High Littleton Church – Early
History
Christianity came to Somerset in the first century
AD and the first Christian church was supposed to
have been built at Glastonbury in 60. Over the next
400 years Glastonbury remained a centre of
Christianity, receiving missionaries from Rome and
even St. Patrick in 425. Somerset was spared the
worst excesses of the heathen early Saxons, who
destroyed churches and virtually eliminated
Christianity in other parts of the country. It was
not until after a missionary called Birinus landed
in Wessex in 634 and began to convert the West
Saxons in meaningful numbers that Christianity took
a strong hold. In 669 Theodore of Tarsus set about
the organisation of the English church, establishing
bishoprics with their own territorial sees,
responsible to Canterbury. In 692 Berthwald, Abbot
of Glastonbury, was consecrated Archbishop of
Canterbury. In 704 Ine, one of the greatest of all
the Saxon kings, hastened the spread of Christianity
in the region by founding St. Andrew's Church in
Wells, on the site of the present cathedral. In this
task he was aided by his kinsman Aldhelm. Aldhelm
was a monk of Malmesbury, who went on to found a
monastery at Frome in 705, became the first bishop
of Sherborne and was later declared a Saint. If the
name sounds vaguely familiar, St. Aldhelm's was the
name of the old High Littleton vicarage, built
c.1840.
Over the next
300 years the parish system we know today gradually
evolved within the sees and many churches were
built. By the time the Normans invaded in 1066 the
parish map of the country was almost complete, with
a church and priest in every parish. Virtually all
these Saxon churches were small timber built
structures, although it was not unknown for some to
be built of stone, there being a plentiful supply of
that commodity in some areas, in the form of ruined
Roman villas.
We know from
Domesday Book that High Littleton and Hallatrow were
then thriving Saxon communities with a likely
population of around 100-120 and it is inconceivable
that there was no parish church and priest. The area
of the manors of High Littleton and Hallatrow
recorded in Domesday equate to the area of the
parish of High Littleton in modern times, suggesting
that the parish is well over 1,000 years old.
Information for Domesday was obtained by
commissioners, who visited each community and
collected data from various persons, from the
sheriff and barons down to the priest and 6
villagers. Details were derived from the answers to
6 questions, which related to land areas and
cultivation, ownership, population, and danegeld
paid. None of the questions related to churches so
of course they received no mention, unless they held
land. In the whole of Somerset only about 15
churches are mentioned, as landholders, yet there
was likely to have been 200-300 all told.
The Normans
respected the church and understood the power that
it had over the ordinary people. They were also
inveterate builders and, besides erecting hundreds
of castles in strategic places, they gradually
pulled down all the wooden parish churches and
replaced them with larger stone ones, which also
served as prominent landmarks for travellers. Over
the following centuries Norman churches have been
rebuilt, some several times over but very often the
original tower has been retained.
W.J. Robinson,
who visited hundreds of churches and knew a thing or
two about them, wrote of High Littleton in West
Country Churches "from the appearance of its
low and somewhat insignificant tower, it is probable
the original church was built at the beginning of
the 12th century”. He reinforces his
view that the tower is late Norman "judging by
the curious turret on the east angle of the north
side, which rises just above the second stage." Nikolaus Pevsner made no attempt to date High
Littleton Church tower, merely referring to it as
perpendicular. Rev. R.G, Bartelot, FSA writing in
the 1930s, stated that Gilbert Aumery having rebuilt
the church, became the Patron of the Rectory in 1310
but Bartelot's source for this statement has not
been located.
At this point
it is worth mentioning Peter Poyntz Wright's
scholarly work The Parish Church Towers of
Somerset. His research into the distinctive
"Somerset Perpendicular" towers, which were of great
height, intricately decorated and unmatched anywhere
in England (apart from a few in Yorkshire and the
Fens), covered the mid 14th to mid 16th
centuries. Through a combination of architectural
and documentary evidence he was able to identify and
date convincingly the work of several individual
teams of builders, who moved around and built this
series of towers. The series begin with Churchill in
1360, closely followed by Compton Martin, includes
such local churches as Cheddar, Blagdon, Chew Magna,
Dundry, Publow and Chew Stoke and ends with Chewton
Mendip in about 1550. In passing, Poyntz Wright
describes Norman towers as short and squat with very
thick walls, tiny windows and very little
decoration. Despite later repairs and minor
alterations, High Littleton tower is closer to the
description of "utility Norman" than the grander
towers of the 14th century onwards.
From the
beginning parish priests were rectors, enjoying the
benefits of the Great Tithes, out of which they were
expected to provide alms for the poor. The tithes
were a valuable source of annual income and some
rectors, for altruistic reasons or as a result of
being leant on, gave the right to receive the tithes
(rectory) to a religious or educational institution,
which then appointed a vicar to minister to the
parishioners. In this way High Littleton changed
from being a rectory to a vicarage in 1322. There is
in the church a board containing the names of the
vicars from that date, starting with John de
Eton. Although the Diocesan Registry provided Rev.
Tunstall with a checked list in 1939, prior to the
board being erected, they omitted James Systerman,
who was appointed vicar in 1536.
Some churches, which also changed from being a rectory to a
vicarage, have boards with the names of successive
rectors and vicars. With only having a list of
vicars, one could be mislead into thinking that 1322
was when the first priest was appointed to High
Littleton. In fact there would have been a long line
of priests before John be Eton, who fulfilled the
spiritual needs of the parish in the same way as
him, the only difference being that they were called
rectors instead of vicars. Few of the early rectors
can now be identified by name but evidence of them
and the church can be found in printed records. In
1310 Gilbert Aumery became patron of the living and
agreed to give the advowson of High Littleton to
Keynsham Abbey. A grant of land to St. John’s
Hospital c.1250-75 contained a reference to the
rector of Littleton, whilst in Bishop Giffard’s
Register a licence was granted in 1266 to William
(this was in the pre-surname era), rector of
Littleton, to let his church for three years to a
fitting person. In the seventeen years following the
founding of Keynsham Abbey in 1166, William Earl of
Gloucester made a grant of property to the abbey,
which included Littleton and several other
churches. It is possible that a search of the
manuscript diocesan records would reveal further
early references.
Articles/Transcriptions
Click to view/download the documents (in pdf format)
Parish Church
History from W.J. Robinson’s “West Country
Churches”
Building
etc.
Enlargement of Church 1842
Rebuilding of the Church in 1884/5
New Churchyard 1893
Monumental Inscriptions (Indexed) - all
denominations – inside and outside church/chapel
Churchwardens
Churchwardens’ duty, 1734
Brief history of Churchwardens and their Accounts
Churchwardens’ Accounts 1754/5 (earliest surviving)
to 1786/7 & 1841/2 (Indexed)
(Book
from 1787/8 to 1840/1 is missing)
Miscellaneous
Church Electoral Roll 1920-30 (Alphabetical order)
Church Missionary Society Carriage at Hallatrow
Station
Rectors, Vicars, Queen Anne's Bounty and Glebe
Terriers
Methodists
Early History of High Littleton Wesleyans &
amalgamation with Primitive Methodists
Quakers
Record of Hallatrow Meeting Houses and Burying
Ground
Early History & Sufferings of Hallatrow Quakers
Other
Nonconformists
Record of Baptists, Methodists, Independents and
Plymouth Brethren, who were active in the parish at
one time
See also under
Registers, Poor Law and Rates & Taxes
