VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 1. VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress

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1 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 1 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring Religious History Goring s parish church of St Thomas of Canterbury, showing the Norman tower and nave, Victorian chancel apse, and wooden-clad church hall (Canterbury Room) of Goring s existing parish church was constructed in the early 12th century to serve both the parishioners and the nuns of Goring priory (founded before 1135), who built their own church onto the east end c That was demolished after the Dissolution, leaving only the parish church, which was extensively restored in the 19th century. Despite early attempts to endow a vicarage, the benefice was served by chaplains and later by curates who, owing to the poverty of the living, were often non-resident pluralists. Following several augmentations the living was converted from a perpetual curacy into a vicarage in 1868 and thereafter the vicars resided, the parish eventually becoming the centre of a united benefice including two neighbouring parishes. From the 18th century Anglicanism in the parish was strengthened by the almshouse chapel at Goring Heath, which was served by its own chaplain and remained open for public worship in Nonconformity quickly gained strength in Goring from the late 18th century, when members of the Countess of Huntingdon s Connexion erected a chapel in the village which was replaced with an adjacent brick church in Baptist and Methodist chapels followed

2 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 2 at Goring Heath in the 19th century, when an Anglican mission room was established there to counter the perceived threat: all three closed in the 20th century. In the 1890s a Roman Catholic parish church was established in the village, which remained open in 2017, as did the Countess of Huntingdon s Connexion church, which was then known as Goring Free church. Church Origins and Parochial Organization Goring perhaps had an Anglo-Saxon minster church serving much of Langtree hundred. 1 The present church dates mainly from the early 12th century, seemingly after the foundation of the priory, whose nuns initially shared it with parishioners. Around 1180 the nuns built their own church onto the east end to include the existing chancel, which they screened from the parochial nave with a dividing wall. Probably at the same time the church s dedication to St Mary was transferred to the priory church and the parish church (the nave and tower of the original) was rededicated to St Thomas of Canterbury; 2 although the latter (current) dedication has not been found before the 19th century. 3 The nuns appropriated the rectory and, although a vicarage was ordained soon after 1209, only one vicar is known: otherwise the medieval church was served by chaplains. By 1530 the living was a curacy, which became a poorly-endowed perpetual curacy (sometimes called a vicarage) despite several augmentations. 4 Part of Henley deanery (but briefly in Nettlebed deanery ), 5 it became a vicarage in 1868, 6 which in 1984 was united with South Stoke. 7 In 2007 Streatley (Berks.) joined the united benefice. 8 Advowson and Endowment The advowson descended with the rectory estate until 1929, 9 when it was purchased from the trustees of C.L.W. Gardiner (d. 1928) by the vicar with the financial support of 1 Above, vol. intro.; par. intro. (settlement). 2 J. Blair, 'The Foundation of Goring Priory', Oxoniensia 51 (1986), 194 6; below (church archit.). 3 Lewis, Topog. Dict. England (1840 edn), II, 276. However, by 1674 the Goring feast took place on the Monday nearest the Translation of St Thos of Canterbury (7 July): Goring Charters, II, Below (advowson; pastoral care). For vicarage, OHC, MS Archd. Oxon. b 40, ff Youngs, Admin. Units, I, District Church Tithes Amendment Act, 31 & 32 Vic. c OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1834/2, Order in Council 1982 and presentation pps Ibid. DIOC/1/C/6/42/1, Order in Council 2004; Henley Standard, 20 July e.g. Goring Charters, II, nos ; OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. b 21, ff. 99, 139v.; Kelly s Dir. Oxon. ( edns); above, landownership (rectory).

3 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 3 parishioners. In 1930 he gave it to the archdeacon of Oxford, 10 who in 1966 transferred it to the dean and chapter of Christ Church, 11 joint patrons of the united benefice from Soon after 1209 a vicarage was ordained, the vicar having a house outside the priory enclosure, as well as all offerings and mortuaries, tithes of cheese, and 2 a. in the open fields. 13 The endowment soon failed and later medieval chaplains were presumably paid a stipend by Goring priory. 14 In 1539 the Crown as lay rector paid the stipend of a curate, which in 1546 was a meagre 6 a year. 15 In 1680 the rector William Allen raised it from 20 to 30 and made it a perpetual endowment charged on the rectory estate, 16 which continued to be paid in Before the 1760s the only glebe was a ½-a. orchard adjoining the curate s house, both of which were given c Goring s tithes belonged to the rector and other individuals or bodies. 19 In 1763 Queen Anne s Bounty augmented the living with 200 to match a bequest by Revd William Bowdry, a former rector of Checkendon. The 400 was used to purchase land in Shiplake, which was let for 14 a year in 1765, 20 rising to 40 in 1808, when the net value of the living was 72 10s. 21 In 1814 the curacy was augmented further by a 600 parliamentary grant, and gifts totalling 1,000 in by the patron Samuel Gardiner were more than matched by additional parliamentary grants totalling 1, The money was invested in glebe and tithes, a small farm in Goring being purchased in 1827, including a farmhouse (Glebe Cottage) and associated tithes. 23 The land comprised 27 a. in 1848, when the tithes on the same were commuted to an annual rent charge of 10 8s. 24 The Shiplake glebe was sold in 1875 (24 a.) and 1886 (2 a.), and the Goring glebe and tithes in In 1890 the patron C.L.W. Gardiner gave an annual rent charge of 54 5s. 11d. arising from 220 a. on Grove farm, which was redeemed in Overall, the net value of the living rose from 146 in to 316 in and 417 in OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1834/1, advowson pps 1930, Order in Council Ibid. DIOC/1/C/5/1968/1, Order in Council Ibid. DIOC/1/C/6/42/1, Order in Council 2004; above (church origins). 13 Rot. Welles, I, 179; Gibbons (ed.), Liber Antiquus, 9; A.H. Cooke, The Early History of Mapledurham (ORS 7, 1925), Above (church origins); below (pastoral care). 15 Goring Charters, II, no. 317; OHC, E1/M2/E/1. 16 OHC, MS Archd. Oxon. b 40, ff Ibid. Hen. I/iv/ Ibid. MS Archd. Oxon. b 40, ff ; below (curate s ho.). 19 Above, landownership (tithes). 20 Plaque in church; Hodgson, QAB, p. clxiv. 21 OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 446, f Hodgson, QAB, pp. cci, ccv vi, cccxxiii. 23 OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1834/1. 24 Ibid. tithe award. 25 Ibid. MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1834/1. 26 GGA, Church Repairs, Grove fm rent charge pps; TNA, MAF 26/ Lewis, Topog. Dict. England (1840 edn), II, 276.

