Richard Dunmore looks at:

The Origins of Church and Manor
              (1)

A planned settlement had evidently been established at Appleby Magna before the arrival of the Danes around AD 900.  It straddled the shallow valley occupied by the village brook.  The central core of land was occupied by the manor farm, the church and a rectory.  This area remained in the Leicestershire half of the village after part of the manor land was sold and bequeathed to Burton Abbey’s Derbyshire estate in 1004.

 Valley Setting

The steepest part of the valley is the point at which drainage water from the higher land to the south-west funnels through a relatively narrow gap before the resulting brook levels out to flow down wide meadows to join the River Mease about a mile away at the boundary with Measham parish.  The village is centred on the manor (Moat House) and the church; and the positioning of these two buildings, one each side of the brook at this narrow neck, is no accident.  It must be a strong indication that the settlement site was chosen in early times.

It seems likely that this site was chosen for the manor buildings because of the abundance of water in the narrow valley.  The stream afforded a fresh water supply as well as a means of discharging effluent.  With the construction of the moat, it would also provide defence for the house and buildings.  It could also have provided power for a mill, although this is not proven, but in any case, it may not have been attempted until a later date.  There is an insufficient continuous supply of water to power a mill today, but the climate may have been more suitable (ie wetter) for short periods in the past.  The altered course of the stream near the moat and under the shop does suggest that practical use of water power was intended.  The moat may have doubled as a mill pond, fed by a mill stream from higher up the valley.  A water-wheel would have been placed at its north-eastern corner, the present course of the brook acting as a relief channel for unused water.  Even if a mill were successful for a while, it would seem that the failure of the enterprise was inevitable when the weather became drier.

The Heart of the Village

Amongst all the complications of the division of the village between Leicestershire and Derbyshire (described in the last article), one large Leicestershire ‘island’ lies at the heart of the village, at the geographical centre by the brook.  Bridging the valley, this particular ‘island’ contained the manorial home farm together with the church and its parsonage, despite the fact that the church and parsonage were on the Derbyshire side of the brook.  At the time of the land partition in 1004, the Anglo-Saxon owners retained the strategic core of the original village estate in Leicestershire.

Anglo-Saxon Owners

Evidence for an Early Church

Although the present church, on the evidence of its fabric and architectural style, dates from the early 14th century, there is a clear implication in the records that a church and parsonage existed well before that.  Nichols (1811), drawing on early sources, lists rectors and patrons back to AD 1207.  No church building is mentioned as such, but the induction of a rector involves the handing over of the ‘temporalities’ of the parish, meaning all the physical property and revenue required to enable the priest to administer the parish.  It is highly probable therefore that a full parochial system was in place at this time, with a church (a precursor of the 14th century building), rectory and glebe; and income from tithes.

 An explicit reference to a church at Appleby in a 13th century document backs this up.  A lease of land dated 29th September 1262, which has survived in the Hastings Manuscripts, states:

 29 September, 1262. - Lease by James, son of Sir Geoffrey de Appilby, to Roger the smith, of half an acre of land in Appleby Parva, lying at the head of the vill and Abutting on “West Wellgrene”; to hold for twenty years from Michaelmas, 1262, paying 6d. and two horse-shoes (ferros equinos) per annum.  Witnesses - Sir Thomas Dandeville, rector of the church of Appleby, Henry, son of Sir William de Appilby, Roger and William Pescher, Richard and thomas le Herpor, Matthew son of Gilbert, and others.

Whilst this (translated) document is of great interest in its own right, the important point here is that Sir Thomas Dandeville was rector of the church of Appleby in 1262.  (Incidentally, Dandeville fills a gap in Nichols’ list which is incomplete at this early date.)

There is one further reference to a church at Appleby which is even earlier.  In tracing the history of Appleby Parva manor, Nichols quotes the historian Burton: ‘I find by an old deed, that Robert de Stokport gave this manor, with the advowson of the church of Great Appleby, to William de Vernon and his heirs, about the time of king John’, ie 1199-1216.  The existence of the advowson, or rights of patronage, again points to the operation of a parochial system supporting a church and rector.

