Rambles In And Around Warminster
Brixton Deverill
(written in 1882)
Between Monkton Deverill and Hill Deverill lies Brixton Deverill which resembles Monkton in its antiquarian barrenness.
The only remarkable fact that can be mentioned in connection with the village is that it is supposed to have been an ancient British encampment, and that it is generally allowed by archaeologists to have been none other than “Echbright’s Stone,” the trysting place of King Alfred’s Army, before the decisive victory which he obtained over the Danes at Ethandune, in the year 878. Geoffrey Gaimar in his “metrical romance” L’Estorie des Engles, describes this important event. After stating that the Danes had broken their pledge of truce, and devastated the country round Chippenham, he states that “good King Alfred” retired to a fortress at Ethelingay and after “troubling the Danes,” assembled the barons of Wilts, Somerset, Dorset and Hants, to meet him at Ecbright’s Stone. The following is a translation of the narrative:
“Four weeks after Easter
He (Alfred) rode to Echbrichstane
Which is east of Selwood.
And the barons he had sent for came;
Then Alfred took counsel with them
And as they determined they did.”
They rode that night, and throughout the following day and the next night to “Edensdone” where a fierce battle ensued fighting, being continued for fifteen days. At the end of that time the Danes not only promised “never more to make war,” but also requested that they might be “made Christians.” The King, says this interesting old history, stated that “he would make them so with pleasure,” and the result of this very sudden and remarkable conversion was that Guthrum, the Danish King, was baptised under the name of Athelstan, and thirty of his followers were baptised with him.
“The Battle of Ethandun” has many times been fought and refought in modern times by local archaeologists. But though the field has been keenly contested, this modern battle cannot be said to be as decisive as that of old, and it is to be feared that the combatants have by no means promised “never more to make war.” The subject of the dispute is the identity of Ethandune. Seven cities contended for the honour of being the birth place of the illustrious Homer. Seven villages claim the distinction of having been the scene of this keenly contested and important victory. Heddington (near Calne), Yatton (Gloster), Edington (Wilts), Yattendun (Berks), Eddington (Berks), Edington (Somerset), and Hampton (Gloucestershire) all have their champions. It would be unnecessary to attempt to enter into the merits of this controversy, but it is very satisfactory to be able to state that the disputants show a wonderful unanimity as to Brixton Deverill, as to the identity of which with Ecbright’s Stone, there is, we believe, no question or dispute whatever.
The spelling of Ec-brichstane, as quoted above, indicates, of course, the derivation of the word Brixton which, by the way, is very frequently given in old books and documents, when referring to this village, as Brighton. Indeed there is reason to suppose that Brighton is the more correct form, inasmuch as the old encampment was properly known as Ecbright’s Stone, Ecbright or Egbert being, no doubt, a former holder of the property in the neighbourhood. Cox, in his Magna Britannia, published as late as 1727, makes mention of the village several times, and invariably speaks of it as Brighton Deverill.
In an early document the village is stated to be the Lordship of Robert Lord Hungerford, whose effigy is in Salisbury Cathedral. He died about the year 1459 and his widow founded a chantry chapel in the Cathedral there. It seems probable that some of the property was bequeathed by her, or by some immediate descendant of Lord Hungerford’s, to a nunnery which appears to have flourished near Brixton Deverill at this period, for early in the 16th century a large portion of the land adjoining the village was held by some such religious institution. This nunnery, if nunnery it was, was suppressed soon afterwards, and subsequently, by a Royal grant, the lands were handed over to King’s College, Cambridge, to which they still belong. It is said that an old piece of wall near the farmhouse which adjoins the church is a portion of the old nunnery, but this is extremely doubtful.
The parish church (dedicated to St. Michael) is a small building. The interior shows no signs of antiquity, and has evidently been altered many times. Amongst the inscriptions upon the walls is one to the memory of the Rev. A. Coham, M.A., who would seem to have been a decided pluralist. He was Archdeacon of Wilts, Prebend of Fordington and Wridlington, rector of Brixton Deverill, and rector of Somerton. He died in 1799, aged 79.
Another tablet commemorates the Rev. W. Barnes, M.A., F.S.A., by whom the spire of the church was added, the tower adorned and the walls raised. He was rector of the Parish for 20 years and died in 1858.
Another rector who is commemorated is the Rev. John Rogers, “rector of Brixton Deverill and Vicar of Warminster for upwards of 30 years.” He died in 1773. There is a brass recently placed in the Chancel in memory of the Rev. T.W. Dowding, who was rector for five years, and who died on the 23rd March 1881.
