell estate farm, managed
from the estate office in Yanworth village and
farmed from the buildings at Oxpens, comprised
c. 1,619 ha. (c. 4,000 a.). The land was cropped
with feed wheat, winter barley, oilseed rape,
and peas and beans, and a flock of 1,260 mule
ewes and a beef suckler herd of 320 cattle were
maintained. The farm employed ten people, a
farm manager, a foreman, a shepherd, two stockmen, and five tractor drivers. The estate as a
whole (which included extensive woodland,
mainly in Chedworth) then also employed three
gamekeepers and five maintenance men, two of
them drystone wallers. An estate sawmill was
operated in Yanworth adjoining the woods, and
a number of redundant farm buildings in the
various parishes were let to small commercial
enterprises. (fn. 129)
A mill recorded at Stowell in 1086 (fn. 130) was possibly on or near the site of Stowell mill on the
Coln below Stowell Park. In the 19th century
the building at Stowell mill was situated within
Chedworth parish, though it then belonged to
the owners of Stowell as part of the Chedworth
manor estate. (fn. 131)
The small working population in Stowell
parish in the 19th and 20th centuries comprised
agricultural labourers and estate workers, the
latter including a carpenter in 1896. (fn. 132)
Local Government.
The manor court
for Stowell presumably did not survive the
depopulation of the manor in the late Middle
Ages and no record of one has been found. Leet
jurisdiction was exercised by the Bradley hundred court, which was attended by a tithingman
for Stowell in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Walter Baskerville, the lord of the manor,
appeared in that capacity in 1560. (fn. 133)
No records of parish government are known
to survive and possibly none were kept in a
formal way, government of the parish being in
the hands of the lord of the manor or his lessee
as sole occupier of the land. The lord, Thomas
Tame, was acting as churchwarden in 1543; (fn. 134)
there was no churchwarden in 1750; (fn. 135) and in
1851 the lessee of the farm, Richard Councer,
styled himself chapelwarden. (fn. 136) In the early 19th
century no poor rates were levied, the lessee
paying for relief when it was required. In the
1780s the annual cost of relief was c. £8 and it
was at a similar level in the years 1813–15 when
one or two people received relief occasionally;
in 1803, however, £40 was paid out and 5 people
were on regular relief. (fn. 137) By the last years of the
old system between £50 and £80 was required. (fn. 138)
Stowell became part of Northleach poor-law
union in 1836, (fn. 139) and of Northleach rural district
in 1895, (fn. 140) and in 1974, as part of the civil parish
of Yanworth, it was included in the Cotswold
district.
Church.
Stowell church originated by the
mid 12th century as a chapel to Northleach
church. In the late 14th century the inhabitants
were buried at Northleach and the vicar there
took the mortuaries and part of the profits of the
church, (fn. 141) and Northleach remained the burial
place for Stowell people in the early 17th century. (fn. 142) Nevertheless, Stowell had its own rector
by 1269 (fn. 143) and it was described as a parish church
in 1340. (fn. 144) The patronage of the rectory was exercised by the lords of Stowell manor. (fn. 145) In 1656
Stowell was united as an ecclesiastical parish
with Hampnett on the petition of John
Atkinson, the landowner and patron of both. (fn. 146)
The union of the benefices was confirmed in
1660, (fn. 147) though the two evidently remained separate ecclesiastical parishes. Stowell continued
to be served with Hampnett, becoming part of
a united benefice based on Northleach in 1929,
to which Yanworth was added in 1938. (fn. 148) In 1964
Stowell was separated from Hampnett and
Northleach and, with Yanworth, became part
of a united benefice based on Chedworth, (fn. 149) in
which it remained in 1999.
