Monks Kirby

Coordinates: 52°26′38″N 1°18′58″W / 52.444°N 1.316°W / 52.444; -1.316
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Monks Kirby
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townRUGBY
Postcode districtCV23
Dialling code01788
PoliceWarwickshire
FireWarwickshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Warwickshire
52°26′38″N 1°18′58″W / 52.444°N 1.316°W / 52.444; -1.316

Monks Kirby is a village and

medieval
period, the village continued to be a local administrative centre into the early 20th century.

The

commuter village with many residents working in Coventry, Birmingham, Leicester and London. Monks Kirby is dominated by the church of St Edith, a site of Christian worship since at least the 10th century and which functioned as a Priory in the Middle Ages. Reflecting its medieval aristocratic and ecclesiastical importance, Monks Kirby is the largest historic parish in Warwickshire and St Edith's one of the largest parish churches in the county.[nb 1]

History

Monks Kirby Village Green
See also: Monks Kirby Priory

Monks Kirby has been inhabited since at least Roman times, with evidence (Roman urns and bricks) found around the Church suggesting either a Roman cemetery or villa on the current Church site.[3]

Anglo-Saxon Period and Norman Conquest

The size of the parish, good soils and strategic location (the village boundaries reached to High Cross - the meeting point of the Fosse Way and Watling Street) all point to the importance of the village before the Norman Conquest.[4] Shortly after the Conquest, in 1086 Domesday Book records Monks Kirby as the largest settlement in this part of the country (North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire) - significantly larger than the settlements that would become today's towns and cities - Lutterworth, Rugby, Coventry and Birmingham.[5]

The pre-Conquest church of Monks Kirby was the mother church (

Anglo-Saxon Mercia.[10] Monks Kirby is just on the west (Anglo-Saxon) side of Watling Street, which was the border. The village's name reflects the long-term influence of Danish settlement at the frontier: it is first recorded, in Latin, as Kirkberia in 1077 (see below); this is a mix of Danish English Kirk (church) and Anglo-Saxon bury meaning a fortified settlement.[11] In time, the name became Kirkeby and then Kirby.[12] [nb 3]

At the time of the

St Nicolas in Anjou in France
.

The

Dukes of Norfolk. The Newnham family (who took their name from the estate) are recorded as holding the Newnham Paddox Estate under the Mowbrays from the 1100s.[12]

1100-1500

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were Monks Kirby's highpoint. The monks produced at least one beautiful illuminated book and many miracles were apparently wrought at the Priory (see

feudal tenant farmers ("bondsmen") and the properties of the traders and craftsmen who operated around the Priory Church.[17]

Through the fourteenth and early fifteenth century the

Benedictines had needed to be reminded of basic rules such as the non-admission of women to the monastery, and their duty to the poor.[18]

Having nearly fallen into ruin, the church was substantially rebuilt in around 1380. The basic structure and shape of the church today dates from this reconstruction,

Carthusians practised a strict monastic lifestyle and the revenues of Monks Kirby Priory provided most of their income[20] but only two priests, and no monks, were maintained at Monks Kirby. The church was again altered in the late fifteenth century, and an octagonal spire
was added which must have been an imposing local landmark.

1500-1700

vicarage and the income from the collection of local tithes to his foundation of Trinity College, Cambridge. The large and valuable manor of Monks Kirby[nb 5] was rapidly claimed by the powerful Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.[12] [nb 6]

In the 1600s the Feildings' status rose when

medieval period had belonged to the Priory
Church of Monks Kirby.

1700 to 21st century

The Church's

Members of Parliament to promote enclosure acts on behalf of their own family and friends, including the land at Stretton-under-Fosse.[24]

The most notorious incident in the

7th Earl of Denbigh wanted to rent a large parcel of land, Pailton Pastures, from the other major landowner, Trinity College, Cambridge.[nb 8] This involved clearing the land of its sitting tenants. There were riots by Pailton residents. One particular very elderly tenant, Thomas Gubbins, stood in the way of the Earl and the College's plan. The Earl pursued the case until Gubbins - said to have been over 100 years old - was sent to prison where he soon died. This was scandalous even at the time: the county newspaper wrote, "We may well wonder what could have been the feelings of a plaintiff [ie the Earl of Denbigh] in a case such as this. Is he now satisfied?" Gubbins became known as the Pailton Martyr.[25]

The Rector of Monks Kirby - appointed by Trinity College, Cambridge - played an eager part in the prosecution of Gubbins.[nb 9] The 7th Earl Denbigh and his wife Lady Mary are both buried in St Edith's Church.