4 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 4 Curate s House (Vicarage) The former glebe house (renamed the Old Vicarage in the 1980s) was built c.200 m. east of the church by the rector Thomas Allen (d. 1670) 30 probably for the curate Jeremiah Wharton, since his widow Katherine evidently occupied it (with three hearths) in 1665, when the curate lived elsewhere. 31 Constructed from brick and tile with 2½ storeys and a cellar, its symmetrical front has tile-hung gables and a central full-height porch with a square hood over the four-centred-arched doorway. 32 Around 1800 the assistant curate R.P. Jaques made the house a little decent at his own expense, 33 and significant alterations and enlargements followed c.1824 (costing 1,000) and in 1858 (costing 780), the former paid for by the patron Samuel Gardiner. 34 In 1939 the house was decayed and remedial works costing 321 were largely funded by parishioners. 35 Following its sale in the vicar lived in a temporary vicarage (7 Yew Tree Court, purchased for the benefice in 1983) until a replacement was completed in 1986 in the grounds of the Old Vicarage. 37 The Old Vicarage from the front (left) and south side (right), showing the 17th-century house (whitewashed) and 19th-century extensions. 28 OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 365, f Ibid. PAR115/3/A1/3, p Ibid. MS Archd. Oxon. b 40, f. 144; above, landownership (rectory). 31 Hearth Tax Oxon. 2; below (pastoral care). 32 NHL, no (accessed Apr. 2017); Pevsner, Oxon OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. d 574, f. 130; below (pastoral care). 34 Ibid. MS Oxf. Dioc. b 70, f Ibid. PAR115/3/A2/1, p. 147; PAR115/10/E/1. 36 Sale Cat., Old Vicarage (1985): copy in GGA, Box File OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1834/2, conveyance; ibid. PAR115/3/A1/6, pp. 70, 147.

5 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 5 Pastoral Care and Religious Life The Middle Ages In the 12th century numerous chaplains and priests witnessed charters concerning the priory, perhaps suggesting that the nuns initially shared the parish church with a community of clergy who served outlying chapels from a central mother church. 38 Among them was Ralph, chaplain of Goring, who presumably served the priory church as well as the parish church from c His successor John de Chevel was given custody of the vicarage in the early 13th century, apparently witnessing a charter as vicar in the 1220s, 40 although later in the century the churches were again served by chaplains, including Hugh in 1238, 41 Stephen in 1243, 42 and Robert Sutton before Very few of the later medieval chaplains are recorded by name. 44 Under whose patronage the priory was founded and the Norman parish church was built remains unknown. 45 Around 1180 the nuns built their own church onto the east end of the parish church, having been granted land by the brothers Thomas and Hugh Druval for an enlargement of their curia as well as a quarry to repair their mill and to carry out all necessary work on the church. 46 In 1240 the king gave the priory a cup worth 3 marks in which to keep the girdle of the Virgin Mary, and in 1246 he gave a chalice for the Eucharist. 47 Indulgences were offered in 1293 and 1301 to anyone who contributed towards the fabric of the priory church. 48 Little is known about its structure, although it apparently had late Romanesque stone sculpture, lancet windows, richly-decorated encaustic floor tiles, 49 and a belfry by 1304, 50 which perhaps housed the bell (currently inside the parish church) made by the Essex bellfounder Richard de Wymbish and given by the bishop of Exeter Peter de Quivil (d. 1291): he witnessed a grant of land to the priory in 1285 and was probably related 38 Blair, Foundation, Eynsham Cart. I, p. 86; below. 40 Rot. Welles, I, 179; Cooke, Early Hist. of Mapledurham, Cooke, Early Hist. of Mapledurham, Close, , B. Wells-Furby (ed.), The Great Cartulary of Berkeley Castle c.1425 (2014), p Although see below for Thos. Compton and Jn Rogers. 45 See Blair, Foundation, refuting the assertion in VCH Oxon. II, 103, that the priory s founder was Thos. Druval. For conflicting theories on the church s origins, G. Alder and E. Carleton Williams, A Short History of the Church & Priory at Goring-on-Thames (2014), East Sussex RO, FRE/7008; Blair, Foundation, Close, , 233; , Reg. Sutton, IV, 88; VCH Oxon. II, P. Stone, An Exact Account of the Church and Priory at Goring (1893), Some of the tiles are preserved in the vestry. 50 VCH Oxon. II, 104. For the tradition that there was a tower on the N side: Bodl. MS Hearne s Diaries 74, p. 166; T. Hearne (ed.), Gulielmi Neubrigensis Historia sive Chronica, III (1719), 781.

6 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 6 to Sarah of Exeter, prioress In 1301 the contested election of a prioress resulted in rival factions singing the Te Deum discordantly in procession from the chapter house to the high altar, 52 and in 1304 the chaplain Henry was assaulted together with a lay brother when a posse entered the priory church with their horses and abducted a nun. 53 By 1352 the priory had come to great poverty and misfortune, 54 a state of affairs that persisted in 1530, when both the claustral buildings and the priory church were in grave disrepair and the 4 pension for life of the former chaplain John Rogers had been stopped. 55 The priory church fell out of use soon after the Dissolution, although some parts of it survived into the 17th century. 56 The 13th-century bell (left) and funerary brass to Henry Aldrington (d. 1375), formerly in the north aisle (below). At the parish church a north aisle was added c.1200, no doubt reflecting patronage by one of Goring s lordly families. A recess in the north wall near its eastern end was designed to house the tomb of a donor, perhaps one of the Druvals. 57 From 1331 the aisle was almost certainly used for the chantry established by John Loveday, lord of Elvendon, at the altar of the chapel where his father lay buried. Its chaplain Thomas Compton was granted a 55-a. farm in the parish for a farthing annual rent in return for supplying daily requiem masses and thrice-weekly vespers and dirges for the souls of John and his parents; although Thomas resigned his office in John (d. 1361) himself and his wife Joan were later buried in the aisle, near the north door, as were his daughter Elizabeth (d. 1401) and her first husband Henry Aldrington (d. 1375): all four were commemorated with brasses, of which only parts of Henry s and Elizabeth s survive (now displayed on the chancel walls), the former with a French inscription and the latter one in English set in a rectangle around a 51 Ch. Bells Oxon. II, pp ; Goring Charters, II, no Goring Charters, II, pp. lxxix lxxxi. 53 VCH Oxon. II, 104; Cal. Pat , Black Prince's Reg. IV, Visit. Dioc. Linc. II, 155 8; VCH Oxon. II, Bodl. MS Hearne s Diaries 74, p. 166; Hearne, Gulielmi Neubrigensis, III, 781; below (church archit.). 57 Below (church archit.); Stone, Exact Account, Goring Charters, I, p. l; II, nos