 What form did this church take and where exactly was it?  Clues lie in the physical appearance of the present church building and its position in relation to the street. The almost uniform architectural style (Decorated Gothic) and design of the bulk of this 14th century building (chancel, nave and side aisles) suggests that it was designed and built in one operation.  The chapel at the north-east corner of the building appears to be earlier, although, according to Pevsner, no earlier than about 1300.  Could this be on the site of the earlier church?

 Private Chapel

In the 14th century, this small structure became the private chapel of the de Appleby family within an enlarged church.  The de Appleby Chapel contained the family tombs and it does seem probable that this small stone chapel was built before the main structure. The rest of the building was fitted round it in the 1340s, almost certainly by Sir Edmund de Appleby.  Indeed after he died in 1375, his body was laid to rest, with that of his wife, beneath the alabaster effigies in the old chapel.  It must have been retained when the building was enlarged because for the de Appleby family it was a special, sacred place.

The Churchyard

The positioning of the church building in the churchyard lends support to the idea that the chapel is on, or very close to, the site of the original church.  The method of enlargement of the earlier building required extension westwards towards the churchyard boundary.  Indeed, Church Street may have been moved westwards to accommodate the enlargement.  The street certainly takes a curved path around the site.

Perhaps a better explanation for the curving road is that a burial ground existed first (it may even have been pre-Christian) and the village streets originally led to this important focal point (see KEY SITES illustration above). The fact that the old county boundary line (AD 1004) followed the curve of the road also points to the churchyard being in place well before the 14th century.  Whatever the explanation for this curve in the street, the de Appleby Chapel site is close to the centre of the churchyard, where one would expect a church building to be located, encircled by a burial ground often known as ‘God’s Acre’.  St Michael, the dedication of the 14th century Church, has been associated not only with high places (eg St Michael’s Mount) but also with cemeteries, so the concept of a burial ground predating the building of the church is quite tenable.

Although the chapel appears to be no earlier than 1300, it could well be the replacement for, or rebuild of, the earlier Saxon church of which Sir Thomas Dandeville, amongst others, was rector.  It could even contain some of the fabric from an earlier stone building.  However, it is more likely that an earlier structure was wooden, particularly if it originated before the arrival of the Danes.  There is also the possibility that a wooden church was destroyed during the Danish period and a stone replacement built later, perhaps in Godiva’s time, but there is no evidence for this.  Of course, a replaced wooden building would leave little archaeological evidence.

In Church

David Parsons has described what a Saxon church would have been like at the time of Domesday (1086). The church ...

 ‘was a small building capable of holding only two or three dozen people.  There were no side aisles, only a small box-like nave with a small chancel to the east ... There were no seats for the public, who would have had to stand throughout the services, though there may have been benches against the wall for the infirm....  The altar was at the east end of the nave or just inside the chancel.  In the case of the nave altar, the priest probably stood under the chancel arch and celebrated the mass facing the people.  If the altar was just east of the chancel arch, the priest may still have celebrated westward from a position in the middle of the chancel’.

He points out that the ‘modern’ idea of the priest celebrating the sacrament facing west and in the midst of the people, rather than facing east at a remote altar (a medieval position), was already foreshadowed at Domesday. 

St Helens  (see KEY SITES plan)

South of the manor (Moat House) and within the same Leicestershire ‘island’, there was an enclosure known as ‘St Helens’.  The name also survives for the bridge which carries the Hall Yard footpath over the village brook.  The nearest church dedication to St Helen is the parish church at Ashby de la Zouch but there is no known connection between Ashby and Appleby.

St Helen (c. 250 - 330) was herself a Christian convert and the mother of the first Christian Emperor Constantine.  Dedications of churches to her are more frequent in the north-eastern half of England.  It is not unreasonable to suppose that a small early church at Appleby (and therefore perhaps the de Appleby Chapel) could have been dedicated to her and that the name has survived attached to nearby land.  A new dedication must have been made for the enlarged church in the 14th century, St Michael possibly being already the dedication of the burial ground and, in any case, a popular choice in the medieval period.

