CHAPTER II. THE RECTORY AND VICARAGE. I. THE VALUE AND EXTENT OF LANDS BELONGING TO OSNEY ABBEY IN CUDLYNGTON AND WATER EATON. From Valor Ecclesiasticus, vol. 2, p. 216. CUDLYNGTON. Worth in the farm of the Rectory with its appurtenances, £ s. d. 24 O O Farm of the Water Mills so demised to John Dennet Perpetual reprises in Cudlyngton. Rents due to the Duke of Suffolk and his heirs for certain Is worth clear £51 8s. 51d. £1 13 63 1 Can this' certain way' be the footpath from the Mill to the church? D The same in Water Eaton. Worth in the rents and customary tenants per annum Farm of the pasture called Fryce, yearly so demised to Total £61 17 2 Perpetual pension paid to the Prior and Brethren of St. John of Jerusalem in England Is worth clear £48 10s. 6d. Substance of the Deed relating to the Vicar of Kidlington, 1227. The Great Tithes having been appropriated to the Monastery this year the people complained that the service of the church was neglected, the Bishop interfered, and in 1445 he 'Totally annulled the old endowments and endowed it " de novo." 1st. He assigned to the Vicar a certain messuage with curtilage situate without the gate of the Rectory, on the west side, with one yard land of the demesnes of the Abbot and convent, free of tithe. 2ndly. All the Altarage and oblations, the dead mortuaries, chrysmals, tithes of Mills and Grist Mills within the Parish; the charge of the churchyard and all things which in the testaments of the deceased or of the devotion of the faithful shall be given to him. 3rdly. Seven shillings of tithe of hay specified. 1 The two little meadows mark the site of the old Mill, see ante, p. I n. 2 2 The following extract is from the 'Annals of Osney' in Bodleian, Gough Nicholls, No. 22— 'John Dennet was Bailiff of the Lordship of Water Eaton. Stipend of the Chaplain of Cudlyngton, yearly Can this sum of £1. 13s. 4d. be identical with that paid by Cudlington as Procurations, synodals and alms? Dugdale in vol. 6, p. 256, says Water Eaton was worth in Manor pasture £71. 175. 2d. 4thly. All manner of tithes issuing or to issue out of the newly made closes, 53 in number. 5thly. Four bushels of wheat and the like of barley of the Abbot and Convent yearly at the feast of the Nativity. 6thly. One acre of the said Abbot and tithe free in Thrup mead. 7thly. One halfpenny yearly from each of the parishioners on each of the four following feasts-The feast of the Dedication of the Church-of the Nativity of the Virgin—of the Nativity of our Lord and of Easter. The Vicar by himself and one chaplain, whom at his own cost and charge, he shall always have living with him, to perform divine service, to provide wax lights in the chancel, the accustomed light upon the feast of the Purification, bread and wine for the Holy Communion, and the surplices (the Clerk of Baptism to be provided by the Abbot and convent, but to take an oath of fealty to the Vicar). The finding of the Chaplain to cease if the parishioners should cease to provide their part-otherwise if the Vicar fails to provide the Chaplain he is bound to pay under the pain of ecclesiastical censures, so large a sum as shall correspond to the salary of the said Chaplain, to go to the fabric of the church.' The Vicarage was included in the grant of Elizabeth to Sir William Petre, and by him annexed to the Rectory for ever, the Rector holding without Institution. This arrangement was confirmed by an Act of 12 Charles II, ch. 17, sec. 23, and is probably a solitary instance in all England of the Rectory and Vicarage being united in the same hands1. Two conditions were attached by Petre to the gift, viz.:(1) That the Rector should pay for all reparations and charges, and (2) That the Fellows should be allowed the use of the Vicarage if the plague chanced to be in Oxford. (3) Of his paying £7 6s. (to be reduced to £4 upon the leases of Kidlington and Merton falling in) annually to the College. This payment has ceased 2. The following is the original clause in the Indented Articles between Sir W. Petre and the College, 8th Nov. 8 Elizabeth: 'Item, that the Vicarage of Cudlington on the Green, parcel of the premises granted unto the said Rector and Scholars and their successors, shall be unto John Neale now Rector of the said College, during only the time he shall continue Rector and to his successors Rectors, he the said 1 A case for counsel was drawn up in 1846 upon this subject. Mr. Hope, Counsel. ' Dr. Symonds in his MSS. now belonging to Mr. Davenport, County Office, Oxford, says, 'The Vicar of Kidlington received from the Abbey 4 lbs. of wax and 4 lbs. more upon the feast of the Purification.' The Vicar gave the like quantity to St. George's in Oxford: see p. 2. John Neale and his successors Rectors there, allowing