7 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 7 depiction of a lady in prayer beneath a canopy. 59 Joan Raleigh (d. 1455), lady of Elvendon, whilst herself requesting burial at Nettlecombe (Som.), maintained the link between the manor and the parish church, providing in her will for regular intercessory services there for the souls of herself and her husband Simon. 60 Reformation to Restoration In 1530 Goring was served by both a curate (Thomas Wright) and a stipendiary chaplain (Ralph Ray). 61 Both Ray and Wright s successor John Basnall witnessed parishioners wills in the 1540s and may have resided. 62 By 1554 George Edwards was curate, 63 who was possibly succeeded by the conformist John Bridgeman (c ). Few of his successors stayed more than a few years and evidently none was university-educated, 64 reflecting the poverty of the living, which presumably prompted Hugh Richards in 1584 to serve both Goring and neighbouring Basildon (Berks.) as assistant to the vicar there. 65 Deemed insufficient in 1586, preaching only quarterly sermons, 66 he was succeeded later that year by William Griffin. 67 James Holloway (c ) died in office living in Goring, but also owning a house in Bewdley (Worcs.) near his native Alveley (Shrops.). 68 The longest-serving curate before the Restoration was Jeremiah Wharton (1628 at least 1642), who was probably the first to occupy the glebe house built by Thomas Allen. 69 In the early years of the Reformation some parishioners maintained traditional beliefs. In 1543 William Hawe gave a wax taper to burn before the sacrament at the high altar during mass, 70 whilst in 1547 John Martin willed a month s dirge to start on the day of his funeral. 71 Several costly vestments and ornaments were surrendered to the king s commissioners in 1552, of which only four bells, a surplice, and two table cloths were returned. 72 During the Catholic revival of one parishioner requested a St Gregory s 59 Hearne, Gulielmi Neubrigensis, III, 737 8; P. Manning, 'Monumental Brasses in the Deanery of Henley-on-Thames', Oxf. Jnl of Monumental Brasses I (1898), 244 5; Stephenson, Brasses, Linc. Dioc. Docs, Visit. Dioc. Linc. II, OHC, MSS Wills Oxon ; ; ; Ibid Ibid ; S. Spencer Pearce, Clergy of the Deaneries of Henley and Aston, OAS Rep. (1918), E.R. Brinkworth (ed.), The Archdeacon s Court: Liber Actorum, 1584, I (ORS 23, 1942), A. Peel (ed.), The Seconde Parte of a Register (1915), II, Spencer Pearce, Clergy, OHC, MS Wills Oxon ; TNA, PROB 11/153/ OHC, MSS Wills Oxon ; 18/1/12; Prot. Retns, 102; above (curate s ho.). 70 OHC, MS Wills Oxon Ibid Chant. Cert. 98, 132.

8 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 8 trental 73 and another left provisions to support five priests singing for her soul at her burial, month s mind, and year s mind. 74 From the start of Elizabeth s reign parishioners wills were conventionally Protestant, although the fining of at least eight recusants (including the lord of Elvendon Richard Paslow, twice) between 1592 and 1624 presumably indicates some lingering Catholicism. 75 Puritan views were expressed in the preambles of a handful of wills, one of them written for a parishioner in 1579 by the curate Laurence Wright. 76 A new regard for the sanctity of the churchyard was evident in 1584 when the churchwardens were presented in the archdeacon s court for allowing dancing, bowling, and pigs to dig there. 77 Funerary brasses to a man and his wife (possibly members of the Whistler family) and their three sons and five daughters c.1600 (left) and Henry Clerk (d. 1617) (below). Source: H. Taunt, Goring, Streatley, and the Neighbourhood (1894). Inside the church memorial brasses were erected to a man and his wife (possibly members of the Whistler family) with their three sons and five daughters c.1600, Hugh Whistler (d. 1615), and Henry Clerk (d. 1617), 78 and a fine costly monument with effigies to Eleanor Whistler (d. 1636) and her sister Margaret seen on the chancel north wall by the antiquary Thomas Hearne in 1717 has not survived, with the exception of an oval black 73 OHC, MS Wills Oxon Ibid Recusant Roll (Cath. Rec. Soc. 18, 1916), 259; H.E. Salter, Recusants in Oxfordshire , OAS Rep. (1924), 19, 23 4, 26, 34, 37, OHC, MSS Wills Oxon ; Brinkworth (ed.), Archdeacon s Ct, I, 43; II, xv; cf. OHC, MS Archd. Oxon. c 17, f. 23v. 78 Manning, Monumental Brasses,

9 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 9 marble plaque. 79 The peal of four bells, which four individuals were paid 6d. each to ring at a funeral in 1560, 80 was increased to five in the 17th century. The medieval bell (discussed above) was presumably incorporated into the peal at the Dissolution and remained part of it until The other bells making up the 17th-century peal were one cast c.1556 by the Reading founder John Saunders, carrying an unusual dedication to St Blaise, and three more by Ellis Knight of Reading, dated 1624, 1626, and Income for church repairs may have come partly from a church house recorded from After the Restoration most incumbents were absentee graduate pluralists, although Robert Henderson, both rector of Checkendon and curate of Goring for over a decade until his death in 1670, did live in the parish, albeit at Goring Place. 83 Perhaps the only curate to occupy the glebe house for any length of time was Benjamin Tassell, who held the living for over 45 years until his resignation in A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, 84 in 1675 some 34 parishioners (headed by the patron William Allen) subscribed a total of 12 19s. 8d. yearly to supplement his stipend so long as he remained curate. 85 He witnessed parishioners wills from 1677 until and was named as one of two schoolmasters in the parish c From 1692 he divided his time between Goring and Newbury (Berks.), where he was headmaster of the grammar school. 88 His successor Haviland John Hiley, curate and rector of Saltford (Som.), lived mainly in Reading where he was also a grammar school headmaster. 90 In 1738 he purchased religious books with offertory money for the use of his poorer parishioners 91 and in the following year petitioned the bishop unsuccessfully for an increase to his stipend. 92 Nathaniel Springett ( ) 93 lived first in 79 Bodl. MS Hearne s Diaries 74, pp ; Hearne, Gulielmi Neubrigensis, III, 737 9; Par. Colln, II, 153; plaque on nave S wall. 80 Chant. Cert. 98; OHC, MS Wills Oxon Ch. Bells Oxon. II, pp TNA, SC 6/HENVIII/2924, m. 6; OHC, E1/M2/E/1. 83 Alum. Oxon ; TNA, PROB 11/289/154; PROB 11/334/440; above, landownership (Goring Priory); Checkendon, relig. hist. 84 Alum. Oxon ; OHC, MS Archd. Oxon. c 144, f. 2; MS Oxf. Dioc. e 22, p He was still living in 1730: OHC, E1/1/1D/ Berks. RO, D/ENM5/F OHC, MS Wills Oxon. 52/2/28; 141/3/ Ibid. MS Oxf. Dioc. d 708, f. 155v. 88 W. Money, The History of the Ancient Town and Borough of Newbury (1887), 251, OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. e 22, p. 115; c 2211, no C. Coates, The History and Antiquities of Reading (1802), 344; Secker s Visit Secker s Visit Secker s Corresp Oldfield, Clerus ; OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. b 21, f. 99.

