Some more detailed historical information
AUSTREY PAYMENTS AND CLAIMS TO THE COUNTY COMMITTEE
The following Civil War accounts for quartering and losses submitted by the inhabitants of Austrey to the Warwick county committee on 19th March, 1646 have been transcribed from the Commonwealth Exchequer Papers in the Public Record Office (SP 28/186), described as:
The Account of the Inhabitants of Awstry alias Aldestry in the county of Warwick to the Commissioners appoynted for the taking of Accounts for the sayd county, delivered the xixth day of March, anno domini 1646 by manner & forme following
The accounts start with payments for four subsidies in April and June, 1641 from Mr Perkins of Marston, amounting to £12-16-0.
Mr Walker of Fillongley paid two more subsidies in December, 1641 amounting to £6-8-0
Mr Richard Beardsley, high constable of Amington, paid a Contribution or loan money for the relief of subjects in Ireland of £8 in May 1641.
Sir George Devereux paid £10-17-6 in Poll Money in September, 1641
Waldive Willington of Burley, then collector paid £19-10-0 towards the four thousand pounds outstanding. Mr William Reeve of Poulehall in the parish of Polesworth in June, 1642. He subsequently, payd afterwards the other half thereunto to the collector - saving that of this last payment forty and eight shillings ... which were imposed upon the tithe corne - £19-10-0
Proposition Money Payments, from June 1645
Fourteen Austrey householders are recorded in 1645 making a series of payments of proposition money for their lands and goods totalling £82-10-0. In June 1645, Mrs Elizabeth Leving, a widow, paid £14 to Mr Thomas Basnet of Coventry while Thomas Barwell paid £2 to Mr Robert Graybrook of Middleton. In October, 1645, the widow Ann King, paid £14-0-0, William Crosse paid £10 and Richard Crosse paid £6 to the collectors, John Hales esquire and Mr Thomas Basnet.
Mr George Willington paid £2-10-0, Thomas Varnham (alias Vernon) paid £5, and Richard Spencer paid £2 in Proposition money to Robert Graybrook of Middleton.
Mr John Prior, the vicar, paid his proposition money, calculated at £12, to John Hales esquire. Anne Hall, widow paid £5 to Mr Robert Graybrook and Thomas Basnet. Christopher Palmer paid £1-10, Mr John Monck paid £6 and William Taverner paid £3-10 to Robert Graybrook.
Robert Ball paid £4 to Thomas Basnet and Thomas Taylor paid £5 to Mr Robert Greybrook.
In July 1643 Captain Otway and his deputies were paid £117 by order of the Committee of Militia and afterwards £728-0-0 representing back pay for thirty one months up to 1st May, 1646 at the rate of six pounds a week “which amounteth to saving that out of this was abated sixteene pounds or thereabouts to the Impropriation for two years”.
The committee admitted that they had not paid the sixteenths payment into the Treasury from 1st May until the 13th June 1646, but they had paid the weekly payments of £67-4-0 to Major Hawksworth for four months from 1st May to 22nd August 1646 and “£19-4-0 for the first three months from and after the said 22nd of August and a further £19-4 from the November 1646 at the same rate for three more months then next following” - a total payment of £931-8-0.
Accounts for Austrey Quartering and Losses, 1644.
The claims for quartering and losses from Austrey are very detailed and provide evidence that a considerable number of Parliamentarian troops were quartered there, usually for one or two days, taking away horses and other goods from the villagers.
In January 1644 it is recorded that “sixteen men of Sir Thomas Fairfax and his Army.....were quartered with one day and one night at eighteen pence a day and a night for a man and a horse” amounting to £10-4-0. They had also apparently taken away a horse worth £2-6-8.
A further “eight score men & so many horses of Colonell Drumwell under Captaine Knight & Captain Margerum were quartered here about whitsontide 1645 a day & a night valued at £12”.
“Fourescore men and so many horses of Colonell Hacker of Leicester were quartered eight dayes and eight nights about the beginning of March 1645”. The parish claimed £48 calculated at the daily rate of 18d for a man and a horse.
Another “fourscore souldiers, beinge footmen of the garrison of Leicester” were quartered at Austrey for two days and nights in July 1646, for which the inhabitants claimed £4, calculating six pence a day for each footsoldier.
Thirty four of General Fairfax’s soldiers, “being footmen under Captain Knight” were quartered for eight weeks in November and December 1646, “whereof they payd for two weekes, the residue rated at 2s 4d a man for a weeke” incurring a claim for £23-16-0.
Another forty of Colonel Drumwell’s horsemen under Captain Middleton were quartered in September 1646, for eight days and eight nights worth £24. Around the same time, a further five score of General Fairfax’s own troops were quartered one day and a night valued at £7-10-0
On 21st February, 1646 Captain Bowes had £9-5-4 from Austrey “in lieu of foure horses for the Earl of Denbigh” (presumably taken from local farmers). There is another claim for £6 paid by John Williams, the quartermaster to Captain Robert Meredith in lieu of quartering fifty men in June 1646.
Claims for maintenance payments include £13-5-0 paid to Mr Thomas Willington of Whateley towards the maintenance of General Fairfax’s army, £17-6-0 collected for the British Army in Ireland, and in December 1646, £24-1-6 paid to Mr Francis Fetherstone of Shustoke for the British Army in Ireland.
The most frequent claims were for horses taken away by Parliamentary soldiers. In September 1646 “the souldiers of Captayne Watson of Derby did take from Mr George Willington a gray gelding mare worth £7”. In November, 1645 William Taverner had a bay mare worth £6 “taken from him by Captayne Swathan [?] of Derby and his men”. In June 1644, James Prior had a young horse worth £7 taken from him by Captain Ashleyhurst’s troops of Derby. In June 1644, Richard Read had a mare worth £5-10-0 taken from him by Captain Smythe’s men, under the command of the Earl of Denbigh,
The accounts continue with a declaration of charges and losses suffered by the inhabitants of Austrey from “the quartering and plundering” of the Scots.
Mr John Prior, the vicar “suffered in grasse, hay, provender, mault and pease the losse of £4-10-0 and in meate and drink & services done with a man and two horses two dayes, £1-10-0, and a mare was taken from him by them worth £4”.
Thomas Page was “diminished by them in mony & ale & for grasse & quartering” worth £2.
Mr George Willington claimed £5 “for quartering 20 men & 40 horses & goods they did take from him”.
Joseph Tallis claimed “for quartering 12 men & 30 horses & for grasse, hay & provender, £2-15 and for services done with 2 men & 2 horses for 7 days,10s and [goods?] taken from him from his house £5-5-0”.
