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A GRAVE SURVEY Initial report[1]

ST. MARY THE VIRGIN CHURCH, WESTON-ON-THE-GREEN

© Copyright, 2007, Brian Wilson, The Moat, Weston-on-the-Green

Introduction

1.     Aim of the survey
The survey tries, as a contribution to local village history, to answer four simple questions: who are the persons buried in the village church and churchyard ?  When were they buried ? Where were they buried? What are their memorials? The results after mapping may provide the background to future management of the graveyard.

2.     Background:  church, vicarage and graveyard history
A medieval church was part of the foundation gift in about 1130 by Robert D.'Oilly to Oseney Abbey although the western tower is probably 13^th.C. At the monastic dissolution in 1539, the church passed with the manor and vicarage into the hands of Lord Williams of Thame and his descendants the Norreys family[2].  The church, described as partly"falling down"[3]and "being in great decaie" was re-roofed in 1564 and when it was reported to be "completely delapidated"[4] in 1741, Norreys Bertie (1717-1766), the Lord of Weston Manor from another branch of the same family, rebuilt the church in its present, rectangular form in 1744 and had the date, his initials and his Coat of Arms embossed on the rainwater heads. Extensive repairs to the roof were again necessary in 1810 when the ceiling had to be replaced

3.     Montague, Earl of Abingdon, in the absence of the Bertie family in Ireland, in 1822 initiated, as incoming Vicar, Andrew Hughes Mathews BD, who took out the next year a mortgage of £302 for "the purpose of enlarging the Parsonage house and other necessary offices belonging to the said vicarage"[5].  The Berties returned to Weston in time to be included in the 1861 Census of population and to undertake substantial building works. After converting their two-storied, Jacobean-style home into the present three-storied, Victorian gothic Manor House, they required substantial renovations to be made to the Church.

4.     The 1841 Diocesan Visitation had declared  that "the Church was built by the Impropriation of the Great Tithes and the whole is repaired by the Church Rate"; but these compulsary church rates were ended by an 1868 Act. The 1870 renovations, presumably all at the expense of the Bertie family, included tower repairs, re-seating, building a porch onto the classical, pedimented south door and adding gothic hexafoils and stained glass to the windows.

5.     The graveyard area was the subject of Question 24 during the 1837 Diocesan Visitation "Is the churchyard sufficiently large to render the practice of digging graves within six feet of the walls of the church unnecessary ?"[6]. Although David and William Howse, churchwardens, had answered affirmatively, quite soon in the mid-19^th. Century the graveyard was extended to the east by incorporating half of the adjoining 18^th C. farmyard and buildings. The 1885 O.S. map of "St.Bartholomew's" (sic) Church and Grave Yard shows that area of land as being under trees and it was not until 1892[7]  that it was first used for burials. A stone tablet on the east wall of the Church records one burial close to this wall in 1935 despite the Diocesan concerns of 1837.

Summary of results.

6.     Detailed results are given in two spreadsheet lists: by location of the memorial and alphabetically by surname of the persons buried. A total of 256 gravestones or monuments commemorate the deaths of at least 344 persons in single, double and multiple graves. Single graves ("sg" in the spreadsheet) contain one person per plot, double graves ("dg") contain two per plot, usually of man and wife whilst multiple graves ("mg") contain two generations e.g. husband, wife and child or children and sometimes their in-laws. Multiple graves may occupy one or more plots. Stones with illegible inscriptions have, conservatively, been considered single graves

7.     Section (v.infra)    Persons           single graves                double graves              multiple graves
Ch                                     31                                17                                  1                                1
Cr                          46                                32                                  6                               
Ea                          34                                10                                10                                1
Eb                          46                                15                                12                                2
Ec                          91                                52                                13                                3
N                           24                                15                                  3                                1
S                            53                                43                                  3                                1
W                          19                                11                                  4                               
                              ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                     344                              195                              52                                9[8]

8.     The deceased so commemorated are a small minority, about one in five, of all the recorded burials in the village over the last 400 years.  About twenty families account for over half of the memorials. Only a minority of families in the 17th., 18th. and 19th. centuries would have been able to afford a separate plot, let alone a gravestone with monumental carving of names and family details. They include the family members of the Lords of the Manor, three vicars, six farmers, five publicans (at the "Ben Jonson's Head" & "The Chequers) and of skilled craftsman such as wheelwrights, masons, blacksmiths, millers and bakers who, as employers of journeymen, apprentices and labourers, were the entrepreneurial businessmen of their time.