10 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 10 his native Bradfield (Berks.) 94 and latterly at Basildon, where he was assistant curate, citing the smallness of his income and having a large family as reasons for his non-residence. 95 William Dodd ( ) and William McKinstry ( and ) both also held the perpetual curacy of Lingfield (Surrey), 96 where they resided, 97 and Arthur Loveday ( ) was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he rose to become vice-president in 1802 and dean of divinity in 1807, 98 taking great satisfaction in resigning Goring in the same year. 99 Hunter Francis Fell ( ) lived mainly in Islington (Middx) where he served Holy Trinity church, 100 perhaps moving to Goring shortly before For much of the period the daily work of the parish was delegated to others. In 1738 Revd Hiley paid the vicar of South Stoke 10 a year to minister at Goring, which involved taking the single Sunday service with a sermon and four annual communions attracting communicants; 102 and between 1773 and 1789 the vicar of Streatley received 20 a year for the same duty. 103 From 1794 until 1823 the parish at least had a resident assistant curate, Robert Pardee Jaques, with a stipend of 25, rising later to 50; although for much of that time he was also curate in South Stoke 104 and apparently served other neighbouring churches. Whilst the single Sunday service was maintained, its new unreasonable time (2 p.m.) allegedly caused the congregation to dwindle to half a dozen, prompting some parishioners including one churchwarden to write to the bishop in 1814 complaining of neglect and calling for Jaques dismissal; although a greater number led by the other churchwarden signed a letter in his support. 105 Jaques remained in post, also serving Sulham (Berks.) as stipendiary curate from and refusing to bow to pressure in the same year from the Governors of Queen Anne s Bounty to increase provision at the church. 107 There remained a single Sunday service in 1820, when there were only c.19 communicants and many were absent from church from a principle of indifference. 108 Under Revd Fell a second Sunday service (with sermon) was introduced and the number of 94 OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. d 555, f. 245; Alum. Oxon OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. d 558, f. 253; d 651, f Oldfield, Clerus ; Clergy of the Church of England, online database (accessed May 2017). 97 OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. b 37, f. 57; b 29, f Oldfield, Clerus ; Alum. Oxon OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 658, f Oldfield, Clerus ; Alum. Oxon ; OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. b 39, f. 159; b 41, f TNA, HO 107/882/ Secker s Visit OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. c 661, f. 146; d 564, f. 192; c 327, p Ibid. b 21, f. 148v.; c 327, p. 218; b 10, ff ; VCH Oxon. VII, OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 661, ff , Ibid. b 10, ff Ibid. c 662, ff Ibid. d 578, f. 114.

11 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 11 annual communions increased to six. 109 His son George Hunter Fell served as stipendiary curate in and later returned to live in the village. 110 Some parishioners made lasting contributions to religious life. Lettice Simmons (d. 1700), in addition to establishing a charity for the poor, left 10s. a year to the minister to preach a sermon on her birthday (26 March), as well as money for a black burying cloth, a carpet for the communion table, and ornaments for the pulpit. 111 A second sermon charity given by an unknown donor was derived from open-field land called the sermon acre, for which ¼ a. was awarded at inclosure in John Toby gave a small silver salver to the church in Meanwhile, the fabric of the parish church apparently altered little, gradually falling into disrepair, 114 although various wall monuments were added and a west gallery constructed (perhaps in 1726) on which were displayed five charity boards, since lost. 115 A bassoon reputed to have been played c.1810 in the west-gallery band hung in the church from 1933 until Throughout the period several inhabitants of Goring Heath attended closer churches in neighbouring parishes, 117 causing the rural dean in 1850 to lament the spiritual destitution of that part of the parish. 118 However, Goring Heath did have an Anglican presence in the form of a chapel with its own resident chaplain at the almshouse. Under the terms of the founder s will an almsman was initially paid to read prayers twice daily to his fellows, 119 but by 1738 the role of chaplain was performed by the schoolmaster (a layman), who additionally read weekend sermons. 120 Each foundation scholar was given a Book of Common Prayer on entering the charity school. 121 Although built in the 1720s, 122 the chapel was not consecrated until 1742, when it was dedicated to St Bartholomew and an ordained 109 Ibid. b 39, f. 159; b 41, f GGA, Religion 3, printed letter, 27 July 1887; Alum. Oxon ; above, social hist. (since 1800). 111 OHC, MS Wills Oxon. 62/4/49; above, social hist. (charities). A carpet for the communion table and cloth for the burial of the dead were listed in a church inventory of the 1750s: OHC, MS Archd. Oxon. b 24, f Kelly s Dir. Oxon. (1887); OHC, Goring inclo. award. It was exchanged for another ¼-a. plot in 1812: ibid. Goring Heath inclo. award; ibid. Hen. I/iv/ Evans, Ch. Plate, Below (church archit.). 115 Par. Colln, II, 152 5; Goring Parish Mag. (Oct. 1949); Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, Goring Parish Mag. (Jan. 1934); Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 23; illus. in Carleton Williams, Ch. and Priory, OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. d 574, f Ibid. O15/1/A2/ TNA, PROB 11/602/330; G.E.B. Rogers, A Short History of the Charities of Henry Allnutt, John Baker, and Robert Baker (1928): copy in OHC. 120 Secker s Visit. 69. For early chaplains, OHC, O15/5/1L/ st Rep. Com. Char. App Below (church archit.).

12 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 12 chaplain was licensed to serve it, 123 keeping registers of baptisms and burials conducted there (the latter in a small cemetery) as well as 21 marriages before Receiving a stipend of 30 (rising to 100 by 1835) and accommodation in an adjacent house, the first chaplain was Coventry Lichfield ( ), also vicar of South Stoke, 125 who was succeeded in turn by his son John ( ), rector of Aston Tirrold (Berks.) and curate of Whitchurch, and John s nephew Robert Baker ( ), rector of Frilsham (Berks.). 126 Throughout their incumbencies prayers were read once or twice daily in the chapel, where there was also a Sunday morning service with a sermon. 127 Local inhabitants were welcome to attend, although their large number (c.81 chiefly poor persons in 1851) necessitated introduction before 1834 of an additional Sunday (afternoon) service by the next chaplain Richard Powys ( ), curate of Purley (Berks.), 128 whom Bishop Wilberforce described as dull but laborious and conscientious. 129 Almsmen were fined for non-attendance at worship. 130 West front of St Bartholomew s chapel, Goring Heath (built in the 1720s but not consecrated until 1742) (left), and Goring Countess of Huntingdon s Connexion chapel, built in 1793 (below). Despite two papists being recorded in 1676, no further mention of Roman Catholicism has been found before the late 19th century. In 1676 there were also four 123 OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. c 455, f. 31; c 2167, no. 8; cf. Secker s Corresp OHC, Goring Heath par. reg. transcript. No further marriages were recorded and later there was some uncertainty as to whether the chapel was licensed for such. 125 VCH Oxon. VII, 106; Secker s Corresp. 127; OHC, O15/1/A2/1; below, Whitchurch, relig. hist. For chaplain s ho., above, par. intro. (built character). 126 TNA, PROB 11/1388/177; PROB 11/1740/47; Rogers, Short History, 13, Secker s Corresp. 127; 8th Rep. Com. Char. 520; OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. d 576, f OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. b 39, f. 159; Ch. and Chapel, 1851, p Wilb. Dioc. Bks, th Rep. Com. Char. 520.

