Part 9

It is thought that as the former Church was built of brick that probably it was not very ancient. A church is mentioned in Doomsday, a most ancient record, made in the time of William 1st, surnamed the _Conqueror_, and containing a survey of all the lands in England. Lysons, from whom we take the liberty of making some liberal quotations, when writing about 85 years ago, says, "The Church of Battersea is dedicated to St. Mary; it is in the Diocese of Winchester, and in the Deanery of Southwark, the benefice is a Vicarage. Lawrence, Abbot of Westminster, first procured the appropriation of the great tithes for that Abbey about the year 1156. The monks of Westminster were to receive out of it two marks, reserving sufficient to the Vicar to support the Episcopal burdens and himself. The Rectory was held by John Bishop of Winchester in the time of Philip and Mary. The principal profits of the Vicarage accrued from the gardens, which rendered the living one of the most valuable in the neighbourhood of London. The gardeners at Battersea paid 7s. 6d. an acre for tithes to the Vicar. The living of Battersea is dated in the King's Book at £13 15s. 2½d." The present living is estimated at about £1,000 with residence. "In the Valor of 1291, usually termed Pope Nicholas' Taxation, the Rectory is valued at 26 marks and a half: the Vicarage at £4 3s. 4d. In 1658 the Rectory was stated as worth £80 a year, and the Vicarage at £100, and in the King's Book the Vicarage stands at £13 15s. 2½d. Battersea was one of those parishes which in memory of the Abbey dedicated to St. Peter, presented to the Abbot and Convent in early times, the tithes of salmon taken in this portion of the river. The Incumbents however of Chelsea, _Battersea_, and Wandsworth endeavoured to shake this custom off as long ago as 1231, but failed: the composition entered into upon the occasion may be seen in Dart's History of Westminster Abbey."--_Ecclesiastical Topography._

"There are two terriers of Battersea in the register of Winchester fastened together of the dates of 1619 and 1636."--_Ducarel's Endowments of Vicarages_, (Lambeth Library). "Owen Ridley, who was instituted to the Vicarage of Battersea, A.D. 1570, appears to have been involved in a tedious litigation with his parishioners and to have encountered no small degree of persecution from them. The circumstance would not have been worth recording but for two curious petitions which it produced, the originals of which (date of both 1593) were in the possession of the Rev. John Gardenor, Vicar, by whom, (says Lysons) they have been obligingly communicated. One of these is from certain inhabitants to Dr. Swale, one of Her Majesty's High Commissioners for crimes Ecclesiastical; in which they state many grievances which they suffered from their Vicar during the space of eighteen years. Amongst other crimes alleged against him is that of conversing with a Witch. The object of their petition was, that he might be deprived. It is signed with thirteen names and about thirty marks. The other petition, which is to Lord Burleigh, being the more curious of the two is here given at large. _To the Right Honourable the Lord Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer of England._ Most humbly sheweth unto your honor, your daiely orators, the inhabitants of Battersey, besechinge you to extend your favor in all just causes to our mynister Mr. Ridley: (so it is right honorable) that some have sought his deprivation, by many trobles many years together, and in divers courts sometymes in the Archdeacon's, sometymes by complayninge to the busshop, sometymes before the highe Commissioners, sometymes before the Archbusshop of Canterbury, his grace: Yea and once he hath ben edicted at the assizes. But God the defender of the innocent, hath so protected him that his cawse beinge tryed and knowene he hath hadd a good issue of all theis trobles; yet the adversarie will not cease, but seeketh to deprive him of his life, for seekinge after Witches, and procuringe the death of a man by Witchcraft. He hath byn our Vicar theis twenty years: he is zealous in the gospell, honest in life, painefull to teache us and to catechise our youth; charitable and liberall to the poore and needy accordinge to his ability, he never sued any of all his parisheoners for tythes, althoughe he hath hadd cawse gyven by some so to doe. Of our conscience wee take him rather to hate wytches, than to seeke after them; for he hath spoken often very bitterly against them out of the bible, neither doe we thinke or suspect the woman to be a witche which is accused, but hath always lyved honestly, quietly and painefully here, to get a poore lyvinge truly. Therefor the man being such a one, whom for his virtues wee love, his trobles heretofore so greate, so many and so chandgable to the undoings of himself, his wife and children, and now so daingerous for the hope of his life, doth move us to become suitors unto your honour for him, besechinge your honor to take notice, and to make due triall of him and his cawse, so that the truth being fownd owte, justice maie take place; Your honor will defend the innocent in his innocencee, putt an end to his tonge, many wearisome and daingerous trobles and be a patrone unto him in all his good and honest actions; so shall we be bound to thancke God for you, and pray for you for ever. Signed by Robert Cooke Alias Clarencieulx Roy d'Armes, Robert Claye, preacher, and fourteen others."

