A Little History of Cherington and Stourton (pub. 1934)

To enlarge the images, click here

Covering the period 1200 to 1933, A Little History of Cherington and Stourton documents in just a few dozen pages the history of these two rural settlements. Mention is also made of the neighbouring hamlet of Weston, in the parish of Long Compton: it was a lord of Weston, William Sheldon, who was responsible for the creation of the famous Sheldon or Barcheston tapestries.

The work contains lists of former inhabitants, and many references throughout the centuries to these and "outsiders" having connections with the villages. We discover something of how they lived, and in some cases exactly where.

We learn how they organised their villages, who were rogues and who were upright, and how justice was done in the eyes of those in (we hope) the second category. Moreover, this little history offers curiosities and anecdotes, about duelling, a mysterious tomb, a Civil War battle.....

Even if you have no particular interest in these villages or in the Dickins family, to which a whole chapter is devoted, a dip into these pages will provide an insight into many features typical of past life in hundreds of English villages, and into how they were recorded for posterity.

Chapters and page nos.:

CHAPTER I   

Cherington

1

CHAPTER II  

The Manor of Cherington

7

CHAPTER III

Sale of the Manor, 1680

20

CHAPTER IV

The Manor under the Sheldons

25

CHAPTER V

The Enclosure of the Open Fields

29

CHAPTER VI  

The Church of St. John the Baptist

33

CHAPTER VII  

The Dickins Family

42

CHAPTER VIII

Stourton

46

CHAPTER IX  

Weston  

53

Index of Personal Names

55

Index of Places

64

Index of Subjects

66

Index of Subjects  

66

Glossary of Historical, Archaic and Architectural Terms

68

Bibliography  

71

Notes on the 2003 edition

72

Acknowledgements  

72