Burrington, Herefordshire

Burrington
Burrington
	Burrington Location within Herefordshire
Population	138 (2011) [1]
OS grid reference	SO4472
Civil parish	Burrington;
Unitary authority	Herefordshire ;
Ceremonial county	Herefordshire ;
Region	West Midlands ;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Ludlow
Postcode district	SY8
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Hereford and Worcester
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	North Herefordshire ;
	List of places UK England Herefordshire 52°20′40″N2°49′13″W / 52.344483°N 2.820227°W Coordinates: 52°20′40″N2°49′13″W / 52.344483°N 2.820227°W

Last updated April 09, 2019

Burrington is a small village and civil parish in the far north of Herefordshire, England.

Herefordshire is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It borders Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire and Powys to the west.

A parish council is a civil local authority found in England and is the first tier of local government. They are elected corporate bodies, have variable tax raising powers, and are responsible for areas known as civil parishes, serving in total 16 million people. A parish council serving a town may be called a town council, and a parish council serving a city is styled a city council; these bodies have the same powers, duties and status as a parish council.

Downton is a civil parish in Herefordshire, located in the north of the county and containing the village of Downton-on-the-Rock. It is part of the Leintwardine group of parishes and shares a parish council with Leintwardine and Burrington. In the Domesday Book Downton is referred to as "Duntune", meaning "hill settlement". At Downton Gorge the River Teme cuts through a limestone ridge; above the gorge is Downton Castle, an 18th-century country house with a tower built to resemble a castle.

It is located 6 miles southwest of Ludlow and features a parish church dedicated to St George.

Ludlow is a market town in Shropshire, England, 28 miles (45 km) south of Shrewsbury and 23 miles (37 km) north of Hereford via the main A49 road, which bypasses the town. With a population of approximately 11,000, Ludlow is the largest town in South Shropshire. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and neighbouring Wales.

A parish church in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, often allowing its premises to be used for non-religious community events. The church building reflects this status, and there is considerable variety in the size and style of parish churches. Many villages in Europe have churches that date back to the Middle Ages, but all periods of architecture are represented.

History of church and parish

Burrington is a settlement which dates back to the Domesday Book, when the manor was held by Edric the Wild, around whom many legends subsequently grew. The present church dates from 1864, when an earlier structure was rebuilt. It boasts possibly the finest collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century cast iron grave slabs in the country.

Domesday Book 11th-century survey of landholding in England as well as the surviving manuscripts of the survey

Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states:

Then, at the midwinter [1085], was the king in Gloucester with his council .... After this had the king a large meeting, and very deep consultation with his council, about this land; how it was occupied, and by what sort of men. Then sent he his men over all England into each shire; commissioning them to find out "How many hundreds of hides were in the shire, what land the king himself had, and what stock upon the land; or, what dues he ought to have by the year from the shire."

Little is known about the date of the original church on the site. An unsigned drawing of 1842 shows it to have been a much lower structure than the present building, consisting of nave, chancel and wooden south porch. At the west end was a wooden belfry with a shingled broach spire. All windows, including the three light east window, were square headed with hood moulds, suggestive of a date in the early sixteenth century. An unusual feature was a small blocked opening high in the east gable, also with a hood mould, the purpose of which is unclear. The chancel of the old church was longer than that of the present building, with the grave slabs originally being placed inside. A large dormer window probably gave light to a west gallery. The exterior of the church was rendered and limewashed, giving it a very Welsh appearance.

The nave is the central part of a church, stretching from the main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type building, the strict definition of the term "nave" is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way, the nave is distinct from the area reserved for the choir and clergy.

Chancel space around the altar of a traditional Christian church

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary, at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. It is generally the area used by the clergy and choir during worship, while the congregation is in the nave. Direct access may be provided by a priest's door, usually on the south side of the church. This is one definition, sometimes called the "strict" one; in practice in churches where the eastern end contains other elements such as an ambulatory and side chapels, these are also often counted as part of the chancel, especially when discussing architecture. In smaller churches, where the altar is backed by the outside east wall and there is no distinct choir, the chancel and sanctuary may be the same area. In churches with a retroquire area behind the altar, this may only be included in the broader definition of chancel.

Bell tower a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells

A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell towers, often part of a municipal building, an educational establishment, or a tower built specifically to house a carillon. Church bell towers often incorporate clocks, and secular towers usually do, as a public service.

The 1864 Rebuilding

The Churchwardens' Accounts, which survive from 1833, suggest that fairly regular expenditure was necessary to maintain the building, particularly the roof, belfry and glazing, and it is possible that this provided some of the impetus to rebuild.

The cost of rebuilding the nave was borne entirely by the local landowner, Mr A. Boughton-Knight of Downton Castle, while that of the chancel was met by the Vicar and a number of subscribers. There was probably a disagreement between Knight and the Vicar, Philip Hale, which resulted in the use of different architects for the two parts of the building.

Downton Castle is a grade I listed 18th-century country house in the parish of Downton on the Rock in Herefordshire, England, situated about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Ludlow, Shropshire. It is in an excellent state of repair.

For the nave, Knight employed the Shrewsbury architect Samuel Pountney Smith, who in 1861 had already built him a new church at Downton. Pountney Smith was a competent, and at times original, local architect who had been responsible for a number of rebuildings and restorations in Shropshire. The chancel was the work of a nationally known architect, George Frederick Bodley, who had earlier designed a new vicarage at Burrington. Bodley, whose finest works may be seen at Hoar Cross, Staffordshire and Pendlebury, Lancashire, was married to a lady from Kinnersley and carried out a number of minor commissions in Herefordshire.