"Dr. Thomas Temple, brother of Sir John Temple, the Irish Master of the Rolls, was instituted to the Vicarage of Battersea in 1634, and continued there during the civil wars; he was one of the ministers appointed by Cromwell to assist the Committee for displacing ignorant and insufficient School Masters and Ministers. He was likewise one of the Assembly of Divines and a frequent preacher before the long Parliament. Several of his sermons are in print. Mr. Temple was succeeded in the Vicarage of Battersea by the learned Bishop Patrick, who was educated at Queen's College, Cambridge, and was domestic Chaplain to Sir Walter St. John, by whom he was presented to this benefice. Several of his tracts were published while he was Vicar of Battersea and are dedicated to his patron. He resigned the Vicarage in 1675. He was a zealous champion of the protestant religion, both by his writings and in conversation, particularly at a conference which he, in conjunction with Dr. Jane, held in the presence of James the Second with two Roman Catholic Priests, in which he had so much the superiority over his opponents in argument, that the King retired in disgust, saying that he never heard a good cause so ill defended or a bad one so well. At the Revolution he was rewarded with the Bishopric of Chichester, and was afterwards translated to Ely. He died 1707, and left behind him a numerous collection of printed works; consisting of sermons, devotional and controversial tracts and paraphrases on the Scriptures, which are held in great estimation and which were continued by William South."

"Dr. Thomas Church, of Brazen Nose College, Oxford, who was instituted to the Vicarage of Battersea in the year 1740, distinguished himself much in the field of controversy in which he engaged against Westley and Whitfield, and Middleton: for his successful attacks on the latter and his defence of the miraculous power during the early years of Christianity. The University of Oxford gave him the degree of D.D. by diploma. He was too zealously attached to his religion to let the opinions of Lord Bolingbroke pass unnoticed notwithstanding he had been his patron. His publication on this subject however was anonymous, it was called 'An Analysis of the Philosophical Works by the late Lord Bolingbroke,' and came out in 1755. He died in 1756, aged 49."

"The registers of this parish begin in the year 1559, and excepting the former part of the 18th century appear to be accurate. Dr. Church soon after he was instituted to the Vicarage began to transcribe a considerable part of the registers, which for many years preceding had been kept by a very ignorant parish clerk. He proceeded so far as to copy the whole of the baptisms, and with great industry rectified a vast number of mistakes and supplied many deficiencies; the difficulty of transcribing the burials of which indeed for some years there were no notices, discouraged him from proceeding any further in this laudable undertaking."--_Lysons._

