 Sutton cum Lound
St Bartholomew
History
Sutton-cum-Lound is an extensive parish that includes the townships of Sutton and Lound. In Domesday Book there is no mention of a church here. At this time the Archbishop of York enjoyed manorial rights in both Sutton and Lound. Domesday Book names the Archbishop of York in 1086 and says that he held a manor in Sutton. Lund, Scrobi, and Madressig were berewics to the manor.
The church comprises a chancel with north chapel, nave, north aisle, south porch, and a west tower with crocketed pinnacles and containing three bells.
The church is dedicated to St Bartholomew, one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. The exact date of construction is not known, part of the architecture of the church suggests that it was built after the Norman Conquest, sometime in the 12th century.
At the time of the Conquest the manor of Ranskill was given to the rectory of Sutton and Scrooby. A letter commendatory exists from Roger, Archbishop of York (1154 – 1190), in which he states that a dispute had arisen between the convent of Blyth and the church of Sutton regarding which parish the parishioners belonged to and to whom the tithes of Ranskill went. Roger favoured the convent of Blyth, though the tithes of Ranskill continued to be received by the rector in Sutton. It is likely that a compromise was found and Sutton retained the tithes.
In 1258 Archbishop Sewell referenced grants made to Sutton and Scrooby, ‘together with the hay at Scroby enjoining the sacrist of the said chapel to pay the poor of the place 4 marks pensun yearly.’
In June 1310, Archbishop Greenfield issued a receipt to one Richard Hare who was reeve of Sutton for 72s 6d for rents and farms for the Whitsun term, thus giving a picture of the value of these properties to the church at this time.
On 13 November 1327 Archbishop Melton issued a warning to the sacrist of the chapel of St Mary and Holy Angels, York, who held the patronage, to give alms that were owed to poor parishioners in several parishes, including Sutton. The archbishop gave the sacrist fifteen days to rectify the payments or he would compel them to be made. As there is no further mention of this matter it may be assumed that due payment was issued.
The parish registers date from 1538.
The church has a lofty Norman arch to the chancel which has been restored, with two shafts on each side.
The chancel, itself, is mainly dated to the 14th century. The south door is late medieval and has no ironwork display. There is a fine wooden screen of c1500, two benches with vine trail pattern backs and several old benches with poppy heads, some human, and some birds.
From the time that the church was built the vicar would have resided in Sutton, and then attended to the church in Sutton, the church in Scrooby and the chapel in Lound. Many vicars would do this on horseback. A relic of this practice is the hook and ring fastened into the church wall on the south west side of the porch, though this is likely to be from the 19th century; the horse would have been in shade while the vicar conducted the service.
In 1565 the Rev. Henry Brewster became the vicar at Sutton-cum-Lound and Scrooby. He was succeeded by a James Brewster. Brewster was not an uncommon name in the county at this time and there is some contention over whether Henry and James Brewster were related to each other and whether they were related to William Brewster, one of the passengers on the Mayflower. Much of the research into Scrooby, and the Brewster family indicates that these three Brewsters were not related, or that evidence that they were cannot be found. However, Walter H. Burges in 1920 disagreed with this. He believed that Henry Brewster was an older relation to James and William who were brothers.
In 1584 James Brewster was made Master at the ‘hospital’, a poor farm and old people’s home, at Bawtry. He was appointed to the position by Archbishop Sandys. In 1590, he and several others were charged with ‘profaning and ruinating the house and chapel’. There was evidence that people were stealing from the church and selling the artefacts on for a profit. He was removed from his post. One source suggests that William Brewster was one of the other people charged.
In 1587 William Brewster was briefly excommunicated for what were described as various offences. One source has linked this to the financial irregularities at the hospital in Bawtry. Part of the case against James Brewster and the others was the accusation that they had been stealing from the chapel which could possibly be construed as ‘financial irregularities’. William Brewster also appeared in court on James Brewster’s behalf. Even if they were not family, they knew one another and could have been considered friends. It is likely that the pair shared similar religious views.
James Brewster continued to be in conflict with church authorities before and after he became vicar at Sutton-cum-Lound. The date he became vicar is not clear, some sources say 1594, 1595, 1598 and even as late as 1614.
He was prosecuted in 1595 for irregularities in acquiring the position at Sutton-cum-Lound. This may be the reason this date is used for his incumbency. He also refused to bury a body in a shroud decorated with a cross, he administered communion in a way that deviated from the norm, and he did not make the sign of the cross when baptising infants. In 1605, Edmund Thurland, sued James for having called him ‘an atheiste, a knave and a whoremaster’. James admitted that he did so and was assigned a penance.
Despite these tensions between James Brewster and the church it does not appear that he held Separatists views as William Brewster did.
William Brewster became one of the religious leaders at the Plymouth Colony. In a farm house in Scrooby is a tablet with an inscription reading ‘This tablet was erected by the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States of America, to mark the site of the ancient manor house where lived William Brewster, from 1588 to 1608, and where he organized the Pilgrim Church, of which he became Ruling Elder, and with which in 1608 he removed to Amsterdam, in 1609 to Leyden, and in 1620 to Plymouth, where he died, April 16th, 1644’.
