PRE F A C E . B ISHOP R E IG HT N on e of h i s E c cl e si astical C O , in lectures on History , says of f of The clergy are , by virtue their of ice , the guardians their Churches , “ a n d the keepers of the record s of their parish and he al so says Many valuable records of the past are daily lost because no one understand s m s . of the Parochial histories the result of the leisure busy clergymen , are n t amo gst the valuable contributions o local history . B IS HOP M ACKARNE S S hi s l s s , in a t charge to the Diocese , aid that the n ot w of clergy should be content ith making the histories their parishes , ! they should also write them . 1 357308 has s tw o h What been aid by these Bishops has also been said by ot ers . s f rs N Many Pari h Histories have o late yea appeared . o apology there fore is needed a tthe present time for putting forth a History of Great Sta u ghton . of G th e The principal Parish records reat Staughton are , in first place . of s the Parochial Registers Baptism , Marriages , and Burials , from the year 4 f th e 1 5 0 to . o the present time Next , the Memorandum Books Vicars 1 1 ’ 7 0 a . from the year , now kept at the Vicar ge Next , the Churchwardens of an d V . Books Accounts estry Meetings , preserved in the Parish Chest And also the Award Map made by the Enclosure Commission ers of 1 804 of h the Parish of Great S tau g ton . These are the written records . a ol d The records of a more perm nent kind are the Church itself , together with man y Monumen ts and their memorial inscription s ; also the ol d d or of as Ol d Buil ings , sites former buildings , such the Manor House , u an d . Place House , Sta ghton House , Gaynes Hall Many things gained from these sources have from ti me to time bee n i s d v published in the Pa r i sh M a ga zi n e . An endeavour ma e in this olume w t to bring all these together in a connected manner , ith much addi ional m s s w ma atter , and al o with gleanings from many other source , hich y help to illustrate a n d give interes t to those events w hich a re kno w n a n d recorded . I w ish in thi s Preface toacknowled ge the assistance I have received from many friend s and neighbours . f h I t n M RS . P E o sho u ld first of all wi sh o tha k heartily PO , Perten all , a - h f of u n for grand daug ter o a former Vicar Great Sta ghto , the many valu able and u sef u l books w hich sh e h a s p u tat my di sposa l for thi s purpose and especially for that kind assistance which has en abled me n ow to have thi s book printed . Then I must acknow led ge the assistan ce I have received from an ol d n ow d d H AS I IA S of i s friend , eparte , T OM W LL M , Rector Aston Cl nton , Buck , w f s st formerly Fello o Je us College , Oxford , a man eeped in lore concerning the ol d familie s that settled in England at the time of the Norman Conq u es t . I ow e d of u to M R. N IP A th e a ebt gratit de I SK L DDS , Diocesan u w h o i d me of h i s a t S rveyor , very k n ly gave to the results researches the Britis h M u seu m c oncern in g th e ol d families w h o once lived at Great h V s for to te RE . M ACKRE TH E f w u . o W Sta ghton W NOBL , Vicar isto , Hunt , the information he gave me concern in g the Old Rectors and Vicars of Great Stau gh ton — c m which subj ect he is a recognised au thority ; to f M R. E R E RT . ORRI o for m n H B E N S , Cirencester , infor ation co cerning the f w s of . AU E o G u t to riting J G L , once Vicar reat Sta gh on ; another friend ’ . w f s . N ITH n d a d o . eparted , W G POGSO SM , formerly Fello Tutor St John d for of of G College , Oxfor , the record the relation Of the living reat ' n t R NI W. E E RY s ta o to M . O S ughto that College the late , f Eyne bury , and u for m others in the neighbo rhood , many facts and lastly , to y friend and t s u . I AR OF R E AT TAU HT N h i s ccessor , the presen V C G S G O , for constant kind n es s in supplying me w ith d etails of events w hich have h a ppened si n ce I or of w I h a d to h left , hich failed take notes w en resid ent . II . W G . PRI 1 9 1 A 6 . L , CHAPTE R I . T HE I A E OF GT. TAU HT N . R I I N OF HE A R A Y A TT N T T V LL G S G O O G N ME . P OB BL S E L E ME — OF N E S . HARA TE R OF AN N AX N N S HIP E GL C C A GLO S O TOW . ’ SAXON Township (accordin g to Green s M a ki n g of E n gl a n d ) consisted ’ of of set a cluster Farmers homes , each in its own little croft ; it w as u n d e d earth ern i or by an mound tipped w th a stockade , quick et w as s hedge , as well as defended externally by a ditch ; each township thus a ready- made fortress in time of war and its entrenchments were very serviceable in the feuds Of village with village . an d u Such a village as this once was Staughton ; its name Sta ghton , formerly " S tok e ton written Stoughton , and before that , or Stockton , shews that it once w as a stockaded township such as that described above and that part of the village “ ! which now clusters round the Church and is still called the Town , is no doubt the original tow nship of Stockton . of 9 m l Staughton is a widely extended parish over square iles , and this wou d O of answer well to the description f the land the township , as given by Green , as “ l : of v il l a er s follows Inside the mound lay the homes the g , the farmsteads with of their barns and cattle sheds , and in the centre them rose the sacred tree or mound , - where the village elders met in the tun moot , which gave order to their social and u n industrial life . O tside the mound , in close eighbourhood to the village , lay the of v home pastures and folds , where the calves and the lambs indi idual cultivators were reared . f In these and in the family estate , held apart from the lands o his fellow free a men , by the etheling or noble , we find the first signs of a personal property , strongly th e in contrast with the common holding , which prevailed through the rest Of township . v Beyond and around these home pastures lay the illage plough land , generally i n or Of Was massed together three four large fields , each which broken by raised balks into long strips of soil that were distributed amon g the village husbandmen . ’ w as or The whole enclosed by a borderland , mark , which formed the common u l ou t past re , where f ock and herd could be turned by every freeman to graze , though in number determined by usage or the rede (decision) of the village moot . u The woodland and past re land was undivided , and every free villager had the right of turning into it his cattle and swine . 2 H ISTORY OF GRE AT STAUGHTON . The meadow land lay open u ndivided from hay harvest to Spring , when the w off , grass began to gro afresh , the common meadow was fenced into grass fields on e f r v w as o each household in the village , and when hay har est over fence and n n division were at an end again . The plough land alo e was perma ently allotted in - m of equal shares of corn land and fallow land to the fa ilies the freemen , though even the plough land w as s u bj ect to fresh division as the number of claimants grew r greater o less . The dress of the freemen w as that which has been brough t down to u s by th e - t f .