Thomas Barwell claimed £2 for quartering twenty four men, and horses for two days, and £1-6-8 for “three lambes … and a hatt, & shoose and other things taken from him”.
The widow Anne King, claimed £1-4-0 for quartering fourteen men and their horses for two days, and a further £2-10-0 “for eight sheep… taken from her by them, a bible, linnens, & five shillings in mony”.
John Nichols claimed £1-16 for quartering thirteen men and for two sheep.
Percy Turner claimed £1-6-8 “for quartering 16 men & 16 horses and a further 12s for two yards of linnen cloth and 2 lambes … taken from him by them”.
James Prior claimed £1-10-0 “for quartering 17 men & 17 horses for two dayes and 6s for 2 horses taken away by them”.
Thomas Mould claimed 14s for quartering sixteen men for two days and £1-12-0 for “a hatt, eight shillings in mony & six strikes of mault” they took with them.
Raphe Browne claimed £2-5-0 for quartering twenty five men and horses for two days, and £1-8-0 for “linnens, irons and other things and two sheep … taken from him by them”.
John Smart claimed 18s for quartering ten men and horses for two days, and £4 for “his grasse eaten by other quartered horses”.
Richard Arnold claimed £1-16-0 for quartering eleven men and horses for two days, “and three sheep taken from him & cheese &c”.
Robert Crosse claimed £1- 4-0 for quartering fourteen men and horses for two days, £2 for a mare was taken from him and £2-8-0 for “the grasse of a close eaten, & linnens, woollen & other things taken by them”.
Richard Clark claimed 15s for unspecified goods “taken from him by the Scots”.
John Wright claimed £1-14-0 for the amount he was “diminished by the Scots by quartering & plundering”.
Thomas Farrion claimed he was diminished by them with quartering & plundering, £12”.
Richard Wakelyn claimed 6s for quartering eight men for a day and a night.
William Taverner claimed £3-10-0 “for quartering 16 men and 28 horses for 2 dayes & grasse eaten and £1-0-0 for 4 sheep taken from him by them”.
Thomas Robynson had “13 strikes of mault & a mare & some apparrell taken from him by the Scots” for which he claimed £4-12-0.
Thomas Houldon claimed £1-8-0 for quartering fifteen men horses and £1-15-6 for “linnens taken from him by them”.
Barnabie Smart claimed £1-11-0 for quartering fifteen men and twenty five horses and 10s for “cheeses & other things taken from him”.
Richard Mylner claimed £1-4-0 for quartering fifteen men for two days and for “having a strike of wheate & some other things taken from him”.
Philipp Smyth claimed 10s 8d for quartering eight men for two days and 8s for “a strike & half of peas, two shillings and some iron …taken from him”.
Raphael Lagoe claimed £1-4-0 for quartering nineteen men for two days and 14s for “ten shillings, a flaxen shirt, and some other things …taken from him”.
Richard Crosse claimed £2-12-8 for quartering men and horses for two days and a further £2-10-0 for the provisions they took with them, complaining that “he yielded to them the service of a man & his grasse was spoyled & had a saddle, & some other things and a sheep taken away and they did take a mare from him”.
William Crosse, claimed £2-19-2 for quartering men and horses for two days and for the provisions they took with them, including ale, adding that “they had 13s of him, & did take 5 sheep from him & from one of his servants worth £1-17-0”. He further claimed £1-4-10 for “a blankett, a sheet, a napkin & much of the grasse … eaten and spoyled by other quartered horses”.
Thomas Hanson claimed 18s for quartering fourteen men for two days and a further £5-0-0 as compensation for 19 sheep and some linens taken away.
Robert Erpe claimed £1-1-4 for quartering sixteen men for two days and £1 for the loss of “13s, shepes, & other things & grasse eaten by other quartered horses”.
Henry Cooke claimed £1-5-0 for quartering sixteen men for two days. “And his grasse in his little close was eaten & spoyled & they had of him 38s in mony and some clothes” , amounting to £2-12-8 altogether.
The widow Clarke claimed 12s for quartering fourteen men for two days.
Anne Beck, a widow claimed £1-4-0 for quartering eighteen men for two days and 9s for “a carpet, a velvet cushion, and six sheeps they took from her”
Robert Taylor claimed £1-5-0 for quartering fourteen men and horses for two days.
Jacob Cooper claimed 12s for quartering thirteen men for two days, and for 2s they took from him.
Thomas Arnold claimed £1 for quartering sixteen men for two days.
Robert Taverner claimed £1-5-0 for quartering twenty two men and horses for two days “and they did take from him a fustian doublet the …4 cushions & some other things, and six cheeses & five shillings”…worth 18s
Richard Read claimed 12s for quartering eight men for two days.
Christopher Palmer had a long list of claims, including £1-10-0 for quartering sixteen men and horses for two days, £5-4 for “4 strikes of wheat, & 4 strykes of peas, 4 pounds & 4 shillings in mony”, and £2 for “2 paire of sheets, 2 pillows, 2 shirts & other linnens, a hatt, a pannell, a bridle, a brase of bells, 2 paire of stockings, a sack & other things”. He also claimed for “tobaccho” worth 16s, and for the loss of nine sheep worth £1-16-0.
Richard Tallis claimed 18s for quartering sixteen men for two days
John Beck claimed 15s for quartering fourteen men and their horses for two days.
Richard Crispe claimed 12s for quartering eighteen men for two days and a further £1-4-0 for six sheep they took from him.
Thomas Taylor claimed £2-16-10 for quartering men and horses for two days, and for “provision which they did take away, and a further 13s 4d for two sheep taken from him, and grasse eaten and spoyled by other horses”.
These claims were witnessed by eight witnesses, most of them yeomen or gentlemen, most signing their own names.
George Willington
William Crosse
William Taverner
John Smart
Thomas Taylor
Thomas Barwell (his marke)
Thomas Varnham (his marke)
The total amount of losses recorded from quartering and plundering in the three years, recorded in these accounts is as follows:
1644 £163-15-8
1645 £88-10-8
1646 £129-3-10
From March 1644 to October 1645, Mr Henry Kendall Sen., the lord of the manor of Austrey was Captain of the garrison at Maxstoke Castle with his eldest son Henry Kendall Jun. as Lieutenant. A handful of other Austrey inhabitants, including William Smart, a joiner’s son, Joseph Orton, Henry Spencer and John Crispe, all with family links to the parish, were also in the Parliamentary garrison, according to the muster rolls. [Public Record Office, Exchequer: Maxstoke musters, SP 28/121A, SP 28/122]
© Alan Roberts, 2003. Accounts transcribed from original accounts in P.R.O. 1986.
