SNTKKIOK OF K () W I N (i TO N CHURCH 184S iBv A. K. KVKKKTTI X 8 3 3 5* iRecorbs off TRHvowingto( n VOL. I1 BEING A TRANSCRIPT OF A manuscript of Gburch anb Darfsh Ekcounte OF THE IRowtnaton (Ibarit^ Estates TOGETHER WITH a Brief Retroepect of tbe perfob of tbe IR3S. anb 100 peare ago (2822) BY JNP. WM- RYLAND, F.S.A. (SOLE FOUNDATION TRUSTEE OF THE CHARITY) OXFORD PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY FREDERICK HALL I922 " When industrious persons doe make observation of an- tiquities, monuments, names, records, &., it is like so much collected from shipwreck or saved and recovered from the deluge of time." LORD BACON. PREFACE T is customary to begin with a Preface, wherein the writer generally refers to himself by giving a reason for the work, or strikes a per- I sonal note apologizing for the errors it inevitably contains. I make no excuse for publishing the MS., for I consider it a duty to transmit to others the long-hidden records of the sayings and doings of past generations ; records which serve in fact as a basis for the annals of our race, for they are the essence of history, in that they reveal the real atmosphere of the times to which they refer. These heirlooms of the past enable us the better to study the lives of our ancestors, but the lack of local information at the period of the MS. makes it impossible to portray the persons mentioned as clearly as one would wish. I much regret that inability to find the requisite material prevents me making from this MS. a consecutive history of the parish and its inhabitants. One benefit from the study of the past is the removal of that spirit of conceit which makes us forget what we owe to those who have gone before. The record of the past achievements of those who lived on the same soil as we now tread, should awaken in us the desire to show our respect for their memories. I have sometimcs digressed beyond the period covered, in the hope that such matter may be considered relative or interesting, and all information from outside has been culled from well-known standard works. The manner in which the subjects have been treated must be my excuse for the repetitions which occur. These pages have been written, not for the archaeological expert, or with any pretension to literary ability, as I am not an author by profession, but simply a dabbler in antiquarian lore. I have written as simply as I could in order to suit all my fellow-parishioners, and the work was compiled at a time not at all conducive to quiet and intel- lectual thought, so I beg my readers to pardon all mistakes and shortcomings. 192%. J. W. R. CONTENTS PAGE ROWINGTON CHURCH.v-xii LIST OF ROWINGTON VICARS..xiii-xvi THE ROWINGTON MANUSCRIPT (1550-1600) . 1-100 INDEX OF NAMES IN THE MANUSCRIPT ., 101-102 NOTES ON THE MANUSCRIPT..103-132 A BRIEF RETROSPECT OF THE PARISH OF ROWINGTON DURING THE PERIOD OF THE MANUSCRIPT (1550- 1600) AND ALSO ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO (1831) 133-150 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Interior of Rowington Church, 1848. (By A. E. Everett) Frorttispiece Pulpit, Reading Desk and Clerk's Desk, Rowington Church, 1848. (By A. E. Everett)..to face page xi Rowington Church, Warwickshire, showing Conjectural Growth from 13th to 16th century .. page xii Facsimile of MS. Page 5..to face page 5 Facsimile of MS. Page 51.>)„ >t51 Paper Marks,*pages 37, 478 6% 89, 949 96 ABBREVIATION 3.R. i. = Records q Rowingfon, Vol. I. By same author. (1896.) ROWINGTON CHURCH UR fine old church tells its own story, writ in stone, of centuries of parochial and religious life, to which this MS. adds its small O quota. Time, the universal destroyer, is nevertheless the universal beautifier. The venerable and picturesque tower speaks in eloquent language, a language handed down to us to read aright, and we must not fall into the errors of the successors of the builders of such noble erections as are spread over the land, who forgot the spirit in which they were created and so became negligent. The stillness of age is upon our church. Its old grey walls seem to breathe peace and tranquillity. It impresses the mind of the beholder with a train of deep and retrospective thought, pregnant with recollec- tions of romance and chivalry, and it is for us to fill it with new life. The joyous peal of its bells—" A music hallowed by all circumstance ", as Southey writes, " though it falls on many an unheeding ear, yet never fails to find some hearts which it exhilarates, some