The Parsonage

We are familiar with the modern Rectory (1954) and its predecessor, the ‘Old Rectory’, both situated in Rectory Lane some distance from the church.  An earlier parsonage was demolished and a new one (the ‘Old Rectory’) built around the turn of the 18th century on land awarded to the rector of the day by the 1772 Enclosure Award.  Nichols gives some details:

1807.  The old parsonage-house which stood in a field nearly adjoining the church-yard, on the North side, was taken down, and a very excellent new one built, on a new site, a quarter of a mile West from the church, at the sole expence of the Rev. Thomas Jones, rector ....

The 1606 Glebe Terrier (inventory of church property) pins down the location of the old parsonage more precisely:

 The Homestead or Site of the parsonage situate and lying between the Poolyard on the North side and the street on the South side ...  Within the said bounds are contained one orchard and one garden containing by estimation 5 poles

The Pool Yard was the name of an enclosed field behind the present Almshouses and alongside the road to Measham and now occupied by part of St Michael’s Drive (see KEY SITES plan).  The street referred to must be Mawbys Lane, and the buildings were roughly where the Almshouses stand.  A later glebe terrier (1638) gives a fuller description of the parsonage in the early 17th century:

The dwelling house with that which adjoineth to it containeth five bays of buildings, three of them have plaster flowers over them, the other two are boarded.  Also on the east side of the house stands one other piece of building containing three bays, one of them for a kitchen, one other for a kiln and the third for things belonging unto both, two of them having plastered flowers and the third hath none.  Also on the west side of the dwelling house stands a barn of seven bays.  And also one other piece of building, four little bays used for a stable and a house to set cattle in.

 This was clearly a substantial complex of buildings.  A bay is the section of a building between the principal supporting structures.  We may suppose that all the buildings were timber framed, with a renewable infill between the subsidiary timbers of either lath and plaster or boards.  The ‘plastered flowers’ were clearly a decorative feature and evidence of status.  The reference to barn and cattle house shows that the rectory was a working farm as well as the dwelling of the rector.  He would be used to accommodating over-night guests and this is reflected in the size of the house and the stabling.  The kiln in the bay next to the kitchen was probably a bread oven.  The location of kitchen and kiln in a separate building, detached from the main house, would be a deliberate ploy to reduce fire risk.

 With so little evidence we can have no idea how old this parsonage was, although it was probably medieval and may have been built with the enlarged church, but it seems likely that the site of the building, adjacent to the church, is contemporary with the first Saxon building.  The parsonage would at first have been a relatively simple dwelling in keeping with the parson’s simple life.  At the time of Domesday (1086) ‘worker-priests’ sharing communal ploughs laboured alongside other villagers in the open fields.

Notes and References

Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Peterborough manuscript , translated by Michael Swanton, Phoenix Press, 2000 , records the death, in 1066, of Abbot Leofric, Earl Leofric’s nephew.  Swanton also gives many useful genealogical tables including the descendants of Wulfrun the Mercian Lady who founded the Minster at Wolverhampton.  Wulfric Spot her son founded Burton Abbey.  A grand-daughter Aelfgifu married King Cnut (Canute).  It was another Aelfgifu, her great grand-daughter (and Wulfric’s niece) who married Aelfgar heir to Earl Leofric and Lady Godiva (the founders of St Mary’s Cathedral and Priory at Coventry).