The Possessions of King Charles I in Austrey, 1650
These are the Austrey lands, enclosures, houses and cottages belonging to Charles Stuart ‘late King of England’ as listed by the Parliamentary Commissioners in 1650 at the end of the Civil War, as recorded by the Exchequer.
Several houses and cottages with appurtenances in the parish of Austrey sold to Thomas Baker of Weston, gentleman, ‘and at his desire is rated for himself and Edward Allen of London gent.’ Held in fee simple by above eighteen years purchase ... in occupation of late Lord Robert, Earl of Essex. The 21 year lease dated 30th June 1648 was granted by letters patent of Charles I on 16th June, 14th year of his reign, worth £31-7-4 p.a., for purchase money of £888-12-0. [Followed by list of troopers &c. E 121/5/1]
Messuage or dwelling house with the appurtenances, one Barne consisting of tenne bayes…length one hundred and fortie foot… and eighteen foot wide, Pigeon house, Orchard and Garden, and a Backsyde to the said Messuage, bounded by Austrey Street on the east and common fields on west, area three acres one rood. [E320/T12]
A close of pasture ('the Overclose’) abutting on lands of Thomas Taylor on the south and Austrey Street on the north, covering an area of six acres
A close of pasture near a messuage, Austrey Steet on the south side, a Common in the occupation of Thomas Page on the north, area two acres.
Several parcels of meadow in Read Meadow: one west of New Meadow, one east of Long Meadow, total area seven acres.
23 acres of arable strips in Orton Way Field intermingled with those of the inhabitants, including a reference to ‘Millway Common' on the west.
14 acres 3 roods in Lesemores and Holliwell Brook Field including Kings Close in occupation of John Prior, vicar or his assigns.
Tenements, including one with a cottage, barn, cowhouse, stable, orchards, with Austrey Street on the west side, strips in Orton Way Field, Holliwell Brook Field, Twycross Field (2 acres), another cottage abutting Austrey Street on the east side in occupation of James Prior, another ‘small cottage’ in occupation of Thomas Mould, Austrey Street on the east side.
Land in Holliwell Field abutting Mill Post highway on east. &c.
Source: P.R.O. E121/5/1, E320/T12 from Unpublished State Papers of the Civil War and Interregnum, 114 microfilm reels, ed. Michael Hawkins in association with the Public Record Office, Harvester Press [1975-1977].
[insert jpeg: 1650 map of Nether End households]
The Parliamentary Survey of 1650
An itemised list of Lands and Tenements in ALVESTREY ALS AUSTREY in late possession of Charles Stuart, late king of England, October 1650
[abstracted from P.R.O. Exchequer documents, E317/WARW/9, ff 1-16]
All that messuage or dwelling howse ... consisting of eleven rooms, six below stayers and five above; one barne consisting of tenne bayes which doe conteyne in length 140 foote of assize and in breadth 18 foote; one cow howse and stable which doe conteyne 36 ft by 18 ft; one pigeon howse reasonable well stoced with pigeons; one orchard garden and backside thereunto belonging covered with tile and the outhouses with thatch and are bounded upon Austrey Street on the east side and a comon feild on the west and contain by estimation 3 acres 1 rood. The said howse is in very good repair. Value £7
One close of pasture ground commonly called the Over Close upon the ground of Thomas Taylor on the south and Austrey Street on the north, 6 acres, value 80s.
One other close of pasture ... neere the aforesaid house with the Site on the west. Austrey Street on the south of ground in the occupation of Thomas Page on the north. Two acres, two roods, total value 80s
4 Several peeces of meadow ground containing 6 long poles apiece lying in a meadow called Read Meadow. 15 poles of meadow in New Meadow vizt: nine poles lying at the west end and seven poles at the east end, Six pieces of meadow ground containing six long poles apiece in Long Meadow, seven acres, total value £6
Common Field Lands
The Survey records several parcels of arable land in the Common fields intermixed with the land of the rest of the inhabitants, including fellows, followers or half furlongs, headlands, through shooters, baulks etc. Total lands:
81 lands &c in Orton Way Field. 27 acres 2 perches, value £9-3-4
61 lands inTwycross Way Field. 23 acres 3 roods, value £7-17-0
35 lands in Holliwell Brook Field (als Helemore). 14 acres 3 roods, value £3 -18-0
Thomas Mould, undertennes ... occupies a small cottage or tenement with 3 rooms (two below stairs,one above); one Barn & cowhouse 36 ft X 16 ft, one stable 20 ft X 16 ft; orchard and garden plott. Austrey street on the west and a parcel of ground in occupation of James Prior on the east…total one rood, value 15s. Together with several parcels of land in the Common Fields. [seven lands] total two acres, value 13s 4d.
James Pryor, undertennes…. Occupies a cottage house &c with four rooms (two below stairs, two above); a small barn and cowhouse, garden plott abutting on a parcel of ground in occupation of Thomas Mould (W), Austrey Street (E), total one rood, value 13s 4d. Together with five parcels of arable land in the Common Fields covering two acres, value 13s 4d.
Richard Read, undertennes occupies a cottage house, with three rooms (two below stairs,one above); a barn of two bayes (28 ft X 18 ft), a cowhouse abutting upon land occupied by Thomas Howe (W), and Austrey Street (E)…one rood, value 13s 4d. Together with five arable lands in Orton Way, Twicross Way and Holliwell Fields, total two acres, value 13s 4d.
Thomas Milners, undertennes …occupies a cottage house with three rooms (two below stairs, one above); a small barn, orchard, garden, adjacent to lands of Ralph Fellagoe (S), Austrey Street (N). two roods, value 16s, with six arable lands in Orton Way, Twicross Way and Holliwell Brook Fields, two acres, value 13s 4d.
Ralph Fellagoe (or ffellagoe), undertennes occupies a cottage house &c with two rooms (1one below, one above); a little barn, orchard, garden plot, abutting ground in occupation of Thomas Milner (N) and Richard Choise (S). two roods, value 16s, with five arable lands in Orton Way Twicross Way and Holliwell Brook Fields. two acres, value 13s 4d
Richard Wise, undertennes occupies a cottage house with five rooms (two above stairs, two below); a barn 24 ft X 18 ft, yard, a garden plot bounded by ground of Ralph Felagoe (N), Thomas Martin (S), one rood, value 16s, with seven arable lands in Orton Way, Twicross Way and Holliwell Fields. two acres, value 13s 4d.
