JK
The
earliest reference to a vicarage in Purley was in 1394 when the then vicar, Stephen
Walle, was accused of keeping his concubine there. It is likely that it was the
same house which was leased in 1560 to William Stoning, presumably because
Richard Gatskyll was unsure of his future after the death of Queen Mary and may
already have left the parish at that time.
William
Stoning’s son Thomas became rector in 1577 and the lease was renewed to William
around 1581. It appears that when William died shortly afterwards the lease was
again confirmed in the names of Thomas, then the rector, and his two sisters
Elizabeth and Anne. When Thomas died in 1585 his goods were left to his wife
Elizabeth but his sisters Elizabeth who had married Humphrey Higgins continued
to live at the rectory.
In
1595 Randall Wright, Thomas’s successor as rector, apparently tried to gain
possession and it was reported that it was occupied by a number of poor men who
paid their rent to the parson. Presumably Randall eventually gained possession.
The
Terrier of 1634 gives an interesting description of the parsonage, which sat in
3 acres of ground. The main house had six bays containing 13 rooms and there
were two barns of 5 and 3 bays and a newly built stable of 5 bays. There was
also a close on the west and an orchard on the east. In 1608 there had been
only one barn and by 1704 the stable was only 2 bays and there was also a cart
house and cow shed. Medieval houses tended to very flexible and were made up of
a framework of oak beams. The framework was very modular and consisted of bays
which were typically rectangular with sides of 25x15 feet. These bays might be
one two or three storeys high and could be fitted together in almost any
combination. The joists were then boarded over to make floors and the framework
was filled in with laths and plaster to form walls with doors and window
inserted where required. Buildings could easily be taken apart and rebuilt
either on the original site or elsewhere and frequently were.
In
1724 the ancient parsonage house was reported as being out of repair, but was
to be rebuilt. It was being rebuilt in 1728 and ‘in good order’ by 1730. This
new parsonage house was built by James Harrison who was rector from 1723 to
1741. Whether it occupied the same site as the old vicarage is not known, but
this building lasted until 1968.
It
was rented out several times as many of the subsequent rectors held more than
one living and preferred to live elsewhere. In 1795 it was rented to a Mr Doe
who recorded that he planted a larch and a cedar on the rectory lawn.
The
house was enlarged in 1805 and a new barn and stable constructed on the west
side of the orchard. The rectory was mortgaged for £560 in 1830 by Charles
Manesty to pay for essential repairs and to effect further enlargements.
The
rectory was sold in 1926 for £3000 to Mrs Lister, a neice of Lord Lister of
antiseptic fame and remained in the possession of the family until 1964 when it
was sold to the County Council for use as an old peoples home by Mrs Pryor.
The
council however did not look after the house properly while they were waiting
to get their plans complete and finance for the conversions approved. The house
had a large well in the roof which was drained by a gutter which needed regular
clearing. A family of muscovy ducks set up home their and their debris worsened
the blockage to the delight of the ducks who now had their own private duck
pond. Eventually the roof gave way and the house was flooded and had to be
demolished and replaced by flats and council houses on what is now Lister
Close. The remains of the mangers of the stables can still be seen as circles
in the boundary walls of Lister Close and many of the windows and timbers were
used in the construction of the Old Rectory Garden House which preserved many
of the design features of the old house.
A new
rectory was built on a site to the south of the railway which formed part of
the original glebe lands. It was not completed until some time after Arthur
Harris-Rivett took over as rector in November 1927. It was built by John Purvey
and sons of Pangbourne and the final cost was £3003/5/9 although the original
estimate had been for œ2900. Arthur Harris-Rivett had had changes made during
construction which had cost an additional £95-16-3. It was expected he should
pay these charges himself but eventually in July 1928 the Governors of Queen
Anne’s Bounty agreed to pay the money from Purley’s standing account.
This
new rectory was deemed to be much too large in 1941 and the Parochial Church Council
had the house and its 3.5 acres of ground valued by Messrs Nicholas. Their
valuation was £2750 and the PCC resolved to sell it at the earliest
opportunity. John Purvey of Pangbourne offered the church a plot of land of one
acre on the
Ernest
Skuse refused to live at the rectory for much of his tenure as he could not
afford the upkeep. It was used however by his two sucessors. The rectory was
eventually sold and demolished around 1967 when Allison Gardens and the west
end of
The
Glebe lands of the Church were a main source of income until comparatively
recent times. They were the lands owned by the benefice which the rector farmed
to provide his livelihood.