With the

Baptist congregation was established in 1817, its members initially suffering much persecution.[26] The Baptist chapel was built at the end of Bell Lane, on the edge of the village, just outside the Earl of Denbigh's lands. It had 150 seats and was demolished around 1960.[25]

The 18th and 19th century

Second World War. Similarly, The Feilding family have - since the mid-twentieth century - steadily sold off much of their estate (for example selling 2,500 acres of the historic Newnham Paddox estate in 2014–15).[28]

Parish boundaries

The historic

exclave in Leicestershire, the land known as Goresland in Ullesthorpe, separated from Monks Kirby by the neighbouring parish of Wibtoft and just over the county border. Monks Kirby was the largest parish in Warwickshire;[nb 12] the historic size of Monks Kirby was around 10,000 acres, 15 square miles.[12] Around 1866, Pailton, Easenhall, Stretton-under-Fosse and Copston became separate parishes. Even within its much reduced modern boundaries, Monks Kirby civil parish still has an area of 4550 acres, around 7 square miles, placing it in top 11% of English parishes by area.[30] The ecclesiastical parish no longer includes Copston or Easenhall but still includes Pailton and Stretton-under-Fosse.[29] The (civil and ecclesiastical) boundaries of Monks Kirby still include the lands of the village of Cestersover
, abandoned in the Middle Ages.

Local government

Early in the 17th century the hundred of

Rugby Borough Council
.

Monks Kirby Today

Monks Kirby's population today is only slightly higher than that recorded in the

medieval era and particularly in the last seventy years. While the historic village was centred around the parish church, the centre of the village today is further to the north east: the village has merged with Brockhurst which was a separate hamlet
on the other side of the Smite brook.

Roman Catholic Community

Monks Kirby has been a local centre for the

Second World War, The 10th Earl of Denbigh handed over Newnham Paddox House to another community of nuns: Cannonesses of the Holy Sepulchre. These nuns had evacuated their convent, New Hall in Chelmsford in 1940, due to the threat of bombing. During the war, the Canonesses ran a school for local children. They returned to New Hall in 1945.[34]

The

Mater Ecclesiae congregation moved to Street Ashton House[36] in the neighbouring hamlet of Street Ashton, where it was based until 2020. The remaining, elderly sisters have now dispersed and Street Ashton House sold, bringing to an end a 150-year tradition of (renewed) monastic life in Monks Kirby.[37]

The nineteenth century convent buildings in the village of Monks Kirby have now been converted to housing but a new church, St Joseph's Church, was built in the 1990s to a design by the architect John Holmes.

Blessed Sacrament. There is also a Corpus Christi procession in June from the Village Green to St Joseph's. In July 2018 St Joseph's fitted a new bell system which allows the Angelus to be rung at 12 noon and 6pm as well as calling the faithful to Mass. At special times of the year and at the end of the school day Hymns are played on the automated carillon
.

The present

graveyard for the Feilding family but which today is used for burials from St Joseph's. The Chapel of the Sacred Heart at the burial ground was designed by the architect Thomas Henry Wyatt as part of the remodelling of Newnham Paddox House, undertaken for the eighth earl in 1888.[39]

The Revel School

Children from Monks Kirby and surrounding villages attend the Revel School, which is possibly unique in that it is a

Roman Catholic provision and Catechesis. Children from the school regularly visit the Catholic Church for worship and are prepared through the school for their First Holy Communion. Both the Church of England Rector and Catholic Parish
Priest lead worship in the school. School Masses (within St Joseph's) take place regularly.

Newnham Paddox

Two views of Newnham Paddox House built 1876-1879 to a design by architect Thomas Henry Wyatt. The house was demolished in 1952.

The Newnham Paddox estate neighbours

Anglo-Saxon invasion period when new settlements were established (hence New-ham).[6] A very large manor house
existed on the estate until 1952, which had at least three stages of development:

  • There was a large, probably
    timber-framed house (with 34 hearths) built in the late 16th or early 17th century. In the late 1600s, grand formal gardens were laid out with an immense series of pools (known as the "Great Canal")[40] running behind and alongside the house. These can be seen in an engraving produced in 1707.[41]
  • In 1754-68 Lancelot "Capability" Brown built a large mansion house for the fifth and sixth Earls (perhaps incorporating elements of the earlier house). At the same time, Brown removed the formal gardens replacing them with landscaped garden in his distinctive style.
  • In the late 19th century, the house was substantially redeveloped in the French style including an ornate
    Roman Catholic chapel, by the architect Thomas Henry Wyatt. This nineteenth century house was of little architectural interest. It was demolished in 1952 after receiving water damage resulting from the thawing of frozen pipes at a time when the family was hit by heavy death duties.[40]

There is very little information on the

Daffodil Sunday" event when thousands of daffodils come in to flower across the grounds.[43]
.

