GEOFFREY
CHAUCER, merry, deightful companion to those who will listen to the archaic form
in which he speaks the EnglIsh tongue, has admitted to his immortal portrait gallery
a " wife of Bathe." But Shakespeare was never led into our western country and
none of our beautiful spots are consecrated in the music of his verse. Yet in
the first folio of " Henry VIII." there is one name mentioned, to understand which
the student must learn something of the early history of this parish. Buckingham's
surveyor tells to the king his artful tale of the Duke's designs upon the crown
and finds a tempter for the traitor, saying
He was brought to this By a vaine Prophesie of Nicholas Henton
Kin. What was that Henton ?
Sur. Sir, a Chartreux Friar
His Confessor who fed him euery minute
With words of Soveraignty.
This friar's name was Nicholas Hopkins, as he iii called in other places, but
surnames had not then acquired the settled character they have now, and the monks
were as often known by the house to which they belonged as by their own names.
The Abbey of Hinton or Hentone to which this Nicholas belonged was a large and
noted monastery, founded in 1227 by Ella, Countess of Salisbury. Hinton, together
with the parish of Norton S. Philip, was held at the time of the Great Survey
by Edward de Sarlsberi, and the two manors were passed down to his descendants
whose succession I have recounted on a previous occasion on. A daughter and only
child, Ella was left in 1196 sole possessor of the estates of this distinguished
family. According to a romantic tradition this tender child was hidden away in
Normandy by some of her relatives, perhaps lest the greed of an uncle for her
estates might endanger her life. But this removed her from the wardship of the
king, and she was not long after brought back and a husband was conveniently found
for her in William Longespee, the son of fair Rosamund, the family title of Earl
Salisbury being revived for him. His name of Longespee goes to show that he WM
esteemed a good warrior in the heyday of chivalry, when the holy expe- ditions
of the Crusaders were in the first bloom of their attractiveness. It was probably
Richard I. who gave him his wife but at the end of his reign. The Earl however
was held in very intimate regard by John and accompanied the tyrant in all his
wanderings over his kingdom. In 1209 he was chosen warden of the marches of Wales.
He remained true to his sovereign throughout the period of the Interdict, and
when in the same year as the submission at Dover Philip of France invaded Flanders
Salisbury commanded the English forces sent to aid Count Ferrand. He was one of
the few barons too found in the royal camp when Magna Charta was signed, and after
wards commanded one of the armies which John raised at the end of the year to
crush his opponents. Even he however seems at last to have deserted the tyrant,
perhaps with prudential regard to the preservation of his estates, seeing that
the king's cause was hopeless. At any rate he joined the party of Prince Louis
and was one of those sup- porters of the invader who, immediately on the death
of Sansterre, declared for the young prince Henry, who rewarded his fidelity with
rich gifts. On the feast of S. Vitalis the Martyr in 1220 the foundations of Salisbury
Cathedral were laid. The first was laid for Pope Honorius, the second for the
.Archbishop of Canterbury , the third by the Bishop, the fourth by the Earl of
Salisbury, and the fifth by his Countess Ella. In 1224 we find him taking part
in an expedition into Gascony, on his return from which his vessel was driven
out of its course and he was delayed for several months. This seems to have undermined
his health and he died on the 4th of March, 1226, leaving a family of four sons
and four daughters. He was interred in the chapel of the Virgin at the new Cathedral
of Sarum, and his effigy is still to be seen there though not in its original
position. The men of that day were wont when the occupations of war began to pall
upon them to make munificent gifts to religious houses, and in this district Stanley
Abbey had been founded by his father, Henry II., Bradenstoke Abbey by Ella's ancestors,
and Monkton Farley by a Bohun whose wife was a member of the same family. Now
our Earl himself gave his manor of Hatherop in Gloucestershire on S. Magdalen's
Day, 1222, to found a Carthusian monastery, and by his will made several bequests
to enrich the same establishment. The brethren however did not find the place
a comfortable home, and upon their petition the good Countess tra-nsferred them