Purley’s
glebe lands have been defined from time to time in documents known as terriers.
These were updated regularly and an up to date terrier was usually required to
be produced at the bishop’s triennial visitation and often to the Archdeacon
whenever he required it. Additionally notes were made in the parish register by
William Gostwicke in 1714 about a plan made by William Humphreys which listed
church lands. Further information can be found in the tithe awards of 1841 and
the survey made by Moss in 1786.
The
terrier for 1634 recorded about 40 acres with common rights to graze in other
areas. Over the years the glebe lands were gradually sold off and parcels of
land exchanged to effect consolidate of land holdings. Small amounts of land
were sold to the Great Western Railway in 1836 for the building of the line
from
When
Charles Manesty came to sell the land to the GWR the situation was complicated
because much of the land between New Hill and
A
major sale was made in 1879 when Charles Travers sold over 24 acres, consisting
of three fields, to Major Storer for £2000 which was invested on Purley’s
behalf by the Church Commissioners. The Lord Chancellor, as Patron, had great
misgivings as he believed land in Purley would soon become very valuable and he
was anxious that the proposed sale would not ’depreciate the comfort of the
Rectory House’ he finally agreed however but while he was amenable to £20 of
the proceeds being used to redeem Land Tax, he would not consent to it being
used to repay a loan from Queen Anne’s bounty. The rector then got into a
dispute with major Storer as to whether or not the land would be subject to a
tithe after the sale had been completed. It was suggested that rather than pay
cash the pasture opposite the Rectory (The Pond Field) should be sold to the
Rector but Major Storer objected to this as he claimed all his land was
entailed and he was not empowered to sell any of it. Prior to this sale the
glebe lands had totalled 43 acres, one rood and 35 perches with a gross rental
value of £62. so by 1891 17 acres remained.
In
1923 an acre of land was sold to Messrs Purvey and Boxall to be used as a
gravel yard. This realised £750 which was to be put towards the proposed new
Parsonage House to be built at the North East corner of
The
present churchyard is .630 acres in extent and was enlarged from .426 acres in
1926. All parishioners of Purley have the right to be buried there but nowadays
this right is only rarely exercised.
The
churchyard is bounded by a brick wall and there is a lych gate at the southwest
corner. The wall was breached in 1982 to permit access to the site for heavy
equipment engaged in building the extension and so far this has not been
restored. The intention had been to move the lych gate but this now seems
unlikely.
A
small paved area at the end of St. Mary’s Ave was made available for car
parking in the late 1960s and this was extended in 1984 after the extension was
built. At the same time a new path was laid to the west door which traversed
many of the graves of the Storers and Fullertons, the last Lords of the manor
of Purley Magna.
There
was a small garden shed to the east of the church used to store gravedigging
and grass cutting equipment. This shed had been used by the builders while the
Church of England School was being built in 1870 and was moved to the
churchyard soon afterwards on the instructions of Major Storer, then the
churchwarden.
Close
by was an old water pump which used to be the only source of water until piped
water was brought to the churchyard in 1969. In 1987 the old shed was
demolished and a new one erected against the north wall of the old vestry. The
pump was acquired by Frted Rawlins, a former sexton, after he moved from the
village to Ashmore Green and so far as we know it is still at his new house,
Fred having long died.
In
1970 new rules for the churchyard were made. They were adopted by the PCC at
their meeting on 9th October and published in the Parish News of
November 1970. Memorials had to be of stone quarried in
By
1999 the church extension was full and no more new graves could be dug,
although several existing graves were re-opened to accommodate a second body.
After earlier attempts to extend the churchyard southwards had failed, the
Parish Council acquired land adjacent to the Barn and established a new civil
burial ground. This was dedicated by the Bishop of Reading in June 1999.
In
1711 the rector William Gostwicke recorded in the parish register an account of
the walls and rails which surrounded the churchyard. The responsibility for
upkeep went with the tenure of land in the parish and his account is therefore
more noteworthy for the insight it gives into who owned and rented the land
than as an account of the boundary.