 Charles Phythian-Adams, ‘Lords and the Land’, discusses the pre-Conquest dominance of the powerful House of Leofric, in The Norman Conquest of Leicestershire and Rutland, ed. Phythian-Adams, Leicestershire Museums Art Galleries & Records Service, 1986, pp 18 - 23

 John Hunt, in ‘Piety, Prestige or Politics’ in Coventry’s First Cathedral ed. Demidowicz, Stamford, 1994, discusses the development of the Earldom of Mercia.  Before the Norman Conquest, the key to land tenancy lies with the ambitions of the House of Leofwine, Earl Leofric's father.  Leofwine, Ealdorman of the Hwicce, to the south-west of Mercia, had been created first Earl of Mercia in AD 1017 by King Cnut (Canute) in a major reallocation of power.  Leofwine, who was succeeded by Leofric about AD 1023, had begun to acquire territory in Mercia as early as AD 998.  By the time of Domesday, the family had acquired a large number of manorial estates throughout Mercia.  Land tenure was an essential part of lordship as was the patronage of religious foundations.  Although acts of genuine piety were involved in religious patronage, family and political prestige were also being promoted.  The Appleby Magna Domesday holdings of Godiva and Abbot Leofric of Burton can be seen in that context.  It seems possible that Leofwine had acquired the Appleby ‘multiple estate’ (see Appleby In Focus 3) around AD 1000, part being sold off to Wulfric Spot for Burton Abbey and the rest coming eventually to Godiva after Leofric’s death (AD 1057).  Earl Leofric was clearly in a position to influence the appointment of his nephew to Burton Abbey in AD 1051.  By 1066, part of Burton’s Appleby estate was sub-tenanted to Godiva, who thus acquired a partial income from Abbey lands.

 Nichols, op.cit pp. 434-436 (rectors):  his list of  'rectors' begins with Henry Lewel 1207 followed by Richard Middi, 1220, when the patron was Richard son of Roger (p 436).  On p 434, he expands on this: 'In the Matriculus of 1220, Appleby is described to be under the patronage of Richard FitzRoger; the rector, Richard Middi, had been instituted by Hugh former bishop of Lincoln.... '  This bishop must have been Hugh of Wells (Bishop of Lincoln 1209-1235) rather than his more famous predecessor Hugh of Avalon - St Hugh of Lincoln - who died in 1200.

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: ‘Leicestershire and Rutland’, Penguin 1977, pp 47-48 (date of church and de Appleby Chapel)

 Report on the Manuscripts of the late Reginald Rawdon Hastings of the Manor House Ashby de la Zouch, Historic Manuscripts Commission, HMSO, 1928, p 47 (1262 lease of land)

 Nichols op. cit., p 439 (Appleby Parva and Church advowson).  His reference is to W Burton, Description of Leicestershire, 1622 (2nd edition 1777)

 The uniformity of the church nave and side aisles is apparent from the geometry of the building betraying the designer’s hand: the rectangular space provided jointly by the nave and side aisles is very close to square; and the width of the chancel arch is double that of the nave arches.

 Burials of the de Applebys in their chapel are noted by Nichols op. cit. (p 436). It is no longer a chapel but houses the church organ chamber and vestries.

 Whitehead, M A, Escomb its Village, People and Churchyard, May 1979.  A rare example of a Saxon church, in County Durham, surrounded by its almost circular burial ground, ‘God’s Acre’.

 David Parsons, ‘Churches and Churchgoing in 1086’ in The Norman Conquest of Leicestershire and Rutland, op. cit. p 42 (conditions in church; and ‘worker-priests’ in the fields)

 David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, OUP, 1997 (St Michael, St Helen, St Hugh)

 Nichols, op. cit., p 432 (demolition of old parsonage)

 Appleby Glebe Terriers, 1606, 1638, LRO.  I am again grateful to Alan Roberts for his transcriptions of the Glebe Terriers.  I have modernised the spelling.

 Map of the Parish of Great and Little Appleby in the Counties of Leicester and Derby, 1832 and Reference 1831, scale 8 in:1 mile, gives the location and field name of Pool Yard (Sir John Moore School Trustees)

 Eric Mercer, English Vernacular Houses, Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, HMSO, 1979.  This gives details of house structures such as timber frames and infill materials.  The infill could be replaced when necessary.  The Black Horse Inn has infills of brick, which may have replaced a different original material.