Cases of longevity in the Parish Register: Goody Harleton, aged 108 years, buried 1703; William Abbot, 101, 1733; Wiat, 100, 1790; and William Douse, 100, 1803. The case of Rebecca, wife of Richard Harding, a waterman, is mentioned. She gave birth to four children, she died in labour of the fourth child, which was still-born. The mother was buried February 8, 1730; her three infant children, Mary, Sarah, and Rebecca were buried the 2nd of March following. Respecting the rate of mortality in London during the plague years, in the year 1603, 30,578 persons died of the plague. At the accession of Charles I. in 1625, another dreadful pestilence raged in London, which carried off 35,417 persons. In the year 1665, about the beginning of May, there broke out in London the most dreadful plague that ever infested this kingdom, which swept away 68,596 persons, which added to the number of those who died of other distempers, raised the bill of mortality in this year to 97,306. And the mortality raged so violently in July, that all houses were shut up, the streets, deserted, and scarce anything to be seen therein but grass growing, innumerable fires for purifying the air, coffins, pest-carts, red crosses upon doors, with the inscription, 'Lord have mercy upon us,' and continual cries of 'pray for us;' or the melancholy call of 'bring out your dead.' The cause of this terrible calamity was ascribed to the importation of infected goods from Holland where the plague had committed great ravages the preceding year. During the whole time of its continuance there was a great calm, for weeks together there was scarcely any wind so that it was with difficulty that the fires in the streets could be kept burning for want of a supply of air, and even the birds panted for breath. The plague as is generally agreed is never bred or propagated in Britain, but always imported from abroad, especially from the Levant, Lesser Asia, Egypt, etc. Sydenham, an old writer, has remarked that it rarely infects this country oftener than once in forty years--thank God we have happily been free from it for a much longer period. There have been various conjectures as to the nature of this dreadful distemper. Some think that insects are the cause of it, in the same way that they are the cause of blights. Mr. Boyle thought that it originated from the effluvia or exhalations breathed into the atmosphere from noxious minerals to which might be added stagnant waters and putrid bodies of every kind. Gibbon, in his _Roman History_, 4th Edition, Vol. IV, p. 327-332, gives a very particular account of the plague which depopulated the earth in the time of Emperor Justinian. He thinks that the plague was derived from damp, hot and stagnating air, and the putrifaction of animal substances, especially locusts. The Mahometans believe that the plague proceeds from certain spirits, or goblins, armed with bows and arrows sent by God to punish men for their sins; and that when the wounds are given by spectres of a black colour, they certainly prove fatal, but not so when the arrows are shot by those that appear white. The learned Dr. Chandler, who travelled in Asia Minor, was of the opinion that the disease arose from animalcules which he supposed to be invisible.

The three Plague years. In 1603 the number of deaths in Battersea was 22 " 1625 ditto 61 " 1665 ditto 113

Average of Births with Burials:-- 1580-1589 Births 13 Burials 7 1680-1689 " 58 " 68 1780-1789 " 60 " 69

In 1876 the number of births in Battersea Parish was 3459, and the number of deaths 1751, not including the Hamlet of Penge.

The subjoined is copied from "St. Mary's Battersea Parish Magazine" for November, 1875. "Vicars of Battersea from Olden Times. The following extract from 'A History and Antiquities of Surrey,' begun by the Rev. Owen Manning, enlarged and continued to the year 1814 by William Bray, Esq., printed for White, Cochrane & Co., at Horace's Head, Fleet Street, will be of interest.

PATRON. VICAR. INSTITUTION.