13 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 13 Nonconformists, 131 perhaps those named c.1685 as two couples, one of whom refused their children baptism. 132 For much of the 18th century curates reported no Dissenters in the parish, 133 although one kept a school in 1781, 134 and in 1786 members of the Countess of Huntingdon s Connexion led by the minister John Bartholomew registered a meeting house in the village, which they replaced with a plain brick-built chapel in High Street with 150 free and 80 other sittings opened by Lady Anne Erskine in A register of baptisms was kept and from c.1805 until 1969 chapel members maintained their own burial ground near the north porch of the parish church. 137 During the 42-year ministry of James Howes ( ) a daughter chapel was erected in 1820 at South Stoke, a manse was built for the pastor in 1823, and a British school allied to the chapel was opened in In 1851 the congregation averaged 155 (including 25 Sunday scholars). 139 Particular Baptists, 140 numbering perhaps three or four in 1802, 141 met in a plain brick-built chapel at Shirvells Hill registered in For over 20 years they were led by the potter Edward Clifford. 143 He was probably succeeded by William Benson, who was ordained pastor in the chapel in By 1851, when the wheelwright John Burgess was deacon there, the congregation numbered c.60 despite there being seating for only Since 1851 From 1851 the parish church was served by resident incumbents, the first of whom, William Stokes (commemorated in window glass installed in 1888), remained in post until his death in Although failing to impress Bishop Wilberforce, who described him as a wellmeaning bad-mannered man and utterly incompetent, 147 he presided over a growing 131 Compton Census, ed. Whiteman, 424; below. 132 OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. d 708, ff. 155v e.g. Secker s Visit. 69; OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. d 555, f. 245; d 564, f OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 327, p Ibid. Cal. QS, VIII, 811; Summers, Congreg. Ch ; Ch. and Chapel, 1851, p. 41. For the chapel building, above, par. intro. (built character). 136 TNA, RG 4/1595: transcript in OHC. 137 H. Taunt, Goring, Streatley, and the Neighbourhood (1894), 13; Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 17; OHC, PAR115/3/A1/5, p. 5; above, par. intro. (settlement). 138 Summers, Congreg. Ch ; VCH Oxon. VII, 109; above, social hist. (educ.). 139 Ch. and Chapel, 1851, p Ibid OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. d 566, f Ibid. c 644, f. 120; HER, PRN OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. d 568, f. 157; d 572, f. 148; Berks. RO, D/EX2061/15; above, econ. hist. (pottery). 144 Baptist Mag. 22 (1830), Ch. and Chapel, 1851, p. 42; Gardner s Dir. Oxon. (1852). 146 OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. c 1832/1; d 761, f. 122; below (church archit.). 147 Wilb. Dioc. Bks, p. 182.

14 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 14 congregation (rising from in 1854 to 150 in 1866) and introduced monthly communions and adult evening classes, the latter achieving very fair success. In his view the greatest obstacles to his ministry were the great number of public houses in the parish, and the great distance of many parishioners from the parish church. Several inhabitants of Goring Heath continued to attend closer places of worship, 148 including from 1883 the Anglican church at Whitchurch Hill founded by Goring s patron C.L.W. Gardiner, where Goring parishioners living east of Park Farm were permitted burial in a portion of its churchyard. 149 Goring s own churchyard was extended by gifts of land in 1864, 1887, and 1889, all by members of the Gardiner family. 150 Meanwhile the parish was eaten up with Dissent, 151 the number of real Dissenters in Stokes s estimation rising from in 1872 to nearer 70 in In addition to the Countess of Huntingdon s Connexion and Baptist chapels, a Primitive Methodist chapel at Long Toll near Greenmoor Hill was opened in 1881 by a community from Woodcote (active there since at least 1851), their corrugated iron chapel (demolished in 1972) soon being vacated in favour of an adjacent brick structure erected in 1886 costing 160. On the Reading circuit, membership grew from 8 in 1881 to 13 in 1894 and peaked at 17 two years later, although attendance at services regularly exceeded In 1893, to mark the centenary of the Connexion chapel, a new larger church costing 1,300 with stained glass windows and an organ was built on an adjacent site acquired in 1886, although the old chapel remained in use by the Sunday school. 154 Former Primitive Methodist chapel at Long Toll, Goring Heath, erected in 1886 (left) and Countess of Huntingdon s Connexion church (Goring Free church), built to replace an adjacent chapel in 1893 (right). 148 Wilb. Visit. 62 3; OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. c 332, f. 201; c 335, f GGA, Religion 1, letter 23 May 1924; OHC, PAR115/10/E/1; below, Whitchurch, relig. hist. 150 OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1832/ Wilb. Dioc. Bks, p OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. c 338, f. 182; c 347, f Ch. and Chapel, 1851, p. 115; D. Coates, The Church in the Woods : a historical sketch of Woodcote Methodist church (1986): copy in Berks. RO, D/MS 105/8/5; Kelly's Dir. Oxon. (1899); VCH Oxon. VII, Summers, Congreg. Ch ; TNA, MAF 11/125/5971.