Thomas Martin, undertennes .. occupies a cottage house with four rooms (two below stairs, two above); a small barn, yard, an orchard, bounded by lands in occupation of Thomas Taylor (S). Richard Wise (N). two roods, value 16s, with five arable lands in Orton Way, Twicross Way and Holliwell Brook Fields. two acres, value 13s 4d.
With all Wayes, passages, liberties, priviledges of Commons and Common of Pasture, easements, advantages, emoliments and appurtenances to messuages and tenements &c &c.
Memorandum: All before mentioned lands &c were by Charles Stuart, late king ...[by] Patents bearing the date 21 June,14th year of his reign granted to Robert, late earl of Essex, to hold from 16th July next for 21 years, for £18 at Lady Day and Michaelmas by equal portions. But they are worth upon Improvement as the particulars before appears, over and above the said Rent £31-7-4.
The Lessee is well and sufficiently to repaire, support and susteyne, escouse [?], purge and maintaine all the howses, buildings, enclosures and water lanes [?] belonging to the premisses and att the end of his said Terme soe to leave the farme. He having and takeing all necessary Books to be thereupon spent and not elsewhere, and Timber towards the repairs of the howses and buildings of the premisses by assignment.
Covenant: That if the said Rent or part thereof be behind and unpaid for the space of 4 days thereto ...he forfeit double the Rent with liberty of distresse till satisfaction made. There was 9 years to come in the aforesaid lease upon the 16th July last past & John Smith of Kegworth co. Leicester by means of assignment enjoyed the said lease.
Memorandum. John Prior, vicar of Austrey, claymes lands and tenements before menconed for the term of life by certacon institacion & Induccion [as] belonging to the vicarage of Austrey. but hath not made anie thing appear unto us. And therefore wee leave the same to the determinacon of the Honourable Board.
…the reserved Rent £18.0.0
…the Improved Value £49-7-4
Executor : Roger Mandeville Clerk.
Witnesses: William Hill (sig.), Thomas James (sig)
Hill: Carter....&c &c &c. Total 19 folio pages.
Smallholders listed in the 1650 Parliamentary Survey
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Smallholders ('undertennes') Ralph Fellagoe Thomas Martin Thomas Milner Thomas Mould John Prior (vicar) James Pryor Richard Read Richard Wise
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Holders of Common Fields lands John Becke William Beck Ralph Brown Richard Choice Richard Clark William Crispe Robert Cross William King Mr Leeving Thomas Martin Thomas Milner
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Holders of Common Fields lands Mr Moncke Humphrey Mousley Joseph Orton William Orton Thomas Page John Robinson John Smart Phillip Smith Mr Swale Thomas Taylor Richard Wise
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© Transcribed by A. Roberts, Nov. 2000.
Austrey Churchwardens Account Book for 1708
a transcript of the first page of the Austrey churchwardens account book
The Austrey Churchwardens expenses in 1708
Churchwardens� Account books from the early modern period make interesting reading. We are fortunate to have a routine list of churchwardens' expenses for Austrey dating from as early as 1708 among the surviving parish records in the Warwick County Record Office which provide some idea of the more mundane day to day aspects of eighteenth century church life in Austrey around this time. The accounts for 1708, drawn up by Thomas Hinks and Robert Woodward, the Austrey churchwardens, start with a payment of 5s to Richard Mould for his wages for the quarter up to June 14th with a further payment of 5s at Michaelmas. Another of the parishioners, John Cooper, was given a shilling �for lining the bellropes� in the June quarter. In August, and September payments were made for �the Presentation at the Visitation at Coleshill�, for the cost of a new Prayer Book and for drawing up the proclamation for Thanksgiving Day, with 5s given to the ringers on 6th September.
The churchwardens were particularly responsible for maintaining the fabric of the church. Towards the end of Summer a payment of 10s was made to reimburse William Barber for his purchase of four hundred quarry tiles as 2s 6d a hundred for retiling the church floor. Further payments were made for carriage of a load of sand and to pay the brickmaker for twenty more quarry tiles. On September 23rd Thomas Goff, the mason, was paid for �five days working about the Church floor at 1s 2d per day�. Maintenance work was also carried out on the church roof, with outlays for replacing the lead, for carting away the old lead and for bringing the new lead from Atherstone. Payments were also made for weighing the lead at Atherstone and for the purchase of two strikes of lime for pointing the leads.
Among the incidental payments, was a penny taken from the church funds to buy bread for the sacraments and a penny paid to Thomas Page for candles, used to provide light to draw up the old officer�s accounts. On October 8th the churchwardens paid a certain Mr Lort, 3s 11d for two and a half yards of �stuff for the carpet� (a reference perhaps to floorcovering for the church aisles, or hangings for the altar) at 1s 7d a yard. Finally, towards the end of the year, another half a crown was paid out to the bell ringers for ringing the church bells on Guy Fawke�s night.
© Alan Roberts, 2003.
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The Accounts of Thomas Hinks & Robert Woodward, Churchwardens for the Parish of Austrey for the year 1708?.. |
£ - s - d |
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Imp. Paid to Richard Mould for a Quarters Wages, June the 14th |
5s
|
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July 30 Paid to John Cooper for Lining the bellropes |
1s
|
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Paid for a Prayer Book and the Proclamation for the Thanksgiving Day, August the19th |
1s 6d
|
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Paid for giving for My Presentation at the Visitation at Coleshill, August the 7th |
1s |
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For my Charges at the same time |
1s |
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For my Writing of the Presentments |
6d |
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Given to the Ringers for Thanksgiving September 6th |
5s |
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Paid to William Barber for 4 Hundred of Quarrys for to Lay the Church floor at 2s 6d the Hundred |
10s |
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For Carriage of a Load of Sand & the 4 Hundred of Quarryes September the 7th |
2s |
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September the 18th Paid to the Brickmaker for 20 Quarryes |
6d |
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September the 23rd to Thomas Goff, Mason for 5 days work about the Church floor at 1s 2d per day |
5s 10d |
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October 1st Paid for the Court Fees at Coleshill |
3s 8d |
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For my Charges at the same time |
1s 6d |
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October the 8th Paid to Mr Lort for 2 yards & a half of Stuff for the Carpit at 1s 7d a yard |
3s 11d |
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Item the [payment] for Bread for the Sacraments |
1d |
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Paid to Thomas Page for Candles at the taking the old Officers accounts |
1d |
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Spent of Thomas Goff at the Laying the Church floor |
4d |
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&c |
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The Austrey Incumbents - Seventeenth Century Austrey
Among the factors that gave the sons of the gentry and clergy an advantage over their neighbours was their more widespread attendance and placement in grammar schools which gave access to the universities and thus initiated them into the �high culture� of their Age. Of the two, the clergy were usually better educated than their gentry colleagues. While their neighbours in Appleby took an active part in religious prophesying, maintaining links with radical puritans at Ashby and exchanging books with kinsmen and neighbours of like mind, the parsons of Austrey remained orthodox and avoided dabbling in religious controversy. Not much is known of their social origins or of their educational backgrounds, but most of them were Oxford men (unlike their Appleby counterparts who were Cambridge graduates). The fact that the Austrey parsons owed their preferment to the crown may explain why they were drawn from more distant parts. Two critical appointments were John Prior and John Shakespeare, who were vicars of Austrey during the critical Interregnum and early Restoration periods. Prior who retained his position throughout the Civil War, Interregnum and Restoration, was a Magdalen man. John Shakespeare, the son of a Coventry merchant who succeded him in 1670, was a graduate of St. John's College.