In 1598 the churchwardens evidently had a purge on several parishioners as they returned that year:
'Richard Ellys for absenting himself from his parish church for six Sabbath days together, from about Michaelmas; the churchwardens have demanded money from him; he promised to show lawful excuse but he would not perform the same; the said Ric. Ellis for deferring his ordinary business until the Sabbath day; the said Richard Ellys for drunkenness; John Pecke of Lound for absenting himself from church on divers Sabbath days; Robert Byngham for the like; Robert Barker for the like; Glyn[?] Chauntre for the like, and for profaning the Sabbath day by worldly businesses, and for being a blasphemer of the name of God; Mrs Thurland has not communicated this last year, nor has come to the church as she should have done; she says it is due to infirmity of her body and she would be ready to perform her duty if God will give her strength and ability.'
By 1601 the vicarage house was in decay and two years later a 'lathe' and other buildings belonging to the vicarage had fallen down to the ground from 'want of repair'.
Intriguingly in 1609 the churchwardens presented one George Chambers for 'his misdemeanours amongst his neighbours in the church and churchyard'.
In 1612 we have a snapshot of the condition of the church where it was reported that 'the register chest wants three locks; two psalters are wanting; a chest for the poor is wanting, and a carpet for the pulpit; the chancel is not is good repair, and the church gate wants a lock and staple'.
On 18th May, 1613, a seat was erected in the church by Alexander Stowe. It was approved by the minister and churchwardens and was confirmed to him and his successors.
A claim has been made that a stone there is the original font belonging to Austerfield church, the font in which William Bradford was baptized. William Bradford was born in Austerfield. In 1607 when the congregation of Scrooby decided to leave England for the Dutch Republic, William went with them. Most of the congregation, including William, were imprisoned but by 1608 the congregation managed to escape in small groups to Leiden.
By 1617 the Scrooby congregation began to plan the establishment of their own colony in the Americas. William was one of the members aboard the Mayflower. He served as Plymouth Colony Governor five times between 1621 and 1657.
During the time of the Commonwealth there were no special appointments made at either Sutton-cum-Lound or Scrooby. All the Puritan appointments and nominations for incumbents were recorded in the Journals of Parliament from 1640-1660, Sutton-cum-Lound and Scrooby are not mentioned. It is likely that any appointments would have been made by local officers. In 1677 it is recorded that the patron of the church was the Duke of Portland, of Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire. The patronage of St Bartholomew appears to have continued into the 20th century.
On the south wall under the tower is a Royal Arms painted on to canvas. It contains ‘1799’, ‘G III R’ and is thought to have been of arms from between 1714-1801. Inscribed on it are ‘S: Kay. Ed: Cookson Church Wardens’.
The 1743 visitation returns for Archbishop Herring’s visit report that there were 100 families in the parish and none were dissenters or Roman Catholics. The church had a fund of £70 to teach 13 children. They were taught by the poor women of Lound.
When Archbishop Drummond visited in 1764 the vicar, William Richardson, reported that there were 104 families in the village, of whom two or three persons ‘are dissenters of the sort called Methodists’, but there was no meeting house. Services were taken by Joshua Sampson, the curate, who lived in East Retford. A service was conducted every Sunday, and the Sacrament was administered three times a year.
Throsby commented in the 1790s that ‘Sutton is a small place, with a little decent church, and pinnacled tower, with 3 bells’.
An independent chapel at Lound was erected in 1816 to service the village. In 1851 it had a general congregation of 50 people attending the afternoon service. There were between 36 and 48 children enrolled on the Sunday school registers. In 1832 St Bartholomew had a net value of £185. The parish population was recorded as 801 in Sutton and a further 281 in Scrooby which was part of the parish.
In 1821 the population of Sutton-cum-Lound was 717 people. In 1851 this had increased to 870 people. The general congregation at the church was 135 people; 100 people in the morning service, 135 in the afternoon and between 70 and 80 children enrolled at the Sunday school.
In the 19th century there was a custom of pluralities, a priest holding two or three livings. The area of Nottinghamshire was no exception; in 1838 the vicar Thomas Hurt held Sutton-cum-Lound, Scrooby, Linby and Papplewick.
In 1843 the Rev. William Hurt had a commodious vicarage house built in the village.
The church was extensively restored in 1856-7. This would have been when the stained glass east window was installed. It was made by O'Connor. The church was further restored in 1868, 1923 and 1924.
In 1859 a Chapel-of-Ease was opened in Lound.
In 1869 the 5th Duke of Portland gifted the church 106 acres of glebe. He also served as a lay rector to the church.
In 1917 the 6th Duke of Portland gifted a vicarage that was valued at £350.
In 1918 the Bishop of Southwell removed Scrooby from the parish of Sutton. The Order in Council was dated 23 October, 1918. As the income belonging to Scrooby was very small arrangements were made with Viscount Galway which joined Scrooby church with the chaplaincy of Serlby Hall.
A clock was placed in the tower as a memorial to the men who died in World War I.
| 