The
account starts at the gate and proceeds anticlockwise around the boundary.
|
Section |
Orientation |
Length |
type |
Responsible
person |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
NS |
9 feet |
rails |
Thomas South |
|
2 |
EW |
South side |
|
Mr Gower |
|
3 |
NS |
East side |
|
Mary Blagrave |
|
4 |
EW |
19-20 feet |
hurdles |
Mary Blagrave |
|
5 |
EW |
44 feet |
wall |
John Arnold |
|
6 |
EW |
8 feet 6 inches |
rail |
Robert Newbery |
|
7 |
EW |
4 feet |
rail |
John Nicholls |
|
8 |
EW |
8 feet |
rail |
John Tailor |
|
9 |
EW |
8 feet |
rail |
unknown |
|
10 |
EW |
40 feet |
Wall/rail |
Francis Hide |
|
11 |
EW |
8 feet |
rail |
Ann Viner |
|
12 |
EW |
8 feet 6 inches |
rail |
William Higgs |
|
13 |
EW |
7 feet |
rail |
Mary Blagrave |
|
14 |
EW |
7 feet |
rail |
Samuel Elms |
|
15 |
NS |
9 feet |
rail |
William Simmonds |
|
16 |
NS |
33 feet |
wall |
Mr Allen |
|
17 |
NS |
15 feet |
rail |
Edward Aldridge |
|
18 |
NS |
16 feet |
rail |
Richard Sinden |
|
19 |
NS |
10 feet |
rail |
Mr Robinson |
|
20 |
NS |
6 feet |
rail |
John Breedon |
|
21 |
NS |
7 feet |
rail |
John Martin |
|
22 |
NS |
13 feet |
wall |
John Knap |
|
23 |
NS |
17 feet |
wall |
Rector |
|
24 |
NS |
|
gate |
Rector |
The churchwarden’s
presentments contain many references to the rails, mostly reporting failures on
the part of landowners to effect repairs, as in 1742 when Mr St John was the
culprit and 1754 when it was Mr Francis Hawes.
A plan of the churchyard
was commissioned from Mr Keen of Pangbourne when the question of levelling
unknown graves was under discussion in 1934. Mr Keen’s estimate of 18 guineas
was thought excessive by the PCC and they demanded a second estimate. In the
end the rector, Reverend Skuse, preferred to pay it out of his own pocket. The
plan measures 24” by 24” and all known graves were numbered, the plot numbers
being entered in the burials register in future. The plan is still in use
although in later days a number of anomalies were introduced as rectors mixed
up burials with cremations and didn’t draw in the new graves at the correct
scale.
By the 1920s the
churchyard was filling up rapidly and further burial space was required. A
piece of land measuring one fifth of an acre was acquired to the north of the
existing churchyard. The land was donated by Mr Farmiloe of Purley Park who
also made a contribution of £20 towards the costs which amounted to:- Legal
Fees £6-6-0, Levelling £22-12-3, W Flowers & Sons £1-0-0, Fencing £13-14-2,
Erection of fencing £3-7-6
The fencing was removed in
1928 and sold for £10. It was replaced by a brick wall which cost £65 plus
£33-18-5 for labour. Grass seed was purchased from Percy Stone’s in Pangbourne
for £3-10-0. The old north wall was demolished but its line could still be seen
dividing the old ground from the new. The footings of the demolished wall were
once more exposed when the extension to the church was built in 1982. The first
burial in the new ground was that of James Belcher in 1930.
A further extension was
contemplated in 1946 but negotiations were never completed. Again in 1981 the
PCC sought to purchase some of the land adjacent to the Churchyard and to
In 1984 the Parish Council
took up the issue as they were actually the burial authority. At first they tried
to extend the burial ground southward into the woodlands of the marina. There
was a great public outcry but the deciding voice was that of the Environment
Agency who decreed it could not be used for burials as it was too close to the
river.
The churchyard had its
last grave in January 1998 when Jan Jones of Purley Lodge was buried. Before
her death she made a contribution which enabled the Parish Council to purchase
land to the north of the recreation ground at
Cremations first appear in
the burial register in 1961 but are believed to date from 1924. After the
Second World War cremation gradually began to replace burials, to the great
relief of all responsible for the provision of burial grounds. Scattering of
ashes was a somewhat haphazard affair and the need for a place to erect
memorials when there was no grave became apparent. Gardens of Memory began to
appear in churchyards and Purley followed suit when in 1965 Ernest Spong, at
the time a churchwarden, established one in memory of his wife Alice.
It is located in the
northeast corner of the churchyard and measures 12.5’ x 13’?. It consists of a
box hedge surround with some elementary shrub plantings. Memorials consisting
of metal plaques or stone slabs can be placed in or around the garden. A number
of such memorials however were placed in other parts of the churchyard. It had
been the original intention that the memorial would consist only of an entry in
a special Cremations Book also donated by Mr Spong. It has however hardly been
used.
JK