Other tablets in the church commemorate Mrs. Harriet Woodroffe of Chiswick (d.1806), Edward Frowd (d.1776) and Mary Frowd (d.1803).
Besides the East Window of the Chancel, and one on the south wall to the memory of Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. W. Barnes Strickland, there are four two-light stained windows in the body of the church. That at the west end of the north wall is in memory of the Rev. Emmanuel Strickland, rector from 1858 to 1875, erected “by his affectionate parishioners and friends.” The one next to it and the window opposite are to the memory of his 3rd and 4th sons, who died in their youth, one being drowned at sea, and the other dying at Calcutta. The fourth is to the memory of William and Letitia Scott, and their children, long resident in the parish, and was erected in 1876 by their relative Mr. John Scott of Upton Lovel.
The lower portion of the font has the appearance of being old. Brixton Deverill Church has only one bell, but that one is one of the oldest in the county. It is of mediaeval workmanship, and bears the inscription, in antique characters, AVE GRACIA, with a cross pattee.
The earliest entry in the parish registers bears the date 1653. It is significant of the temper of the times, that from 1653 to 1661, there is no entry made of any baptisms. Births only are recorded. In 1661 baptisms for the first time occur. In the latter part of the 17th, and the beginning of the 18th century, the mode of keeping the Register of Burials was very cumbrous to meet the requirements of the law then in force. To give an example: “James Honicott made oath that William Westly was wrapped in woollen only and so buried in the Churchyard of Brixton Deverill, April 17th, 1687. Sworne before Sir Henry Coker. Witnesses Benjamin Coker and Thomas Hunt.” This appearance before a magistrate with two witnesses on each occasion of a burial was sufficiently onerous, and, it might have been thought sufficiently protective of the law, which gave the manufacturers of woollen cloth the monopoly in shrouds. But in addition to this, every March of April, the Register Book had to be carried before the Bench of Magistrates, sitting at Warminster, and the entries read over, and attested by two or more of them. Thus, after the entry above transcribed, there is one dated “March 31st, 1687” which says “This book was perused by us, Weymouth, Ri. Lewis, H. Coker.”
The Churchwardens’ account-books contain not only some very quaint spelling, but also several items of expenditure, which would somewhat startle the Rate Payers of a Parish at Easter Vestry assembled in the year of grace 1882. We will give an example taken from the accounts presented and passed at the Easter Vestry 1801, for the year preceding. Omitting less questionable causes of expenditure, we extract the following: “62 doz., spar heds, at 2d. per doz. (raised mid-way in the year to 3d. per doz.); 2 stotes at 2d. each; 1 polecat at 8d.; 5 hegogs at 4d.; coten netels (cutting nettles), one shilling.” The last charge was an annual one, and the spelling first adopted was regularly persevered in. The sparrows and hedgehogs, however, were treated to a greater variety. ‘Spares and Hegges’ being the favourite orthography.
A blank page of an old Register Book was utilized in the year 1852, to record the presentation of a silver inkstand and an address to the Rev. W. Barnes. The address is given verbally in full. It made mention of the gratitude due to the Rector for the gift of a spire to the Parish Church, for his services in procuring a new bridge across the river and for his earnest and acceptable pastoral work. Mr. Barnes’s reply, spoken “with much emotion,” is also recorded. The following inscription on the tower of the Church above the west door commemorates Mr. Barnes’s gift of the spire: “Of that which God gave, this spire was erected and the tower adorned, by the Rector, A.D. MDCCCLII.”
In the year 1861 a Vestry was built and the Chancel of the Church was elongated 11 feet, at a cost of £285, of which somewhat more than £250 was subscribed as a memorial to the Rev. W. Barnes, the remainder being given by his successor in the rectory. At the same time the old high pews, and a gallery were removed, together with what were described in the Deed of Faculty as “the cumbrous pulpit and reading desk.” The present seats are low open seats of good oak. At the time of the foregoing alteration the Choir seats were removed to the Chancel. More recently, an excellent organ has been given by Mr. C. George, Churchwarden, who assisted by Mrs. George, sets a good example by acting as choirmaster and organist.
The three rectors immediately preceding the present one (Rev. H.H. Duke) were the Revs. William Barnes, Emmanuel Strickland, and Townley Ward Dowding; each and all of whom are still held in affectionate remembrance by the inhabitants of the little village. It is somewhat singular that all three should have died at the same age – sixty-three years – and that this should have been that year of man’s age which our forefathers were wont to call “the grand climacteric,” and to suppose it to be a sort of pass of peril to the journey onward to the threescore and ten.