to Hentone granting them in exchange for their property at Hatherop her manor
of Hentone, with the advowson of the church, the park and all its appurtenances,
as well as the manor and advowson of Norton. This property she took out of the
hundred of Wellow and erected into a liberty. It seems that on the 6th of November,
1227, she laid the foundaton of the buildings which were erected in honour of
God, the blessed Virgin Mary, S. John Baptist and All Saints, though she subsequently
took in many additions thereto. The foundation was con firmed in 1240 by Henry
III., who conferred upon it the same privileges which his grandfather granted
to the Carthusian house of Witham. It strikes one that these corporations were
very pleasantly placed, when we read how they were freed from every kind of burden,
analogous to those which in the present day make the British taxpayer feel himself
a martyr to his country's good. The king covenanted that " this house should be
for " ever free and quit from gelds, danegelds, hydages, " scutages, works of
castles, bridges, parks, moats " and houses; and also from toll, passage, pontage,
" lestage, and all services, customs, and quest- " monies, and from shires, hundreds,
suits of shires " and hundreds, and all pleas and quarrels : that " the monks
should be exempt from all manner of " exactions ; and that the King's foresters
should " not intermeddle within the jurisdictjon of the " monastick lands." Pope
Innocent confirmed all this and gave a similar exemption de s.piritualibus by
a deed dated at Lyons in 1245. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus in the year 1534 their
estates were valued at £248 19s. 2d., and included lands in Hinton, Wellow , Norton
S. Philip, Monkton Farleigh, Bekyngton, Longleat, Lullington, West wood, Rewleigh
next Farley Hungerford, Fresh ford, Woodwick and other places. With regard to
the name of this order, the word Chartreux by which it was called from the place
where it was founded, became corrupted in English mouths into Charterhouse, of
which an instance survives in the name of the great metropolitan school which
was built on the site of one of these houses. In the same way Hinton, which itself
means the village on the high grounds, obtained the distinguishing title of Cllarterhouse.
Upon the dissolution in 1546, Hinton was granted to John Bartlett, who sold it
to Matthew Colthurst. His son sold it again in 1579 to Walter Hungerford, and
it re mained in the possession of this family until the commencement of the 18th
century, when Sir Edward Hungerford sold it to Walter Robinson, esq., [Grandfather
of Stocker Robinson, esq., who dying in 1781 left two sisters, his coheirs. The
daughter of one of these married George Clark Symonds, once captain in the 18th
Dragoons, who died March 21st, 1830, and to whose memory there is a monument in
the church recording that it was mainly through his exertions that the church
was enlarged and the living separated from Norton, the endowment being increased
from Queen Anne's Bounty. Mrs. Brooks is the present lady of the manor. The present
manor house occupies the site of the Abbey, the chapel and some other portions
of the buildings of which remain. The church of S. John Baptist is not remarkable,
having been added to and altered at different dates. It was originally of the
usual form of chancel, nave and western tower. The south aisle is old but the
north aisle was added less than fifty years ago by the exertions of Capt. Symonds.
The interior of the church has a peculiar appearance as there is no chancel arch
and the north aisle extends to the east wall of the chancel. The church was reseated
in 1849, in a rather poor fashion and the arrangement of organ and vestry-curt:ained
off behind' the in- strument-is not pleasing. The present roof of the nave and
south aisle was placed in 1866, the money having been borrowed from the Loan Commissioners,
and the chancel is being laid with encaustic tiles. The eastern window is from
a design by Sir Gilbert Scott and is filled with stained glass to the memory of
Thomas Jones and his " friend and benefactor," Mary Day by his widow. The upper
part of the tower is not more than .a century old having been carried up round
the gables of the saddleback roof. The tower contains three bells, on the first
of which there is no in scription. The second is an ancient one, the stamps on
it being those of the anonymous founder
t. g, .g;oJJannt~ § xtf § ~art.
The third bell bears the inscription :-
THo. SHVTE -Ro .RVNDLE .c 'w . L.cI687.
