Churches

St. Botolphs Church

For further information visit A Church Near You

A NEW SERVICE at St BOTOLPH'S

St Botolph's has held occasional special Eucharist Services for families with young children but, as a result of views expressed by some families, the PCC has decided to make two significant changes to this Service.

* Firstly, these services will be held more often - on the second Sunday of each month at 10am.
* Secondly, the content of the Service will be altered so that it is more suitable for all ages rather than solely as a children's service.

To meet the needs of families with smaller children the new service will last not more than 45 minutes. Like its predecessor, it will use modern language. It is very much hoped that this new Service will appeal to members of our regular congregation as well as to new families.

 

History of Swyncombe

Taken from "The History of Swyncombe" by Revd. Christopher Evans

After the battle of  Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror delegated the responsbility for his new  kingdom to various trusted officers and friends. According to records in the  Doomsday Book the three persons appointed to control the county of Oxfordshire were Roger d'Ivry, Milo Crispin and Robert D'Oyly.

Milo Crispin was entrusted with the command of Wallingford Castle and included in the lands given  to him was the estate of Swyncombe. Robert D'Oyly, William's High Constable,  commanded Oxford Castle. Robert married the daughter of the Saxon leader, Wygod  of Wallingford, who owned the estate of Swyncombe. The marriage produced a  daughter, Maud (also knows as Matilda), who eventually married Milo Cripsin so  that the lands of Swyncombe became his by gift and by marriage.

Becuase of the vagueness of historical records, views differ as to how Swyncombe became connected to the Abbey of Bec in Normandy, but the gift of the estate to Bec,  probably by Milo Crispin, was confirmed in the reign of Henry II, confirmed again by King John and yet again by Edward III in 1333.

In 1203 King John  visited Normandy and accorded the monks at Bec the right to hold an annual fair at Swyncombe. The fair was to last for three days on the eve, the day, and the day following St. Botolph's Day, June 17th.

In the reign of  Henry III from 1216 - 1272, the days of this fair were altered and celebrations were ordered to be held on the 4th June, the feast of the Translation of St. Martin. The day was changed again in 1234 to the three days centred around the feast of the Translation of St. Thomas a Becket.

The fair was stopped in the nineteenth century by the Revd. Charles Ruck-Keene on Swyncombe House, who objected to this profanity of the Lord's Day.

During the wars  with France the Abbey of Bec lost its rights to Swyncombe and in 1404 Henry IV  claimed the property for his son, prince John; he in turn sold it to Thomas  Chaucer, son of the poet, and his wife, Maud, the daugther of Sir John Burghersh of Ewelme. In 1437, Alice, the daugther of Maud and Thomas Chaucer and wife of  William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, inherited both Swyncombe and Ewelme estates  and merged them as one manor until 1487. The window on the south side of the  chancel also shows the coats of arms of the Chaucers and the Earl of  Suffolk.

Ownership of Swyncombe and Ewelme now passed to Alice's eldest grandson, the Earl of Lincoln, but he forfeited all the lands of the manor on his rebellion against King Henry  VII and stewardship of the estate passed to Sir Robert Harcourt in 1501.

In 1515 Charles  Brandon became the newly appointed Duke of Suffolk and was granted all the lands  previously held by the Earl of Suffolk and the de la Pole family, except for the  Manor of Ewelme which included Swyncombe.

In 1519 the  property, owned by the Crown since 1501, was presented by Henry VIII along with all the lands owned by the de la Poles to his sister, Mary Tudor, Queen of the French, on the occasion of her second marriage to Charles Brandon.

It was reconveyed  to the crown in 1535 and later, in 1565, leased to John Fortescue, Master of the  Royal Wardrobe and cousin to Queen Elizabeth I.

A survey carried out in 1609, gives an indication of the size of the estate. The Manor of Swyncombe consisted of a mansion house, barns, stables, granary, well-house, two cottages, two houses, on called Warren's Lodge and the other the offering place  of St. Botolph. There were 261 acres of arable land, closes containing 91 acres of field and meadow, 16 acres of wood, sheep pastures of 240 acres, common  pasture, woods and fields of 705 acres.

Sir John Fortescue died in 1613 and the lease passed to his nephew, Sir Frances Fettyplace. In  1619, Sir Henry Hobart, Chancellor to the Prince of Wales, was granted to hold in trust for 99 years on behalf of the Prince of Wales, the Manor of Ewelme  which included Swyncombe. When the Prince of Wales became King Charles I he decided to sell the property and it was bought by Sir Francis Fettyplace and four others. Sir Francis died in 1671 and was buried in the chancel of the  church where a black marble stone marks his resting place.

Sir Francis' son,  Bartholomew Fettyplace, inherited the estate. Bartholomew's son predeceased his  father, so on Bartholomew's death the estate passed to his three daughters. The youngest daughter, Katherine, wife of Lord Dormer, became the sole owner but the  family never lived at Swyncombe and in 1728 it passed to their son.

In 1734 Samuel Greenhill acquired Swyncombe Manor but his son sold it to George Ruck in 1758. Mary Ruck, George's only daugther inherited it in 1767, and in 1779, while still a minor, she became engaged to Benjamin Keene, the only son of the Bishop of  Ely. The second son of this marriage, Charles Keene, inherited the property and  added his mother's name of Ruck to his and was known as the Revd. Charles Ruck-Keene. In 1880 the property passed to his eldest son, Colonel Edmund Ruck-Keene of the Oxfordshire Hussars and in 1888 to his eldest son, Captain Charles Edmund Ruck-Keene of the Royal Fusiliers. The house and property were  then leased to Emil Reiss.

Captain Charles  Ruck-Keene died in 1919 and his only daughter inherited the property, which was  later sold to Sir Charles Cottier, who died in 1928. It was then acquired by Mr Charles Wakefield Christine-Miller. Mrs Kathleen Christie-Miller lives at  Swyncombe House at this present time.