The local puritan clergy were a close-knit group who exchanged books and relied upon each other for religious support. Thomas Walker, the rector of Grendon and Richard Latimer, vicar of Polesworth, were two neighbouring clerics who took part in these exchanges as shown, for example, in 1607 by Walker's bequest to Latimer of �one booke and my part of a booke which are both in his hands�. In the post-war period the circle widened to include ejected ministers like Richard Dowley at Orton, Richard Southwell, the curate of Wilnecote and Thomas Hill of the Lea Grange, also in Orton. Hill, who drew up wills for some of the Austrey residents was also a keen scholar, �a man of profound learning� equally proficient in Latin, Greek and Hebrew.
Sources and Notes
J. Brinsley, Ludus Literarius: or the Grammar Schoole (London, 1612);
For the use of Ashby to promote Puritanism see C. Cross, Puritan Earl, pp. 133-5, 139-40; Gilby himself published an edition of Calvin's Commentaries in 1570. A.L. Hughes, �County community� thesis, pp. 56-7. Latimer was drawn into this local clerical network despite being denounced by the puritans in 1586 as a �dumbe-dog�: See R. O'Day, The English Clergy, pp.163-4, 169. Poverty is put forward as a possible reason why some parsons were prevented from acquiring a good library as evinced, for example, in John Eachard�s �study of a few scurvy books�, The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion, (1670), 102.
J. Foster, Alumni Oxoniensis, The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714 (Oxford, 1891) Vol. IV, pg 1338.
Thomas Hill�s involvement in S. Palmer, The Nonconformists Memorial (London, 1803) III, pp. 347-9.
© Alan Roberts, 2000
The Religious Challenge: radical sectarianism
Religious Dissent had a very noticeable impact in Austrey and the surrounding villages after the Civil War. Before 1650 religious sectarianism was largely contained within the church but after the outbreak of the Civil War the activities of the radical sects intensified, becoming more and more identified with demands for social and political change. Temporarily relaxed censorship after 1640 provided a unique forum for the airing of these millenarian ideas. It is interesting to see how the Austrey clergy and their congregations coped with these religious challenges, and how it affected the villagers.
Christopher Hill has described the period from 1645 to 1653 as �a period of glorious flux and intellectual excitement�. The parish clergy had already witnessed a series of drastic organisational changes brought in by Parliament in an attempt to suppress Arminianism. These included the abolition of episcopacy in 1643, the imposition of sanctions against use of the prayer book and the establishment of a directory of worship in 1644. The righteous clamour of radical sects like the Diggers, Ranters and Levellers for more substantial changes increased religious uncertainty and provoked new challenges to the foundations of the social order. Although the threatened 'revolt within the revolution' collapsed under the weight of the conservative backlash before 1660, the revolutionary religious ideas which sustained those who wanted to 'turn the world upside down' remained potentially dangerous forces.
Religious beliefs in ordinary villagers.
While the attitudes of clergy and gentry may often be inferred from written evidence - commonplace books, diaries, visitations, and the contents of clerical libraries - the religious beliefs and attitudes of ordinary inhabitants are seldom recorded except in preambles to wills. Unfortunately, religious statements in wills do not always reflect the testator's personal beliefs. Wills drawn up by professional scribes often follow a set formula or reflect the faith of the scrivener rather than that of the testator. However, less conventional expressions of faith can usually be relied upon to capture the essence of personal belief. Early wills from Austrey reveal a strong and simple piety permeating all ranks of the social order. Those drawn up before 1560 contain the standard Catholic clauses. After the mid sixteenth-century Reformation the testators gradually abandon references to Mary and the Saints. References to personal salvation, penitence and the expunging of sin in about a quarter of the wills suggest that there was a strong 'Protestant' or Calvinist element in the parish, especially among some of the yeomen. Other colourful visions of the afterlife seem to owe their inspiration to radical sermons and texts. William Beck for example thought that his soul would be �carried by the blessed angels in heaven� while his body suffered �soft corruption in the grave�, the two to be later united �coupled and joined together in the kingdom of glory to reign in heaven and unspeakable blessedness with God� (1626).
Toleration and religious conflict
The variations in religious imagery, unreliable though they may be as a guide to individual belief, suggest a broad spectrum of religious attitudes ranging from orthodox Anglicanism to radical nonconformity, but the dominant strand could probably be described as 'moderately puritan'. Religious differences did not necessarily cause conflict before the Civil War. Neighbourly toleration even extended to Catholics, as is suggested, for example, by the presentment of Joseph Mould of Appleby before the Bishop of Lincoln's consistory court at Melton in 1635 on a charge of allowing Mary Foster, the wife of his recusant neighbour, to attend upon his own wife during her confinement. Prosecutions for nonconformity were nonexistent or rare before 1640. Dissent in Austrey was probably kept in check by the parish's geographical isolation, the continuing stability of the social order and the comparative illiteracy of the ordinary inhabitants.
However, from the late Tudor period onwards, radical religious ideas gained increasing currency through the sermons and prophesysings of radical preachers in centres like Ashby, Atherstone and Nuneaton. In the early 1570s the inhabitants of villagers were probably influenced, to some extent at least, by the puritan clergy in the local market towns. Their spiritual leader, the schoolmaster, Anthony Gilby, vented strong opposition to the established church. His spiritual successor, Arthur Hildersham, the vicar of Ashby, helped to promote the Puritan millenary petition. Sir George Hastings purchase of the living at Measham in 1581 and the presentment of Peter Egleshall as vicar, brought dissent even closer to Austrey�s doorstep. Even if they wanted to, the local vicars were powerless to prevent the proliferation of radical sects in surrounding towns and villages or to curb the clamour of dissent against the established church within their own parish.