which it softens": and the clang of the single bell utters a tale not to be mistaken, warning us of the event which must inevitably overtake us all: " Hark, hark! what noise is this ? a passing Bell, That doth our own fate in an other's tell." (SPARKE, 1652.) The venerable looking sundial expresses a sermon that the humblest can understand. In the cemetery, a word which signifies a sleeping- place of the dead, the past and present are strangely interwoven. He who died yesterday reposes by the side of him who died centuris before. The old grey church is the charm of the village, and must appeal to all who will listen to the still, small voice. It stands like an ancient landmark to tell us that despite the wrath of man, the deluded fanatic, and the indifference and neglect of many of the priests, our religion survives and claims our affections for the perils it has surmounted : " These temples of His grace How beautiful they stand; The honours of our native place And bulwarks of our land." (DR. WATTS.) vi ROWINGTON CHURCH Yet one cannot help recalling the words attributed to one of our early bishops, Wulston, at the rebuilding of Worcester Cathedral after the fire in 1041 : " We, poor wretches, destroy the works of our fore- fathers, only to get praise to ourselves; that happy age of holy men knew not how to build stately churches, but under any roof they offered up themselves living temples unto God, and by their example invited those under their care to do the same: but we, on the contrary, neglecting the care of souls, labour to heap up stones."1 It was recorded in the Shukespeariana some years ago, but with what authority there is no evidence given, that the settlement at Rowington was founded, as many of the oldest towns in the Midlands were, by very early Christians, probably Roman and British, when they were seeking refuge from Pagan persecutors. Whether this be true or not, there is no doubt that a church existed here on the site of the present building either in British or Saxon times, when it would be in the " Deanery of Christianity of Warwick "2 (Decuaatus Clzristianitutis Cuergwayr). We can be assured that ever since the erection of the church it has served as the centre of the activities of the villagers, religious, secular, and social, and would be intimately connected with the chief events in the lives of each generation which has grown up around its mouldering stone. Surely such a monument as we have in our beautiful church should suffice to remind us of the sacrifice made by our predecessors in their work of love and veneration, and deserves to be maintained and handed down to our children in at least as good a condition as we found it. To be brief, what we know for facts relating to the erection of our church is unfortunately limited. That there was a church existing here, which would probably be built of timber frame, wattle, and daub, at the time of William I, is gathered from the Doomsday Survey, and therefore we can well assume that there has been a church at Rowington for 1,000 years. The present building is both interesting and curious in construc- tion and, as a fact, is a puzzle to architects of to-day. The con- clusion of the most eminent of them seems to be that early in the twelfth century the church consisted of a chancel divided in two parts by an arch, and nave and aisles, on the same formation as at present. Much work might well have been done at the date when it came into possession of Reading Abbey (circa 1133), the Abbat building the chancel and the parish the nave. In the fourteenth century the church was restored and the tower, second chancel, and chantry chapel 1 Old England, by Knight, p. 166. 2 As it evidently was in 1555.—p. 21. MS. "pd to the deane at warwikc". ROWINGTON CHURCH vii added. Probably early in the fifteenth century the arcade in the nave was added, either for effect or to afford abutments to the tower arch. The word nave comes from the Latin Izavis and Saxon nafa, and was so called as representing the ark or ship of the Church, in which " those who seek salvation may take refuge and sail over the waves and through the storms of this troublesome world until they reach the haven where they would be ". The north aisle was built in 1554, as recorded in the MS. The existing font is Norman, of the truncated cone character, and origi- nally had a cover fixed and made to lock up, as ordered as far back as 1220, to hinder superstitious persons from obtaining water for the practice of magic.