Austrey
The parish church of ST. NICHOLAS consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower with a spire. The tower dates from the 13th century. The remainder was rebuilt and enlarged c. 1330 and is a good example of the best architecture of this period, graceful and well proportioned and with typical mouldings but few carvings. In 1844 the chancel was refaced externally with new stonework and the windows restored. The south porch is of that date, but there was an earlier porch. The registers date from 1558, the first volume continuing to 1760 baptisms, 1753 marriages, and 1768 burials.
In about 1155 Hugh son of Richard of Hatton, with the approval of Margaret his wife and of his sons William and Richard, gave the church of Austrey to the Priory of St. Mary of Monmouth (a cell of St. Florent, Saumur), of which his stepson Robert was prior. It must, however, have reverted to his descendants, as Margery (daughter of Maud, the daughter of William son of Hugh, by her third husband Walter de Raleya) with her husband Geoffrey de Cauz and her half-sister Margery de Stivichale granted the advowson of the church of Austrey to Thomas de Clinton in exchange for the church of Melcombe in Dorset in 1252. Before 1270 Thomas gave it to his son Osbert, and in 1271 Osbert gave it to the abbey of Burton. In 1322 the church was appropriated to the abbey, with which it remained until the Dissolution. The possession was not, however, entirely undisturbed as in 1284 Thomas de Clinton claimed the advowson, but the Abbot of Burton made good his claim, as he did on subsequent occasions. In 1328 the Bishop of Ely, who appears to have held some land in Austrey, claimed the advowson, but he withdrew his claim and it was suspected that the suit was collusive. After the Dissolution Henry VIII in 1540 leased the rectory of Austrey to George Clifford.
The advowson seems to have been included in the grant of the manor to Sir William Paget in 1546, as in 1554 William, Lord Paget, had licence to grant his rectory of Austrey with the advowson of the vicarage to Joan widow of George Robinson, mercer of London, and William Robinson their son. The advowson subsequently came into the hands of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who in 1579 granted it to Queen Elizabeth in part exchange for lands in Denbigh. From that time the living has remained in the gift of the Crown. The rectory of Austrey during the first two centuries after it came to the Crown was frequently leased for a term of years. Among the more famous lessees were Lady Lettice, Countess of Leicester (Leicester's widow), to whom it was leased by James I, Robert, Earl of Essex, and Frances, Countess Dowager of Somerset. In 1665 it formed a part of Queen Catherine's jointure. The font has an octagonal bowl, plain stem and base. It may be of the 15th century, but looks modern. There is a 5-ft. framed oak chest of the late 16th century with fleur-de-lis straps. In it are copies of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, with a ring for chaining, and Jewel's Apology; also churchwardens' accounts from 1708, and overseers' accounts from 1755.
John Lakin by will dated 8 April 1630 gave £40 to purchase lands, the profits to be employed equally towards the maintenance of the church and the relief of the poor of Austrey. Anne Lakin gave £10, Florence Brown £3, and John Prior £7, to be employed for the use of the poor of Austrey. This £60 was used to purchase a close at Little Appleby, which was afterwards sold for £100. Elizabeth Smith by will dated 7 Oct. 1696 gave to the poor of Austrey £100, and Thomas Monk gave £26 on condition that 26s. worth of bread should be given to the poor annually. These sums with £9 accumulations, amounting to £135, were invested in land at Barwell. The endowment now consists of a farm at Austrey containing 13 acres and let at a yearly rent of £25 which is distributed to the poor of the parish. Thomas Monke by will dated 22 Aug. 1713 devised all his tenements in Austrey, Blaby, and Countesthorpe to trustees, upon trust to keep in repair the monument erected by the testator in Austrey Church to the memory of his son and to pay yearly £10 in putting out as an apprentice a poor boy of Whitwicke and similarly £10 in respect of a poor boy of Austrey and £5 in providing entertainment for the trustees; the residue of the rents and profits to be applied for such charitable uses within the parishes of Measham, Shenton, Austrey, and Whitwicke as the trustees should select. The whole of the property, with the exception of 2½ acres of land at Countesthorpe, has been sold and the proceeds invested in stock.
Bishop's Farm about ¼ mile north-west of the church is of early- to mid-16th-century date. It is of two stories and of rectangular plan facing north-west with walls of close-set studding. There are two ground floor rooms with a central chimney-stack between them which has a wide fire-place towards the south-west room. This room also has an open-timbered ceiling. The other room has a smaller fire-place that has an overmantel of two bays with three carved terminal figures and a carved frieze; it bears the date 1621. The room is lined with early-17th-century panelling. At the back is a middle small stair-hall with an ancient plain staircase. There is a Baptist chapel, built in 1808; and in 1672 the Presbyterians were licensed to meet in the house of John Kendall —perhaps an ancestor of the George Edward Kendall of Austrey, one of whose daughters married in 1845 John Sobieski Stuart, the pretended descendant of the Young Pretender.
Benedictine Houses:
The parish is a small one and the village lies mostly north of the church. In the roadway south-east of the church are the stone base and four steps of the ancient village cross, all of octagonal plan. The cross itself is modern, erected to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. There are a few old buildings, some with altered fronts, but at least three of them show old timber-framing. One immediately east of the churchyard is a small rectangular cottage with square framing of the 17th century and a central chimney-stack. Another on the west side of the village street about ¼ mile north of the church is a larger building of L-shaped plan with 17th-century square framing. Austrey lies 4 miles north-east from Polesworth station. It lies on new red sandstone; the soil is various, principally a rich loam, and much of the parish is under grass. The parish was inclosed in 1796.