9.     In addition to these marked graves, there are nearly 500 other spaces in the graveyard including many mounds for otherwise unmarked graves, including some quite recent burials, well tended with flowers. Only in 1947 did the parish burial register begin to record some plot locations in the graveyard and to allot row numbers (though possibly on two different maps ). It may be possible for relatives and friends to supply the missing names to enable an updated mapping of the whole graveyard to be completed.

10.  The P.C.C. burial registers from 1598 to 1840 contain 1117 names (an average of 5.24 deaths per annum), those from 1840 to 1936 some 384 names (4 burials annually), with another 175 names from 1936 to 1984 (averaging 3.6 burials per annum). The graveyard has accommodated at least 1675 burials over four centuries. Headstones and footstones have been removed from many older burial sites leaving spaces between rows or between memorials. Some stones have reputedly been used for road ballast, others after removal lean against the north walls of the church and tower, whilst the two decorative end-walls of a very old chest tomb have been placed for safety inside the south porch. Some spaces in the newer east section have possibly never been used for burials.

Graveyard mapping.

11.  For convenience of the initial survey and the subsequent identification of graves, the whole burial site has been mapped and divided into sections, rows and plots which are defined and numbered as follows:-
"Row": a line, more or less straight, of graves, memorials or plots, on a roughly north/south axis. Rows are numbered from east to west, within each of the N, S, E and W sections, except for the cremation rows, which are numbered outwards from the church's east wall (i.e west to east).
"Plot": an actual grave site, indicated by a monumental structure or by a residual mound of earth, or a potential grave site between monuments or residual mounds. Plots are numbered from south to north within each Row.