Abbot and Convent of Westminster Thomas de Sunbury 13 Nov. 1301 " William Trencheuent 21 Nov. 1306 " Gilbert de Swalelyve 26 Oct. 1320 " Richard Condray 11 Dec. 1325 " Thomas at Strete de Cadyngton 20 April 1328 " Elias de Hoggenorton 10 Aug. 1330 " Richard de Wolword 9 Dec. 1331 " William Handley 26 Nov. 1366 " John Gelle Resigned, 1370 " William Bakere 8 Feb. 1370-1 " John Colyn 5 Oct. 1378 The King (the temporalities of the abbey being in his hands) Henry Green 31 Oct. 1383 Abbot and Convent of Westminster Henry Walyngford Resigned, 1394 " John Berewyk 22 Oct. 1394 " Richard Gatyn 12 May 1402 " William Comelond Died, 1413 " John Smyth 25 Aug. 1413 " Henry Oxyn Resigned, 1457 " John Moreys 30 Sept. 1457 " Thomas Huntyngton 5 Nov. 1485 " John Heron 20 April 1487 " Nicholas Townley Resigned, 18 Feb. 1523-4 " Christopher Wylson 9 Mar. 1523-4 " Richard Rosse, L.L.D. 16 May 1530 " John Edwyn 18 Nov. 1560 " Thomas Mynthorne 5 Jan. 1561 Queen Elizabeth William Gray 10 Mar. 1561-2 " Owen Ridley 21 June 1571 Sir John St. John, Bart. Thomas Temple, B.D. 21 Nov. 1634 Sir Walter St. John Simon Patrick, D.D.[1] 1658 " Gervase Howe, M.A. 22 Mar. 1675-6 " Nathaniel Gower 20 Oct. 1701 Lord St. John George Osborn 4 Oct. 1727 Henry Viscount St. John Thomas Church, D.D 10 Mar. 1739-40 Frederick Lord Bolingbroke Lilly Butler 18 June 1757 " William Fraigneau 18 Mar. 1758 " John Gardenor[2] Oct. 1778 The Crown[3] Robert Eden, M.A. 1 Feb. 1835 " John Simon Jenkinson, M.A. 20 June 1847 Earl Spencer John Erskine Clarke, M.A. 2 Feb. 1872

The Registers of 1345, 1366, 1415, 1446, 1492, and 1500 are lost."

[Footnote 1: The famous Bishop of Ely.]

[Footnote 2: He was many years a constant exhibitor at the Royal Academy. In 1788 he published a set of Views on the Rhine. In 1798 was printed a Sermon preached by him before the Armed Association of Battersea.]

[Footnote 3: The Patronage lapsed to the Crown, Dr. Allen having been appointed Bishop of Ely, and Dr. Eden, better known as Lord Auckland, Bishop of Sodor and Man.]

In the reign of Henry VI. Thomas Lord Stanley held possession of a valuable estate in Battersea, which, in order to prevent its confiscation at that troublesome period, he had conveyed to trustees for the benefit of himself and that of Thomas his son and heir. In December, 1460, the property was transferred by the Trustees to Lawrence Booth, Bishop of Durham, and his heirs, and in the year following the grant was confirmed by the two Stanleys. The futility of this transfer was obvious for before Edward IV. had reigned eleven years the estate had escheated to the Crown "in consequence of the action of John Stanley, who assigned the lands and tenements in trust to the Abbot of Westminster, in contravention of the statute of Mortmain. The Bishop therefore had to apply to the King and on payment of £700 he obtained a grant under Letters Patent dated July 10th, 1472, of the property forfeited by John Stanley."

Lawrence Booth was made Bishop of Durham in 1457, he built a Mansion Brygge Court at Battersea, and by the King's license enclosed with walls and towers imparked his land there, with the right of warren and free chase therein. In 1476 he was translated to the See of York. He died in 1480 and bequeathed this property to the Dean and Chapter of York as an occasional residence when the Archbishop visited London. The name of York Road perpetuates this ancient occupancy. One of the few prelates who resided here was Archbishop Holgate who was committed to the Tower by Queen Mary in 1553 for being a married man, and lost much property by illegal seizure. Strype, in his life of Cranmer, relates that the officers who were sent to apprehend the Archbishop rifled his house at Battersea and took away from thence £300 worth of gold coin; 1,600 ounces of plate; a mitre of fine gold set with very fine diamonds, sapphires, and balists; other good stones and pearls; some very valuable rings, and the Archbishop's seal in silver; and his signet, an antique in gold. It is contended that Wolsey resided at York House, Battersea, where he was introduced to Anne Boleyne though the interview is more commonly believed to have taken place at York House, Whitehall; but Shakespere in his plays makes the King come by water, and York House, Battersea, was a residence of Wolsey and provided with a creek from the Thames for approach to the house. Sir Edward Wynter is said to have resided at York House, whose exploits surpassed even the heroic achievements of Lord Herbert Cherbury, who, alone in his shirt chased a host of midnight robbers from his house. Sir Edward Wynter's exploits have been already mentioned. The Mansion House was considerably altered by Joseph Benwell, Esq., the occupier who took down many of the old rooms. One of these called the painted chamber had a dome ceiling and is said to have been the room in which Wolsey entertained Henry VIII. with masquerades, and in which he saw Anne Boleyne. When the floor was removed there was found under it a chased gold ring on the side of which was inscribed "Thy virtue is thy honour." This superbly painted room with a dome forms the back ground of an ancient print representing the first interview of Henry VIII. with Anne Boleyne.

