THE STOULTON TIMELINE

Any dated information we have has been placed on this timeline.  If you see anything here that seems wrong out of place or misleading please let me know.

681

The Christian Diocese of Worcester is created. Diocesan Records

799

There is a Christian monastery in Kempsey. Coenwulf, King of Mercia, gives Abbot Balthun 30 manses and asks for no secular  services except military services and the building of bridges and strongholds. British History Online

The Anglo-Saxon bishops of Worcester are rich and powerful, they own vast estates across Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. Stoulton, Mucknell and Wolverton are distant settlements within of the Bishop’s Estate of Kempsey. 

840

Three areas of cleared land - Stoulton, Mucknell and Wolverton are small farming settlements situated right on the western boundary of the Bishop’s Kempsey estate. Each settlement would have cleared open fields, pasture and woodland. Tracks across the landscape including the Salt Way. Subsistence farming: Peasants, costetlers (have the least land) and gerburs

984

Bishop Oswald removes a parcel of land from the Wolverton settlement and leases it to his sister and her husband.  It is called Little Wolverton, the remainder is called Great Wolverton 

Bishop Oswald (later St Oswald) is a great lord(a Thane) with secular as well as Ecclessiastical duties. He presides over his triple Hundred of Oswaldlow. The Hundred Court meets outside on Low Hill, on the boundary between Stoulton and White Ladies Aston.

984

Bishop Oswald removes a parcel of land from the Wolverton settlement and leases it to his sister and her husband.  It is called Little Wolverton, the remainder is called Great Wolverton 

Bishop Oswald (later St Oswald) is a great lord(a Thane) with secular as well as Ecclessiastical duties. He presides over his triple Hundred of Oswaldlow. The Hundred Court meets outside on Low Hill, on the boundary between Stoulton and White Ladies Aston.

The Bishops of Worcester are permanently on the move touring their great diocese  they stay on their estates and eat the local produce. 

1065

In the time of Bishop (St.) Wulfstan  - the produce of Stoulton, Mucknell and Great Wolverton is land sent directly to Worcester Monastery for the monk’s table.

 1066 CONQUEST BY THE NORMANS 

Just before of the Battle of Hastings the people living in Stoulton, Mucknell, Great and Little Wolverton are part of the parish of Kempsey. They pay their tithes to bishop, the corn they grow on the Bishop’s land is taken to Worcester, to feed the monks at the Monastery St Mary. 

 1086 DOMESDAY BOOK

Kempsey Manor comprises 24 hides of which

Stoulton, Mucknell and Great Wolverton. Stoulton Mucknell and Wolverton were described as "BEREWICKS" comprising 7 hides of land, 7 ploughs, 7 villeins, 7 borders, 7 slaves and 16 acres of meadow land and were worth 100 shillings.  

Little Wolverton comprises 2 separate hides with 2 ploughs, with 1 villein, 2 slaves and a mill - all worth 50 shillings.  

The Bishop of Worcester is now overlord to Urse d'Abitot the feared Sheriff of Worcester. Urse has seized the land from the bishop and is now  Lord of the Manor of Stoulton and a tenant of the Bishop of Worcester!  His  bailiff liaises with the manor reeve who represents the manor work force  The reeve was responsible for arranging the distribution of land and dates of ploughing etc. Urse's steward controlled the manorial court.  

By 1100

Urse has died, his son inherited his estates but at his disgrace the estates, including Stoulton manor go to Urse's daughter Eveline. She is married to Walter de Rollo, (a Beauchamp).  The Beauchamps of Elmley Castle are now Lords of the Manor of Stoulton.  Stoulton peasants now work for this upwardly mobile family whose castle must have been clearly visible to them on Bredon Hill.

By 1130

Stoulton has a stone church building dedicated to St. Edmund. It is a Chapel of Ease. The people are still parishioners of St. Mary's in Kempsey,  they must take their dead to Kempsey for burial and celebrate the major festivals of the Christian Year there but  everyone can  now go to mass in a local building. Their tithes go to the monastery in Worcester as before.

1200

The Beauchamps are now the Earls of Warwick, they have moved to Warwick Castle - but they are still the lords of the manor of Stoulton!  They need money now, not  for food, they must maintain their  have knights and provide them with homes homes - did they start to let out land in Stoulton?