Under .the tower is a most interesting and curious tablet, more than two hundred
years old, to the memory of a couple named Shute, who after 52 years of wedded
life, died on the same day, Above the inscription are two skulls-:.the usual emblems
of death-and an hour-glass over two hands cla,sping a heart. The inscription is
under :-
HERE LIETH YE BODIES OF JOHN SHVTT AND MARGARET HIS WIFE
WHO LIVED TOGETHER 52 YEARS AND DECEASED BOTH IN ONE DAY
THEIR BODIES BURIED ARE BVT NOT THIR NAMES
THEIR UERTUES HAVE INBALMED YE SAME HINTON
WHEN STRENGTH OF NATURE DID DECAY THEIR SOULS
THEN HASTEN TO AWAY UNTO YE AUTHOR OF ALL BLIS
THE FOUNTAINE OF THEIR HAPPINES A PAIRE OF DOVES
SUTED OF SILVER FEATHERS WHO LOUED AND LIUED
AND DIED HERE LIE TO GETHER BEING
YE 2TH OF SEPTEMBER ANO DOMIN DEI 1668.
In the chancel floor we read there is a gravestone with the inscription; " Here
liethe the bodi of " Anthonie Hungerford, esquier, captain wythin " the realme
of, Ireland, who desesed the 25 of " Maye in the 36 yefe of our Queene Elizabeth's
" raine, Ano Domini 1594." After the Reformation the church of Hinton was attached
as a chapelry to the vicarage of Norton S. Philip. In 1826 however it was separated
and made a perpetual curacy. It is now a vicarage in the gift of the Vicar of
Norton.Monuments in the church show how long the last two ministers occupied their
cure. The following inscription preserves the memory of the one appointed in 1826-
THOMAS SPENCER, M.A. AND LATE FELLOW OF S. JOHN'S CAMB. FOR NEARLY 22 YEARS PASTOR
OF THlS PARISH .DIED 26TH JAN. 1853 AGED 56 YEARS AND 3 MONTHS. He was succeeded
in 1848 by the late Mr. Girardot who was highly esteemed in the parish on account
~ of the kindness which he and his family displayed to all around them. His death
occurred quite recently though he had been absent for many months on account of
ill health, and over his grave near the priest's door is a marble monument to
the memory of WIJ:.LIAM LEWIS GIRARDOT 27 YEARS VICAR OF THIS PARISH \VHO DIED
3RD JAN. 1876 AGED 75 The present vicar is the Rev. Charles Watkins, Theological
Associate King's College, London, who was acting as curate in charge at the iime
of Mr. Girardot's death, and who laid down the sword to enter the church having
formerly held the commission of a Captain in her Majesty's Service. On the Sunday
I was present the service was taken by the Vicar who read very well though his
voice is one which naturally must be difficult to manage. I imagine that he has
introduced certain improvements in the mode of the service which do not meet with
the unanimous approval of his flock. The revised edition of Hymns Ancient and
Modern is in use, and a very good country choir, properly placed in the chancel,
perform the musical part of the service in a very satisfactory manner. But in
some corner by a pillar was a voice which I am sure was that of the banished parish
clerk. The owner of the voice was an old gentleman of quiet and inoffensive appearance.
He was evidently only the weak vessel containing a voice that would not be silenced,
and as it was no longer permitted the privilege of repeating the prayers and responses
half a sentence ahead of the people now maintained an analogous position in their
rear. Thus while the Psalms were in reading, he, with dogged persistence, proclaimed
the concluding portion of a verse after the minister had commenced that which
followed it. The service as I saw it however was very moderate in tone and one
must be very captious to take offence at it. The day was Palm Sunday and so that
beautiful hymn was sung, All glory, laud and honour To Thee Redeemer King, To
whom the lips of children Made sweet Hosannas ring. The text was taken from Philippians
ii. 9,11- " Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him, " and given him a name
which is above every " name; that at the name of Jesus every knee "should bow,
of things in heaven and things in " earth and things under the earth; and that
every " tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, " to the glory of God
the Father." The sermon was a very brief and concise exposition of the , event
in the life of Our Lord which Palm Sunday is appointed to commemorate, and the
instruction which the Church should derive from it. The service concluded with
the offertory by which "means, I am informed, the expenses of the church have
been met since the abolition of Church rates.