In the late 14th century the vicar of
Northleach took half the tithes of Stowell. (fn. 150) The
owner of the other half was presumably the
rector, but no further evidence about the disposition of the tithes of the parish has been found
before the early 19th century when all of them
belonged to the rector of Hampnett with
Stowell. (fn. 151) In 1535 Stowell rectory included
glebe (fn. 152) but in 1842 no glebe in Stowell was
attached to the living. (fn. 153) In 1535 Stowell rectory,
then on lease from the incumbent Humphrey
Bowyer to the lord of the manor Thomas Tame,
was valued at £6 a year. (fn. 154) It was worth £18 at
the union with Hampnett in 1656 (fn. 155) and contributed £20 to the value of the united benefice
in 1735. (fn. 156) The tithes of Stowell were commuted
for a corn rent-charge of £170 in 1842. (fn. 157)
There was no house for the rector at Stowell by
1735. (fn. 158)
Medieval rectors of Stowell included John
Sodbury, abbot of Cirencester, who was instituted in 1467. (fn. 159) Walter Bede (or Turbot), a
former monk of Winchcombe abbey, was rector
1559–73, holding the living with Hazleton rectory. (fn. 160) Edmund Bracegirdle served two terms,
1579–82 and 1590–1602. From 1580 he was also
vicar of Chedworth and in 1591, prefiguring
the permanent union in 1656, the rectory of
Hampnett was united with Stowell for the term
of his incumbency. Bracegirdle's successor
Brian Atkinson, presumably of the patron's
family, (fn. 161) also held Hampnett. (fn. 162) Francis Webb
succeeded Atkinson at Stowell in 1606 (fn. 163) and
remained rector in 1642. (fn. 164)
From 1656 Hampnett, which unlike Stowell
had a small village, was the church of the united
benefice. (fn. 165) Stowell church remained in use, however, largely in the character of a private chapel
to the manor house; a few of the occupants
of the house, including the politician John
Grubham Howe (d. 1722), were buried in the
church. (fn. 166) In the mid 18th century a single
Sunday service was held at Stowell, in the morning or afternoon, (fn. 167) but by the 1770s services had
been discontinued. (fn. 168) In 1810 the church was
brought back into use for services (fn. 169) and in 1851
one was held each Sunday for a congregation of
c. 10–15, made up of the household of the farmer
of Stowell Park farm and those of his workers
who lived in the parish. The parishioners were
then, and presumably from the mid 17th century, buried at Hampnett, (fn. 170) but they were baptized and married at Stowell. Stowell church
continued in the same roles in the later 19th
century and the 20th, serving the Eldon and
Vestey families and their estate workers. (fn. 171)
The church of ST. LEONARD (fn. 172) (sometimes
in the past thought to be dedicated to St. Peter) (fn. 173)
is cruciform on plan, comprising chancel, central tower with north and south transepts, and
aisleless nave. It is built mainly of coursed limestone rubble with some large dressed blocks and
with a stone slate roof; the 19th-century work is
mostly in ashlar.
The nave and chancel are of the mid 12th
century. The north doorway of the nave has a
shouldered surround and the south doorway,
which is apparently reset, has plain jambs and a
tympanum painted on the inside. The only original window is the west one; the north wall is
windowless and has the remains of tiers of 12thcentury wall paintings. The chancel retains an
original piscina. The crossing and the south
transept (the north transept is a rebuilding) are
of the later 12th century and Transitional in
style. The crossing has double-chamfered
arches, octagonal piers, and angle shafts on the
outer faces with volute and stiff-stalk west capitals, and the transept has a lancet window in the
west wall and fragments of late 12th- or early
13th-century wall paintings. A piscina in the
south transept, a credence shelf over the chancel
piscina, and the octagonal font date from the
13th century. (fn. 174) In the 14th century traceried
windows were inserted in the chancel and in the
south wall of the south transept; the southeastern one in the chancel incorporates sedilia.
The blocked opening to a rood stair survives
beside the chancel arch.
The church suffered from instability, leading
to the collapse of the upper part of the central
tower and its replacement by a gabled roof. All
the piers of the crossing are tilted from the perpendicular, the two eastern ones markedly so,
and buttressing has been added at the south-east
angle of the chancel and transept and at the west
end of the nave, where a central buttress of
unusual form is pierced by an aperture for the
west window and crowned by a grotesque.
Probably because of continuing instability, the
north transept was demolished c. 1700. (fn. 175)
While it was out of use in the late 18th century
the church deteriorated and it was described as
ruinous in 1803; (fn. 176) presumably some restoration
work was done when it was reopened for services
in 1810. (fn. 177) During 1898 and 1899 the church was
restored for the earl of Eldon to the designs of
C. Hodgson Fowler, (fn. 178) who replaced the north
transept, added a west bell turret, inserted a new
window in the south side of the nave, and
reroofed and refurnished the chancel. New oak
pews were installed in the nave in 1977 in
memory of Samuel Vestey, 2nd Lord Vestey,
and his wife Frances. (fn. 179)
Remains of a once extensive system of early
wall paintings were discovered at or shortly
before the restoration of the church in 1898. On
the north wall of the nave was a Doom, of which
the top tier, a Majesty with angels, is mostly
lost; below survives the Virgin flanked by saints
within a tier of blank arcading, and in the lowest
tier is the weighing of souls. The remains in the
south transept include a scene almost certainly
related to St. Margaret and another which is
possibly a representation of St. Laurence on his
gridiron. (fn. 180) The only monuments are wall monuments to Lady Annabella Howe (d. 1704) and
Anne Morgan (d. 1712), who were respectively
mother and stepdaughter of John Grubham
Howe (d. 1722). (fn. 181) The church has a single bell,
cast by C. & G. Mears in 1848. (fn. 182) The plate
includes a chalice of 1698. (fn. 183) The south side of
the church has the large number of five massdials. The churchyard has no monuments, as
Stowell probably never acquired full burial
rights. (fn. 184) Registers for Stowell, recording marriages and baptisms, survive from 1810. (fn. 185)
Nonconformity.
None known.
Education.
In 1846 the children of the
few cottagers at Stowell attended Sunday school
at Hampnett. (fn. 186) From 1872 they attended a
National school at Hampnett; known later as
Hampnett cum Stowell school, it continued to
serve Stowell until its closure in 1921. (fn. 187)
Charities for the Poor.
None known.