1215-1217

First Baron's War

1264-1265

Second Barons War - Battle of Evesham

1287

John Carpenter is repairing the church roof when the ladder collapses, he falls to the ground and eight days later he dies.  

Stoulton people have enough money to upgrade the church windows, bigger windows are fashionable and let in more light!  Stoulton is doing well as is evidenced in the Probate Papers for the Earls of Warwick. Inquisitions Post Mortem

1349

The Black Death, has dreadful consequences but it gives the surviving peasants the opportunity to bargain for cash wages and, for some, to move up the social ladder.  It is possible that Egdon and Great Wolverton were particularly badly affected .

 These are turbulent times! The Warwick Earls need money as well as land to feed their retinues and reward supporters.  Stoulton manor is let out on a lease to Thomas, Earl of Kent.

1529

At last! The Vicar General has given the inhabitants of Stoulton the right to have their own priest or chaplain AND they can bury their own dead.

1539

King Henry VIII dissolves Westbury College.  Stoulton tithes now go to Sir Ralph Sadler, secretary to Thomas Cromwell

1542. Stoulton starts to register its births, deaths and marriages,  Kings and Queens keep the church wardens of St. Edmund's on their toes as they try to keep up with all the changes of the Reformation.  Follow the timeline of  The Reformation on the Timeline of Christian Life.

1542

Lord of the Manor, John Neville, 3rd Lord Latimer dies, his widow, Catherine (Parr), marries Henry VIII and becomes Queen of England! Latimer’s friends and servants, John & Robert Leighton, are left property in Stoulton and Wadborough!  Lord Latimer's Will

Queen Elizabeth’s new Poor Law legislation requires every parish to appoint Overseers of the Poor.

1606

Reverend George Allen becomes curate of Stoulton

1634

Sir Francis Fitton, Lord of the Manor puts the Stoulton Estate on the Market.

1636

Sir Samuel Sandys of Ombersley buys it for £7300. He is just 21!

The Acton family are now living in Little Wolverton

1642

The lords of the manors of Stoulton and Little Wolverton are both staunch Royalists, both have their estates sequestered with disastrous results. 

 Everyone is suffering, proximity to Worcester and Stoulton’s position on the road to the King’s headquarters in Oxford have brought additional taxes, plunder, wrecked harvests, pillaging and raping. Stoulton church is robbed but the church wardens have hidden the valuables. The tower is set ablaze and the chancel damaged. 

1647-50 

Reverend George Allen has to collect the rents as well as his tithes.

1649

King Charles 1 is beheaded

1651 

It’s the eve of the Battle of Worcester, the Parliamentary army with all their weaponry, baggage and women folk is on its way from Upton-on-Severn to Spetchley. They come through Stoulton parish and causing yet more damage. 

 Next day. The King is defeated and flees from Worcester.

1657

The Reverend George Allen has died! He was 87 and living in a cold old parsonage house that has seen better days (today’s Old Vicarage). He has been in Stoulton for 49 years and seen his congregation through turbulent times and many changes. They put a memorial on the wall by the south door.

The Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral are confirmed as the patrons of St. Edmund’s Church. Stoulton is a perpetual curacy and a Cathedral peculiar. (Subject to the Bishop and the inspectors of the Dean & Chapter  but not to the Archdeacon of Worcester.

1661

Sir Samuel Sandys has mortgaged the Stoulton estate. 

The mortgage is administered by an influential firm of solicitors in Worcester owned by the Cocks family.

1662

At last a new curate! Lawrence Torrent has arrived in Stoulton. He complains of the state of his accommodation, his kitchen is a cow shed and the church is a wreck!

1660s

Hearth tax records reveal what has happened to Stoulton.

1680

Lawrence Torrent leaves. The next year he is to be replaced by a new curate, Richard Beddoes. Richard Beddoes stays for less than 2 years!

1684

Michael Perry is the new curate but when the inspectors come they report ‘no curate resident’, and they are unable to get into the church because the key was lost!

1687

The Bishop’s inspector come again and find that chancel is still out of repair but there are plans for repair of the seats.

 The Acton family, the Catholic owners of Little Wolverton use the still ruined chancel of the St. Edmund's church as their family mausoleum. Their ledger stones can still be seen in the chancel