A memorandum in the Parish register written by Rev. Philip Hale draws attention to the shortening of the chancel. It states that the original chancel had been extended eastwards, and had become the joint responsibility of the vicar and the parish. By returning it to the original dimensions, the anomaly had been removed. It would appear that the vicar was also able by this means to snub the Knight family by banishing their ancestral graves to the churchyard. Further evidence of this disagreement is provided by a note that the chancel screen was the property of the vicar, even though the arch under which it was erected was part of the nave. Unfortunately no record of this dispute has yet appeared in either the Knight papers or the parish or diocesan records. The parish magnanimously contributed the sum of twelve pounds to purchase "an altar, altar coverings and linen, also a surplice, Bible and Altar Service Book."

Recent developments

The work was completed with great rapidity, and the church today appears substantially as it would have done in 1864. It was necessary to carry out major repairs in the 1930s, but these did not affect the appearance of the building. The pressure to amalgamate small rural parishes affected Burrington earlier than most. During the incumbency of Rev. W. H. Ashton (1929–1934) it was joined with Downton, and under Rev. F. I. Turney (1941–1949) Aston and Elton were added to the benefice. Subsequently, in 1976 Burrington became part of the united parish of Wigmore Abbey.

In 1981 the tower was found to be unsafe, and the whole village became involved in a successful campaign to raise the necessary sum of £10,000. By 1987 the work was completed, the wooden structure having been re-seated on concrete beams. At the same time the interior was entirely replastered and redecorated, and the cast iron grave slabs re-sited for easier viewing. Continuing improvements have included a set of striking hassocks embroidered by members of the parish.

The churchyard contains a Commonwealth war grave of an airman of World War II.^[3]

In 2016, the church closed as the building had become dangerous, with falls of roof tiles and plaster within and outside the church. It is on Historic England's list of buildings at risk. ^[4]

Description

The external appearance of the church shows no indication that it was the work of two architects. It was designed in the Early English Gothic style of the thirteenth century, with lancet windows except for the three light east window which has simple plate tracery. The building is much higher than its predecessor, and the wooden belfry with which it is surmounted provides a slight echo of the former structure.

The interior is plain, the nave and chancel being divided by the wooden screen of 1864, which is also executed in a plain thirteenth century style. The original retable behind the altar is of stone, consisting of three arches in which the Lord's Prayer and Decalogue are inscribed.

The belfry contains three bells, one of which, the treble, is a rare survival of a medieval long-waisted bell. The tenor was cast in 1727 by Abraham Rudhall III and is inscribed "Prosperity to this Parish". The third bell is of similar design and age.

The Monuments

Burrington is famous for its fine series of cast iron grave slabs situated outside the east end of the chancel. This type of memorial is associated with areas of early ironfounding, being particularly found in the Weald of Kent and Sussex, though it is doubtful if that area has a collection to rival Burrington.

Bringewood Chase was a centre of ironfounding in charcoal furnaces from Elizabethan times until it was eclipsed by the Coalbrookdale area in the later eighteenth century. Charcoal was burnt locally in the coppiced oak woods of the Chase, and iron ore and limestone were brought by pack horse from the Clee Hills, The memorials commemorate members of the local ironfounding families, particularly the Walkers and the Knights. Job Walker whose family had worked the ironworks for its owners the Earls of Essex and Craven, purchased its lease in 1690. The Walkers sold out in 1727 to Thomas Knight, the owner of furnaces at Madeley and Wolverley. The Knights acquired a great many small estates in the area, and when ironworking ceased, the Downton Castle estate was landscaped by Richard Payne Knight, a leader of the Picturesque movement.

The eight slabs commemorate:

Robert Seward died 1619
Maria Hare died 1674
Jane Hare died 1678
Richard Knight died 1745

Joyce Walker died 1658
William Walker died 1676
Jane & Barbara Knight died 1701 & 1705
Ralph Knight died 1754

The slabs are interesting in showing the development of lettering styles during the period, progressing from the sans-serif design of the seventeenth century to the full serif design of the eighteenth as seen on Richard Knight's monument. The fine display of heraldry illustrates the skill of the craftsmen who made the castings. Similar memorials, also to members of the Walker family, may be seen in the chancel at Onibury, Shropshire.

Bibliography

"A Short History & Guide to St.George's Burrington" by Martin Speight

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References

↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
↑ ^[dead link ]
↑ "Leading Aircraftman COTTELL, GEORGE JAMES : Service Number 1254123 : Died 03/10/1945 : CWGC casualty record". Cwgc.org. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
↑ "Heritage at Risk". Historic England.

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[1] "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2015.

[2] [dead link ]

[3] "Leading Aircraftman COTTELL, GEORGE JAMES : Service Number 1254123 : Died 03/10/1945 : CWGC casualty record". Cwgc.org. Retrieved 9 August 2018.

[4] "Heritage at Risk". Historic England.

Burrington

Burrington Location within Herefordshire
Population	138 (2011)^[1]
OS grid reference	SO4472
Civil parish	Burrington
Unitary authority	Herefordshire
Ceremonial county	Herefordshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Ludlow
Postcode district	SY8

Police	West Mercia
Fire	Hereford and Worcester
Ambulance	West Midlands

EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	North Herefordshire
List of places UK England Herefordshire 52°20′40″N2°49′13″W / 52.344483°N 2.820227°W / 52.344483; -2.820227 Coordinates: 52°20′40″N2°49′13″W / 52.344483°N 2.820227°W / 52.344483; -2.820227