Historical notes on Stretton-under-Fosse

The manor of Newbold Revel, known originally as Fenny Newbold, belonged to Geoffrey de Wirce in 1086 where he held 8 hides of land in the area, probably including Stretton-under-Fosse.

Medieval times

This land came to Sir Hugh Revel around 1235 and as was the custom of the time, he conferred his surname on the estate calling it Newbold Revel, as we know it today, perhaps thinking that this was a more superior sounding name than Fenny Newbold, with its connotations of damp and bogginess. In 1299 his son William had a grant of free warren there and in 1316 William made the estate over to his son John in tail and in 1327 John in his turn was granted free warren.

Sir John, a knight of the shire, was a prominent man in the local area; he left three sons but all three died without an heir so that the estate was divided between his three daughters. Alice, who married Sir John Malory of Winwick, Northamptonshire in 1391, became the owner of Newbold Revel and the couple settled the manor on themselves in tail. The estate came to their son, the famous author of Morte d'Arthur Sir Thomas Malory

RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD STRETTON-under-FOSSE

There has been a settlement at Stretton-under-Fosse since at least the 16th century, judging from the number of lath and plaster dwellings in the village street, many of which are listed buildings.  A village would have grown up naturally around a large manor such as Newbold Revel, the history of which dates back to before the Norman conquest, when it passed to King William from a Saxon noble named Lewin.  The most famous owner was Sir Thomas Malory, the author of Le Morte d’Arthur, who was born in the early 15th century and spent much of his time in the local area, as a young man hunting in the Revel woodlands. 

This kind of information is relatively easy to acquire from sources such as the County Record Office but details of more recent events and people are at risk of being lost when all those who lived through those times are gone and no-one has thought to keep a record.

Peter Wallace, who farmed in the village for 40 years at Home Farm, has always had a fascination with the past and has provided most of the following information.  He listened to and preserved the reminiscences of people like Will Crofts, of Manor Farm, and other elderly residents whose lives spanned the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Much of the village’s history is intertwined with that of Newbold Revel, whose owners held most of the village in their estate, or the Manor Farm, which was run by generations of the Crofts family from 1790 until the death of Will Crofts in 1980.

At about the same time as John Crofts took over Manor Farm from his father in 1863, Edward Wood purchased Newbold Revel and the house eventually passed to his grandson whose overriding enthusiasm was cricket.  He built the Cricketers Wing on to the house where visiting players were hosted when they came to play matches on the Pavilion Field which is adjacent to Brick Kiln Spinney; even W. G. Grace is believed to have played there.  Squire Wood’s hospitality and facilities were so enjoyed by leading cricketers of the time that Warwickshire Cricket Club fumed that they “seem to prefer to play for Mr. Wood than to play for their County”.

                         THE CRICKET GROUND AT NEWBOLD REVEL

The Wood family sold Newbold Revel and its farms to Colonel Heath in 1898 for £255,000.  Col Heath was a brick manufacturer from Staffordshire and it is he who is responsible for the decorative blue brick and black tiles seen on many of the village houses.  He was a member of the Staffordshire Yeomanry and held camp weekends at Newbold Revel before the First World War.

In 1911 Leo Bonn, an Austrian banker, became the next owner of Newbold Revel, living there in great contentment for the rest of his life.  He was a popular figure, a member of the Atherstone Hunt who also took a practical interest in agriculture and sport.  A deaf person himself, he founded the National Bureau for Promoting the General Welfare of the Deaf which we now know as the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). Leo Bonn died on November 28th 1929 at Newbold Revel and the estate was broken up and sold in 1931. His son, Major Walter Bonn who served with distinction in the First World War, erected the Village Hall in 1932 for the use of villagers in memory of his father.

Newbold Revel was purchased by the Seventh Day Adventists after the death of Leo Bonn and although its ownership and history are well documented it is not common knowledge that, requisitioned by the War Office for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, agents were sent there to be trained before being dropped into enemy territory in Europe, first having their teeth thoroughly checked by a Rugby dentist to ensure that dental problems did not interfere with their dangerous mission!  The relics of war time usage can still be seen in the form of large concrete blocks and staples at the rear of the house which were used to restrain the radio mast. 

Home Farm remained part of the Newbold Revel estate throughout its many changes of ownership until it was bought by Peter Wallace in 2003.  The house is ancient, dating from at least the late 16th century and is of cruck beam construction.  There is evidence that the land has been farmed for many hundreds of years as horseshoes dating from the 11th century to the 1930s have been found there. 

There was an ice house in the park, in use until the First World War and a weighbridge was situated adjacent to one of the barns.  Smite Brook, which ran through Home Farm land, must at one time have been a much bigger watercourse because it was dammed for trout fishing and there was also a watermill which pumped water up into the Revel gardens.  A fire pond was situated in Home Farm paddock and used by the fire tender kept at Newbold Revel and crewed by their staff and local men, including Sergeant Tomlinson from 43 Main Street.

THE VILLAGE FIRE BRIGADE

The village celebrated Edwards VII’s coronation in 1902 in the Dutch barn at Home Farm and every child was given a plate, one of which is still in existence.  The tradition was repeated for George V’s coronation and in 2002 a barbecue was held to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s golden jubilee, when every child in the village received a commemorative mug.

Will Crofts, the last of his family to farm in the village, believed that Manor Farm was bought by the Crofts in 1797.  A brick in the gable of the house with the date 1862 and the initials ‘JC’ testifies to the fact that major rebuilding was completed in that year. 

One of Will Crofts’ employees, George Braine, had worked on the land all his life and had a farming vocabulary of medieval words, defying interpretation by listeners unused to his speech, when he conversed with the village blacksmith, Mr. Jackson.  The Crofts’ lives at Manor Farm were uneventful until in 1934 the tragedy of the silo occurred (see separate article, to be added).

Stretton is now a residential hamlet but in the 1880s it had a school, which is now 11 Main Street and a reading room where 20 Main Street now stands, whilst the Congegrational chapel in New Road attracted worshippers from a wide area as no non-conformist chapel could operate within 6 miles of a church in a town.  Next to the school was a butcher’s, in a ‘mud’ cottage and there were two slaughterhouses, one at 41 Main Street and the other at Home Farm. 

The Union Jack pub was built in the late 19th century; its name was supposed to be unique in the British Isles.  The village had two other pubs, one being at 43 Main Street which had stables in its yard and another was the Rose and Woodbine, now the thatched cottage at 2 Main Street.

Farming used to provide the main occupation for the village’s inhabitants. As well as Home Farm, part of the Newbold Revel Estate, there was Malt Kiln Farm where the Estate Agent lived and where the malt kiln for Moxon’s Brewery at Easenhall could be found.  The barn housing the malt kiln, which was on the site of Revel Barn and Malory Barn in Main Street, was used by the Air Ministry in the Second World War to store aeroplane parts, mainly for Wellington bombers. There were also Manor Farm and Brierley’s Farm, the latter bought by the Croft family in the 1920s; it was next to the Old Forge, where the village blacksmith worked on well into the 1980’s. 

Mr Wood, who owned the Stretton Estate consisting of six farms and General Lloyd, a large landowner at Withybrook formed the Stretton Farming Company in 1880. Home Farm at Stretton and Home Farm at Withybrook were each built to exactly the same plan as part of this company, with the weighbridge and slaughterhouse being at Stretton.

Farriers Court was built on the site of the Old Forge’s outbuildings in 1992, whilst the outbuildings of the three other farms were converted to dwellings as Home Farm Barns in 2006, Malt Kiln Barns in 2000 and the Manor Courtyard in 1990.

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