12.  The eight sections, with easily identifiable monuments as location aids, are:-
Church:-the church itself (altar, aisle, north and south inner walls). This section contains 17^th. and 18^th. century, very legible records in black marble for the Norreys & Bertie families, who also appear on brass plates on the south wall by the altar and again on the north wall by the organ where are also listed the names of all the village men who died in the two world wars, including Richard F. Norreys Bertie, who died in Palestine in 1917. The oldest grave is a black marble slab behind the altar inscribed to "Franciscus Norreyes, Eq.Auratus, qui obijt quinto Idus julii AD MDCLXIX...." (1669) with his Coat of Arms engraved on a white marble in-lay. All other[9], and some Bertie family, memorials lie in the graveyard and are nearly a century later. Outside, the earliest, legible date in the graveyard is 1753 ("Anne Williams, wife of John, aged 77") among many illegible, inscriptions on badly-eroded, local Cotswold stones.
Cremation:- the area between the east wall of the church and the path to the 1939-1945 memorial gate in Mill Lane contains cremation plots dating from 1967. A stone monument in the wall indicates that Stuart James Bevan, K.C., MP for Holbourn and his wife (owners of the Manor in the 1930s) were buried close to the wall, he in 1935 and she in 1984 aged 98.
East(a):-the graveyard east of a straight line from the Mill Lane memorial gate south to Church Lane includes the double graves of Mary & Thomas Kirtland of  "The Chequers", buried in 1917 and 1919 and of George &Agnes Hawtin who kept the Old Post Office as well as those of four servicemen named on white granite War Office headstones.
East(b):-the graveyard south of the path to the Mill Lane memorial gate, west of a straight line between that gate and Church Lane but east of a straight line from that path (near the double grave of Walter & Lillian Brain) to the pine grove at Church Lane. A wide strip of land, devoid of any monument or mound and near to a very large yew tree cedar tree, marks the former boundary line between the old graveyard and the 1892 extension on rather lower ground.
East(c):-the area east of a straight north-south line from the SE corner of the church to Church Lane and south of the path by the cremation plots but west of a    north-south line from that path (near the kerbset, plinth & cross of Jane Elizabeth Frost) to Church Lane by the large tree below which is the railed tomb of Revd. & Mrs.Mathews.  This area contains mainly 18th. & 19th century graves including several of the Howse family of farmers and publicans as well as the memorial of Richard Williams (1720-1788) who requested in his will[10] "to be buried in a vault arched over with brick and a tomb at top made of Horton stone". His tomb near the south-east corner of the church is one of the two 18^th C "chest" tombs in the churchyard recorded by the Department of the Environment as monuments of historic interest.  Further east is the multiple grave, still enclosed in 19^th.C iron railings, of Jane Hawkins who died in childbirth in December 1859, of her day-old twin sons and of her husband who died eight months later.
North:-the area between the church and the fence of the former vicarage, from the tower to the Mill Lane memorial gate, now appears relatively empty, as many headstones have been uprooted and lean against the church walls; it may have had reworked plots or have been the site of a mass grave during a village epidemic. It includes an unidentified 18th C "chest tomb" and an 1820 plaque in the tower wall to Thomas Pulley (farmer and "tithing man" in 1817)[11] and memorials to only six other families. Large gravestones and sawn-off iron railings record Capt.F.A. & Rose Emily Bertie, and the Maynards (millers & bakers in 1840) whilst a single small slab (unusual before cremations) commemorates the farmer Uriah Read and his wife Esther (1858 & 1874).
South:-the area between the south wall of the church and the wall along Church Lane, from the SE corner of the Church to the stream on the west. This section, where several headstones and footstones have been removed, presents most problems. It is difficult to map because of its irregular row layout and to record because of headstone erosion by weathering and ivy, except for two late 19^th century graves of Rev.Drew (1877) and C.M.Bertie (1884).
West:-the area west of the church porch, between the boundary stream, the tower and the rectory fence, has been the current burial ground since 1967, although it also includes several older graves. Nearest the stream, a single footstone is engraved "EW TW" (possibly Elizabeth and Thomas Williams from the 1750s), and one of two headstones is a memorial to Thomas Williams, a mason who died aged 99 in 1838. In the north east corner a ridged tombstone records the deaths of Richard Tombs and his wife Ann (née Tuffrey), both born in the parish, who married in 1832, were publicans at "The Chequers" in 1851 and died in 1868 and 1867.

Memorial designs

13.  The memorials are described in terminology commonly used by monumental masons:-
      np        =          name plate (on a ground peg)
      hs        =          headstone (a large rectangular, vertical slab)
      fs         =          footstone ( a small rectangular, vertical slab, usually with initials only)
      sl         =          slab (a large or small rectangular, horizontal slab placed at ground level )
      ts         =          tombstone (a large rectangular stone, above ground level, with flat, rounded or                                ridged top.
      cr         =          cross
      pl         =          plinth (a single or multiple tiered base for a cross)
      ks        =          kerbset of stones (less usually of chain) surrounding the plot
      va        =          vase
      rl          =          railings (including sawn-off rails, for re-use during WW II)
      wp       =          wall plaque, plate or tablet (in stone, wood or metal).

