Parish News; February 2023 - Church Piece, Pt 1

The History of Church Piece; Part 1

About 25 years ago, a village resident was looking through the archives in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre and found some intriguing old documents referring to Sutton Benger. Kay Taylor had re-discovered the Church Piece charity, and she tells the full story in her book about the village: Sutton Benger from Saxon Times to the Dawn of the 21st Century; (ELSP, 2000). I was re-reading some of those old documents recently, and as this year is the tercentenary of one of the key events, I thought I would re-tell the history.

In the medieval period it became the norm for people in England to make bequests to charity, or direct to their church, as a way of helping them to save their souls. The bequests might be a few pennies, to buy candles for the church, or might be sufficient to buy new clothes for the clergy, to build an extension to the church, or to pay for somebody to pray for their souls every day. Sutton Benger was a small community, and there were no wealthy benefactors living in the village. The bequest by William Messiter in 1607 might have been one of the biggest:

‘Item. I give and bequeath unto the cathedral church of Sarum two pence … [and] unto the church of Sutton Benger three shillings and four pence … [and] unto the poor people of Sutton aforesaid ten shillings.’

At some date, probably in the 1500s, an unknown Sutton Benger person gave a plot of land in the village; this was donated to the parishioners – not to the church – to be used for the good of the village. But the church took control of the land, and rented it out to tenants. So a group of ordinary villagers took the tenant, Edward Somner, to court in London to regain control of the land. The parishioners included the Atkins family, who were ‘gentlemen’ and tenants of Manor Farm. But most of them were undoubtedly relatively poor and possibly illiterate farm workers. They were led by the Churchwardens, Jasper Seale and Richard Swayne, who ‘fronted’ the court case on their behalf.

The court case started on 27 May 1617, during the reign of James I. After a year of deliberation ‘His Majesty’s Council in his honourable court of Whitehall at Westminster …’ decided in favour of the Churchwardens on 5 April 1618.

… a certain parcel of ground containing by estimation one acre or thereabouts called the Church Piece, being in the said town of Sutton Benger, heretofore given & bequeathed by some good & charitable person to the common good of the parishioners of the said parish …

… it was … ordained and decreed that the said defendant … should presently avoid … the possession of the said piece of ground called the Church Piece & yield … & deliver the quiet possession thereof unto them the said complainants …

The parishioners, together with their Vicar, Simon York, and the Churchwardens, were directed to set up a Trust to manage the Church Piece land on behalf of the villagers in perpetuity. … to be continued.

If you want to help in any way, either by researching the parish history or by testing the walking / cycling routes on foot or by cycle, please get in touch at: hello@bengertrails.co.uk