| Wootton Wawen | |
|---|---|
 St Peter's parish church, viewed from the south | |
  Wootton Wawen Location withinWarwickshire | |
| Population | 1,318 (2011 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP153630 |
| • London | 108 miles (174 km)SE |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HENLEY-IN-ARDEN |
| Postcode district | B95 |
| Dialling code | 01564 |
| Police | Warwickshire |
| Fire | Warwickshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Parish Council Website for Wootton Wawen |
| |
Wootton Wawen/ˈwʊtənˈwoʊ.ən/ is a village andcivil parish in theStratford-on-Avon district ofWarwickshire, England. The village is on theA3400 in mid-western Warwickshire, about 20 miles (32 km) fromBirmingham, about 2 miles (3 km) south ofHenley-in-Arden and about 6.5 miles (10 km) north ofStratford-upon-Avon. The soil is a strong clay and some arable crops are grown, but the land is mainly in pasture. The common fields wereinclosed in 1776, but some inclosures had already been made about 1623.[2]
The scenery is wooded and undulating, rising from about 200 feet (61 m), in the south to 488 feet (149 m), in the north-west at College Farm, above Forde Hall. Near here is Mockley Wood, which, with May's Wood in the centre of the parish and Austy Wood near Edstone, is one of the larger blocks of woodland.[3] The older part of the village straddling the A3400 is designated as a Conservation Area because of its open, rural character and many historic buildings.
Thetoponym "Wootton Wawen" means "farm near a wood, belonging to Wagen".Wagen orWaga is anOld Norse name.[4]
The oldest surviving record of Wootton is from whenÆthelbald, King of theMercians, gave to the Earl Aethilric 20hides of land for a minster between the years 723 and 737. The first wooden church was built at Wootton as a direct result of this charter of land, (about 2,000 acres (810 hectares)) on which to build a monastery or minster ofSaint Mary. The first church may have been burnt and pillaged by Viking invaders, but between about 970 and 1040, Wagen, an Anglo-Danish landowner, established the present church. This land was in the district of theStoppingas near the riverAeluuinnae, now called theAlne.[3]
Domesday Book (1086) records, "in PathlowHundred in Wotton (Wawen) 7 hides. Land for 9 ploughs. 23 villagers with a priest and 22 smallholders who have 6 ploughs. 2 mills at 11s and 8 sticks of eels; woodland 2 leagues long and one league wide. Value £4. Waga held it freely."[5] Waga was one of the witnesses toEarl Leofric's foundation of the monastery at Coventry in the first year of the reign ofEdward the Confessor (1042–43). His lands extended beyond those at Wootton Wawen, but, after theNorman conquest of England, Wootton was bestowed byWilliam the Conqueror onRobert de Stafford, descended from thede Tonei family and who had fought stoutly with Duke William againstKing Harold. He madeStafford Castle his principal seat and took his surname thence.[6]
Charles II passed through Wootton on his travels while escaping from England after the Battle of Worcester. Here, the king, disguised as the man-servant of the daughter of one of his supporters,Jane Lane, met with a party ofParliamentarian troopers:
before we came to Stradford upon Avon we espied upon the way a Troop of Horse whose riders were alighted, and the Horses eateing some grass by the wayside, staying there (as I thought) while their Muster-Maister was provideing their Quarters; Mrs Lanes Sisters Husband (who went along as far as Stradford) seeing this Troop of Horse just in our way, sayd that for his part he would not goe by them, for he had once or twice been beaten by some of the Parliament Soldiers, and he would not run the venture again. I heareing him say soe begged Mrs Lane softly in her Eare that we might not turne back but goe on, for that Enemy would certainly send after us to enquire who we were if they should see us turne. But all she could say in the world would not doe, but her Brother in law turned quite round and went to Stradford another way the troop of Horse being there just getting on Horse-back about twice 12 score off, and I told her we did meete the Troop just but in the Towne of Stradford.[7]
TheCinema Museum in London holds Archive film of Wootton Wawen from the summer of 1952.[8]
Wootton Wawen has always been primarily a farming settlement, but over the centuries industrial activity has included milling; two mills are mentioned in Domesday Book. Early in the 19th century there was a mill used for papermaking, as it probably was a century earlier – a reference to William Martin, "paperman" of Wootton, occurring in 1717[2] – but there has also been a fulling-mill for the production of hemp and flax on Wootton Green, and a dyehouse at nearby Blue Hole. There was also a hurdle-making industry in the village for a time. Today the area is largely agricultural with many residents commuting to nearby cities for employment.
