THE HISTORY OF
ST . MARY THE VIRGIN CHURCH,
EVERTON CUM TETWORTH
When the people of Everton first had a church is unknown. Maybe
the owners of the six prehistoric hut circles by the springs close to the top
of the Greensand Ridge had a place of worship. Maybe the residents of the
Neolithic settlement by Burford Farm on Everton Heath went to some religious
services in the area. Maybe it was on the top of the unusually symmetrical
Warden Hill. There was a large Roman settlement on the ridge top between here
and Sandy but, without excavation, it is impossible to say whether it had a
temple. Similarly, it is unknown whether the settlement remained occupied after
the Romans left.
St. Augustine of Canterbury
brought Christianity to the British Isles by 597 but no documentation of the
first Christian monks coming to this area of Bedfordshire has been found.
During what are called the Dark Ages, waves of immigrants from Saxony and
Jutland crossed the North Sea and sailed up the rivers in their search for loot
and potential sites for agricultural development. When the Saxon Kings
eventually took control of Southern and Eastern England it was common practice
for the bishops to divide the diocese, the area they had authority over, into
parishes of equal wealth. In areas of high land, they tended to be laid out in
a rectangular pattern to include the hilltop, slopes and valley floor. This
ensured the parishioners had access to a range of different soils and land
uses.
Eastern Bedfordshire is
dominated by low, wet, undulating clay land of the great Ouse and its
tributary, the Ivel. Rising 200 feet (66 m.) above the clay is the Greensand
Ridge which runs south-west to north-east. Most of the low land down to the
River Ivel would still have been wooded. Occasional clearings near a stream or
the river would have been made for homesteads and enclosures. The west facing
sandy slopes had springs and pasture for grazing cattle, sheep and for catching
rabbits. Pigs were kept, allowed to grub around in woods or penned in
enclosures. The flatter land on the ridge top had well-drained, lighter sands
and glacial gravels best suited to cereals and vegetables. The Saxon landlord
allowed his peasant tenants to farm these lands in return for a proportion of
their produce, occasional work and the duty of fighting for him in times of
war. It was also the custom for the parishioners to give tithes, ten percent of
their produce, to the church. This was sold and the proceeds divided between
the Catholic Church in Rome, the Bishop, the poor and the parish priest. The
remainder for most villagers would have been just enough to live on. Any
surplus could be sold in the nearby market towns.
In this area
the parishes were nearly two miles (3.2 km.) long and about a mile (1.6 km.)
wide. When the parish boundary was set out, large stones were placed to mark
the bounds. The Saxon bishop would have ordered that a simple wooden church be
built. The foundations and lower wall would have been made with local
Greensand, probably cut out of the hillside in Sandy. The rest would have been
made with local timber. The Saxon church was built on the same site as St.
Mary's. Maybe it was called St. Mary's even then? One can still see some of the
Saxon stone work in the chancel. In the east wall, large, irregularly bonded stones
can be seen which are thought to predate the Norman Conquest. (Victoria County
History (VCH) (1972), 'Bedfordshire.'
vol.ii, p.228) The site of the church is on the top of the sandy ridge with
commanding views across the surrounding countryside. Anyone coming to the
village from St. Neots to the north, the Royston Downs and Potton to the east,
Biggleswade to the south or from Sandy and Bedford to the west would have had
the wooden church tower to guide them. High above the trees it dominated the
surrounding countryside.
Whether the
Danes destroyed the village and the Saxon church when they took control of the
Ivel and Ouse valleys at the end of the first millennia is not known. The war
between Danes and Saxons in 1010 left many settlements burnt. They had a large
military enclosure at Cannock's Castle, in Tempsford from which an ancient
track led across through the woods up Church Hill to Everton. With a reputation
for rape and pillage maybe they visited the village? Maybe they burnt down the church? Their stay was short-lived. The
castle stronghold was taken over by the Norman invaders after 1066 who
subsequently occupied it themselves. Whether the local Saxon landowners, Tosti
and Ingewar, called the men of Everton to defend the village from the French
invaders is unknown. The Domesday Book of 1086 refers to the Saxon church. It
was written two decades after the Norman invasion to ensure that the new king
William and his French Lords knew exactly who owned what land in the areas
under their control. Commissioners were required to find how many hides there
were in each manor. (A hide is an area of land that produced enough for one
household.) They wanted to find out how many ploughs there were in each
demesne, the land owned by the lord of the manor. They wanted to know how many
cottars there were, (occupants of a cot or cottage who were liable to work for
their rent) and how many boardars, serving men and free-tenants there were.
They were also interested in how much wood, meadow and pasture there was as
well as the number of mills and fishponds. It was a very comprehensive coverage
of the country for tax purposes. The Saxon Chronicler of the time reported that
"there was not a single hide, not
one virgate (30 acres) of land, an
ox, nor a cow, nor a swine, left that was not set down."
As the parish
lay in both Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire there were two separate accounts
in the Domesday Book. Both gave different spellings. The southern part of the
parish, which was in Bedfordshire, was called "Euretone". The northern part, which was in Huntingdonshire,
was called "Evretune". The
boundary line between the two parishes was marked with a stone which, until St
Mary's Walk was constructed in the 1990s, stood in the farm wall opposite the
Village Hall. It ran to the south of Church End and then westwards down the
hill towards Tempsford. This track is called Green Lane and an indication of
its age is that it includes eight species of trees and shrubs including oak,
crab apple, maple and dogwood. Eastwards it ran across Everton Heath towards
Gamlingay.