15 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 15 By the 1890s Roman Catholicism was also gaining ground in Goring, mainly through the efforts of William Hallett of Streatley View, who in 1895 arranged for regular masses to be said in his boathouse during the summer season. 155 Those attending were mainly tourists, but included residents of Goring, Streatley, Basildon, and Woodcote. In 1896 Hallett purchased land in Ferry Lane on which to build a Roman Catholic parish church, duly founded and dedicated in 1897 to Our Lady and St John at an open-air service attended by the Roman Catholic bishop of Birmingham, in whose diocese it was situated. Designed by its architect William Ravenscroft to seat 105 worshippers, it opened in 1898, although the nave was not fully completed until Although served at first from Mapledurham and Caversham, a parish priest was resident from 1904, from 1906 in an adjacent presbytery. Goring s Roman Catholic parish church of Our Lady and St John, designed by William Ravenscroft and opened in 1898, although not fully completed until The Anglican response was led initially by the vicar Henry Littlewood ( ), who not only increased provision at the parish church to three Sunday services with a monthly children s service and weekly communions, 156 but also succeeded in pushing through a radical modernization of the church fabric (including introduction of an organ) in the face of stiff local opposition. 157 Additionally, he established an iron mission church at Cray s Pond opened in 1892 and dedicated in 1909 to St Berin (Birinus), where services were held 155 Para. based on R. Knollys, Church of Our Lady and St John, Goring on Thames: Centenary Celebration (1998): copy in GGA; GGA, Events 1, Catholic Church Year Book B. Stapleton, History of the Post-Reformation Catholic Missions in Oxon. (1906), 291. For church building, above, par. intro. (built character). 156 OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. c 1832/1, presentation pps 1885, 1895; c 362, f G. Alder, The Modernisation of Goring Church , Goring & Streatley Local Hist. Soc. Jnl 14 (2012), 15 21; Alder and Carleton, Short History, 29 35; below (church archit.).

16 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 16 weekly and on festivals. 158 Until 1928 successive vicars employed curates to serve it, whose stipend ( ) was funded by donations. 159 Meanwhile, St Bartholomew s chapel at Goring Heath continued to be served by a resident chaplain, although Revd Powys, owing to other commitments, abandoned the Sunday morning service for several years in the 1850s, prompting the charity trustees to require him both to reinstate it and resign his curacy of Purley: in 1861 they contended that his holding another ecclesiastical office was wholly inconsistent with the proper performance of his duties. 160 Under an 1875 Scheme the chaplain s stipend was fixed at 110 (raised to 130 in 1907), but he was not to hold any other benefice or appointment and was required to conduct two full Sunday services in the chapel as well as daily morning prayers. 161 Communions were held monthly and on feast days. 162 All of Goring s 20th-century vicars were resident and served in person, of whom Lionel Wallace ( ) died in post and was commemorated by the rood screen dedicated in 1910, and Allen Dams ( ) was also rural dean of Henley. 163 The longest serving was Stanley Holmes ( ), who was appointed after the parochial church council had petitioned the patron for a man of experience, tolerance and stamina... prepared to conduct both sung Eucharist and matins each Sunday morning without emphasizing either at the expense of the other. 164 Alterations continued to be made to the parish church, including a major reordering and extension in , partly to permit less formal forms of worship and also fellowship in a new church hall (Canterbury Room). 165 The churchyard was also extended following a gift of land in 1939 by Sir Albert James Edmondson, 166 although it was closed for burials in the late 20th century, after which most took place in the parish council s Whitehill burial ground between Goring and Cray s Pond, the Anglican part of which was consecrated in Under a 1985 Scheme the church fabric benefitted from a charity endowed with the major part of the proceeds of the sale in 1983 of the parish room (opened in 1900) to the parish council for use as a village hall. 168 In 158 Goring Parish Mag. (Dec. 1892, Oct. 1909); K.E. Kirk, Church Dedications of the Oxford Diocese (1946), 26, 49; OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 365, f OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 365, f. 176; ibid. PAR115/3/A1/1, pp. 40, 103; PAR115/4/F1/1, p Ibid. O15/1/A2/1; cf. Rogers, Short History, Char. Com. Schemes (1875, varied 1885 and 1896) and (1907): copies in GGA, Box File OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 362, f Kelly s Dir. Oxon. ( edns); below (church archit.). 164 OHC, MSS Oxf. Dioc. c 1832/1, presentation pps and resolution 1948; c 1834/2, presentation pps Below (church archit.). 166 OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1832/1, deeds and consecration pps ; above, landownership (rectory). 167 Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 17; OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1832/1, consecration pps OHC, PAR115/13/A/1; above, social hist. (since 1800).

17 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p the church styled itself as a friendly, community-facing congregation which maintained a variety of services each Sunday and had several church groups, including bellringers, an orchestra, and robed choir. 169 Other places of worship in the parish experienced differing fortunes. The Baptist chapel closed in 1936, when it was converted into a house, 170 and the Methodist chapel suffered a similar fate in 1989, having celebrated its centenary in At St Berin s, whilst attendance was boosted in the 1950s by nuns from St Mary s preparatory school at Great Oaks, congregations were otherwise small, often numbering less than ten. 172 The building was closed in 1978 and sold in 1981, later being demolished following a fire in Its two stained glass windows, one depicting St Birinus and the other St Oswald and King Cynegils, were broken by vandals in More positively, the nuns from Great Oaks, members of the Community of St Mary the Virgin based in Wantage (Berks.), converted and extended the billiards room there into an Anglican school chapel, which was re-consecrated as a Roman Catholic chapel in 1968 following the arrival of the Oratory preparatory school. It remained in use as such in 2017, 175 when masses were held on most days in Goring Roman Catholic church, whose congregation had established a daughter church within its parish at Woodcote in The Free church was then also thriving as one of only 21 English congregations left in the Countess of Huntingdon s Connexion. Its several church groups included a Sunday school that still met in the old chapel 177 converted into a two-storey church hall in 1979, when the original pulpit and gallery were removed. 178 The smaller Anglican congregation at St Bartholomew s was proud of using the Book of Common Prayer at its Sunday communion and matins services. 179 All five remaining churches and chapels retained resident clergy (accessed May 2017). 170 HER, PRN Coates, Church in the Woods; Berks. RO, D/MS105/4B/1/ OHC, PAR115/1/R7/2/1 2; PAR115/3/A1/3, pp. 159, 184; above, social hist. (educ.). 173 OHC, PAR115/3/A2/1, pp. 110, Ibid. PAR115/3/A2/1, p They are illustrated in J.H. Baker, The Ipsden Country (1959), (accessed May 2017); above, social hist. (educ.) (accessed May 2017); Knollys, Church of Our Lady and St John (accessed May 2017); 178 Above, par. intro. (built character) (accessed May 2017).

18 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 18 Church Architecture St Thomas of Canterbury, Goring Goring s parish church is a lofty, mainly Norman structure built of flint and stone rubble with later brick and pebbledash and a plain-tiled roof. 180 Buildings forming part of the medieval Goring priory formerly abutted all but its north side. Comprising a short apsidal chancel with north organ chamber and south vestry, a three-bay nave with north aisle and north porch, and a four-stage west tower with north-west stair turret and north lean-to, the earliest parts are the nave and tower (first three stages), which date mainly from the early 12th century. The north aisle was added in the 13th century, the fourth stage of the tower and the north porch in the 15th, and the chancel apse, organ chamber, and south vestry during 19thcentury restorations. A single-storey extension was built onto the south side of the nave and tower in Goring parish church: the Norman west tower and west door (left) and the church before the addition of the apse in (below). The second image courtesy of Goring Gap Local History Society. The Norman church, comprising apsidal chancel and nave of equal width and a three-stage west tower, largely survives intact, although the apse of the same dimensions as its Victorian successor which was built on the original footings was demolished c Unless indicated, following based on Pevsner, Oxon ; NHL, no ; Stone, Exact Account; Taunt, Goring, Streatley, and the Neighbourhood, 13 22; Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History.

