THE ANGLICAN CHURCH in NAILSWORTH an Ancient Chapelry
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THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NAILSWORTH By Richard Barton An Ancient Chapelry Of the four Christian communities in Nailsworth the Anglican Church may seem to have the least interesting history. The town has only been a distinct ecclesiastical parish since 1895 and its Grade II parish church is even more recent. The Society of Friends can boast of roots dating back to the mid seventeenth century and Christchurch not only has early Independent roots but its Baptist tradition claims descent from one of the largest rural Baptist meetings in the country. The Former Dominican Priory, just outside the parish boundary, was one of the most influential centres for nineteenth century Roman Catholicism in England. Nailsworth has since mediaeval times been associated with wool and the textile industry for one of the derivations for the Saxon name for the area ‘Naeglesleag Minor’, is ‘wool pasture’, ‘Naegle’ being the Saxon word for a weight of wool and ‘leag’ for a pasture or wood (1). Naeglesleag Minor is recorded in the early eighth century document in which a piece of land was granted by Ethelbald, King of the Southern English, to Wilfred of Worcester, the then diocesan bishop (2). By the time of the Norman conquest the area was held by Godda, Countess of Bologna, the sister of King Edward the Confessor. By the twelfth century the name of the hamlet had evolved into ‘Nailleswurd’ or ‘wool market’ (3). Until relatively recent times we must imagine the area as sparsely populated, thickly wooded valleys. The present town centre, Forest Green and Inchbrook lay within the Parish of Avening; Shortwood, Rockness, Newmarket, Chestnut Hill and Brewery Lane were parts of Horsley whilst Watledge and Scar Hill were situated in Michinhampton parish. The present Church Street lies on the boundary of the ancient parishes of Avening and Horsley. The parish of Avening was apparently attached in some way to the parish of Horsley before 1105 when the independence of each was confirmed (4). In 1082 the manors of Minchinhampton and Avening were given by William the Conqueror to a convent at Caen in Normandy (5). The manor of Horsley was granted to the Abbey at Troarn by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, before the year 1086, and a group of Benedictine monks probably settled in Horsley. The original grant was said to provide for a prior, a monk and a parish chaplain who was to reside in Horsley. From these provisions emerged a cell known as Horsley Priory (6). Besides the monks at Horsley there was also a religious foundation at Kinley, in the valley between Newmarket and Nympsfield. An ancient priory or ‘free chapel’ and later chantry chapel, situated here, continued in existence from before 1279 through to its dissolution in 1 1546. Its final incumbent was James Rathbone, who was presented to the living by Sir Edward Tame of Fairford in 1543. Bannut Tree Cottage, situated in the grounds of Bannut Tree House, in Tabram’s Pitch, has been described by David Verey as, ‘perhaps the most interesting and certainly the most peculiar house in Nailsworth’. One of the earliest references to this building is given by the county historian, Rudder, who, writing in 1779, stated that there was formerly a chapel at Nailsworth and another at Aston, both within the ancient parish of Avening. Seven years later Bigland added these further details – ‘the elliptical arch of a window is there shown in a ruinous building, which is reputed to have been a chapel for the service of the populous district’. In 1794, at the time of the opening of the Nailsworth Episcopal Chapel, the Reverend Thomas Dudley Fosebrooke, local historian and curate at Horsley, wrote in the register of the parish: ‘N.B. At a small distance north east of the present chapel is the shell of an ancient one, now used as a stable, in the occupation of Mr Blackwell, in which, may be seen, the frame of the east window, a piscina, and an entrance of rude workmanship in the Gothic style. The arch of the window is of the broad lancet kind, 14th century’ (8). Sadly there would appear to be no mediaeval references extant to a chapel-of-ease at Nailsworth so we do not know why and by whom it was built, when it was erected, or even when it ceased to be a place of worship. During the fourteenth century Lower Nailsworth would have been a sparsely populated hamlet under the spiritual care of the Rector of the Parish Church of the Holy Rood or Holy Cross at Avening. There is a tradition that the north- east wing of the neighbouring Bannut Tree House may