There was also another large building in 1818 standing parallel with York House but nearer the river divided into two houses, then in the possession of F. Alver and H. Tritton, Esqrs., and noted for having a very fine terrace in front next the Thames.

The art of transfer-printing produced from copper-plate impressions is said to have been made at Liverpool; but Mr. Binns, F.S.A., in his very interesting History of Worcester ware traces the claim of transfer-printing to the Battersea Enamel Works at York House, (the Archbishop's old palace) where Ravenet and other artists wrought in engraving plates from which impressions were taken on enamel plaques, etc., for snuff-boxes and other articles. The Liverpool claim to the invention dates from 1756. Whereas Horace Walpole writes from Strawberry Hill, six or seven miles from Battersea, to R. Bently, September 18th, 1755; "I shall send you a trifling snuff-box only as a sample of the new manufacture at Battersea which is done with _Copper plates_." The Battersea Porcelain[1] Works failed and Alderman Jansen's stock, furniture, etc., were sold by public auction, March 4, 1756. The Battersea and Chelsea wares being rarities are expensive, particularly the former. A writer in the "Athenæum" thinks it probable that some of the Battersea workmen found their way to Worcester and Liverpool.

[Footnote 1: In 1518 the Portuguese obtained their settlement at Macao, and through them Europe obtained its first specimen of china ware. "And because the cowrie shells which represented Oriental money, resembled as they thought, the backs of little pigs, they called them porcellana; and because the transparent and beautiful texture of china ware resembled that of the delicate cowrie shell, the same name was applied to it; whence we get, it is said, our English designation--porcelain."--_See Marratt's History of Pottery._]

The public may see some beautiful as well as curious specimens of Battersea enamel exhibited at Kensington Museum, lent by the Hon. W. F. B. Massey-Mainwaring. Also some bought at Mrs. Haliburton's sale. Battersea enamel 1750-60. Blue and gold, pink and gold candle-sticks, snuff-boxes, scent-bottles, needle-cases, handle for a cane, tray (circular) from Dulparry with floral medallions, tazza, Bulton's hunting subjects in brown transfer, thimble cases, etui with implements. Battersea enamel portrait on copper, a gentleman in armour wearing the garter, etc., etc.

Jens Wolfe, Esq., who was Danish Consul to this country, had a seat at Battersea called Sherwood Lodge. He built a gallery 76 feet long by 25, and 30 in height in the most correct style of Doric architecture for the reception of plaster casts purposely taken for this collection from the most celebrated antique statues. The most remarkable of these were those from the Fighting Gladiator and the Niobe, the Barberini Faun, the Dying Gladiator and the Farnese Hercules. The mansion was pleasantly situated and beautifully shaded with poplar, lime, and sycamore trees. It was the residence of Mrs. Fitz Herbert. Sir George Wombwell chose it as his seat and resided in it about fourteen years. Subsequently Sir Edward Hyde East dwelt here. The stable belonging to Sherwood Lodge still remains, also the old wooden-cased pump with leaden spout.