19 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 19 and parts of the nave north wall were removed in the 13th century to create the north aisle, cutting into three of the four original round-headed windows on the north side (the fourth survives intact in the chancel); whereas the south side is still lit by four similar windows set high up in the wall. A blocked Norman priest s doorway in the north chancel wall was found during construction of an organ chamber in The church appears to have been constructed as the initial priory church, since corbels are set into the nave south wall to support the roof of an adjoining claustral range 181 and blocked openings in the south walls of the nave and tower appear to have been doorways communicating with priory buildings, some at first-floor level. The plain Norman tub font is presumably original. The early 12th-century tower is entered from the nave by an impressive Norman arch with bold decoration, a giant roll moulding, big imposts, and responds with cushion capitals. The tower room has a quadripartite rib-vaulted ceiling and ornate west doorway, arched with two orders of roll-mouldings on jamb shafts with scalloped capitals, to which a cross was added in the tympanum in the late 19th century. Until 1848 the west doorway was blocked by an abutting cottage 182 replacing a much taller building (part of Goring Priory manor house, formerly the prioress s lodging) evidently constructed later than the tower. 183 The tower s third stage has three bell-openings, double-arched and divided by shafts with volute capitals. Access to the belfry is by a north-west stair turret, square at is base but rounded higher up and capped by a conical roof. It has both circular and lancet windows and there is a thin band of zigzag decoration above the first stage. A slightly later (but still 12th-century) addition 184 is the unusual two-stage lean-to on the north side of the tower, the function of which remains obscure. 185 A round-headed window in the first stage sits below a smaller circular opening in the second. Around 1180 the chancel apse was demolished and a dividing wall or screen built further west at the crossing so that the nuns could incorporate the chancel into their new church to the east. Shortly afterwards, perhaps c.1200, a north aisle was added, presumably to expand the capacity of the reduced parish church. The arches of the three-bay arcade are triple-chamfered and rest on short round piers with moulded capitals and bases. At the aisle s east end are a tomb recess and piscina, the former probably contemporary with the aisle and the latter perhaps added in the 14th century when the space was reordered as a 181 Stone s partly conjectural plan of the priory shows the N ambulatory of the cloister here: Stone, Exact Account, facing p Illus. by J.C. Bourne in 1846, showing the manor ho. gable line and a blocked doorway with a wooden lintel cut into the tower W wall to connect with it: Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 19; cf. Stone, Exact Account, frontispiece, Above, landownership (Goring Priory). 184 Its stonework is not keyed into the stair turret. 185 Stone suggests it was to give shelter to bellringers: Stone, Exact Account, 10.

20 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 20 chantry chapel and burial place for the Loveday family. 186 The aisle s three-light Decorated former east window (relocated to the north wall of the organ chamber in 1888) also dates from that time, as does the westernmost of two two-light Decorated windows in the north wall; although the other is evidently a Victorian copy replacing a Tudor-style window illustrated in The Perpendicular north porch and north doorway were probably added in the 15th century, when the tower was raised to four stages to include a new bell chamber with louvred openings and perhaps also the battlemented parapet, which may alternatively be a later addition. 188 Following the Dissolution the nuns church was largely demolished, leaving the north and south walls of the Norman chancel, which was once more included within the parish church by demolition of the partition wall or screen and its replacement at the east end by a new closing wall incorporating a large square-headed east window of four lights and a small north-east priest s door. 189 Around 1720 the church was neat and in good repair, 190 but the font cover was defective in During the 18th century a west gallery and high-backed Georgian pews were installed. 192 Despite unspecified repairs in 1815, 193 the church was in a filthy condition in the 1830s, when the east end of the north aisle was being used as a coal hole, 194 and in 1844 the churchwardens complained that the pews were very bad and the chancel in the most disreputable state of repair. 195 Such obvious decay encouraged the first of two major Victorian restorations in In 1847 Revd Fell commissioned the London architects Thomas Wyatt and David Brandon to draw up plans to increase seating in the church from 181 (101 free) to 300 (204 free). This was achieved in 1848 by replacing the west gallery and existing oak box pews with rows of deal pews, although plans to place additional seats in the tower room were abandoned on rediscovery of the blocked west doorway. In the chancel the 16th-century east window was replaced by a triple lancet in Decorated style and a new arched timber rood screen was erected just east of the door into a new south vestry incorporating a corner fireplace and chimney. A smaller octagonal font replaced the Norman font. The total cost of 186 Above (Middle Ages). 187 Of three lights with a hood mould: Bodl. MS Don c 90, p. 429; contra Pevsner, Oxon Pevsner, Oxon. 614 describes the parapet as modern, but it was certainly there in 1811: Bodl. MS Don c 90, p Both are depicted in 1811: Bodl. MS Don c 90, p Par. Colln, II, OHC, MS Archd. Oxon. b 24, ff G. Alder, The Modernisation of Goring Church in 1848, Goring & Streatley Local Hist. Soc. Jnl 13 (2011), 6; above ( ). 193 OHC, MSS Archd. Oxon. b 42, f. 59; c 71, f Church Notes Oxon., Archaeol. Jnl 44 (1887), OHC, MS Archd. Oxon c 39, f. 96.

21 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 21 the restoration was 834, 196 and remedial work in 1873 to the roof and walls cost a further A second Victorian restoration in was altogether more ambitious. 198 Reflecting Ecclesiological principles, Revd Littlewood and his cousin the Birmingham architect Benjamin Corser devised a bold scheme including introduction of a three-manual organ and replacing the chancel s east wall with an apse. Following interventions by the diocesan architect and others 199 Corser s modified plans were carried out at a final cost of 2,092. In the nave a new oak pulpit on a Portland stone base was used for the first time at Christmas 1887, but the chancel and organ were not inaugurated until A new chancel arch opened into an apse lit by three round-headed windows and built on the foundations of the Norman apse discovered by excavation in July The organ, by Alfred Monk of London, was housed in a new chamber built onto the east end of the north aisle. Stained glass by John Hardman & Co. was inserted in the apse central window (as a memorial to the former vicar Revd Stokes) and the aisle north-west window (commissioned by the patron C.L.W. Gardiner in memory of his sister). A sixth (treble) bell was added to the ring in 1889, 200 evidently a gift from Revd Littlewood. 201 The east end, showing the organ and apse, both of , and the oak screen added in The Romanesque interlaced arches were added in Alder, Modernisation of Goring church in 1848 ; Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 24 8; OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. b 70, f Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, Para. based on OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 2208, no. 23; Alder, Modernisation of Goring church in ; Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 29 35; Kelly s Dir. Oxon. (1895); Goring Parish Mag. ( issues). 199 Above, social hist. (since 1800). 200 Ch. Bells Oxon. II, p Goring Parish Mag. (Jan. 1896).