There are many
Evertons across Britain. It is accepted that the name derives from the Old
English "eofor-tun",
meaning "boar-farm". The church end of the village used to be known
as "Oog Turd End" as every house had a pigsty and the people kept one
or more pigs. Even in the Domesday
Book, Everton is mentioned as a good place for hunting wild boar. "Oog" is the old Saxon word for
"Hog". Tetworth, the settlement to the north, derives from the Old
English "Tettan-wor",
meaning "Tetta's enclosure or farm". (Godber, J. (1984), 'The History
of Bedfordshire' p.3) Tetta probably lived in Tetworth Manor.
Prior to the
Norman invasion the Bedfordshire part of the parish was part of Potton Manor.
It belonged to Tosti, one of the Saxon earls. William the Conqueror
"relieved" Tosti of it and gave it to his niece, Countess Judith. She
was the widow of Earl Waltheof. According to the Domesday Book it was only a
small settlement consisting of five hides.
"There is land for 5 ploughs. There
are 2 ploughs and there could be 3 (more). There are 4 villeins and 5 boarders and
measure (sufficient) for 1 plough
team. It is worth 3 pounds; (was worth) when
received 10,000 shillings, and as much TRE. This manor Earl Tosti Held, and it
belonged to (jacunt in) Potone (Potton), the sum (proprio/demesne) manor of the
countess."
(VCH
'Beds.' vol. ii, p.228)
This
settlement was too small for a church. The northern part of the parish, which fell
in Huntingdonshire, was slightly larger and more valuable. It was stated that
it previously belonged to Ingewar and covered an area of
“7 hides (assessed) to the geld. (There is) land
for 18 ploughs. There are now 2 ploughs on the demesne, and 19 villeins and 2
boardars who have 9 ploughs. There are a priest and a church and 15 acres of
meadow, and 40 acres of under wood (silvae min). In King Edward's time it was worth 10 pounds now 7 pounds. Rannulf,
brother of Ilger holds it of the king."
(VCH, (1926),
'Hunts.' vol.i.pp.210, 214, 259b, 266a)
Rannulf probably lived in a
manor house in the village. Whether it was Ingewar’s or not is unknown. As they
were two small agricultural settlements the new French bishop would have considered it best to have
one church to serve the needs of the local population. It would have been at a
central point in the parish on high land where all the parishioners could see
it. In fact, it lay within only a few metres of the parish boundary.
The earliest settlers built
their huts close to the spring line for their water supply and by the
intersection of the trackways for trade. The old Roman Road ran along the
valley floor but, being a wooded area, it is probable that it would not have
been as safe as the more open tracks that ran along the ridge top. A trackway
ran northeast from Sandy, across Sandy Heath to Potton. Another ran to the
north-northeast through Everton towards Gamlingay, Waresley, St. Neots and
further north. There were also trackways from the navigable river at Tempsford,
up and over the top of the hill to Potton, Gamlingay and Cambridge. The highest
available flat site close to this crossroads was where St. Mary's Church now
stands. Whether it was called St. Mary's in Anglo-Saxon times is not known but East
Anglia is said to have been dedicated to Mary, Jesus' mother. There are
hundreds of churches across this area called St. Mary's, including those in
Potton, Gamlingay and St. Neots.
Following the successful
invasion by the Normans, King William rewarded his military leaders, members of
the church hierarchy, other supporters and relatives with land. Surviving Saxon
landlords were evicted and motte and bailey castles had to be built to house
the Lord, his family and his soldiers. Their job was to protect the new
manorial estates. It is thought that the Danish fort, Cannock's Castle, by the
confluence of the Great Ouse and Ivel in Tempsford was taken over by the
Normans until the area was under their control. The nearest motte and bailey
castles are in Bedford, Cambridge and St. Neots, important defensive sites by
river crossings.
By the 12th
century there was no longer any military threat in the Bedfordshire and
Huntingdonshire area but there was disagreement over Church lands. Thomas Becket,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, successfully contended with King Henry II to
secure the rights of the Church. During the reign of King Stephen there were
numerous rebellions by nobles hoping to gain control of more land. One of these
nobles was Gilbert, the Earl of Pembroke, and cousin of William the Conqueror.
In 1140 he married a descendant of Rannulf and took over the Everton estate. He
already owned land in Suffolk around Clare, hence his name, Gilbert de Clare.
His other estates in East Anglia would have provided him with an additional
source of income to those in Pembrokeshire. In line with the religious
enthusiasm for church building at this time, Gilbert would have wanted to show
his new Everton in-laws, his tenants and freeholders a sign of his goodwill.
In Rev.
Hamlyn's history of St. Mary's Church he suggested that Gilbert de Clare hired
the services of a skilful master builder to design and construct a larger and
more elaborate church. Jobs would have been created in the demolition of the wooden
Saxon structure and building a stone church. (Hamlyn, Rev. F.C. (1947), 'A
History of the Parish Church of St. Mary Everton with Tetworth', Tomson &
Lendrum Ltd. St. Neots) It probably took several decades to construct. Its
builders would have followed the traditional pattern of construction in the
shape of the cross on which Jesus died. It was laid out with the chancel facing
east. An intricate carved stone window on the east side allowed the early
morning sun to flood into the church and create a powerful atmosphere for the
congregation. It would have looked like God's shining power bursting through
the window, over the priest's head and into the nave of the church and onto the
congregation.
These
are the first few pages of Bernard O’Connor’s ‘History of St Mary’s Church,
Everton-cum-Tetworth’. Copies are available in the church @£5.00. All proceeds
from the sale of the book go towards the church’s upkeep.