Noake's Worcestershire Page 273

MARTIN HUSSINGTREE. 273

disturbances; a rector beloved by all for his unaffected goodness of heart and devotion to his great work; a brace of worthy churchwardens; a nice little church recently restored; and a small school, both daily and Sunday such are the chief characteristics of this unpretending parish.

Lord of the manor, Rev. H. T. Hill, of Felton. Chief landowners, Sir Offley Wakeman, Bart., Henry Allsopp, Esq., of Hindlip Hall, Rev. H. T. Hill, R. Berkeley, Esq., Spetchley Park, Mr. T. Gaunt, of Upper Smite, Mr. Quarrell, and the trustees of Mrs. Quarrell. Rector, Rev. W. Godfery. Value of living, about £200 net, with house and garden, and an acre and half of glebe; patrons, Dean and Chapter of Worcester; church accommodation, 123; free seats, 44; population, 170. There were thirty-three families here in 1780, so that there has been scarcely any appreciable increase for a century.

The church was re-opened in January, 1858, after a restoration which cost £400, including a repaired chancel, new east window, new pulpit and fittings, new transept opened on the south side of the chancel, new porch and bell-turret, with a shingle spire, &c. The little building contains Early English work, and there are in it memorials to the ancient names of Ruffhead, Pigot, West, Stephens, Chapeau, Birch, Wheeler, Temple, Rev. T. Wood, and Rev. T. Tomkyns, the latter "a noted assertor of the English Church against schismatics" (1675). Can any one inform me who this Tomkyns was, and on what grounds he earned such an appellation? It is said by a writer in Notes and Queries that a Thomas Tomkyns, who studied music under the celebrated William Byrd, in 1604, was organist of Worcester Cathedral and the Chapel Royal, and author of a noble collection of church music, was buried here 1656, but there appears to be no stone or monument to him. The Tomkyns family had certainly some interest in the parish in the seventeenth century, as Nathaniel Tomkyns was patron, and Egidius Tomkyns incumbent, in the latter half of that period.