St James Chapel

The history of St James Chapel in Marston Meysey is rather complex. Administratively it was at varying times both independent and linked to neighbouring Meysey Hampton, whilst the building itself has fallen derelict, been demolished and then restored or rebuilt numerous times.

              A chapel has existed in Marston Meysey since at least 1302, and until the late seventeenth century the chapel was a dependent of Meysey Hampton, in Gloucestershire, first as part of the diocese of Worcester and from 1541 within the diocese of Gloucester.  As Marston Meysey was at this time such a small hamlet, it could not afford to pay both its dues to Meysey Hampton and the running costs of its own building and services, and St James Chapel began to deteriorate, beginning a recurrent cycle of neglect and revival.

The chapel had fallen into disuse by 1548, at which time the people of Marston Meysey were recorded as worshipping instead at the church in Meysey Hampton. This situation appears to have continued for 100 years until Marston Maisey was granted full parochial rights in 1648. This seems to have triggered a restoration of the chapel building, after which St James reverted to its previous position as a dependent of Meysey Hampton.

This revival appears to have been short lived, however, as by 1680 the chapel was once again in poor repair: it seems that the chapel building itself and some of the land surrounding had become part of the farmyard at Manor Farm, whilst some of the chapel’s contents (the bell, the font and various furnishings) were being held by a group of trustees. By around 1700 the chapel had apparently been demolished.

The chapel was rebuilt and restored for a third time in the late 1730s. Marston Maisey’s inhabitants raised the money both for the repairs to the chapel building and also to partially endow a curacy at the parish, although Queen Anne’s Bounty also contributed to the curacy. The curate was officially appointed in 1739, and the chapel was reconsecrated and rededicated to St James in 1742. This also marked the earliest known record of the Chapel’s dedication to St James. Unfortunately, however, this did not mark the end of the chapel’s cycle of restoration and decline. The deed of consecration made the village inhabitants expressly responsible for the maintenance of the chapel and its yard. In what seems to have been a repeat of the problems of the sixteenth century the inhabitants were either unable or unwilling to finance and undertake the necessary work.

In and of itself this may not have been an immediate problem, however it seems that the building work of the late 1730s was of a particularly poor standard, and the two factors combined meant that the chapel began to rapidly decay. By 1842 the building was apparently so dilapidated that it came to the attention of the absentee lord of the manor, the Bishop of Salisbury. The Bishop offered to contribute to the costs of the repair, however the parishioners were once again unable or unwilling to find the funds, and asked that the repairs be postponed. This appears to have begun a protracted debate between the parish and the diocesan authorities that was not finally settled until 1848 when an agreement was reached to repair the building in a manner acceptable to both sides.

A fourth church was then completed in 1876, possibly because the repairs to the 1742 church had proved insufficient. It is this fourth building that currently stands in the village as of 2017. The building was proposed in 1874 and was designed by the architect James Brooks, who also designed the village school. The project cost £900, which was raised by public subscription. Located to the northwest of the old churchyard, in an effort to avoid disturbing the graves, the church is built in the Early English style and incorporated material from the previous chapels.

Of the previous church buildings there is now no trace.

The 1648 chapel was built on the same site as the medieval building and apparently used the original materials. The 1742 building was described as 40 feet long and 17.5 feet wide, with a single main room. This building was altered first in 1808 when a gallery was added to provide extra seating in addition to a reading desk for the minister. More substantial alterations were made during the 1840s repairs, and these highlight the particularly poor quality of the 1742 structure. The original construction had used unseasoned oak for the roof timbers which meant that by the mid nineteenth century the beams had sagged considerably under the weight of the roof. This had the effect of forcing out the walls of the chapel, an issue that was worsened by the fact that the walls had not been constructed using enough mortar. By 1848 it appears that the entire structure was being held upright only by the south porch and a substantial buttress on the north wall. The repairs of 1848 removed the roof and the defective timbers, which were replaced by pine beams. The original roof tiles were then re-laid after the walls had been repaired and raised by one foot.

There are a number of points of interest within the church. The first is within the fabric of the building itself, and Pevsner notes that “the surprise of the church is inside: the fact that the chancel is genuinely rib-vaulted in two bays”.

The chapel also holds a chamber organ which apparently originated in Marston Hill House. The chapel’s chalice dates from 1648, the bowl of which is inscribed “This Church was built and this Cupp given by Robert Jenner Esqr. 1648”. There are also two patens at the chapel, from 1793 and 1895, and a silver-mounted baptismal shell from 1916. The 1793 paten is inscribed “Mary Jenner 20 Nov A.D. 1793”; both this paten and the chalice are described by Nightingale as “quite plain”.

There is a single bell at the chapel, dating to 1741. The bell is inscribed “Henry Bagley Made Mee [sic] 1741”.

The income of the chapel appears to have been rather low. Until the late eighteenth century the entirety of the income from church property and tithes, worth approximately £90 per year in 1784, belonged to the rector of Meysey Hampton. Using money sourced from private contributions and Queen Anne’s Bounty, during the 1730s approximately 14 acres of land in Meysey Hampton was acquired to help finance a curate for the chapel, and this land contributed £34 towards his total income of £50. Between 1775 and 1832 Marston Maisey received a further five payments of £200 from Queen Anne’s Bounty to augment the living of the chapel, however the income from these gifts was only just sufficient to pay the curate’s salary.

This meant that the parish was, again, unable to pay its dues to the rector of Meysey Hampton, and eventually these stopped being paid altogether in 1862. By 1867, Kelly’s Directory reported that the living at the curacy was worth £70, rising to £75 in 1885, and returning to £70 in 1889, remaining between these two extremes until the end of the first decade of the twentieth century. In 1887 the chapel owned 26 acres of land, located in Cricklade and Meysey Hampton, which gave it an annual income of £5. The 12 acres of land in Cricklade seems to have been sold at some point before 1914. At this time the remaining 14 acres in Meysey Hampton were also sold off as a result of the Agricultural Depression, which had caused the rental value of the land to slump to just £10 10s per year. This certainly seemed to affect the living at the chapel, which dropped to £56 in 1911, 1915 and 1920. By 1923 the vicar described Marston Maisey as a poor parish, and by this point the majority of the ecclesiastical parish income came from grants.

As a result of this poverty Marston Maisey was united with Meysey Hampton, the union becoming permanent in 1937. By 2017 this united benefice was part of a wider group of benefices named the South Cotswolds Team Ministry.