A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



The brass already referred to in the chancel bears 

 the figure of a priest in mass vestments and the in- 

 scription : ' Hie jacet dns Willrn Herri in artibus 

 baculari' nuper vicarius istius ecclie qui obiit anno dni 

 millmo quingetesimo xxv. cuius ale propicietur deus 

 amen.' 



There are considerable traces of painting through- 

 out the church. Over the chancel arch was a paint- 

 ing of the Doom, and on the walls of the nave are 

 traces of an early vine design and a masonry pattern. 

 On the north wall of the north aisle is a large figure 

 of St. Christopher. There is very little painted 

 glass, but the quatrefoil in the head of the window to 

 the south-west in the chancel is complete in 14th- 

 century glass of conventional design. 



The tower contains five bells, the treble dated 

 1636, and the second, third, and fourth 1683, the 

 last bearing the inscription ' Richard Keene cast this 

 ring.' The fifth was cast by W. & J. Taylor in 1842. 



The church plate comprises an Elizabethan cup of 

 1569 ; a salver, the gift of John Cross in 1693, hall- 

 marked for 1689 ; a small standing paten of which 

 the date letter is almost illegible, but appears to be 

 that for 1668 ; a flagon inscribed as the gift of John 

 Blankes in 1672, and hall-marked for the same date ; 

 and a plated cup. 



The first book of the registers contains all entries 

 between 1592 and 1 706 except in the case of burials, 

 which run to 1705. The second contains all entries 

 between 1707 and 1755 excepting marriages, which 

 run to 1752. A third book has marriages between 

 1754 and 1787; a fourth baptisms and burials 

 between 1756 and 1812, and a fifth marriages between 

 1787 and 1812. 



The church of St Paul, Bledlow Ridge, is built of 

 flint with Bath stone dressings in the 1 3th-century 

 style. It consists of chancel and nave with south 

 porch and western bell-turret containing one bell. 

 It was consecrated in 1868, but the register dates 

 from 1 86 1. 



The church of the Holy Spirit is 

 ADVQWSQN mentioned in 1 284,'" and the same 

 invocation appears in James Fresel's 

 will in 1 34 1, '"but at the present day it has been 

 changed to the church of the Holy Trinity. It was 

 granted to the abbey of Grestein in Normandy in the 

 time of Robert Count of Mortain. 115 As lord of the 

 manor of Bledlow he granted certain tithes from his 

 demesne lands to the abbey, then the patron of the 

 church. The English possessions of this house were 

 held by the Prior of Wilmington, and were seized by 

 Edward III as part of the temporalities of an alien 

 house before 1338 during the French War. 116 The 

 Abbot of Grestein, however, in 1358 or 1359 granted 

 ro John Taleworth, burgess of Wycombe, and his heirs 

 in annuity of 50 and the advowson of Bledlow 

 Church. 117 This grant can only have been enjoyed 

 for a short time, if indeed at all, since in 1361 

 Edward III granted the church to the Free Chapel of 

 St. Stephen, Westminster. The vicarage was ordained 

 in 1405 under Bishop Repingdon, and appropriated 

 to St. Stephen's. 118 



After the dissolution of the Free Chapel the 

 rectory and advowson of the church were granted to 



Thomas East and Henry Hoblethorne, 119 since which 

 time the advowson has always been held by the lay 

 rectors. 



James Fresel in 1341 bequeathed 20 for covering 

 the chapel of St. Margaret at Bledlow with lead, and 

 various smaller sums for the maintenance of lights 

 there in the church of Bledlow. 1 * No further men- 

 tion of this chapel is found, but in 1590 a chapel at 

 Bledlow Ridge, with a close called the ' chappel 

 yard,' was granted to 'fishing grantees,' so that 

 apparently it had fallen into disuse before that date. 1 " 

 No mention of it occurs in the Buckinghamshire Chan- 

 try Certificates, so that it was apparently not merely a 

 chantry chapel. A chapel was built in 1834 for the 

 inhabitants of the hamlet of Bledlow Ridge. It was 

 formed into the separate ecclesiastical parish of 

 St. Paul's, and was endowed out of the Common 

 Fund in 1868 and 1870.'" The living is a vicarage 

 in the gift of the Peache trustees. 



There are two Wesleyan chapels in the parish, one 

 at Bledlow and the other at Bledlow Ridge. 



In 1618 Henry East by his will, 

 CHARITIES proved in the Archdeaconry Court of 

 Buckingham, charged his tenement 

 and close, called Picked Close, with an annuity of 

 2O/. for four poor widows at Lady Day and Michael- 

 mas. The annuity is paid by Mrs. Saunders of 

 Maidenhead, the owner of the property charged, and 

 5/. a year is given to each of four poor widows. 



This parish is entitled to share in Henry Smith's 

 General Charity. In 1906 the sum of 9 was 

 allotted from the Thurlaston estate, Leicestershire, 

 and applied in the distribution of seventeen pairs of 

 blankets. 



In 1671 John Blanks by will demised certain lands 

 in the parish, the rents after payment of 101. to the 

 vicar for a sermon on 27 December yearly, and 

 2/. 6tt. to the parish clerk, to be distributed in bread. 

 The property now consists of 33. or. 38 p., known 

 as Ford's Close, let at 4 io/. a year, and 2 a. I r. 17 p. 

 adjoining the workhouse school gardens, known as 

 the Poor's Piece, let to twenty-two allotment holders, 

 producing 7 3/. a year. The distribution in bread 

 is made in conjunction with the income of Edmund 

 Slaughter's Charity mentioned below. 



In 1672 Margaret Babham by will directed that 

 100 should be laid out in land, and that out of the 

 profits 4o.r. a year should be applied in providing two 

 poor men and two poor women with coats to be 

 marked with her initials M. and B., and 101. to the 

 vicar for a sermon on the anniversary of her burial, 

 30 April 1672 (old style) and 21. to the parish clerk 

 for keeping her tomb clean. The principal sum 

 became a charge on a farm in the parish known as 

 Sand-pit Farm, now belonging to Mr. R. White, who 

 pays the fixed sum of 2 1 2/. a year. By an order 

 of the Charity Commissioners made under the Local 

 Government Act, 1894, the endowments of this and 

 the preceding charity for ecclesiastical purposes were 

 separated from the charities for the poor, and trustees 

 appointed for their respective administration. In 

 1905 the sum of 40.1. was applied in the distribution 

 of flannel to twelve poor people, chiefly women. 



In 1831 Edmund Slaughter by his will, proved in 



113 Feet of F. Bucks. East. 12 Edw. I. 



114 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App, 470. 



115 De Banco R. 55, m. 50. 



116 Cal. Pat. 1338-40, p. 85. 



"7 Close, 32 Edw. Ill, m. 2. 



118 Line. Epis. Reg. Repingdon, Inst, 

 fol. 457. 



119 Actt ofP.C. 1552-4, p. 209. 



252 



120 Hiit. MSS. Com. R,p. in, App. i, 474. 

 m Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. I, m. 34. 

 1M ZW. Gas. 1 8 June 1869, p. 3474; 

 22 July 1870, p. 3484. 



