History
This is a much-shortened version of the history: for a fuller account, see the book ‘Myndtown: Its Church,Parish and Surroundings’, which can be purchased from this website’s shop.
The Earliest Written Record: The Domesday Book
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Credit: Professor J.J.N. Palmer and George Slater
The earliest written record of Myndtown is the Domesday Book, commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who had invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time). The original Domesday Book has survived over 930 years of English history and is currently housed in a specially made chest at The National Archives in Kew, London.
Myndtown is shown as ‘Munete’. Here is a translation of the entry:
Picot also holds
in RINLAU Hundred
MYNDTOWN. Leofric holds from him. He held it himself; he was a free man. One and a half hides which pay tax. Land for three and a half ploughs. In lordship one and a half; 2 slaves; 4 villagers and 4 smallholders with 2 ploughs. 1 hedged enclosure. Value before 1066 60s; now 30s.
Notes:
A ‘hide’ was generally 160 acres
‘T.R.E.’, being an acronym for ‘tempus regis Edwardi’ (‘in King Edward’s time’), denoted before1066. ‘Now’ is 1086.
Picot is the nickname of Robert of Say (from Sai in the département
of Orne, France). With the Corbet brothers (Roger and Robert) and William Pandolf, he was one of Earl Roger de Montgomerie’s (1st Earl of Shrewsbury) leading men in Shropshire.
It is interesting to note that, in 1066, Myndtown had a value three times that of Birmingham: many of those from around here think that is still the case! Its fall in value by 1086 may have been due to damage from Welsh raids.
Beyond Domesday
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A succession of lords of the manor, all named either William or John de la Munede are recorded between 1165 and 1397
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In 1341, the Assessors quoted £4 as the actual Taxation of the Chapel of Munede. They reduced this to an assessment of 30s. on the wheat, wool, and lamb of the Parish, “because the lands lay fallow and untilled, the Tenants being poor.”
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King Henry the Eighth’s ‘Valor’ of 1534-5 gives the tithes receivable by John Home, then Rector of Mynton, as worth £4. 13s. 4d. per annum.
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The keeping of church records began just seven years after King Henry VIII established the Church of England: a law passed in 1537
required priests to record all baptisms, marriages and burials that took place in their parishes. An Act of 1598 required church ministers to make copies of their parish registers and send them to their Bishops each year. These copies are known as Bishop's Transcripts, or occasionally Archdeacon Transcripts. They were made and sent to the diocesan office every year until the mid 1800s. This was fortunate for Myndtown as its parish records only date from 1813, the earlier records, dating back to 1607, having been lost.
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Myndtown’s earliest transcript is a rare early survival from 1608. It was the only one in Latin:
(Reproduced with the kind permission of Hereford Archive Service}
It shows that a Margareta Cheese was baptised on 4 December that year and a Johannes Tongue was baptised on 2 January that year*
*Note: from 1155 to 1752, the English year began on 25 March (Lady Day), hence both December and the following January shown as being in 1608
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A 1708 document shows that Richard Clough was lord of the manor. Rents for the four houses of the time were 3 shillings, 2 shillings, 10 shillings and £4 and, for two cottages, sixpence each.
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Archdeacon Joseph Plymley’s visitation record of 1793 stated that the parish then belonged to Edward (Bolton) Clive, having been purchased by his father the late George Clive Esq., a banker in London, M.P. for Bishop’s Castle and cousin of Lord Clive (of India) for the sum of £800 off the Cloughs. It contained 3 farms. The whole rental to Mr. Clive “ may be about £220 a year. The Glebe and tithe make the value of the Parish 265.” The population was 39, over 8 households. Clive of India had purchased the nearby Walcot Estate in 1765 and Edward Clive 1st Earl of Powis is shown as Patron of Myndtown Church
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Lord Clive and his successor George Clive were patrons of Myndtown Church until c.1960, when the Dean of Christ Church became patron (this has remained so until today)
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In 1797, the Myndtown estate was sold by Lord Clive to Edmund Plowden for £10,491.14s.4d., It remains in the hands of the Plowden family to this day.
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The parish of Myndtown remained small in size and population until 1883, when the eastern part of Norbury parish, comprising Asterton, the Minton Batch and part of Prolley Moor, was transferred to it, taking the population from 30 to 158. In 1894, the chapelry of Norbury was transferred from Lydbury North and annexed to Myndtown.
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In 1960, Myndtown with Norbury was united under one Rector with Wentnor and Ratlinghope
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Services have always been held at Myndtown and they continue today, with a monthly service - except in March, because that’s lambing season!