Sources and Notes
Hill, The World Turned Upside Down, pg. 12
L.J.R.O. wills, William Beck, 1626.
The relative influence of clerical scribes upon expressions of faith in wills promoted lively debate in the early 1970s. See, for example, M. Spufford, 'The scribes of villagers' wills in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and their influence', Local Population Studies, 7 (Autumn, 1971), pp. 28-43; R.C. Richardson, 'Wills and will-makers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: some Lancashire evidence', LPS, 9 (Autumn, 1972), pp. 33-41
P.R.O. Presentments SP 16/535/95.
C. Cross, The Puritan Earl, pg.135.
Presbyterians and unlicenced preachers
The Austrey incumbent played a comparatively minor part in religious controversy. His office, already weakened by the loss of the tithes was further undermined by sequestration which (temporarily at least) deprived the vicar of his two leases in Hollywell Brook and Leasemoor Field. The main religious challenge after the Civil War came from presbyterians and Quakers. The presbyterians remained within the church, disputing only the form of church government. The earliest evidence of their presence in Austrey is contained by the episcopal returns of �conventicles� which record that they regularly met in Henry Kendall�s house. Providing meeting places in their homes was quite common practice among sympathetic local gentry. Thomas Dowley, who was ejected from the living at Elford in Staffordshire, used his own house in Newton Regis as a meeting place in 1669. His son Richard, following in his father's steps, later preached at Orton possibly staying with Thomas Hill at the Lea Grange. When their licences were revoked some preachers even resorted to stratagems to gain an audience, as for example when Tixell Perry tricked the Appleby rector into allowing him to preach a sermon in Appleby Church.
Ejected divines were the most active local preachers of the 1660s and 1670s and their ejections probably encouraged the spread of dissent into neighbouring parishes. Thomas Hill and Richard Dowley, the vicars of Orton and Stoke Prior, who were both ejected for nonconformity, were perhaps typical. Following his ejection from the living at Orton in 1672, Hill retired to his house at the Lea Grange (within Orton parish) where he preached to small numbers of his followers. Palmer relates that, when the Five Mile Act came into force be left his family 'and was entertained at a friend's house from whence he went to a gentleman's house about a mile off'. The evidence is sufficient to indicate that he was taken in by Henry Kendall, who later appointed him his overseer in his will. When George Kendall, Henry's elderly uncle, moved to neighbouring Appleby he continued to be a thorn in the side of the church, suffering excommunication in 1672 along with a certain Robert Jackson for �continuing to blaspheme� against the church.
Quakers - 'the People of the Word'
After the Civil War the Quakers succeeded the Ranters as the chief threat to the established social order, promoting what seemed to many a dangerous, radical and alien ideology. Their leader, George Fox, a native of the border region between Leicestershire and Warwickshire, carried his interpretation of �the Word� from here to other parts:
The Truth sprang up first to us so as to be a people of the Lord in Leicestershire in 1644, in Warwickshire in 1645, in Nottinghamshire in 1646, in Derbyshire in 1647 and in the adjacent counties in 1648, 1649 and 1650.
Unlike the presbyterians and others who were accomodated within the established church, the Quakers deliberately set themselves apart from the communal order. They further emphasised their separateness by a refusal to swear oaths of allegiance and by upholding a claim that scripture could only be interpreted through the 'inner spirit', and not by any outside authority. This was an especially dangerous idea. In common with other radical groups, such as Ranters and Diggers, they had particular appeal to the poorer sort of people, especially to cottage craftworkers and labourers, although converts were drawn from all ranks of society in the early years. Although they have been described as �the dregs of the common people', they were originally supported by gentry, yeomen and craftsmen.
By 1654 the Quakers were strongly entrenched in North Warwickshire. Fox records large gatherings of the sect at Shuttington, Tamworth and Baddesley Ensor in north Warwickshire. The earliest sign of Quaker activity in the vicinity of Austrey however was in 1653 when Richard Farmer, a Quaker, is said to have attempted to read a 'Christian exhortation' to the townspeople of Twycross. The nervousness of the local gentry in the face of this challenge is revealed in their haste to arrest and imprison him before he had even finished his speech. By 1660 Leicester gaol is said to have housed as many as twenty-five Quaker 'Fanaticks', most of them poor men imprisoned for failure to pay fines, for attending illegal meetings or for refusing to swear oaths.
Sources and Notes
For George Kendall�s excommunication see L.R.O. Archdeaconry court, 1D41/4/XVIII/24. Mould avowed Kendall was one of his parishioners whom be 'seldom seeth ... at his parish church...upon a lords day'. 1D41/4/XXXVI/123.
G.L. Turner, Original Records of Early Nonconformity under Persecution and Indulgence (London, 1911) II, pp. 756, 788, III, pp. 353. Calamy�s 'Account of the Ministers Ejected and Silenced' in S. Palmer (ed.) Nonconformists' Memorial, III, pg. 347; In 1690 Timothy Fox, ex-rector of Drayton Basset (Staffs.) and Richard Southwell, curate of Wilnecote, preached monthly at Appleby: A.G. Matthews, Calamy Revised (Oxford, 1934), pp. 211, 452.
For Tixell Perry, L.R.O. Archdeaconry Court Proceedings, 1D41/XXXVI/123.
P.R.O. E 121/5/1; VCR Warws, Vol. I, pg. 42.
C. Hill, World Turned Upside Down, 99; B. Reay, 'The Social Origins of Early Quakerism', JIH, xi No. 1 (Summer, 1980), pp. 55, 62.
George Fox cited in R. Clark, 'Why was the Re-establishment of the Church of England in 1662 Possible? Derbyshire, a provincial perspective', Midland History, 8 (1983), pg 92.
�Christian exhortation� in Journal of George Fox, cited in Hughes thesis, pg 436.
J. Besse, Collection of the Sufferings of the People Called Quakers for the Testimony of a Good Conscience (London, 1753) I, pg. 330.
The returns of conventicles
The Compton census provides a conservative estimate of the extent of nonconformity in Austrey by 1676 recording nine nonconformists, eight of whom are described as Quakers. Adjacent parishes also record dissenting minorities. In the hamlet of Warton in Polesworth 22 nonconformists comprised four per cent of adult males, in Shuttington 12 nonconformists made up fifteen per cent of the total and in the combined townships of Grendon and Whittington, near Tamworth, 18 nonconformists were nine per cent of the adult males. (Appleby records no recusants or nonconformists despite returns of conventicles within the parish in 1672, 1689 and 1692). The Quakers� impulse towards martyrdom and their spurning of help from their neighbours, proved particularly intractable, encouraging the authorities to persecution and harassment.
