Kellys_Berks_Bucks&Oxon_1911_0043.jpg

D IR E C TO R Y .]

B E R K S H IR E .

BTNFIELD.

41

interm arried with one of the Fettiplaces of Appleton
and Little Shefford, and in 1634 the estate was sold to
Speaker Lenthall. The old Manor house, form erly the
residence of the Besils fam ily and of W illiam Lenthall
M .P. for Woodstock and Speaker of the House of Comrnons during the reign of Charles I. and the Protectorate,
and m aster of the Rolls, stood near to the west end of
the ch u rch ; his son, S ir John Lenthall, knighted by
Cromwell, 9th March, 1657, governor of Windsor Castle,
a colonel in the Parliam entary army and M.P. for
Gloucester and Abingdon, died in November, 1682, and
was buried in the chancel of the church. In 1644 an
attem pt was made by the Royalists to fortify the Manor
bouse and hold it against the Parliament, in which they
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were assisted by Bechman, a Swedish engineer ; before
however the arrangements could be completed, the place
was attacked and taken by a force dispatched thither
by M ajor-General Browne, then governor of Abingdon.
O liver Cromwell is said to have been a frequent visitor
here, but this statement seems to rest on tradition only.

Besselsleigh Manor, the seat of Miss Lenthall, is a mansion of white stone w ith Bath stone dressings in the
Tudor style, and was erected about 1865. The parish
is m ostly the property of Miss Lenthall, who is lady of
the manor. The soil is loamy sand ; subsoil, sand,
The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and turnips,
The area is 906 acres ; rateable value, £691 ; the population in 1901 was 88.

B I N F I E L D is a scattered village and parish 2$
m iles from the Bracknell station of the London and
South W estern railway, 3^ north-east from W oking­
ham and 9^ east from Windsor, in the Eastern division
of the county, petty sessional division of W okingham,
hundred of Cookham, union of Eastham pstead and
county court d istrict of Windsor, rural deanery of
Maidenhead, archdeaconry of Berks and diocese of
Oxford. The parish is supplied with water by the
Wokingham D istrict W ater Co. The church of All
Saints is a building of stone in the Perpendicular or
T hird Pointed style, and was probably built in the
latter part of the reign of Edward II. : it consists of
chancel with aisles, nave of four bays, north aisle,
south porch, vestry and an em battled western tower,
containing 6 bells and a clo ck : in the chancel is a fine
brass, w ith half-effigy, and inscription in NormanFrench to W alter de Annesfordhe, a former rector,
dated 1320: the north aisle was added by subscription
and the church re-seated in 1848: in 1859 the north
chancel-aisle was added by the late Mrs. Young, the
chancel being at the same tim e restored at the ex­
pense of the Ven. James Randall, archdeacon of Berks
and late rector, a vestry built, and other alterations
m ad e: the east window is sta in ed : there are two
m emorial windows in the chancel to the fam ily of the
late re c to r: one at the east end of the south aisle to
Mrs. Parker, another at the west end to C. Parker
esq. and one in the north aisle to Mrs. Y o u n g : the
pulpit of oak, handsomely carved, dates from 1628;
attached to the pulpit is a very ancient hour-glass
stand of iron curiously wrought with the arms of the
Sm iths’ and F arriers’ Companies of the C ity of
London: in 1887 a memorial to the Ven. Archdeacon
Randall, rector 1831-59, was added in the form of a
beautiful carved oak reredos in three com partm ents;
im m ediately below the reredos runs a bold altar-shelf
of alabaster, carved in high relief with shields and
flow ers: the walls on either side of the east window
are filled with glass m osa ics: the ancient piscina in
the east wall still rem ain s: the chancel is divided
from the body of the church by a screen of lig h t and
very graceful ironwork, and sim ilar side screens fill
the arches on either side of the ch ancel: the original
copy of Erasm us’ paraphrase on the Gospels and the
A cts of the Apostles, placed in the church by order of
K ing Edward VI. in 1547, has been replaced and there
is a framed list of the rectors from 1300 to 1859, placed
in th e church by the late Canon Edmund Savory M.A.
rector 1859-1904 ; the church was restored in 1887 at a
cost of £1,400, and affords 625 sittings. The register
dates from the year 1538. The livin g is a Tectory, net
yearly value £236, including residence, in the gift of
the Lord Chancellor, and held since 1509 by the Rev.
Richard Aubrey Chichester Bevan M.A. of T rinity Col­
lege, Cambridge. St. Mark’s chapel of ease, erected by
subscription in 1866, is a building of Ted brick, with
stone facings, in the Early English style, and consists
of chancel, nave, aisles and tran sep ts; one aisle was
added and the chapel restored in 1875-6. at a cost of
over £598, and a reredos of oak was erected in 1897 :
there are 3C0 sittings. Here is an undenominational
chapel, erected in 1873, with sittings for 150, and there is
also a Gospel hall. There is a fuel allotment of 13 acres,
producing £ 10 yearly, and charities of £50 a year for
distribution. The W orking’s Men's Club, erected by
subscription in 1885, is a substantial building of red