Notes

  1. ^ The claim that the church is the largest parish church in the county is often made. The "Cathedral Scale" Leamington Spa parish church which dates from the 19th century is bigger. However, Monks Kirby may well be the largest medieval parish church is in the county.[2]
  2. Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great and queen of Mercia[7] - a claim repeated on the current Church sign. Modern academics usually understand the Chronicle's reference to Æthelflæd building a fortification in Cyricbyrig in 917 as referring to the similarly named Shropshire village of Chirbury however, this is far from definitive: no evidence of the fortifications at Chirbury have ever been found.[8] The church's dedication to St Edith of Polesworth may point to a link: St Edith was a saint connected to the Mercian Royal Family and Æthelflæd may have promoted churches dedicated to her.[9]
  3. ^ Domesday Book in 1086 used the fully Anglo-Saxon form of the name Chircheberie. The definitive shift to "kir(k)" and from anglo-saxon "bury" to the Danish form "by" (which also happened in the name Rugby, originally Rocheberie) reflects the fact that people in the local area were speaking Danish-inflected English in the post-Conquest middle ages.
  4. Cotton Library which has since been lost or destroyed.[16]
  5. ^ At the time of its confiscation in 1539 the manor included lands in "Kyrkbye Monachorum, Waltou [Little Walton], Kyrkbye, Strcteston [Street Ashton], Shatunford [Sharnford], Wythebroke, Marston Jobott, Harborowe Parva, Cosford, Brynkelowe, Newbold-upon-Aven, Brokehurst, Newneham, Stretton, Gasnell [?], Paylton alias Palyngton, Copston, Kreyke [Crick], Rokebye [Rugby], Longlawforde, Harborowe Magna, Hale, Spede, Wolvaye, Wylley, Sester Woner [Cestersover] and Harpisforde, Warw."[23]
  6. ^ Following the confiscation of Axholme, Monks Kirby manor was initially granted by the King in 1539 to Thomas Manning, Bishop of Ipswich, but Charles Brandon, brother-in-law of the King, moved quickly to take it from Manning[12]
  7. ^ The Earldom of Desmond. After the 2nd Earl of Denbigh died childless, subsequent earls of Desmond have also held the title Earl of Denbigh (see Earl of Denbigh).
  8. ^ As part of the Enclosure process, Trinity College had rescinded its rights to collect local tithes, granted by Henry VIII; instead the Denbighs and other local landowners agreed that the College could take ownership of common land in Pailton. The College developed the land as farms - Tithe Farm and Pailton Pastures Farm on Montilo Lane - for ongoing rental income.[25]
  9. ^ The Reverend Richard Podmore, Rector of Monks Kirby from 1786 to 1838 is notable not just for his very long tenure, but also for his far greater interest in maximising Trinity College's revenues than in the wellbeing of his flock.[25]
  10. ^ 1914 was the highpoint: the show went into decline with the First World War, though it lasted until 1932. One rather surprising visitor to the 1898 Monks Kirby Farmers Club Show was the Aga Khan who was on a visit to England and, after meeting Queen Victoria, was staying with the Earl of Denbigh at Newnham Paddox [25]
  11. ^ The Anglo-Saxon boundaries of the parish were probably even bigger, stretching far into Leicestershire.[6] Withybrook was part of Monks Kirby Parish in the early post-Conquest period but became a separate parish in the 1200s.
  12. ^ Parish size can be compared on the Church of England's online map of ecclesiastical parishes; the CoE's map shows two Warwickshire parishes bigger than Monks Kirby but these are 21st century mergers and the historic parish of Monks Kirby included Copston Magna and Easenhall, which the CoE now classify as a separate parishes. The claim in Monks Kirby Parish Council's 2015 Neighbourhood Plan that the village was once one of the largest parishes in England seems unlikely.[29]
  13. ^ The pub was named The Cock until the early twentieth century [25]