The Austrey Quakers were noticeably poorer than the presbyterians, who were comparatively more literate, wealthy and better connected. From Easter 1679 to Epithany 1685 a group of Austrey inhabitants were repeatedly brought before the Justices of the Peace at Warwick to answer charges of absence from church. Four of the five Quaker householders are described as husbandmen, the remaining one was a weaver. One of the Austrey householders questioned by the justices was Richard Hinks who was probably related to the Quaker �Fanatick� Peter Hinks, imprisoned in Leicester gaol in 1660. Attempts at suppression were ineffective. The long-term influence first of repression and then of Toleration was the growth of apathy and sectarianism. By 1708 the parson of Austrey was complaining that many of his parishioners 'neither come to church nor go to any other place of religious worship'. Having successfully challenged the church on this issue many inhabitants appear to have decided to dispense with Sunday attendance altogether.
Religious dissent emerges as a virulent agency of social change within Austrey and the surrounding parishes. The religious disputes exposed a raw nerve of religious and ideological conflict. While dissent was largely contained within the parish it was a greater threat to the traditional order than the Civil War because it aroused deeper and more lasting antagonisms. Whereas the confrontation between king and parliament posed a sudden threat to life and property which helped to strengthen rather than weaken social ties, religious dissent threatened to divide the inhabitants in irreconcilable postures. Outside persecution, as in the case of the Austrey Quakers, merely hardened these divisions. Although complete social disintegration was averted and the dissenters accommodated in the more tolerant religious climate after 1700, the social order suffered shocks from which it did not fully recover, old habits of subservience were undermined. The subsequent history of the parish reflects attitudes which can no longer be described as either traditional or parochial.
Sources and Notes
Fox, Derbyshire Quarter Sessions, pg 367.
Returns of conventicles in J.H. Hodson, 'Warwickshire Nonconformist and Quaker Meetings and Meeting Houses, 1660-1750'; WCR Sessions Order Book VIII, pp. lxxii, lxxviii; R.H. Evans, 'Nonconformists in Leicestershire, 1669', Trans. Leics. Arch. Society, xxv (1949), pp. 124-5.
WCR Hearth Tax Returns Vol. I, pp. 19, 102, 129.,Vol. VII, pp. 125, 141, 158, 180-1, 192; Vol. VIII, pp. 49, 121.
L.J.R.O. Note by Thomas Wainwright, vicar of Austrey, B/C/5.
© Alan Roberts, November 2000
Seventeenth Century Austrey
The Parsons Library
The seventeenth-century vicars of Austrey had books but, unlike their clerical neighbours in Appleby, their libraries do not provide much evidence as to clerical leanings and affiliations, much less evidence of radical Protestant inclinations. (The Appleby parson�s puritan sympathies are revealed, in contrast, by the several volumes of Calvin�s Commentaries among the books Thomas Mould passed on to his successor in 1642). By 1660 the Austrey vicarage had a study where the parson probably retired to write his sermons. In 1664, the incumbent, John Prior, left his brother James 'writing paper and books in the study', later appraised at £10. In 1680 his successor, John Shakespeare, left books in the same study worth £40, reflecting the growing enthusiasm for books throughout the country. The parson�s study probably contained some recent acquisitions including three 'popular' works which were later discovered in the parish chest and which may well have found their way into the vicar's library about this time. Their general tone is conservative or Anglican rather than puritan. The presence of John Foxe's popular Actes and Monumentes, required to be kept in every church under the Order of Convocation attached to the Elizabethan settlement, needs little further explanation. John Jewel's Apology for the Church of England, published around 1562 and reprinted in numerous editions over the course of the century, was a standard defence of orthodox doctrine. The third book, John Pearson's Exposition on the Creed, published in 1669 also defended the established church, perhaps even more vigorously, since Pearson served for a time as chaplain to Charles I in 1645 and, later, as bishop of Chester. Its possible that John Shakespeare purchased his copy of Pearson's Exposition from Richard Davies the bookseller in Oxford who had the book in stock while John was in residence as a servitor at St. Mary's Hall.
The Books of the Austrey Gentry
The gentry's literary interests are less in evidence. Although it can be safely assumed that most advanced beyond grammar school, the Austrey wills and inventories throw only a glimmer of light on their reading habits. It has already been suggested that the Warwickshire gentry may have had access to almanacs and newsheets from London and it seems likely that they maintained contact through local apprentices, especially to booksellers and the Stationers� company. Even so, there is little evidence of book ownership or scholarly interests in Austrey before the Civil War. The inventory of Henry Kendall, the most prominent of Austrey�s late Elizabethan gentry, fails to list a single book or to provide any other indication of literacy, although it is apparent from wills and other documents that Henry was quite capable of signing his own name. After 1660, however, wills and inventories begin to provide evidence of a new enthusiasm for religious and secular reading. The younger Henry Kendall, Henry's grandson, had a study equipped with two desks and a 'press' (or shelf) of books valued at £6.5.8. His prized Geneva Bible and the Commentaries which Henry mentions in the will, is prominently recorded, giving clear indication of his Calvinist sympathies. Another gentleman, Robert Lilley, the Austrey attorney, had a substantial collection of 'law books' which be bequeathed to his children in 1685. The small number of books in Austrey inventories should not be interpreted to mean that the gentry did not have scholarly interests or connections. They may well have kept company with the scholarly antiquarians who lived around Polesworth, men like Aston Cockayne of Pooley Hall, an �ingenious gentleman�, poet and antiquary, and Walter Chetwin of Grendon, the antiquarian attorney.
The occasional printed book listed in the inventories of those below the gentry provides further evidence of the link between literacy and religious piety. Although books are more frequently encountered after 1660 they were still a comparative rarity in inventories, despite an impressive array of evidence of an expanding market for religious tracts, little books, ballads and almanacs after the Interregnum. The Bible continues to be the most frequently listed book in the parish and most of the books recorded are religious works John Lakin, the retired yeoman (1630) had only a Bible and a Statute Book in his possession. A mention of �one little and other books� valued at 2s in John Mould's inventory (1672) provides one of the few tangible indications that chapbooks were available. The bulk of the works mentioned were devotional works with a comparatively wide circulation. It is hardly surprising to find, for example, that one of the husbandmen, Thomas Robinson, had two Bibles and a copy of Lewis Bayly's Practice of Piety (1602) in his possession in 1672. Nicholas Sharpe, variously styled as husbandman or yeoman, had eight books worth 2s 8d out of goods appraised at £22.7.8 in 1682. Finally, John Rainalls (1684), the Austrey village blacksmith, had a collection of what appear to have been chapbooks, judging from their small value (3s). These books undoubtedly represent only a fragment of the printed material kept in the parish during this period. The absence of any further record of such items is explained by the fact that the cheaper printed emphemera were more readily disposed of during the testator�s lifetime, or more easily overlooked by the appraisers after his death.