Wootton Wawen is a ward within Stratford on Avon District Council and represented by Councillor Ian Shenton of theConservative Party who is also the County Councillor for the Arden Division of the County Council which includes Wolverton, Langley, Preston Bagot, Henley, Wootton Wawen, Ullenhall, Tanworth in Arden and Earlswood Parishes.[9] Nationally it is part ofStratford-on-Avon constituency, whose Member of Parliament has beenManuela Perteghella of theLiberal Democrats since the 2024 general election. It was included in theWest Midlands electoral region of the European Parliament.
TheChurch of England parish church ofSaint Peter is notable for having the most pronouncedAnglo-Saxon work in the county. It is the oldest church in Warwickshire, although much of the present fabric is later. It comprises achancel with a south chapel,nave, South aisle and on the North the towerembattled and pinnacled. There are also North and South porches the east jamb of the south porch has severalvotive crosses scored into it.[10] The base of the tower and the first two stages are Saxon with four doorways, the top of the tower is 15th century as are theclerestory, the nave battlements, the north doorway and porch, the middle arch of the arcade, the west window with busts of a king and queen and the east window with a leaf frieze. The tower is the earliest part of the church, preserved in the middle despite restricting views of the chancel from the nave,[11] is the current site of the altar. The font is an octagonal bowl resting on eight sculptured heads similar to others in the county atSnitterfield andLapworth.[10] The old oak pulpit and choir screen is 15th century.[10]
The church has a smallchained library of 17th-century theological works and some notablemonumental brasses particularly the altar tomb of John Harewell and his wife Anna (1505).[10]
The tower has aring of six bells.[12] The second bell was cast in 1591 by a member of the Watts family ofbellfounders ofLeicester. The tenor bell was cast in 1719 by Richard Sanders[13] ofBromsgrove.[14] The fourth bell was cast in 1784[13] by Charles and JohnRudhall of Gloucester and the third bell was cast in 1803 by John Rudhall[13] of Gloucester.[14]
The treble bell was cast in 1742 by Henry Bagley[13] ofChacombe[14] and the fifth was cast in 1761 by Thomas Rudhall[13] of Gloucester.[14] For a long time the treble was cracked and bolted with iron and then from 1911 the fifth was bound with an iron band around the inscription.[12] The latter repair was by Thomas Bond ofBurford, Oxfordshire who at the same time re-hung all six bells.[12] Then in 1955 the two damaged bells were recast byJohn Taylor & Co ofLoughborough,[13] who at the same time tuned the other bells and re-hung all six again.[12]
All canons (metal loops at the top of the bells) have been removed and replaced with bolted iron joists for ringing. The 16th-century oak frame with pits for three bells still exists: the posts have mouldedcorbelling at the tops and are strengthened by curved struts. It has been altered to take four bells, the treble and second being hung to the north of it.[3]
The vicar at the time of the PuritanSurvei of the Ministrie in Warwickshire of 1586 was described asmascall (John Mascall 1580–1642):
vicar a precher thogh he be growen Idle negligent & slouthfull. a man defamed & of tainted life he hath two charges beside Wooton videlicet, Henley & OwnallUllenhall he supplieth by his hirelinges: whereof one vpon a rumor of change of religion in mounsiers daies did shave his beard [indicative of a reversion toCatholicism]. Value xl yearlie.[15]
In theBlack Death, bodies from Coventry were transported to the churchyard for burial in an area which has become known as the "Coventry Piece". This ground still cannot be disturbed.[citation needed]
Not long after theNorman Conquest, Robert de Stafford gave the church of Wootton with a hide of land nearby and another hide at "Doversele" to theBenedictine Abbey of St Peter de Castellion ofConches in Normandy which had been established in 1035[3] by his father, Roger de Tonei.[16] They established a smallalien priory here: aprior and one monk constituted its community and the church was re-dedicated toSt Peter ad Vincula. In 1398Richard II gave the priory to theCarthusians at Coventry, but the grant was reversed soon after byHenry IV and the monks re-established. It was bestowed with all its possessions on 12 December 1443 upon the Provost and Scholars ofKing's College, Cambridge, and on 30 November 1447 the Abbey of Conches released all title to the Priory to the college, in whose hands the manor still remains. No trace of the priory buildings remains but they stood between the churchyard and the ancient fishpond that is near the Henley Road.[3]
