The Parish Magazine
June '24
BERWICK ST JAMES
CHIMNEY SWEEP
Margaret has very kindly organized the chimney sweep to come to the village on JUNE 17th.
If you would like him to come and sweep your chimneys please ring Margaret on 790395 or call in on her. Many thanks to Margaret for organizing this (as she has done for many years.)
CHURCH NEWS
Our Holy Communion on Sunday 2nd June is at 11.00am rather than the normal 9.30am, as we are incorporating into the service a christening for Ottilie Faulkner, daughter of Ed and Alice, grand-daughter of Stephen and Ailsa.
On 16th June, we have our Matins service at the usual time of 10.00am.
At 3.00pm on Friday 14th June, we are holding a Memorial Service for Peter Smith, husband of Gabrielle, father of Laura and Tom and brother of Daphne. All are welcome.
CHALICE AND PATEN HELD BY BRITISH MUSEUM
Berwick St James is very unusual in having had a silver chalice and paten dating from before the Reformation. They are rare survivors and avoided being melted down during the reformation, probably because Berwick St James a small community of no particular consequence and also because their design is plain, so escaped the general change in the design of sacred vessels during the reign of Elizabeth 1.
The chalice is plain, hammered silver, made in the late 12th or 13th Century with a roughly incised cross on the foot. It stands nearly 6 inches high, and diameters of the lip of the bowl and of the foot are the same at 4 and seven eighths inches. The inside of the bowl, the stem and rim of the foot are gilded. There are very few pieces of 12th century silver still in existence.
The 15th century paten is also silver and plain but for the sacred monogram I H S in the centre, and it is 6 inches in diameter.
In 1879, both the chalice and paten were donated to the British Museum by the vicar, Churchwardens and parishioners because the paten was too thin and fragile to use any more, had several fractures and had already been riveted. The chalice also needed repair.
The chalice is currently on long term loan to the Tower of London and can be seen in the Lanthorn Tower.
READING ROOM AGM
We would like to invite everyone to the Reading Room on Wednesday 19th June at 7pm in the Reading Room for The Reading Room Annual General Meeting (it is a charity). Come along and hear all about your village room. There will be wine! (and beer and soft drinks). Everyone welcome.
TEA and CAKE and CHAT
We had lovely chats and cake (smashing ginger cake!) in May. The first one in June will be on Tuesday June 4th, and the second on Tuesday June 18th. Everyone welcome for free tea and coffee, cake and biscuits. Come to the Reading Room at any time between 2.30 and 4pm for a lovely chat with friends.
BERWICK ST JAMES CRICKET CLUB
With the season already upon us with the generous help of both Matt Turner and Druids Lodge Farms we managed to get the silage field down to something resembling a cricket pitch! Our first game against Amport resulted in a thumping win which we are hoping has set the tone for the season ahead. New players are always welcome with the club playing 20 over fixtures on a Wednesday evening. Contact Rob on 07867 520320 if you are keen to play. A note for the diary: our club day will be taking place on Sunday 4 August 2024. The format this year will be slightly different and will take the form of a 6-aside competition. If you are interested in entering a team please contact Frank on 07850958995.
PLANT PRODUCE and FLOWER Table supporting C.R.UK
Hello villagers and neighbouring villages.
Well I hope that you more experienced growers are having a better time than I am … blaming it on the seeds, compost, the weather, everything except the grower lol. I have started again with so many basic things that I have been growing for years even my chillis and being a bit of a geek this is not good. I have been talking to some of my gardening forums and it seems that I am not alone but this is of no consolation to me at this moment in time as I am going to be so behind with plants for our table. I am by no means defeated and will carry on best as I can but I am going to need your help more than ever this season, I know you will rally for together we can.
Yours aye Christine x
OLD FORGE FARM SHOP and CAFE
Congratulations to our Farm Shop and café on winning the Muddy Stilettos 2024 Award for the Best Wiltshire Farm Shop/Deli, the award is for small independent local businesses and the Farm Shop now goes forward to the National Muddy Stilettos Awards to be announced in July. Many thanks to all who voted for us!
LOCAL HISTORY - THE EARLIER MILL
Some time ago I wrote about the current mill on the River Till just above the bridge at the south end of Berwick.
There was a corn-grinding watermill on the river next to Mill House, approximately at the site of the present footbridge, for many hundreds of years. The earliest record of a mill was in 1257 when Lawrence Miller paid 22 shillings per year to lease it. Then in 1332 John atte Mille was here.
Berwick St James had many landowners over the centuries, and the Mill was leased by the landowner either directly to the miller, or to someone else who then employed the miller.
A new millstone was brought up from Southampton on Wednesday 20th May 1478 by William Birde, at that time Berwick was part of the Duchy of Lancaster and belonged to the Crown.
In 1578 the millers were Charles and John Sandell when the Wiltshire Quarter Sessions ordered that both Charles Sandell and Joane Long “whome he begat with childe shalbe whipped”
In the 16th century the owners of Berwick Mill (The Crown) complained that the new mill at Winterbourne Stoke was taking its water, the miller was Anthony Fenton.
Thomas Gilbert als Netton had a 49 year lease worth £140 in 1689 – he employed a miller to do the work- and in 1703 his son, another Thomas Gilbert held it. In 1776 Thomas Miles rented it for £1 5s 6d – he continued to hold the lease until his death in 1812, when Thomas Godwin took over. Both of these probably employed millers to do the work.
By 1843 it had come into the hands of the tenant of the whole village Mr E C Pinckney, and he had a new modern mill built slightly upstream where it could be used to operate machinery in the Farm Yard.
See an earlier month’s magazine, or Berwick Village Website for details of the new mill, which is still here.
Written and researched by Nicky Street.
WILDLIFE WATCH
Cuckoos have been heard in Berwick on 9th May.
Swallows – The first in by Asserton on the wires on 13th/14th April