Notes on the

Early History of Deerhurst.

BY THE REV. GEORGE BUTTERWORTH, M.A.

(Read at Deerhurst, September 29th, 1884.)

A MONASTERY was probably founded at Deerhurst at the end of the seventh or the commencement of the eighth century, by some founder whose name is now lost to us, and, according to Leland, Itinerary, vol. vi., p. 79, this is said to have been "a notable Abbay" in the time of the Venerable Bede.-A.D. 674-735. Though no such mention of Deerhurst can now be found in the extant works of that great church-historian, we have no special reason to doubt Leland's statement that such a record existed in his time-c. 1500-1552. However, as the alleged mention of the monastery by Bede rests solely on the authority of Leland, that great antiquary may have been mistaken in this, as he certainly was in another portion of his account of the locality.

There can be no doubt that the monastery was in a flourishing condition at the beginning of the ninth century, for in the year 804, some valuable estates were granted to it by Æthelric, son of Æthelmund, ealdorman of Worcestershire, on condition that after his death his body should be allowed to rest within its walls, and that his soul and that of his father should be constantly held in remembrance by the monks. The words of the original document relating to this bequest are given by Dugdale. (Codex Diplomaticus Evi Saxonici, No. 186.)

About the end of the ninth century or the beginning of the tenth, the Danes became very troublesome in the Severn district. (Chronicle of Florence of Worcester for the years 894, 898, 915, &c.)

In one of their incursions they are said to have visited Deerhurst, to have devastated the neighbourhood, and to have

destroyed the monastery.—(Leland's Itinerary.) To what extent this alleged "destruction" by the Danes of the monastic buildings was accomplished, we cannot tell; probably the portions built of wood were entirely consumed, but the church and other parts, if any such there were, which were constructed of stone, remained standing, and were almost immediately afterwards repaired, and re-occupied by the monks, who had temporarily been scattered. One of these brethren, afterwards known as "St. Werstan," is said to have fled to Malvern, where he founded a cell, that in course of time expanded into the great Benedictine foundation, of which some majestic fragments remain in Malvern Abbey Church and Gate-House. William of Malmesbury informs us that Alphege, or Elphege (who was afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by the Danes, and, as St. Alphege, still retains a place in our Book of Common Prayer) became Bishop of Winchester, A.D. 980, in succession to Bishop Ethelwold. The same writer also tells us that Alphege had, previously, taken the habit at "Dirhest," which at that period was a "small cell." After living at Deerhurst for some years, Alphege grew dissatisfied with the want of discipline and worldliness of the brethren, and retired to a stricter religious house at Bath, where he afterwards was appointed Abbot. From this it appears that soon after the middle of the tenth century, Deerhurst monastery, so far from being "utterly destroyed," was, in one sense, in too flourishing a condition, and that peace and plenty caused the prevalence there of too good cheer. From the end of the tenth century till the middle of the eleventh, nothing is known of the history of the monastery, and during this period the Danish incursions may or may not have been repeated. There is evidence, however, that at the latter date there were still some monks in the Priory, as a Saxon thane named Elfric, or Elfric, who had become a monk, died at Deerhurst, A.D. 1053, and was buried at the neighbouring Abbey of Pershore. Now this Elfric had two brothers, Odda and Dodda. Of the latter, not much is known, except that his name appears in history in connection with those of his brothers, both of whom he is said to have survived. The third brother, Odda, also called Ethelwine, was a much more important personage. He is described by Florence of Worcester, as the "friend of the churches, the solace of the poor, the protector of widows and orphans, the enemy of

oppression, the shield of virginity." (Chronicle, A.D. 1057.) On the banishment of Earl Godwine, by King Edward the Confessor, in 1051, Odda, who appears to have been related to the King, was made Earl over all the western part of Godwine's earldom and part of Swegen's, namely over Somerset, Devon, Dorset, and "the Wealas," that is, no doubt, over Cornwall. (Freeman ; "Old English History," p. 263.) In 1052, Earl Odda was appointed to the command of the English fleet sent against Earl Godwine, but does not appear to have had much success. On the second of the calends of September (the 31st of August), A.D. 1056, Odda died, in his own monastery at Deerhurst," having previously been made a monk by Bishop Eldred, of Worcester; but his body was carried to the grander Abbey of Pershore, where he was buried with great pomp.

In the year 1675, a stone was dug up in an orchard at Deerhurst, thus inscribed, in letters generally considered to be of the 11th or early part of the 12th century; the letters printed in smaller type are enclosed within those which precede them :

ODDA DVX IVSSIT HANC REGIAM AVLAM CONSTRVI ATQVE DEDICARI IN HONORE S TRINITATIS PRO ANIMA GERMANI SVI ELFRICI QvE DE HOC LOCO ASVPTA EALDREDVS VERO EPS QVI EANDE DEDICAVIT II IDĪBVS APL XIIII AVTE ANNO $ REGNI EADWARD(I) REGIS ANGLORV.