Sources of information

14.  The main sources used were the following:-
a) memorials in church and graveyard (slabs, plaques, headstones and footstones); which usually give basic information about the deceased:-~
i)   name and surname,
ii)  date of death,
iii) age,
iv) often a family relationship ("wife of ....", "daughter of ....") and very occasionally
v)  the occupation ("vicar", "wheelwright", "MP", "Captain").
These details, often originally in beautifully carved script and on decorated monuments dating from the 18C, are partly or completely eroded from the soft, local stones.
b) parish church registers which date from 1591, though with many gaps and some duplication: (bi) registers of baptisms, marriages and burials from 1598 to 1840 in the form of typed transcription made in 1981 by Eric.F.J. Eustace, (of Kirtlington and a member of the Oxfordshire Family History Society) from 8 volumes of the parish registers which are held in the Bodleian Library archives (kindly loaned by Mrs. Paula Hessian from her genealogical records):
(bii) registers of baptisms (1841- 1995), marriages (1841-1968) and burials (1841- 1936) transcribed, indexed and typed by Maxine Edmond, and distributed in 1996 to the OCC Archives, Society of Genealogists, London, Weston on the Green PCC and the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies, Oxford Central Library
(biii) register of burials from 28 March, 1936 to 18 October, 1984(kindly loaned by Mrs Julia White, Churchwarden);
c) the population censuses returns for 1851, 1871 & 1891 (Oxford County Central Library);
d) Post Office and other commercial directories naming tradesmen for 1847, 1854, 1863, 1874, 1876 and 1877  (Oxford County Central Library).
e) Probate Records of Oxfordshire 1733-1857, Oxford Record Society Vol.61, 1997.

15.  The (1598 - 1840) parish burial records in the initial period contain only:-
i)   name, surname and
ii)  date of burial,
There are several complete gaps in the long series from 1598 e.g. no entries from 1642, the Civil War until 1662 after the Restoration. No age at death was recorded until 1801. Family relationships were included by only some of the officiating incumbents. Abnormal circumstances might occasionally be added, as in 1641  when "a Londoner's child at nurse at F.Harris's " indicated a village wetnurse and in 1766 when the entry "BERTIE Norreys Esq., Lord of the Manor buried from Ghent" indicated that he had been on another European Tour (he had earlier rebuilt the chuch south door in paladian style.  Rev. James Yalden (Vicar 1800 - 1822) wrote, in 1815 "WHEELER John, 64, horse dealer drowned in a ditch" and in 1817 "CLAYDON Thomas, 26,  killed in a boxing match with William Batts of Witney". The next vicar, Revd Andrew Hughes Mathews recorded a domestic tragedy in 1833 when "Elizabeth WAITE, age 3, [was] burnt").

16.   Recent parish (and diocesan) burial registers, (1936 - 1984) have five columns to record:-
i)   name,
ii)  abode,
iii) when buried,
iv) age
vi) by whom the ceremony was performed.
There is no provision for "where buried", although consideration of an extra entry ("location") possibly with a new column, might be given to to facilitate future graveyard management. In June 1947 a grave location was first mentioned ("Row 8" in the "name" column) and in 1964 the first cremation was recorded ("A" in the same column presumably for "ashes"). Since 1936 the location is recorded for about two-thirds of the burials if we generously include somewhat enigmatic entries referring to "new", "east end", "with husband", "with parents".

17.  The parish baptismal register (1591 - 1840) contained :-
i) initially name of the child and
ii) name of only the father, except when three illegitimate children had their mother's name .    entered ( in 1634 "John & Mary, twins of Mary STRATTON") and in 1641 ("GERARD, .   Oliver, daughter of Mary Gerard")
iii) name of the mother was added only after 1715,  and
iv) occupation of the child's parents, for very limited  periods only: in 1698 (one entry), from                 .      1764 to 1776, and from 1813 to 1840.
In the 18 Century a few, extra-marital fathers were named in the register (the village Constable was active in apprehending men under the Bastardy Law);  in the 19thC from 1815 to 1830 there were 30 names of mothers only, several being recorded as "servants" presumably of local farmers since the Bertie family had not then returned from Ireland with their large households.

