History of the Village (Part 2 of 6)...
Medieval Sutton Courtenay
The focus of the village at the time of the Norman Conquest was the village
Green, with the royal manor alongside the River Thames on one side, and a
church and planned settlement defining the triangular form as much as at present.
The Doomsday Book of 1086, compiled to inform the Norman conquerors of the
extent and economy of their newly acquired lands, showed that the manor of 'Sudtone'
was helf by the king and farmed mainly by tenants who owed him tribute. There
were three mills, 300 acres of river meadow (probably used for dairy farming)
and extensive woodlands where pigs were kept.
That the royal link with the village was far more than nominal is shown by the
fact that Henry I in 1101 chose to send his new wife Queen Matilda to Sutton for
her first pregnancy and childbirth, and very possibly also for her second
confinement a year later. This second infant was the future Empress Matilda
whose son, Henry Plantagenet, granted lordship of the Manor of Sutton to his
close companion and henchman Reginald de Courtenay. Reginald was a French
ex-Crusader and warrior who helped the exiled Henry gain the English throne as
Henry II. Thus the villag became even more closely linked with the royal court,
and subsequently became known as Sutton Courtenay.
Within the first century of the Courtenay's lordship, the simpler Saxon
triangular village was transformed by the construction of large parts of the
four grand stone buildings which surround the Village Green today. Each of the
four early stone buildings has its own story: the Manor House, the earlier part
of which may have served as the haven where Henry I sent his pregnant wise;
Norman Hall, very possibly built as a chapel for the Manor House;
All Saints'
Parish Church, which spans the greatest periods of medieval church building,
from Norman to Perpendicular; and the Abbey, whose north wing facing the Village
Green was built by the monastery at Abingdon in the early to mid-1200s probably
as a rectory house and grange from which monks administered the monastery's
wealthy holdings in the area.
In 1284, after years of dispute, Hugh de Courtenay successfully fought the Abbot
of Abingdon and won the right to appoint the Sutton Rector and control the
valuable Rectory House (now called the Abbey), lands and tithes. Among the
important men the Courtenays later appointed rector were the chaplain to John of
Gaunt, the executor for the Black Prince, Thomas Bekynton who influenced Henry
VI to found Eton College, and Nicholas Colnet, doctor to Henry V at home and at
Agincourt.
What
of village life in this period? Contemporary records of local disputes give the
impression of a lively if quarrelsome community, including not only peasant
agricultural workers but also a substantial number of craftsmen and tradesmen.
For example, in a 1212 murder tial, 40 Sutton villagers were accused of causing
deaths in skimishes with Culham men. The accused including a doctor, a
cordwainer, two smiths, two tailors, two hatters and a herringmonger.
The Courtenay power in the village was ended during the Wars of the Roses in
1462 when the Lacastrian Thomas Courtenay was accused of treason, beheaded and
his lands and possession forfeited the the Crown. Finally in 1485 Henry VII's
parliament granted the Rectory House and its glebe lands and rectoral rights to
the Dean and Chapter of St George's Chapel, Windsor. The right to appoint the
Vicar of Sutton Courtenay is still held by St George's.
