Parish News; March 2023 - Church Piece, Part 2

The History of Church Piece; Part 2

The story so far …

In 1617 a group of ordinary villagers from Sutton Benger, led by the Churchwardens, took Edward Somner to court in London to regain control of a plot of land, which they believed belonged to the parish. After a year of deliberation ‘His Majesty’s Council in his honourable court of Whitehall at Westminster …’ decided in favour of the Churchwardens on 5 April 1618.

… it was … ordained and decreed that the said defendant … should presently avoid … the possession of the said piece of ground called the Church Piece & yield … & deliver the quiet possession thereof unto them the said complainants …

The parishioners, together with their Vicar, Simon York, and the Churchwardens, were directed to set up a Trust to manage the Church Piece land on behalf of the villagers in perpetuity. At some date thereafter, Jasper Gale and Richard Swaine passed control of the Church Piece land to a group of parishioners: John Atkyns, Gent, Richard Atkyns, Gent, Leonard Ferris, John Barnard, Ralph Gale, Walter Messiter, Richard Gale, John Coller, Richard Messiter, Thomas Box, Leonard Atkyns, and John Palmer.

And then, in 1650, John Atkyns passed control of the land to a new group of parishioners, including John Ferris, the Vicar. (He was actually the son of the parishioner, Leonard Ferris, a previous Trustee.) But eventually, each of the new Trustees died without passing control on to anybody else. So, in 1723, Robert Messiter, the grandson (or great grandson) of the Richard Messiter from 1650, was the only person with a legitimate interest in the land. He went back to the law to set up a new legal framework for ensuring that the land remained with the parishioners, as agreed by the Court in 1618. And a new group of Trustees was appointed to ensure that Church Piece was:

… to be letten forth from time to time by the Churchwardens of the said parish according to the ancient usage and employment thereof and according to the charitable disposition and good mind of the first disposer of the same and for continuance of the said piece of ground to the same uses, behoofes, intents and purposes aforesaid …

This was all written down exactly 200 years ago, in a document dated 11 February 1723 entitled The New Feoffment of Church Piece. A feoffment is an old-fashioned legal term for the grant of ownership of freehold property to somebody.

To be continued …

If you want to help in any way, either by researching the parish history or by testing the walking / cycling routes on foot or by cycle, please get in touch at: hello@bengertrails.co.uk