BAPTISMS.
“ Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for
of such is the Kingdom of God.”—S. MARK, x, 14.
June 5 — Russell Claude, son of Arthur and Alberta Minnie Jeffs, Bream's Eaves, blacksmith.
MARRIAGE
" What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." S. Mark,
10.
June 12 — By the Vicar, Sir Raymond West, K. C. I. E., widower, of Chesterfield, Norwood, and Annie Kirkpatrick Cook, spinster, of Prior's Mesne, Lydney.
BURIALS
" Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come." Heb.,
13, 14.
June 10 — Lot Coombes, Cleverends Green, aged 14 years
SPECIAL NOTICE.
July 25—Feast of St. James the Apostle (the Patron Saint of Bream.)
The Vicar hopes upon St. James’ Day to have a Choral Communion Service
at 7.30 a.m. rendered by Communicants only—and Choral Evensong at 7 p.m.,
with Sermon by the Rev. Gerald Sampson, late Rector of Staunton.
The Vicar invites all Communicants and. Churchworkers (Parochial or Missionary)
to tea at the Vicarage, at 6 p.m. The offerings all day will he devoted to
the Batten Memorial Tablet, which will shortly be placed in the Church.
The Children’s Flower Service will be held, D.V., on Sunday, July 28th,
at 3 p.m.
WEDDING
On Wednesday, June 12th, a very pretty wedding was solemnized in Bream between
Sir Raymond West, Knight Commander of the Indian Empire, and Miss Annie Kirkpatrick
Cook, eldest daughter of Surgeon General Cook, of Prior’s Mesne. The
Church was beautifully decorated, and the musical portions of the Service
were very well rendered by Mr. James Kidson, organist, and the Choir. The
Ceremony was performed by the Vicar, and the wedding Sermon preached by the
Rev. W. Townsend, Vicar of Coleford. We wish the Bride and Bridegroom much
happiness.
SCHOOL ENLARGEMENT FUND.
We have received from Mr. F. Watkins, of the Eaves, 10/6 towards the School
Enlargement Fund, making the total £435 l6s.
E. F. E.
HISTORICAL SCRAPS.
In seeking information concerning old Churches the usual course is to search
in certain well known schedules or lists of Churches and Chapelries which
were made for special purposes at various times, and which are to be found
to-day in all good libraries. Such of these as are of local interest, together
with one or two documents of less notoriety, we will now consider as briefly
as possible.
1. The Taxation of Pope 1291.—A
Papal Tax—mentions the Mother Church of Newland (under its Latin name
Nova Terra), as being “in the Rural Deanery of Ross, and in the Diocese
of Hereford, and of the annual value of £26 13s, 4d." — money
being of course much more valuable then than now—but no Chapelries of
Newland are mentioned, nor the names of either Coleford, Clearwell or Bream..
2. The Inquisition of the Ninths, 1341.—A
Royal War Tax—mentions the “Parish Church of Newland” as
above but no Chapelries.
3. The Hereford Episcopal Register 1275
to 1504, contains frequent entries concerning Newland Church and Chantry,
with institutions of Vicars and Chantry Priests, the dedication of Altars and
disputations about tithes, &c., but it does not mention Bream nor any Chapelry
of Newland.
4. The Will of Jane (or Joan), sometime wife of Robert Greyndore
of Clearwell Court, proved in 1485.—Testatrix
desires to be buried “in the Parish church of Newland, in my Chapel of
S. John Baptist and S. Nicholas with. my husband Robert Greyndore,” and
mentions the various churches and Chapelries with which she had been intimately
connected, and which she wished to benefit under her will, viz., “Flaxley
Staunton, Lydney, S. Brevells and her Chapel at Clowerwall” (Clearwell),
but she makes no mention. whatever of Coleford or Bream.
5. The Ecclesiastical Valuation of Henry VIII 1535— made
for the purpose of partly disendowing the Church—mentions the Vicarage
of Newlande, in the Rural Deanery of Ross, in the County of Gloucester and
Diocese of Hereford, as of the clear yearly value of £18 6s. l0d. ; also
the Newlande Chantry of the clear yearly value of £10 16s. 4d but makes
no mention of any Chapelries.
6. Ecton’s Thesaurus 1742,
describes Bream, S. James, as a Curacy and Chapel of Newland.
7. Bacon’s, “Kings Book,” 1786,
repeats the statement of “Ecton’s Thesaurus.”
Taking the last two of these lists first, it is easy to see that the
Chapel of Bream might have been held worthy of mention in the 18th century,
because it had then and not earlier obtained some small endowments, and
this would perhaps account for the silence of the earlier lists, for
certainly neither Pope nor King would be able to tax a Chapelry which
had no property. On the other hand, the “Ecclesiastical Valuation
of Henry VIII” does make mention of one Chapelry which was of no
value, namely, “the Chapel of the Holy Trinity,” in the Parish,
I think, of Lydney, declared to be “valueless, because it stands
in the Sea.” I do not know anything about this Chapel of the Holy
Trinity. It is probable that it owes its mention to the fact that it
had at one time some property or endowment which had either become submerged
by the Severn Sea or else transferred to some other Ecclesiastical use
when the Chapel itself became submerged. Its mention does not at all
shake our contention that the Chapel of Bream may have been in existence
at the same time, yet not mentioned, because not taxable, Turning now
to the “Hereford Episcopal Register,” how is it that we find
no word there about Bream? The answer would seem to be that the Chapel
was never consecrated, nor thought important enough to be brought officially
to the Bishop’s notice. And here we must remember that the Chapel
of Clearwell, known to be in existence in the 15th century, is not mentioned
in the Hereford Register. It was apparently not usual to keep a record
of any un-endowed Chapels, parchment being very expensive.
Lastly, we turn to the will of Joan (Greyndore) of Clearwell Court, &c.
1485.
How she can have passed over Bream while mentioning Lydney, S. Briavels Newland,
and Clearwell, &c., is difficult to understand. Her omission seems almost
to shake ones belief in the existence of Bream Chapel in her time, and to force
us to date it from about 1500 instead of 1400, for Bream lay almost touching
her estate, and she must have ridden. frequently this way to her hawking or
hunting in the Forest, and it is hardly possible to believe that she can have
neglected the little wayside Chapelry so near her mansion gates, and great
Ladies at that time used to take great interest in the concerns of their poor
tenants and neighbours
On the whole then this Will of the Lady Joan draws us towards a later date
than the Architecture of the Church would seem to warrant, and increases our
uncertainty.
So much as this we can truly say, that before the Reformation the Chapel of
Bream was not endowed or consecrated or thought worthy of mention in any important
papers, and was probably used for occasional services only.
E. F. E.
Courtesy of: . Uploaded:
The magazines were loaned by:
Melville Watts O.B.E., Ruth Hirst, Jennifer Hancocks, Tony Preest, Paul Morgan, Carole Butt, Joan Davis, Phil Horsley, Joyce Phipps, Peter Richards, Dianne
O'Dell, Edith Pitcher and Roy Haviland.
The magazines were transcribed by Geoff Davis and Malcolm Norris of Bream.
All content © 2010 G.K. Davis, Bream.
If you wish to comment on this photo or can supply names of people please click
here 
WANTED: Old photos, old postcards, ephemera and memories of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. U.K.