References

  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Monks Kirby St Edith". Explore Churches. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Information for record number MWA4241: Site of Possible Roman Settlement by Church". Warwickshire County Council. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-820440-4
    .
  5. ^ "Monks Kirby". Open Domesday. See also Open Domesday entries for Lutterworth, Rugby, Coventry and Birmingham
  6. ^ a b c Graham Jones. The origins of Leicestershire: churches, territories, and landscape. p. 9.
  7. ^ William Dugdale (1656). The antiquities of Warwickshire illustrated : from records, leiger-books, manuscripts, charters, evidences, tombes, and armes : beautified with maps, prospects, and portraictures. p. 50.
  8. ^ Clarkson, T. J. (2018). AEthelflæd : the lady of the Mercians. John Donald.)
  9. S2CID 201432107
    .
  10. ^ "Archaeological Resource Assessment of the Aggregates Producing Areas of Warwickshire and Solihull" (PDF). Warwickshire County Council. 2008. p. 66. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  11. ^ Gover; Mawer; Stenton; Houghton (1936). The Place Names of Warwickshire (PDF). Cambridge (published 1970). Retrieved 26 December 2021 – via Nottingham University.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h "Parishes: Monks Kirby". A History of the County of Warwick (Victoria County History): Volume 6, Knightlow Hundred. 1951. Retrieved 1 January 2021 – via British History Online.
  13. ISSN 0308-5562
    .
  14. ^ Geoffrey probably fought in the Battle of Hastings and was rewarded by William the Conqueror with "manors distributed over 6 counties, effectively grouped round four centres: - Monks Kirby in east Warwickshire; Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire; Epworth in the Isle of Axholme, and Gainsborough in Lincolnshire" E W Timmins. "Historical Notes the Manor of Crick - 2" (PDF). West Northamptonshire Local History.
  15. ISBN 9780851157221
    .
  16. ^ William Dugdale (1655). Monasticon Anglicanum: A History of the Abbies and Other ..., Volume 6, Part 2 (in Latin). p. 996.
  17. ISBN 978-1-85928-073-7
    – via Google Books.
  18. ^ "Alien houses: Priory of Monks Kirby". A History of the County of Warwick. Vol. 2. Victoria County History. 1908. Retrieved 10 December 2021 – via British History Online.
  19. ^ "Monks Kirby". Church Bells of Warwickshire. 26 August 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  20. ^ Page, William, ed. (1906). "House of Carthusian Monks: the Priory of Axholme". A History of the County of Lincolnshire. Vol. 2. Victoria County History. pp. 158–60. Retrieved 20 December 2021 – via British History Online.
  21. ^ "Monks Kirby". Kelly's Directory of Warwickshire. 1912. p. 197. Retrieved 21 November 2021 – via University of Leicester Special Collections Online.
  22. ^ Flude, Michael L. (2011). "William Flude Monks Kirby Warwickshire a Profile". p. 3. Retrieved 26 December 2021. Research into the Fielding family revealed an indenture dated 1515 when Sir Everard Fielding purchased lands in Monks Kirby from the monks of Axholme Priory in Lincolnshire .(PRO Kew-Indenture E118/1/34)
  23. ^ Gairdner; Brodie, eds. (1894). "Volume 14, Part 1, Jan-Jul 1539". Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII. HMSO. Retrieved 31 January 2024 – via British History Online.
  24. JSTOR 40274038
    .
  25. ^ a b c d e f g Bourne, Roy (1984). 1756 Acres: A History of the People of Pailton, Warwickshire.
  26. ^ "History of the Baptist Churches, Leicestershire Association, 1865". Baptist History Homepage, A Source for Original Baptist Documents. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  27. ^ "The College Livings". A Guide to Trinity College Chapel (PDF). Trinity College, Cambridge. 2013. p. 47.
  28. ^ "Red Button: Coventry landed gentry downsize as death duty bill arrives". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  29. ^ a b "Church of England Parish Map". Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  30. ^ 1840.78 Hectares. "Standard Area Measurements (2017) for Parishes and Non-Civil Parished Areas". Office for National Statistics. 2017.
  31. ^ "Knightlow Hundred". A History of the County of Warwick. Vol. 6. Victoria County History. 1951. Retrieved 3 January 2011 – via British History Online.
  32. ^ "Lutterworth, Leicestershire". workhouses.org.uk.
  33. ^ a b c d "Monks Kirby – St Joseph". Taking Stock: Catholic Churches of England and Wales. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  34. ^ Sister Margaret Helen (1990). "Extract from New Hall Magazine: Evacuation 50 years ago" (PDF). Cannonesses.co.uk.
  35. ^ "Monks Kirby Memories". Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  36. ^ a b "The Church must stop turning its back on older people who have religious vocations". Catholic Herald. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  37. ^ "Mater Ecclesiae CIO Annual Report and Accounts to 31 March 2020". Charity Commission. 29 January 2021.
  38. ^ "Monks Kirby – St Joseph". Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  39. ^ Historic England. "Chapel of the Sacred Heart (1392656)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  40. ^ a b Historic England. "Nenwham Paddox (1001191)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  41. ^ Which can be seen in this 2006 online auction catalogue: "Lot 8: After Leonard Knyff Newnham Padox in Warwickshire..." Bonhams.
  42. ^ "PCA Warwick" (PDF). Nuntius, Staff Newsletter of Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd (19): 27. September 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  43. ^ "Daffodil Sunday". Revel Group of Churches. The event is held in aid of local Church of England churches: note the 2020 and 2021 event did not proceed.

Sources

  • Warwickshire Towns & Villages, by Geoff Allen (2000) (
    ISBN 1-85058-642-X
    )

External links

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