Opening a Blocked Door (St Edburg's Church, Bicester)

"Opening a blocked door" – being an account of the school founded by the Reverend Samuel Blackwell
in the Church of St Edburg’s, Bicester.

By Mark [Guest Contributor to The Bicestorian]

Part way along the outside of the north
wall of Saint Edburg’s church, towards its
eastern end, there are the easily
overlooked remnants of a long since
blocked doorway, its presence now only
revealed by an archway of rough-hewn
stonework set in the wall. The inside of the
doorway has long since disappeared under
plaster and paint. This is all that remains of a
17th century school founded be the then vicar
of Bicester, the Reverend Samuel Blackwell [see first image below]. 

Samuel Blackwell was born on the 10th of
January 1642-3 in Northamptonshire, in the
village of Moreton Pinkey, a place that Arthur
Mee describes in his “The King’s England”
volume on the county as; “…its street, winding
like a capital S, is set with pleasing old houses
of the 17th and 18th centuries, high gabled and
built with alternate layers of brown and grey
slate. One was built in the year Shakespeare
died, and many have delightful thatched roofs,
such as those clustering about the upper and
lower greens.” He was the son of Walkadine
and Marie [?] and was baptised in the simple,
round Norman font in the church of St Mary
the Virgin in the village on the 8th of December
1642, a church that Arthur Mee describes as
having; “… a square tower with thin columns
rounding the edges of its two stages, and one
of the loveliest chancels in the country, so
faithfully restored that the original design of
the early builder has been practically
reproduced. It was chosen by Cardinal
Newman as a model for the church he built at
Littlemore in Oxfordshire. Light and graceful
and of great beauty, it has three perfect lancets
in the east window, deeply splayed lancets in
each wall, and an elegant double piscina. A
wide stone ledge right across the east end is
banked for Easter Sunday with golden daffodils
massed like sunshine against the stone
background. The 700-year-old arcades spring
from Norman pillars and during the 15th
century clerestory was added.”

On the 21st of March 1661, aged 18, he
matriculated, officially became a member, of
Oxford University. Studying at Lincoln College
he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree four
years later adding his master’s degree in 1667-
8 and supplementing these by a Bachelor of
Divinity degree in 1682.

During his studies, he was ordained on the 22nd
of August 1668, and also found time to marry
Mary Pettie at St Mary’s in Great Milton in
1674. Under the patronage of Sir William
Glynne, Samuel Blackwell was inducted Into St
Edburg’s on the 16th of August 1670. During his
time at Bicester he and Mary had six children,
of whom, tragically, five died in infancy: Samuel
born 26th of May 1676 died 1st of September 1677, a second Samuel born 4th of January
1678 baptised on the 11th of January, entry
from the register below, died 31st of January
1678, Elizabeth born 26th of April 1680 died
15th of February 1681, John born 17th of April
1681 died 14th of February 1681 (the date
discrepancy being caused by the new year then
beginning on the 25th of March, he was actually
10 months old when he died), and Eleanor
born 21st of October 1683 died 2nd of March
1684. Only their second child, Mary, baptised
on the 13th of November 1677, survived.

A poignant memorial to the five dead children,
including a depiction of five skulls, can be
found in the chancel of the church to the left of
the altar rails [see third image below]. John and his sister
Elizabeth were buried on the same day.
Samuel Blackwell remained in Bicester until
November 1691. He was subsequently rector
at Bolton, in County Durham, and Brampton
Ash, in Northamptonshire. In September 1719
he was appointed as a prebendary at
Peterborough Cathedral by the then Bishop,
White Kennett, a name well known amongst
Bicester local historians. Samuel Blackwell
passed away and on the 5th of April 1720 was
buried at St Mary's at Brampton Ash.

During his time at Bicester, in about 1669, the
reverend gentleman founded the school for
which he is best remembered. What was the
state of education of Bicester’s children before
that date? It seems that Bicester Priory almost
certainly had a role to play. We get a hint from
the visitation on the 28th of May 1445 by the
Lord William Alnewyke, Bishop of Lincoln, in
the nineteenth year of his consecration and the
ninth of his translation – at that time Bicester,
and Oxford itself, were part of the huge
Diocese of Lincoln; the Diocese of Oxford only
being created after Henry VIII’s break with
Rome. In that, Brother John Burcestre, the sub-
prior… “says that the sons of two gentlemen,
to wit Lawis and Purcelle, are nurtured and
instructed in the house: whether at its (the
house’s) or at their parent’s cost is unknown.
The prior was enjoined not to maintain the
sons of noblemen or powerful folk at the costs
of the house.” The schoolmaster was probably
a chantry priest from the parish church. Sadly,
details of the measures taken to educate the
children of Elizabethan and early Stuart
Bicester have not come down to us and there
is a gap in our knowledge covering these years.
To accommodate his new school, the reverend
Samuel Blackwell choose to convert what
might have been a Lady Chapel at Saint
Edburg’s church (marked “vestry” in the below
diagram). The date of the building of this part
of the church is possibly 14th century with it
being built at the same time as the north aisle
and its identification as a Lady Chapel is based
on the importance attached to veneration of
the Blessed Virgin Mary during the Middle
Ages.

The Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust
lists about 60 churches dedicated to the Virgin
Mary within the county and Catholic England
was sometimes referred to as “Mary's Dowry”.
One way of expressing this devotion was to build the Lady Chapel as close as possible, if
not adjacent, to the high altar of the church.

Following the Reformation devotion to the
Virgin Mary declined, although out of custom
many of the mediaeval churches kept their
dedication. In preparation to house the new
school the arches between it and the main
body of the church were filled in, the now
blocked doorway cut through the north wall
and an upper room to house the library was
constructed, this being accessed by a still
existing doorway at the north-east corner of
the church (below), that previously may have
led to quarters for a sacristan or sexton.

John Dunkin describes the school as follows,
italics as in the original text; “The building
adjoins the north side of the chancel, and is
continued from the north aisle of the church,
into which there is an entrance. It appears of
later erection than the other parts of the
fabric; so at what time is unknown: but most
probably soon after the Reformation. The
inside is filled up with desks and other
conveniences. Over it is a room formerly used
as a library, and containing a number of books,
some of which are valuable; the catalogue
remains in the hands of Mr Markland. The
school is generally thought to have been
endowed, though every writing relative
thereto is said to be entirely lost. In the Magna
Britannia it is called a Free school, “supposed
to be founded by Simon Wisdome, “an
alderman of this town, but, the writer adds, we
have no other grounds for our supposition than
he is found to have given constitutions and
orders for the government of it in the
thirteenth year of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.””

“The school appears to have been placed
under the immediate direction of the vicar,
though at what time it ceased to be a free
school is uncertain. The name of Kennett
appearing in the list of benefactors in the
catalogue of books given for the use of the
scholars seems to indicate that it had not
ceased to be such at the time when that
gentleman assisted Mr Blackwall [sic] both in
the duties of the school, and the church; and
even the bare reflection of our present
ignorance of this institution is sufficient to
provide the greatest regret, that anything
should have ever arisen to prevent the
industrious, learned, and pious author of the
Parochial Antiquities from continuing the
excellent work done down to his own time.”
The school gained an excellent reputation
offering a classical education and was much
used by the local gentry. Among these was the
Verney family of Claydon House at Middle
Clayton in Buckinghamshire. As long as the
Reverend Blackwell managed the school, the
Verney family were as content to send their
children there as to Eton, Winchester or
Westminster. The two boys in question were
Ralph and Edmund Verney who attended the
school between 1679 and 1682 being aged
about 13 and 11.

However, by March 1679 all was not well at the
school. On the 24th of March the boys’ father
Edmund wrote to their grandfather Sir Ralph
Verney regarding the illness that had befallen
the reverend Blackwell. The letter runs as
follows, the spelling in this and the following
letters has been modernised.
“Mr Blackwell the schoolmaster at Bicester lies
in great danger of death, and all his scholars
run up and down like scattered sheep without
a shepherd, doing that which is righteous in
their own eyes, having neither tutor nor usher
to govern nor teach them, the master having
not kept an usher since Christmas and having
been sick this fortnight, so my coach brought home my sons and Mr Duncomb’s last
Saturday, and they are very well God be
thanked; but it is a pity that they should be so
much neglected, and that they should lose so
much of their time.”

This was followed two days later by a second
communication,
“I sent my man Wood to Bicester to see how
Mr Blackwell did, there is some hope of his life
now, but his recovery will be tedious and long,
in the meantime there is no usher, and the
scholars are all dispersed, and the school is
spoiled, and my children lose their precious
time, and forget more in a week than they can
get in a month, which is a grand trouble to me.
Mrs Blackwell says an usher is sent for, and
when he is come, I shall have notice of it, but
that doth not satisfy me.”

The usher was duly appointed, and Ralph and
Edmund apparently returned to Bicester.
However, all was not well at the school, as a
letter of the 10th of April relates.
“Mr Blackwell mends but very slowly and the
usher talks of going away very suddenly; the
truth of it is Mrs Blackwell is a so greedy and
covetous, that she will not allow any usher
reasonable hire, neither are my children so
carefully ordered as at first; therefore I take
that the school to be grown worse, and have
thoughts to remove them ere it be long to
Eton, Winchester or Westminster. Winchester I
know, and like very well, but only it is a place at
a great distance from me: I do intend as soon
as fine weather comes in, to go to Eton myself,
that I may satisfy myself in ye place.”