and paying yearly unto the said College for the uses set forth in these presents, the sum of £7 6s. od. at the feasts of St. Michael and the Annunciation by equal portions; and seeing the Cure of the said Parish to be served at his the said Rector's and his successors' costs and charges; and seeing the people of the said Parish to be well instructed and taught; and keeping all manner of reparations of the Vicarage house, and all other houses thereto belonging, at the cost and charge of the said Rector for the time being; and suffering the Scholars of the said College, in time of sickness in Oxford freely to have the use of the said Vicarage house during the time of the said sickness.' This subject was argued in the year 1785, upon the occasion of the Curate, Thomas Bovet, being presented by Lord Thurlow to the Vicarage of Ninehead in Somerset. It appeared that the Vicarage of Kidlington is a lay fee, subject to a payment of £10 to a Curate per annum, and the Rector on vacating the Headship of the College cannot retain the Vicarage; the Rector should grant title to a Curate not as Vicar but as Impropriator of the Vicarage, if he is distinctly so from the rest of the College; but should the Vicarage be given in the grant to the Rector and Fellows, the title should be under the College Seal1. 1887. Albert Corsellis Richard Freeborn, of Christ Church, Oxford, M.A. 1884, Curate in charge at Kidlington, 1886. First Vicar under the new arrangement 2. It would seem from tradition that the privilege of harbour in time of pestilence was more than once exercised by the Fellows of Exeter3. II. FROM THE SUPPRESSION OF OSNEY ABBEY UNTIL THE PURCHASE BY SIR WILLIAM PETRE. 1540. In this year (17th Nov.) the Abbey of Osney gave in its surrender to the Crown, and the Deed, declaring Henry King of England to be the Supreme Head of the Church upon earth, was signed by John King, the last Abbot, and all the chief persons of the 1 Boase's Register of the College, p. 114. 2 For terms of this new settlement see Appendix. 3 Three old tenements have been known here by the name of 'the College,' viz., one belonging to Queen's College; the old Workhouse; and a house mentioned in Madame Conant's will as the College . . . But possibly the name may have arisen from their being built in a block. a From tradition of inhabitants. House, amongst others by John Kidlyngton. John King was immediately made Bishop of the new See of Osney, to which Kidlington and Water Eaton were made over. This only lasted for a few years until a fresh change was made, and under a new endowment the See of Osney was changed for that of Oxford, leaving these two manors in the hands of the King. The next twenty years were years of desolation for Kidlington, with no pastor, and the ornaments and riches of the church seized by rapacious hands. 1547. The first year of King Edward was marked by a fresh deed of plunder, when the chantries, founded by our pious forefathers to pray for the repose of the dead, were stripped of their endowments. A commission was appointed by the government to enquire into and consequently to confiscate all such remaining church property. Their report was drawn up under six headings1, viz.: 'Ist. The parish of Kidlington where are houselynge people-cxlviij. 2nd. A light and obiit there. 3rd. Certayne lande gyven to the mayntenance of a lyght iiijd and one obiit iiijs in the said parish churche for ever. 4th. Incumbent, none. 5th. The value of all the lands and tenements to the same belongyng is yearly iiijs iiijd. 6th. Ornaments, plate, and jewels to the same belonginge none. Stocke in cattal not presed, xv shepe. Mm. The said stocke in cattal was gyven to the Rodelight in the said churche for ever 2, 1530. Ten years previous to the deed of surrender the Abbot of Osney had given a lease for life of his house and farm in Kidlington to Robert Saunders and Agnes his wife. 1548. In this year Edward VI gave the reversion of the lease to Richard Taverner for twenty-one years at the rent of £20, but the lease was not resigned for more than six years afterwards. Richard Taverner was a man of some note in Oxford, and a short sketch of his life may not be out of place here. Twenty years before this time Cardinal Wolsey proposed to found a new College out of the proceeds of the great Abbey, he chose twothirds of the men required for the foundation from the University of Oxford, the remaining third being brought by him from Cambridge, 1 Augmentation office, Certificate 38, No. 27. Record office. 2 Here we seem to see the end of the light burning before the Crucifix for the soul of Henry d'Oiley and all Christian men, in 1267. See p. 14. The proportion of houselynge people is considered to be rather less than half the population. |