Badsey (with
Aldington) and Wickhamford
Parochial Magazine
1899
JANUARY
A meeting of the Bell Committee was held on December 3rd, when Mr. A. H. Savory (the treasurer)
presented a complete statement of accounts of the restoration of the bells. A balance of £15 15s. 7d.
remained in hand after paying all expenses, and it was decided to carry this forward as a fund towards
the proposed two new bells. A hearty vote of thanks was unanimously passed to Mr. Savory for his indefatigable
labours as treasurer. It was also decided unanimously by the Committee to start a
fund for a new clock, to be kept separately from the Bell Fund. There are now therefore two schemes
before the parishioners :-
(1) A fund for two new bells
(2) A fund for a new clock
Anyone who desires to do so can give a donation to either of the funds, or to both. Donations for the bells will be
received at the Capital and Counties Bank, and donations for the clock at Lloyd's Bank, in
Evesham. Mr. Savory and the Vicar are joint treasurers for both funds, and will gladly receive any donations,
but it should be made quite clear for which fund the gift is intended. The Clock Fund has been started,
because many parishioners have felt the need of a clock going again in the parish, and some have
expressed a wish to give a donation towards it.
MARCH
The prizes were given to the Children attending the Sunday Schools, on Sunday, January
15th. There are a very large number of children on the
books, viz., 174 at Badsey, and the attendance has been very good. We are very thankful for this,
and we hope such a happy state of things will continue, as a really good Sunday School is a most
important part of the work of the Parish. A Sunday School has also been carried on at Wickhamford
during the past year, and has been very successful. We are very grateful to all the Teachers for the
valuable help which they give to the schools. We here give a balance sheet of monies received and
expended during the years 1897 and 1898. Mrs. Sladden has kindly acted as Treasurer. Receipts:
Collections in Church (1898) £2 18s. 4d. Mrs. Poole, 4s.; Mrs. Wood, 5s.; Mrs. Sladden, 10s.; Mrs.
W. Keen, 6d.; Mrs. Mustoe, 6s.; Mr. Savory, 10s.; Anonymous, 4s. 3d.; The Vicar, 5s.; Small Sums,
6d.; Balance due to Treasurer 19s. ; Total £6. 2s.
7d.; Payments, Prizes (1898) £3. 3s. 5d.; Printing, 12s. ; Coal, 10s.; Cleaning etc. (2 years)
£1 15s ; Broom, 2s. 2d.; Total, £6 2s. 7d. The collection in Church on January 8th last,
amounted to £1. 7s. 7d. part of which was required to pay off the deficit on last year's accounts, hence
there was but a small sum left towards the cost of the prizes given last month. We trust that the
Parishioners will be willing to give a small annual
subscription towards the expenses A penny bank has been carried on in connection with the School.
The children paid in the large sum of £102 15s. and £2 1s. 7d. was added as interest making a
total of £104. 16s. 7d. To provide the interest, the Post Office Savings Bank paid 19s. and the Vicar
added the remainder viz. £1 2s. 7d. We are greatly indebted to Mrs. Mason for managing the
Bank at Badsey, and to Mrs. Warner for doing the same at Wickhamford. It has involved much time
and labour, and they deserve our warmest thanks.
MISCELLANEOUS
We take this opportunity of offering our best, thanks to Mr. William Bunnett for giving a half of
ton of coke to the Church at Badsey, and also to
Mrs. Savory for presenting two embroidered alms bags to Wickhamford Church.
Four lectures on Home Nursing for Women will be given by Miss Edith Sykes in the Vicarage
Parish room on Mondays, February 6th, 15th, 20th, and 27th, at 7 p.m. Admission free.
Two meetings for men only have been held during the past month. On January 9th the Vicar
gave an account of the Parish Registers, and Mr. A.
E. Jones showed some Roman coins and pottery which had been dug up at Badsey. On January
24th, Mr. Savory introduced the subject of the
restoration of the Parish Church. He said as follows:—"The restoration and enlargement of
Badsey Church took place in the year 1885, the
Vicar at that time being the Rev. T. H. Hunt, and the Churchwardens, Mr. A. H. Savory and Mr. J.
Sladden. The additions included the new South aisle with the porch, and the Vestry on the North
side of the Chancel; the building of the new aisle necessitated the removal of the old
South wall, the old door being reset in the new wall. The restoration comprised the demolition of the ugly gallery;
the removal of the high pews ; the rebuilding of the North wall of the nave, and the East wall of the
transept; the construction of a chancel arch; an entirely new transept roof; the complete repair of
the old oak roofs of nave and chancel with the removal of the whitewashed lath and plaster
ceilings; the repair of the tower roof, pinnacles, and battlements, with the addition of a lightning
conductor, and the relaying of the floors throughout the Church The total expenditure amounted to
£2,131, which was defrayed by donations £1,443, collections in Church £246, entertainments £110,
bazaars and sales £265, and various sources £65. The original scheme included the
re-hanging of the bells and the reseating of the Church in a permanent
form. The former was accomplished last year, and it is hoped that the latter may also be brought to a
successful issue in the early future." An interesting discussion followed, in which Mr. Sladden, the
Vicar, and others took part.
MARCH
The following notes on the history of the Church, as given in the report of the architect (T.
G. Jackson, Esq.) at the time of the restoration, are worthy of being put on record. The report is
dated January 1st, 1884, and says as follows :-
It may be interesting if I preface my report on the present condition of your Church by some account
of its history as told by itself. Like most of our English country churches, which have escaped injudicious
restoration, Badsey Church, though very small, offers examples of almost every style of our
native architecture. The enriched Norman door in the north wall of the nave, now blocked up, is
the sole architectural feature that has survived of the church which stood here in the 12th century,
but it is not impossible that the fabric of many of the walls may date from the same period, though
later windows and doors have been inserted in them. The Church of that date was probably, as usual, a
small building, consisting of merely a nave and chancel, communicating by a low round arch, and
entered by a door on the South exactly opposite that still remaining on the North side of the Nave. The
south door has however been replaced by a later one, and no chancel arch at all now exists.
Probably towards the end of the 13th century the north transept was thrown out, the architectural
features of which, though rudely executed, are interesting. It is possible that the South door of the
nave also belongs to this date and one of the side windows in the Chancel and the adjoining door, but
they are so simple that it is difficult to assign them to this rather than to the succeeding century. To
the 14th century belong the East window of the Chancel, and two, if not three, of the side windows.
The very interesting font belongs to the end of this or the beginning of the next century. To the 15th
century belongs the fine Tower, and its arch opening into the Church, a work altogether conceived in a
more magnificent spirit than that of the earlier builders. It is possible that the oak roofs of the
whole church belong also to this century, but until their plaster ceilings are removed it is difficult to
speak positively. To later times still belong the fine, though lamentably defaced monument in the
North Chancel wall, probably dating from about 1600-1620 and some panelling now worked up
into pews of the last century. At this time the Church seems to have been repaired, and the upper
part of the East gable perhaps rebuilt, as the date 1653 cut on it implies, the old 13th century gable
cross being carefully reset. The church retains another very fine cross dating from the
14th century on the gable of the north transept which has the peculiarity of being set to face east and west. I
will not venture to say it was so set by the original builders. There is a handsome Communion Table
bearing the date 1730, which is probably that of the re-pewing of the Church in something like its present
form. The modern pulpit contains some panels much mutilated of the 15th or 16th century. There
is a modern porch of no character which has replaced an older one. The Church is built of lias
rubble which has stood but badly, as is usually the case with this material, and has consequently been
rough cast over. The dressings are of Broadway stone, a fine yellow oolite with which the whole of
the Tower is faced.