History

Cubbington was originally a chapelry of Leek Wootton and was granted to Kenilworth Priory at the Priory's "foundation by Geoffrey de Clinton in 1122. By 1331 it had become a separate parish and was appropriated by (fu11y granted to) the monastery; a Vicarage with House, Mortuaries, Altarage and small tithes being granted in 1345. The Mortuary was the right of the Rector to claim a dead man's second best beast, the first going as a heriot to the lord of the manor. Altarage, or altar dues, were the contribution the parishioners were obliged to make when burying their dead in the churchyard, or upon receiving communion on one of the holy days.

Monastic appropriation or owning of parish churches was very common and the effect of this was that the monastic appropriator became the rector (from the Latin for agent). The monastery could claim the tithe of crops and stock, the parish priest being left with the altar offerings and lesser tithe. It was the monastery's duty to provide the church with a priest, and as he therefore performed the various duties in the place of the rector he was called a vicar, from the Latin Vicarius i.e. substitute.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the right of advowson, i.e. the right of presentation to the church of a priest was held by the Crown, but in 1550 was granted to Sir Ralph Sad1eir. In 1555 it was bought by Thomas Shuckburgh in whose family it remained until 1587 when it was held by the Greswold family until the early 1700's, being transferred in conjunction with the manor of Cubbington Grange. In 1768 Edward, Lord Leigh held the advowson and it remained with the Leigh family until the1830's. It is now held by the Bishop of Coventry. The church was valued at £8 in 1291, the rectory was farmed for £6 and in 1535 the vicarage was rated at £6.6s.8d.

The Present Building

The building of our present church was probably started by the Augustinian Canons at Kenilworth in the early 12^th century and when finished consisted of the nave, chancel, South aisle and Western tower. Kenilworth sandstone would have been used and masons from the monastery employed. In the 13th century the North aisle was added together with the South doorway, and possibly the aisles were rebuilt at this time also. The windows are 14^th century during which time the chancel may well have been rebuilt and lengthened. The South wall of the Nave was raised to admit light through a series of clerestory windows in the 15th century.

The chancel was repaired by Lord Leigh in 1780 and considerable repairs were done to the South Aisle in the 1830's at which time the Nave roof was extended covering the clerestory windows. In 1885 major alterations were started. The roofing which had previously obscured the clerestory windows was removed and re-roofing completed. The Musicians' Gallery was pulled down and the.-North Aisle extended which greatly increased the seating numbers. New 'pitch and pine' pews were installed in place of the old high backed ones and the plaster was removed from the internal walls to reveal the stonework. The estimate for this and sundry other work came to £836.4.0d and subscriptions totalling £838.1.0d were raised. After the alterations the church was re-opened on Thursday, 17th September 1885 with Morning Prayer and Holy Communion at 11.00 a.m. and Evening Prayer and Sermon at 3.00 p.m., the Preacher being the Lord Bishop of Worcester. In 1896 the ves1ry and organ were added and electric lighting installed in 1933 to replace the gas.

The roof is a good open timber structure with tie beams that run from wall to wall and on whose ends the main rafters or principals rest. The principals have been given extra support by a pair of queen posts used on either side of the centre. The tie beam roof was the simplest form of roof structure used in medieval times, but the heavy tie beam itself was prone to sag in the middle and often needed support underneath by a pair of arch braces which curved down to wall posts.

The North Aisle

Originally built in the 13th century the Arcade itself was probably rebuilt in the l5th century and repaired in the 1885 renovations. It now consists of three two-centred arches on octagonal columns. The stonework around the windows is modern having been partly rebuilt during the same Victorian restoration. The windows are in the pattern of two trefoiled lights, i.e. three cusped ornaments in a semi-circle or arch, under a flat head. The west window in the North Aisle has three lights and l4th century style tracery, but it is however very wide for its height and has the more perpendicular lines of the l5th century when the preference was for straight lines; the mullions which divide the window rising with virtually no interruption to the head of the window.

In the North wall near the vestry is a square aumbry recess. The sacred vessels used in the Mass were kept in this small cupboard in the north wall. Unlike many other features which may be found in a church the aumbry is usually very simple with little or no decoration. The North door is Early English and is plain in design. Sometimes referred to as the devil's door it was always left open during a baptism to allow evil to leave that way, as superstition claimed that all evil and ignorance came from the North!
 

The Chancel

The Chancel is dominated by the beautiful East window dedicated on 22nd June 1902 and depicting in the lower part, the Church Militant and above, the Church Triumphant with Christ surrounded by angels. It is constructed in the design of three lights with reticulated tracery, i.e. the ogee 'S' shaped curves are intertwined in a precise geometric style.

In the South side of the chancel there are three recessed seats, or sedilia, for the clergy with again' he ogee shaped design. It was usual to find three seats as these were for the three orders of the Church, either Bishop, Priest, Deacon or Sub-Deacon. Close by is the rectangular aumbry and a piscina.
 

On the North wall is a recess known as an Easter Sepulchre. Here the consecrated Host would be placed or 'entombed' on Maundy Thursday and a watch kept until Easter Sunday when the priest, to symbolise the Resurrection, would remove the Host and celebrate Mass. In most churches the Easter Sepulchre takes the place of a highly carved wooden cupboard, but in some, as at St Mary's, a permanent stone recess has been built.

Other items of interest in the chancel are a memorial chair given in memory of the Rev B M Bean, vicar from 1880- 1917 and the communion rails which were originally a gift from the Rev George Leigh Cooke, vicar 1820-53. These were restored in 1978.

The Tower

The Tower is of massive construction, having walls four feet thick and is set slightly to the South side of the church axis. It is entered from the nave by an arch of three chamfered orders and the 14^th century doorway inside giving access to the stairway.

By looking outside the church at the tower it can be seen that the original late 12th century construction was much smaller than now, the upper portion with embattled parapet and crocketed pinnacles being late 14th century early 15^th century. The parapet was built as a section of wall raised above roof level to hide it and the crockets are the ornaments in the shape of buds or curled leaves placed at regular intervals on the pinnacles. This kind of workmanship was very popular during the Decorated Gothic period.

There were originally four bells in the belfry made by Hugh Watts with the dates 1626, 1640 and 1646 (which may be an error for 1640). On three of the bells is an inscription in Latin meaning "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, Son of God have mercy on me".

The bell of 1646 is inscribed with "God Save the King". In 1969 the bells were removed and restored and two more were added. They were rehung in 1971 and dedicated in 1972.

The Clock

The church clock was made in 1741 by Thomas Paris of Warwick who was part of the famed Paris family of gunsmiths and clockmakers. Thomas worked mainly on producing clocks and it is documented that he also made the clocks for churches in Coventry and Oxford and probably the former clock in the gateway tower at Warwick Castle. A memorandum in the register of 7th February 1741 states that St Mary's clock cost £12 to buy, £5 being raised by levy, the remainder by subscription.

Vicars of Cubbington.  Dates of Institution