WOOTTON CHURCH 
The Churchwarden’s Accounts dating back to 1558 were bound in a 14th-century parchment cover; 
and the careful Butler added the present leather binding in 1630. They show how thorough he was in 
keeping the Church up to a sound repair level for forty years beginning with “ the new makynge of the 
east ende of the north ile,” and involving the glazier, painter, shingler, tiler, mason, brick-burner, carter, 
carpenter, sawyer, blacksmith, plumber, leather-worker. Goodwife Mortimer was paid “ for making 
clean ye Church ” ; but the village bellringers were voluntary, and were paid only on special occasions, such 
as in 1610 when James I passed by. Four bells were cast in 1625 to replace three mediaeval bells (ye grete, 
medell, litell bells) and one cast in 1604. Their inscriptions read : “ Our Hope is in the Lord “ Let 
our Hope be in the Lord “ Prayse ye the Lord “ The Bell was made 1625.” Butler’s orderliness is 
shown by a note on the cover of the Accounts with the heading “ 1600 Ordo quo coemiterii repagula sunt 
struenda,” giving a list of those responsible for each section of the Churchyard fences, the Vicar being 
charged with the repair of the gate. 
The Church interior was a scene of order and simple beauty; whitened walls; colourful Royal Arms with 
the Commandments and sentences of Scripture above the round Norman chancel arch ; a pulpit with a silk 
cushion and seats for the Vicar and the Clerk ; a Communion table overspread with a rich carpet falling 
on all sides in lovely folds, and fenced off in dignified isolation in the chancel; a “ cofer ” nearby with 
Butler’s clean surplice and new service books ; and in the nave were seats for they were mended in 1613. 
Much of all this was provided in Butler’s time. “ Morninge Praier ” was offered every Sunday; and the 
Communion was celebrated fully at each quarter, Nueyeerstide, Easter, Trinitie, Alhollantide. Butler’s 
solicitude is shown by the provision of Communion for his scattered parishioners, let and hindered by miry 
roads from Ramsdel, Lip Wotton, Est Okie, on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Easter Eve and Easter 
Day. He discontinued the mediaeval custom of providing Haliloaf, which was blessed at the Mass and 
distributed in the parish to the poor by the Clerk. In its stead the money was collected yearly at Easter 
from 1601 for “ Bred and Wyne ” for the Communion, each parishioner being charged 4d., 3d., 2d., or Id. 
In 1624 Butler decided that it was fairer for the householder to pay for all his servants; and that these should 
be exempt. Butler gave relief to the strangers plodding through the parish from the Churchwardens’ 
funds. We catch glimpses of these unfortunates, the Irish, the two “ lincolnshier travellors,” the “ poor 
man that had his hous burnt,” in their Accounts. The Accounts tell us of the village fair, called Kingales, 
with its feasting, dancing, play-acting, games such as pewter and tronks resembling our hoop-la and baga- 
telle. The proceeds helped to pay for the Church repairs. Charles Butler’s eyes held the merry twinkle 
of the likeable cavalier, as well as the wise depths of the saintly Vicar. Thomas Fuller assures us that Butler 
was “ a pious man, a painful (i.e. painstaking) preacher, and a solid divine.” 
Closing Shadows of the Civil War. His piety and learning saved him from ejection in 1643, when the 
Puritan Long Parliament abolished the office of bishop, and Walter Curie, Bishop of Winchester, was 
besieged in his house, escaping in a dung cart, and in 1645 when Archbishop Laud was executed, and the 
use of the Prayer Book was forbidden under pain of fine and imprisonment. Manydown was quartered 
with Parliamentarian troops under Captain Guillaume in 1643, and Sir William Waller himself came to 
Wootton in that year. Squire William Wither was a member of the Commission for Public Safety authorised 
to seize warlike stores for Parliament. Butler was aged; and probably his son-in-law, Richard White, 
Rector of Worting nearby, helped with the duties at Wootton. Our faithful old Vicar “ took his farewell 
of this world on March 29th, 1647, aged 88 years or thereabouts, and was buried in the chancel of the Church 
of Laurence Wootton ” in a nameless grave amid the heartrending scene of Civil War. His incredible 
patience as an observer in the fields of Nature, his diligent thoroughness as a scholar, and his painstaking 
concern for the House of God, make him a bright and shining light in those dark days. His name on the 
weather-beaten old wall among the Holy Ghost ruins at Basingstoke, and his nameless grave in the old 
village Church at Wootton remind us of his own words : ‘‘Ah ! injurious Time ! ” 
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II turns our thoughts to Charles Butler, a likeable Hampshire 
W orthy, whose long and useful life began in 1560 at the threshold of the first Elizabethan Age. A Coronation 
Commemoration in the form of a stained glass window of artistic merit, representing Charles Butler, is to be 
pi aced in the north aisle of Wootton St. Lawrence Church. Your gift in memory of Wootton’s Great Vicar 
will be welcomed, and may be sent to : — • 
Colonel A. S. Bates, d.s.o. 
Honorary Treasurer, Charles Butler Memorial Fund 
Manydown Park 
Basingstoke 
Note. — The Vicar, Rev. F. R. Money, acknowledges with gratitude the kindness of 
Dr. H. M. Fraser, of Nortfnvood, Middlesex ( the authority on the life and works 
of Charles Butler ), who placed many notes at his disposal with permission to use them. 
Aldworth Printing Works, Cross Street, Basingstoke 