"Duke Odda had this Royal Hall built and dedicated to the honour of the Holy Trinity, for the soul of his brother Elfric, which quitted the body in this spot. Bishop Ealdred dedicated the same on the second of the Ides of April, in the 14th year of the reign of Eadward King of England," i.c., A.D. 1056.

This stone, which is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, was not found close to the church, but in an orchard near the house known as Abbot's Court, about 100 yards to the southwest of the church; the finder of the inscrpition was "Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Powell," the upright Judge who was dismissed by James II., and replaced on the bench by William III. He was lessee of the Abbot's Court property at that time, under the Chapter of Westminster.

On the authority of this inscribed stone, Deerhurst Church was described by the late John Henry Parker, C.B., as "the

oldest dated church in England," but he was hardly justified, I imagine, in so doing, as the term "Aula Regia" may not refer to the church, but to some other building erected by Duke Odda. If, however, Odda did not rebuild the church, but confined his work to the less sacred buildings of the Priory, and we actually see, at the present day, a church much older than anything he may have erected, it will have to be conceded that, whatever ravages the Danes committed on their alleged visit to Deerhurst, they, at all events, contrary to their usual line of proceeding, spared the church. There can be no doubt of the accomplishment of some considerable work by Odda, which was commemorated by an act of episcopal consecration, and probably the church was rebuilt by him. Touching the date of the existing church there is a strong presumption in favour of a late Anglo-Saxon date, and, at all events, we cannot assert of a single feature in the building that it must have been there before Odda undertook his good work.

As Mr. Pope has undertaken to describe the architectural remains, I will not refer to them further at present, but will pass on to some of other points of interest in the history of the parish.

In A.D. 1016, exactly forty years before Odda's building was consecrated, the celebrated meeting took place, on an island within bowshot of the Priory, which resulted in the division of the kingdom between the Saxon, Edmund Ironside, and the Dane, Cnut or Canute. The scene of the meeting now goes by the name of the " Naight," and is a wedge-shaped meadow adjoining the Severn, bounded on one side by a little stream, but is no longer an island as it was described in the last century by Atkyns and Rudder. The good people of Gloucester have sometimes claimed for the "Eyot" close to their city the honour of having been the scene of this meeting; but, as "the articles of peace were certainly signed at Deerhurst, our little " "Naight" is far more likely to have been the spot.

Of the "worthies of Deerhurst" we have already mentioned the two saints Werstan and Alphege, the powerful Earl Odda and his two brothers Dodda and Ælfric. In the north aisle of the church is a fine brass of the date A.D. 1400, recording the death of Sir John Cassy, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward III., and his wife Alicia. He is represented in his Judge's robes, with a lion at his feet; she in a long, loose dress, fastened at

the wrists and neck; a dog at her feet, differs from all other such representations, in bearing its name Tirri, engraved beneath. Above the effigies is a rich double canopy, and a figure of the Virgin receiving instruction from her mother, St. Ann. A figure of St. John the Baptist has disappeared since the beginning of the century, when the monument was figured in Lysons's "Gloucestershire Antiquities," plate 18. The inscription round the stone reads

"Hic jacet Johes Cassy miles quondam Capitalis Baro Sccii Regis qui obiit (xxiii°) die Maii Anno dni: MCCCC, et Alicia uxor ejus quor' aiabus pper deus."

For more than a century the Cassy family appear to have held the same estate in Deerhurst parish, and their crest still appears on the front of an interesting moated house on this estate, a mansion which would be worth visiting by any antiquaries interested in early domestic architecture.

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There are other monumental brasses in the church; to a lady Elizabeth, daughter of Thos. Bruges, Esq., of Coverle, and wife of Wm. Cassey, Esq., of Whyghtfylde, and then of Walter Rowden, Esq., 1525," of which the inscription is lost, though the effigy remains; and to "Edward Guye, Gent, 1612; by his wife Frauncis, eldest daughter of John Gotheridge, Esq., he had six sonnes and one daughter." (See Haines's " Manual," II. p. 68.) There are also several stone slabs with sculptured arms and inscriptions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

In the West window of the South aisle is some good fourteenth century stained glass, the only portion remaining of the large quantity that must have at one time added so greatly to the beauty of the church.

The Saxon Font is well known, and is generally supposed to be one of the most ancient specimens left to us. It was for many years standing in a farm yard, but has been restored to the church, and re-united to its stem, which was discovered a few years ago, more than a mile from the church.