Shuttington
[also Alvecote priory
see bottom]
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St Matthew’s Church
This rather nice little sketch of the church in Shuttington was made in 1909 by the architect W.H.Bidlake. The drawing was included in the report about the major restoration of the church which had just been completed.
Major changes to the church were considered at the time. The top plan of the church, shown opposite, depicts the building as it is at present. The other two drawing show suggestions put forward by Bidlake prior to the restoration. One shows a vestry added to the side of the chancel and a gallery over the west door for the choir. The third drawing suggests almost doubling the size of the church, with an extra aisle, vestry and organ space.
Perhaps fortunately, because of costs, the plan of St Matthew’s remained as it had been previously.
Never the less the appearance of the church was changed quite radically. The whole building had been covered with a cement rendering, this was removed to expose the old stonework, largely uncoursed sandstone rubble. It is generally presumed that the ‘Romanesque style’ windows were also built in at this stage, although I have found no direct reference to them.
The proposed work with estimated costs included:
1. Repoint outside of church £25
2. Lay cement gutter drain around base of walls £14
3. Renew Norman work at west end, raise roof(of chancel?) to height of nave, put in choir gallery. £80
4. Build vestry at east end £150
5. Make good inside walls in consequence of dry rot £20
6. Raise chancel arch to higher level £50
7. New pews and choir stalls £60
8. Renew altar rail £5
9. Brick chimney £6
10. Reglaze windows with tinted cathedral glass £12
It seems strange that new windows were not detailed, while re-glazing was listed. It seems there was a previous restoration in 1844, of which I have no information, but the windows could possibly date from then.
The church was closed for nine months for the building work and re-opened by the Bishop of Birmingham on Wednesday 25 June 1909.
The sum of £564 was spent on the church, of which only £442 had been raised at the re-opening. The work was carried out by Mitchell and Sons.
The ‘Tamworth Herald’ reported in June 1909 “.....the contrast between the unrestored church and the restored church is quite remarkable. The barnlike appearance of the church has disappeared, and the church as restored is an ornament to the neighbourhood. The old pulpit has been repaired and re-fixed, but the other furniture is new and entirely of oak. The floor has been laid with block paving, the plaster walls have been repaired and re-decorated. The worn out heating stove has been replaced by a new one.”
At the same time as the restoration the churchyard was enlarged. The area to the left of the front approach drive, about a quarter of an acre, was given by Miss Allen of Warton.
Three plans of St Matthew’s church.
The top drawing shows the church as it is today.
The other two were suggestions for an enlarged building as part of the ‘restoration’ that took place in 1908-09.
Alvecote Priory was founded in 1159 by William Burdet, who gave all the land he owned in Shuttington & Alvecote, including the mill, to support the establishment.
There is a local tradition that Burdet founded the priory out of remorse for murdering his wife, because he suspected her of infidelity, only afterwards to find his suspicions unfounded. More likely he was ‘persuaded’ by his feudal overlord, Robert Beaumont Earl of Leicester, who himself founded a number of monasteries.
The church at Shuttington was granted to the monks at Alvecote in about 1195.
Alvecote Priory continued through the medieval period, surviving on a limited income from rents and the hard work of its peasants, the Prior being the Lord of the Manor. In 1334 Edward III gave some help towards repairing the priory cloisters and the adjoining church. The only remaining archway possibly dates from this time and may have originally been the west door of that restored church.
After Henry VIII came to the throne, his Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsley, started looking for small decaying monasteries to close and transfer their endowments. In 1536 the Prior of Alvecote, William Sutton, surrendered the
priory to the King’s commissioners. From then on the Lord of the Manor would be a layman and never again in residence at Alvecote. The buildings became a private house called Aucote or Alvecote Hall.
The manor lands of Alvecote and Shuttington remained in royal hands until 1543 when they were granted to Thomas, Lord Audley. He was a lawyer who helped Henry with a number of delicate matters such as the execution of Thomas More, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, as well as the further selling off of church land. His own spectacular home at Audley End was the converted monastery of Walden Abbey.
After only 6 months Audley sold the land on to Joan Robinson, widow of a London grocer, who passed it on to her son William. He got into financial trouble and his inheritance was acquired in 1579 by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Leicester was the favourite of Queen Elizabeth I until, desperate to produce an heir, he married Lettice Knollys of Drayton Manor in secret. Possibly as a means of regaining royal favour, Leicester returned the ownership of the manor of Shuttington and Alvecote to the throne.
Lettice’s son by her first marriage, the Earl of Essex, also became a favourite of the Virgin Queen. She granted him a long lease on Shuttington Manor until 1697, when William III granted ‘the land and estate of the cell or priory of Alvecote in the County of Warwick and the land belonging to the same in the manor of Shuttington’ to Thomas, Lord Conningsby, Earl of Essex. I have always presumed that Wessex Court on Main Road was intended to be called ‘Essex Court’!
Alvecote Hall was always occupied by tenants of the royal or noble owners. The Yardleys were first, followed by the Balls and then the Robeys who took up residence in 1715 and continued until 1874. Robeys Lane is naturally named after this family and it was they who changed the name of the property from Aucote Hall Farm back to Alvecote Priory.
Three Sillito brothers took over the Priory and from 1890 until 1929 ran it as an agricultural college. They gave the priory the grand name of ‘Tamworth Agricultural and Colonial College’. The Sillitos left the Priory in 1932 and moved to Amington.
Colonel d’Arcy Chayter took over the site; he resided at Pooley Hall and owned the colliery there. Everything passed to British Coal with the nationalisation of the coal industry in the late 1940’s. When the coal industry collapsed and collieries were closed, Alvecote Priory was taken over by Warwickshire County Council and is now a picnic site.