22 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 22 Improvements and additions continued in the 20th century. A brass eagle lectern was given in and in 1910 the deal rood screen was replaced with one carved from oak to a design by the former parishioner Percy Stone as a memorial to the vicar Lionel Wallace (d. 1908). 203 Tower repairs costing 680 were completed in 1922, 204 and in 1929 four of the bells were recast and the ring increased to eight, removing the medieval bell to the nave. 205 The chancel was enhanced in 1926 with a marble floor 206 and in 1937 with seven Romanesque interlaced arches placed around the base of the apse, to designs by T. Lawrence Dale of Oxford. 207 In the same year the Norman font was restored to the church on a new base, having been taken in 1848 to Gatehampton and later to the garden of Ferry House. 208 The octagonal font it replaced was given in 1940 to the rector of Didcot (Berks.) for use in the new church of St Frideswide there. 209 The organ was restored several times, notably by Bishop & Son of London in 1930 using a legacy, 210 part of which was also spent on leather coverings for the doors inside the church. 211 Bronze war memorial tablets to parishioners killed in both World Wars were added in 1947 and Later attempts to adapt the church for modern uses prompted construction in 1992 of a kitchen and toilet against the south side of the tower. 213 They were demolished as part of a modernization in costing c. 850,000, when the pews were replaced with stackable oak seating, the choir stalls and communion rails were removed to create room for a new communion table and recital space on a stone dais extending into the nave, a limestone floor was laid throughout the church with underfloor heating, the font was moved from the tower room to the north aisle, and the rood screen was moved c.20 feet further east. The centrepiece of the scheme was construction of a single-storey extension against the south side of the nave and tower comprising a church hall (Canterbury Room), kitchen, and toilets. Accessed through a re-opened Norman doorway at the western end of the nave, 214 the building has a lightweight timber frame with oak and lime render wall panels and a zinc roof. The architects were Acanthus Clews of Banbury. 202 Ibid. (Jan. 1904). 203 OHC, PAR115/11/A2/ GGA, Church Repairs, tower restoration pps OHC, PAR115/11/A2/5; Ch. Bells Oxon. II, pp OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 1833, faculty 1926; Goring Parish Mag. (Aug. 1926). 207 OHC, PAR115/11/A2/ Ibid. PAR115/11/A2/7; Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 37 8; cf. OHC, MS Oxf. Dioc. c 368, f. 169; Goring Parish Mag. (July 1887, Sept. 1920). 209 OHC, PAR115/3/A1/2, p. 226; PAR115/10/E/ Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 37; GGA, Religion 1, undated leaflet re organ. 211 OHC, PAR115/3/A1/2, p. 44; Goring Parish Mag. (Oct. 1930). 212 OHC, PAR115/11/A2/9 10; PAR115/10/E/1; GGA, Religion 1, order of service 1 Oct Para. based on Alder and Carleton Williams, Short History, 40 2; B. Payne, Churches for Communities: Adapting Oxfordshire's Churches for Wider Use (2014), 72 7; (accessed June 2017). 214 Known as the Nuns Door: cf. Stone, Exact Account, 10.

23 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 23 St Bartholomew, Goring Heath Comprising nave and chancel with an apse, the chapel of St Bartholomew forms the centrepiece of Goring Heath almshouse and is built of red and grey bricks with plain-tile roofs. A central lantern with a cupola housing a single bell inscribed Henry Alnut 1726 crowns the nave roof, all four corners of which are adorned with a stone acorn. The west front has a shaped gable bearing an inscribed plaque and clock face, below which is a moulded brick cornice and four red brick pilasters. Two round-arched windows flank the central doorway, which has a wooden hood on carved brackets. The slightly-narrower chancel contains a segmental-arched window in the north wall and a plain doorway in the south wall leading into the cemetery. The apse is even narrower and is lit by a central segmental-arched east window matching that in the chancel north wall. 215 Whilst the basic structure was presumably completed in 1726 along with the rest of the almshouse, 216 a clock was purchased from William Gunn in and the west front and chancel were apparently added to the original structure by Richard Clement (d. 1730). 218 The building consecrated in presumably comprised chancel and nave, the apse (certainly a later addition to the chancel) 220 probably being erected in Goring Heath chapel: interior looking east (left) and stone bust of Henry Allnutt (right). 215 Pevsner, Oxon ; NHL, no ; A. Brodie et al., Alnutts Hospital, Goring Heath (unpubl. report for RCHME,1992): copy in GGA, Box File 5; Ch. Bells Oxon. II, p Inscripn on plaque on W front. 217 OHC, O15/1/F1/1, p E.A. Reade, Allnutt s Charity: The Schools at Goring Heath (1877), 5; Rogers, Short History, Above ( ). 220 Two sets of straight joints are visible. 221 OHC, Goring Heath par. reg. transcript; Rogers, Short History, 12.

24 VCH Oxfordshire Texts in Progress Goring (May 2018) VCH Oxfordshire Religious p. 24 Inside, Georgian stone busts of Henry Allnutt (d. 1725) and Richard Clement (d. 1730) are fixed to walls in the chancel, where there are also wall monuments to two former chaplains and their wives. 222 The apse was wainscoted with oak in 1808 (probably when the wooden communion rails were also added) and a new copper dial for the clock was obtained in The whole building was in much need of repair in The nave formerly contained box pews, a gallery along one side, and a three-decker pulpit, all of which were removed in 1929 when the present pews (reusing much of the wood) and panelled oak pulpit with canopy were erected and heating installed. 225 Three boards painted in 1769 with the Lord s Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments were restored in In 2006 the bishop dedicated a new oak and copper font as well as a communion kneeler and altar frontal. 227 Ten Commandments board, painted in 1769 and restored in 2002 (left), and oak and copper font dedicated in 2006 (right). 222 Revd Jn Lichfield (d. 1803), Hannah Lichfield (d. 1803), Rob. Baker (d. 1828), and Isabella Lichfield Baker (d. 1842). 223 OHC, Goring Heath par. reg. transcript; Rogers, Short History, PO Dir. Oxon. (1869). 225 Rogers, Short History, 11; J.H. Baker, The Story of the Chiltern Heathlands (1932), 43 5; OHC, PAR254/13/4/Y1/ OHC, O15/1/F1/2, p. 117; inscripns on wall plaques beneath them. 227 Henley Standard, 14 July 2006.