Eventually Ralph did go to Winchester, but not
before he and Edmund had spent two more
years at Bicester. The reverend Blackwell’s
recurrent belts of illness we're not the only
medical problem facing the school. At about
this time Ralph expressed a desire to come
home because there was an outbreak of
measles in the school and smallpox in the
house next door. He was advised not to be
afraid, for that was pusillanimity. To quote one
further letter, from Ralph to his father dated
28th of May 1679. It is included because of the
extraordinary deferential manner that the
writer adopts when all he is basically saying
“come and pick me up so that I can go home for
the holidays” unquote. The original letter is
written in a most elaborate hand and possibly
was dictated by the reverend Blackwell and
took care that it should be a favourable
specimen of the writer’s calligraphy.
“Most honoured father,”
“These few lines are to let you understand that
we break off one Saturday next, and I humbly
beseech you to send for us home that day that
we may a little refresh ourselves after our hard
study and we present our humble duties to
yourself and to my mother and grandfather
and our loves to my sister.”
“I subscribe myself.”
“Your dutiful son.”
“Ralph Verney.”

Nor was this a unique occurrence. On the 14th
of August 1681 Ralph again writes to his father,
this time requesting a new Bible, as the one he
has is disintegrating. He again begins “most
honoured father” but is this time “your most
dutiful and obedient son”. However, this
brought about a rebuke from his father dated
1st of September 1681.
“Child”
“Since I came home I received your long Epistle
about a new Bible with Common Prayer
Apocrypha and Singing Psalms to which (if you
want) your master may buy you, and I’ll repay
him, but methinks you tear your books too
much, and very careless of them, which is an ill
sign.”
“You write truer English than you did, but not
true enough by a great deal; and then you
make up your letters always in the ugliest
fashion that ever was for I cannot open them
without tearing out some of the written.”
One of the ushers at the school was local
historian White Kennett. He left the school in
1685 on being presented to the vicarage of
Ambrosden by Sir William Glynne. Kennett and
Blackwell remained in contact with the former
the highest regard for the latter. When, in
1691, Blackwell was promoted to the rectory of
Brampton in Northamptonshire, White
Kennett would send him proofs of his Parochial
Antiquitiesfor criticism. And when Kennett was
consecrated Bishop of Peterborough in 1718
the following year, he appointed Blackwell as a
Canon of the cathedral.

Following Samuel Blackwell’s departure his
successors kept the school running into the following century. His successor at Bicester was
Rev Thomas Sherwring who in 1692 compiled
a catalogue of the school's library as well as
endowing it with a further gift of books. The
catalogue, a large folio notebook, bound in calf,
lists 150 titles from 71 donors. The catalogue
lists donations from 1669 to 1699 and it is
interesting as it indicates the character of
books deemed necessary for a scholastic
library as well as the energy of its earliest
masters. There are many local names amongst
the donors which testifies to the reputation of
the school in the neighbourhood. It is perhaps
no surprise that the first name listed in the
catalogue of donors is that of John Coker. The
catalogue is reproduced in the 1907 Reports of
the Oxfordshire Archaeological Society. Samuel
Blackwell had taken great pains in the
formation of a library for his school and
obtained gifts of books from many members of
his own college from other Oxford friends as
well as from pupils and their relations. Each
book appears to have been bound in calf, and
most had a brass ring for a chain fastened by a
clamp to one of the lids with the donor's name
being written in Latin on the first blank page.

The library appears to have been in existence
until the restoration of the Bicester church in
1862 and had been kept in a parvise over the
porch which served as a muniment room.
Sadly, the books were considered useless and
after some time were disposed for a trifling
sum. Some of them fell into the hands of a
London bookseller, whose catalogue of 1896
announces that he was selling “Thirteen books
from the library of Schola Bucestrenis, Oxon,
fitted with brass rings belonging to the chains
to which they were formerly attached; with a
record in most instances of the donors name.
The plain binding and calf has in the case of
some of the books suffered severely, as might
be expected from the chaining system and
probably from the forcible abstraction of the
brass chains. The rings however are all in good
condition and establish the existence of
chained books in a Library of the XVIIth
century, and one which was unknown to Mr
William Blaydes, as it is not referred to his in
enumeration of chained libraries.”

In 1907 eight books from the library are
recorded as still being in Bicester, in a
muniment chest of the church. In each case the
binding and ring are described as being in
excellent condition, although some contents
are imperfect.

Sadly, the drive and enthusiasm of Samuel
Blackwell and Thomas Sherwring did not pass
down to their successors and the school
appears to have gone into a period of decline.
Following the opening of Saint Edburg’s School
in 1859 the alterations made by Reverend
Samuel Blackwell to accommodate his school
were removed returning the schoolroom back
into parish use. At about the same time the
doorway in the north wall was bricked up.
Reverend Samuel Blackwell’s schoolroom as it
is today. The blocked-up doorway in the north
wall would have entered below the monument
to the Carver family, related by marriage to
White Kennett, on the wall. This had been on
the chancel wall but was relocated when the
wall dividing the schoolroom from the main
body of the church was taken down.