Sources and Notes
L.J.R.O. inventories, Henry Kendall, 1592, will and inventory, Henry Kendall, 1673.
Among the local apprenticeships were George Thomas, the son of a Grendon husbandman, to Samuell Clerk, London bookseller in 1596; John Heathcote, son of William Heathcote the schoolmaster at Polesworth to George Dawes, 1688. P. Morgan, �Warwickshire Apprentices to the Stationers� Company of London, 1563-1700�, Dugdale Society Occasional Papers, 25 (1978), pp. 26-7.
M. Spufford, Small Books (op.cit.), pg. 75.
For an account of these scholarly antiquaries, see P. Styles, �Sir Simon Archer, A lover of Antiquity and of the lovers thereof�, in Studies in Seventeenth Century West Midlands History (Kineton, 1978). The Polesworth circle described www.polesworthparish.co.uk/polsoc/polesworthcircle.html
L.J.R.O. inventory, John Lakin, 1630., John Mould, 1590.
Bayley�s Practice of Piety was reprinted in some 40 editions between 1602-1700.
L.J.R.O. inventories, Nicholas Sharpe, 1682., John Rainalls, 1684. Catherine Lilley, wife of William Lilley, the attorney could not sign the documents to convey her husband�s estate into probate. L.J.R.O. adm., William Lilley, widow, 1687.
© Alan Roberts, 2003
Local Schools
The gentry were favoured with comparatively easy access to schooling and most appeared to have had a healthy regard for education. Usually their sons were packed off to school at a comparatively early age, at around six or seven years. William Lilly, the astrologer who started life as the son of a Leicestershire yeoman and later attended the grammar school at Ashby, recalls that be was 'put to learn at such schools and of such masters as the rudeness of the place and country afforded�. Rude as it may have been his schooling nonetheless stood him in good stead. The late Tudor and early Stuart grammar school were stepping stones to centres of higher learning. Their success is best measured, perhaps, by a survey by A.L. Hughes of 288 Warwickshire gentry families which shows that ninety-two per cent had sons enrolled in the universities or inns of court by 1640. The increase in schooling was part of a great wave of educational enthusiasm that swept across the midlands in this period. Diocesan subscription books provide lists of the schoolmasters who complied with an enactment of 1562 that required them to subscribe to the Church of England's thirty nine articles. The ecclesiastical subscription books from Lichfield show that at least half the parishes in that diocese, including Austrey, were served by licensed schoolmasters between 1584 and 1642.
The Austrey villagers did not have to send their sons far to learn to read and write: they were within walking distance of George Atrobus� famous grammar school at Tamworth, reputedly founded in the time of Edward III and endowed by Elizabeth I in 1558. They also had the choice of a string of grammar schools founded and endowed by the third earl of Huntingdon (in particular, the schools at Leicester, Hinckley and Ashby), as well as the grammars school at Appleby and Market Bosworth, so they could afford to be selective. The Appleby School charter records that the school took boys from Appleby, Norton, Austrey, Newton, Stretton, Measham, Snarestone and Chilcote as well as 'paupers' from Norton in the early 1700s.
Schooling was not the exclusive preserve of the gentry. Puritan clergy took the initiative in setting up vernacular schools for the children of the poorer husbandmen and labourers, regarding literacy as a weapon against the perceived evils of ignorance and idleness. Judging from the number of licensed schoolmasters in the county in the first half of the seventeenth century, the clergy were particularly active. Often the vicar or his curate taught elementary grammar to the sons of his parishioners in the village church, as for example at Orton, where in 1638 the vicar had a licence �to teach English to children�. The earliest indication of a school in Austrey is an entry in the parish register in 1581 describing John Bentley as a �schoolmaster�. The bishop of Lichfield�s visitations of 1616 and 1662 confirm the existence of a non-endowed vernacular school in the parish which probably charged around 2d a week to take �petties� or junior school boys.
Sources and Notes
Robert Lilly left his son William one half of his law books, dividing the remainder between his three younger children: will and inventory, Robert Lilley, gent., 1685. William was the only boy in his form at Ashby who did not go on to college, his father being as he remarks, �a mere yeoman� Life and Times. pp. 6, 17, 36; School for John Aubrey in 1634 was �a mile�s fine walk� to a neighbouring parish: Brief Lives, pg. 31.
A.L. Hughes, 'County Community', loc. cit., pg. 49.
K. Wrightson, English Society, pg. 186.
Leicester was founded in the 1560s, Ashby in 1575, Hinckley in the early 1600s. For details and ref. to Orton see, B. Simon, �Leicestershire Schools, 1625-40�, British Journal of Educational Studies, iii (1954), pp 5-11, 46-7, 54..
Appleby school charter in Nichols IV, 441; ref paupers in �Bishop Wake's survey�, pg. 309; L.R.O. DE 1642/4.Wolstan Dixie endowed the school at Market Bosworth with two scholarships and two fellowships at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1592: Nichols IV, pg. 497; The early history of the school is touched upon in S.J. Hopewell�s, Book of Bosworth School (Leicester, 1950).
The school at Tamworth was mentioned by Leland in 1541, rebuilt in 1667: H. Wood Borough by Prescription: A History of the Municipality of Tamworth, Tamworth, 1958 , 127-30; VCR Warws. Vol. II, pg. 327
P.K. Orphen, �The Recruitment Pattern of the Schoolmaster in the seventeenth century�, Warwick History, iv: pg. 3 (Summer, 1979), pg. 98. cf. An account of fees in Simon, op.cit. pg. 56.
In 1723 Thomas Charnells of Snarestone started a school for 30 children with particular provision for orphans and the poor among his tenants; Cf. Provisions for a stock of £200 to fund 12-13 apprentices from Shenton, Austrey, Whitwick, Measham (will of Thomas Monk of Shenton); for �a schoolmaster to teach the poor children of Newbold Vernon to read and write� (Nathaniel Lord Crew, 1720); to buy �bread and books for the poor�, (William Wightman of Barwell, 1724): Nichols I, pp. 97-9, 107; for the?sons of the neighbourhud?to be taught Gratis�: L.R.O. Letter from William Wilson to Sir John Moore, DE 1642/45.
© Alan Roberts, 1986-2003