At the start of the reign ofEdward I, Peter de Altaribus was prior. He became involved in a brawl which brought about the intervention of the bishop. The circumstances are related with considerable detail in the episcopal registers ofGodfrey Giffard,Bishop of Worcester. An inquisition was held at Warwick on the Tuesday afterPalm Sunday, 1281, to hear the dispute between Peter de Altaribus, and brother Roger his monk. William the vicar of Wootton, had been summoned to the priory to stop the brawl, and on arrival he met the prior coming out of the hall door whilst inside he found brother Roger sitting in a chair with his nose bleeding. The prior accused Roger of wounding himself in his nose with his own finger; whereas Roger claimed the prior had hit him on the nose, which was corroborated by others who added that Roger did not return the blow. The argument was over Peter's withdrawal of distributions to the poor, lack of hospitality, wasting the priory's goods, and drunkenness. Both were found guilty andexcommunicated which after appeal they were absolved and recalled to the monastery of Conches, to receive punishment from theirabbot. It is exceptional to find an alien priory subject to diocesanvisitation, but this small priory was also visited by Bishop Giffard in 1269, 1284, and 1290.[17]
Between the mill and the church is Wootton Hall, a large stone building in thePalladian style, mainly built in 1687 but incorporating parts of an earlier, probablyElizabethan, house. It was originally the home of the Carington family. Outbuildings behind the house are possibly the remains of the earlier manor-house.[3] At the end of the Second World War the Hall was in a dilapidated condition and threatened with demolition but was bought in 1958 by Bill Allen, of Allen's Caravans,[18] who developed the grounds into a mobile home park. This development rescued and restored the Hall and revitalised the community.[19]
Other notable buildings include the Bull's Head Inn, situated at the south end of the street, being an L-shaped low building of timber-framing, probably of the 16th century. Inside are wide fireplaces, one with a lintel inscribed M 1697 TH, and open-timbered ceilings, however there is a stone giving the date of the building as 1317. Three of the buildings north of it on the same side, and The Cottage, facing the south end of the village street, have remains of 17th-centurytimber framing. In a short lane south of the church is the old Workhouse, now a dwelling-house; it is a small timber-framed building covered with rough-cast cement and has a gabled north end with ajettied upper storey.[citation needed]
The Manor Farm, at the north end of the village, is built of early-18th-century brick, but the chimneystack of diagonal shafts looks earlier. The west front, slightly recessed between gabled cross-wings, has a doorway with a semi-domical hood carved with palm leaves and a basket of fruit and flowers.[3]
The A3400 (former A34) provides transport links to the neighbouring settlements, notablyBirmingham andStratford-upon-Avon and also connects to theM40 motorway northwards atHockley Heath affording direct motorway access to London. Regular bus services on this road provide transport to Birmingham and Stratford-upon Avon.
The Birmingham andStratford-upon-Avon Canal crosses the parish, leaving it near Silesbourne Farm, close to which there was a hermitage, mentioned in 1428 and 1470.[2] The canal is carried over the main Stratford to Birmingham road by a cast-ironaqueduct bearing the date 1813.[3] There are moorings and a canal boat marina in Wootton Wawen Basin. The canal was built by William James ofHenley-in-Arden, who was later a pioneer of the railway system. A cast-iron plaque on the aqueduct records details of the building of the canal.
TheMonarch's Way, a long-distance footpath which approximates tothe escape route taken byCharles II in 1651 after his defeat in theBattle of Worcester, passes through Wootton Wawen.[20]
Wootton Wawen railway station was opened in 1908 on a branch of theGreat Western Railway. The route is now theBirmingham to Stratford Line. The line south ofStratford upon Avon railway station continued as theHoneybourne Line toHoneybourne railway station (which is on theCotswold Line) and onwards toCheltenham.
In the Second World War the Russian composerNikolai Medtner and his wife lived in a secluded house outside Wootton Wawen, where he completed hisPiano Concerto No. 3.[21]Author Bill Watkins spent much of his youth in Wootton Wawen; his bookA Celtic Childhood records his childhood adventures in and around the village during the 1950s.[22]
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