18.  The 1851 Population Census recorded information on the occupants of each house:-
i)    Surname,                                                         v)   Marital status,
ii)   Forename,                                                       vi)  Occupation and
iii)  Relationship to head of household,                vii) Place born.
iv)  Age,
Some 30 men and women were recorded as "paupers" in receipt of outdoor poor relief, whilst other Weston families if ejected from their tied cottages were housed, men & women separately, in the Bicester Workhouse erected for the Ploughley Hundred in the 183Os.

19.  The 1871 Census introduced data on "Condition" (i.e. marital status)  and whether "Deaf-&-Dumb, Blind, Imbecile, Idiot, or Lunatic". The census taker in 1871 was Emanuel Eaglestone, of Prospect House, retired builder aged 57, who was supervised by George James Dew of Lower Heyford, then the outdoor Relieving Officer for the Bletchington district of the Bicester Poor Law Union.

20.  The increased mechanisation of agriculture brought farming back into profit. At Banbury Samuelson's Britannia Works was a major producer and the reaper especially was the basis of the firms's prosperity in the 1860s ..in 1872 the works was producing 8,000 reapers a year[12]  Mr King of Rectory Farm bought a new reaper for £30 and "he says he can save 4/- an acre cutting his corn ... calculated to do the work of 16 men with only 1 man and 2 horses. It is well for him but the labourers are cut out of work".  Some 50 farm labourers joined the Warwicks Agricultural Union at Upper Heyford on May 31 1872 and 50 more joined the same evening at Weston, despite threats that men joining, or even attending, meetings of the local Union were liable to be  discharged[13]. The farmers formed the Oxfordshire Association of Agriculturalists with a Rule "Not to employ any man belonging to the Agricultural Labourers' Union". At the same time, the Board of Governors of the Bicester Poor Law Union "began cutting off in the Bletchington District every Atom of Outdoor relief which it has been possible to do so"[14]. Their Chairman was the Revd.Wm.John Dry, Vicar of Weston. Many victimised labourers and their families were obliged to emigrate and face an uncertain but happier future in New Zealand.

21.  The 1891 Census added a further question:-"Employer, Employee or Neither" (a belated recognition of the small-scale self-employed). Unfortunately, the practice by some census enumerators, of scoring through the individual entries in order to count males and females separately, has often made a person's age illegible.

Inconsistent and uncertain data.

22.  The altar slab to Sir Francis Norreys records in Latin his death in 1669, although the parish burial record has an entry of "1 May 1682 Norreys Fran., Gent." Near the altar, James Bertie's slab refers to his being "taken from this to a better life at the age of 41, May 7, 1728" whereas the parish registered his baptism in 1677 not 1687, so making him 51. The parish register records the burial in 1946 of Nicholas Picton Vanderland resident of the then Weston Manor Country Club but the kerbset on his grave states that he did not die until ten years later. Parish register dates are more credible since the registers are maintained chronologically. Even data from the same type of source can be inconsistent,  e.g. the data for age or place of birth for the same individual occasionally varies between two successive censuses, being reported inconsistently by persons with failing memories (from normal senility or Alzheimer's disease) or by their relatives. For the purposes of the survey, none of the sources is of itself sufficient. All four sources were therefore used in conjunction to supplement, to confirm and/or to correct each other. In the event some judgement has been required[15].

Future burial requirements.

23.  A working hypothesis could be 4 to 5 burials per annum, including 1 to 2 cremations. The cremation area (so far 44 persons in 38 plots over the past 30 years) may easily be extended between the East Wall and the path (possibly 97 future plots).  Burials may well extend throughout the West section and then into the North section, eastward to the path (possibly another 100 plots). It may also be possible to come to a decision in respect of the older graveyard areas where there is neither a gravestone nor a record of any burial or any burial for a substantial period (say 50 or 100 years) to supplement the never-used parts of the eastern section. Even allowing some variation in the incidence of double plots or cremation, there appears with good management to be sufficient space for future burials and cremations well into the future.

 

This report, dated October2006, is given to the PCC and the Weston on the Green Society with sample pages of the two list of names and locations and the accompanying nine maps.