brick, comprising large reading and smoking roomsand a library of 500 volumes. Binfield Park, the resi­
dence of W. Burden-Muller esq. is a mansion of brick
surrounded by a park of about 100 acres.
Binfield
C ourt is the seat of W illiam Ernest W hitaker esq.
Forest Lodge, a handsome house surrounded by a park
of about 100 acres, is the seat of Lady Morshead. Bin­
field Lodge, occupied by Helen, Lady C lark, is a m an­
sion of brick and stone, standing in grounds of about
60 acres, and has successively belonged to the Neville
and Vernon fam ilies; it was originally one of th e
hunting lodges of Windsor G reat Park. A rthurstone
is the residence of James W illiam Macnabb esq. J.P . ;
Egmont. of M ajor R. E. L. R a d cliffe ; Farley Copse*
of Sir Donald C. Macnabb K .C .I .E ., C .S .I. ; Allanbay.
of James Allan W iggett esq. J.P. ; and The Grove, of
Sir Robert R. Wilmot bart. D.L. A portion of Billing bear Park, the property of Lord Braybrooke, is situated
in this parish. Binfield Manor is in this parish, and in
1738 was held by the P itt family, and is now occupied
by Lestocq Robert Erskine esq. J.P. The chief m anor
of Binfield was given up to the Crown in 1548, bv
Thomas, 2nd Baron Sandys, of The Vine, near Basing­
stoke, and in 1617 was given by James I. to PrinceCharles (afterwards Charles I .), for whom it was sur­
veyed by Norden. The manor was form erly included
in Windsor Forest, and many fine specimens of the old
forest trees still remain on the estate, especially some
magnificent oaks and a cedar of extraordinary growth.
By the A ct of Parliament passed in 1813 for inclosing
Windsor Forest, a spring of water, a m ile from the
manor house, was reserved to the lord of the m anor,
who still has the sole righ t to it. The principal land­
owners are Lord Braybrooke, Jam es Allan W iggett esq.
Sir Robert Wilmot bart. Lady Morshead and L a d y
Brownlow. The soil is principally gravel and c l a y ;
subsoil, elav.
The chief crops are wheat, oats and
barley.
The area is 3.471 acres of land and 18 o f
w ater: rateable value, £ 11,7 7 0 ; the population in 1901
was 1,892.
Parish Clerk, Mondav Bolton.
\
Post, M. 0 . & T. Office.— Mrs. Isabel N orth, sub-post­
mistress. Letters are received from Bracknell at 6.25& 10.40 a.m. & 7.45 p.m . ; sundays, 6.50 a.m. ; dis­
patched at 6.30 & 11 a.m. & 6.20 & 8 p.m. ; sundays*
10 a.m
Post, M. 0 . & T. Office, Pope’s Wood.— Lew is Robert
Rogers, sub-postmaster.
Letters are received from
Bracknell at 6.30 & 10.30 a.m . & 7.10 p.m. : dis­
patched at 7.53 & 11.10 a.m . & 6.45 k 7 p.m. ; Sun­
day, delivery, 6.30 a.m . ; dispatch, 10.35 a.m

Parish Clerk and Sexton, Henry Kent.
The inhabitants of this village are entitled to send th eir
children to the school at Appleton, endowed by S ir
Richard Fettyplace knt. son of Bessels Fettiplace esq
Letters through Abingdon arrive at 7 a.m. & 1 p.m.
A
fR a n
a o 1’ Q c f money
m nnor
n
rn p r
Ar.
r .iilo f r r iiD h
Appleton
is the
nearest
order
& telegraph
office, about i m ile distant
Wall Letter Box cleared week days at n*5o a,Jn ' & 6 -55>
P-m. ; sundays, 10.30 a .m .; Upper Besselsleigh, 7
a m - wee^ days & 10.35 a m - Sundays
Carrier.— Stallard, to Abingdon, mon. & fri
Hicks Joseph, Greyhound P.H
C O M M ER CIA L.
Lentliall Miss. Besselsleigh manor
W alker Rev. Edward Mewburn M.A. Collett Herbt. farm er, Little Bradley Phipps Charles, farm er, Rowleigh
farm
& Fellow of Queen's College,Oxford, Grainger Thomas, farm bailiff to
Miss Lenthall
The Rectory

Schools.
Public Elem entary (girls & boys), supported partly by
endowments left bv will in 1648 by W. Svmondson*
W. How 1652, and by Rev. J. Birch, rector of B in ­
field, 1787, am ounting to about £30 yearly, k en­
larged 1906, for 256 ch ild re n ; average attendance*
240 ; Mondav Bolton, master
Junior (m ixed), built in 1905 by private subscription*
for 100 children ; average attendance, 70 ; Miss
Coombes, mistress
Carrier to Reading.— Charles Scott Barker, tues. thurs.
& sat
Omnibus to Bracknell station, daily 8.40 a.m . & 7.25
p.m. from Jack of N ew bury P.H