have been a priest’s dwelling, however, the priest may well have supplied from Avening. The wing of Bannut Tree House is certainly old and contained a circular stone staircase before it was removed in about 1875. A number of interesting items came to light when the former chapel was re-constructed during the late 1830s. A silver penny, dated 1253, was found on the premises, a small metal image of a female ‘supposed to represent the Virgin Mary’ and also a piece of Roman pan or dish ‘similar to that discovered with the tessellated pavement at Woodchester – May 15th 1834’. The location of these artefacts is not now known. (10). In 1260 the manor of Horsley passed to the Priory of Bruton in Somerset and the monastic cell ceased to exist in about 1380. In 1414 the manors of Minchinhampton and Avening passed to the Bridgetine Abbey of St Saviour at Syon. The manors remained in the hands of the respective religious communities until the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Nailsworth was itself an estate held from Avening and it was later a manor in its own right (12). 2 Clothworkers and Dissenters Nailsworth owes its development almost entirely to the woollen cloth industry; the steep wooded hillsides offered little scope for agricultural settlement. The earliest evidence that has been found for the cloth industry at Nailsworth dates from 1448 when John the cardmaker was the leasee of meadow land. Two clothiers, ten weavers, and thirteen tanners were recorded in the part of Nailsworth that lay in Avening parish during the year 1608. Many of the clothworkers whose names were listed under Horsley parish, in that year, were probably actually residing in the Nailsworth area. At that time, in the Nailsworth part of Avening parish, agricultural activity seems to have been represented by only one single husbandman, namely Robert Tanner (1). During the years following the Reformation this sparsely populated isolated community had no immediate Established place-of-worship and the cottagers engaged in the cloth industry quickly became involved in the sometimes bitter conflicts which arose out of religious dissent. There would seem to be no Roman Catholic recusancy in this area. In 1655 a Quaker, Humphrey Smith, preached to a group of Seekers at Shortwood (2) and this led to the formation of a local meeting of the Society of Friends, sufficiently large to warrant visits by their founder, George Fox, in the years 1660, 1669 and 1678. George Fox recounted his second visit to Nailsworth at some length in his journal:- ‘There it was noised all over the county by the Presbyterians that George Fox was turned a Presbyterian. And they prepared him a pulpit and set it in a yard, and there would be a thousand people they said that would come to hear him, the next day being the first day… We came further where the Friends’ meeting place was and there we stayed all night and there was the same report also. And we came by the yard where we saw the pulpit erected. And on the next day, being First day, there was a very large meeting of many hundreds of people and the Lord’s power and presence was amongst us. And there was one John Fox, a Presbyterian, whose name they gave as George Fox. As the people hearing that I was so near, they having heard this John Fox in the forenoon, in the afternoon there came several hundred of his people to the meeting where I was; and I turned to the grace of God which would teach them and bring their salvation. And so people generally saw and were ashamed of the forgery of the Presbyterians and the Lord’s power and truth came over all’ (3). George Fox had had dealings before with John Fox who was associated with the Forest Green Meeting. In his journal he writes much to discredit John Fox and the local Presbyterian community. The Society of Friends was to pass through a considerable amount of persecution in the early years and many of their surviving business papers from 1670- 1685 deal with the collection of ‘sufferings’ to send to London and the 3 ‘supplying of the necessitities of our deare friends who are prisoners for the blessed truth, and the discharge of their room rent in ye prison’ (4). The Reverend William Tray M.A., had been the incumbent of the Parish of Oddington, one of the richest benefices in the Diocese of Gloucester. He was a native of Barnwood and had been educated at Christ Church and Magdalen Colleges at Oxford. He was said to be the master of seven languages and had ‘educated many gentlemen, several for the ministry’. He was dismissed in 1662 for his Independent views. When he was ejected, with a private income of £30 a year, he had a wife and seven children to maintain.