8
1875 - Berthon's encounters with the Public Walk.
The Reverend Berthon and the Abbey Church
By the early 1800s the Abbey Church was in a sorry state. So many layers of whitewash had been applied to its interior since the practice first began in the 1600s that it had acquired the name ‘the chalk pit’. Many of the arches had been bricked up to keep out draughts, high wooden galleries had been built which, whilst they gave the congregation a better view of proceedings, diminished the spaciousness of the fine old building and did nothing to enhance the interior.
The Reverend Berthon
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Between them, the Reverend Gerard Noel (the vicar from 1841 to 1849) and the Reverend Edward Berthon (1860 to 1892) did most of the work to restore the building to the condition we see it in today. Berthon, in particular, was an imaginative engineer who brought his boat-building skills(1) to bear upon the difficult problems encountered in renovating such a large structure and probably saved the Church a great deal of money by his ingenuity. |
There is no doubt that given more time and money, he would have achieved even more significant improvements to the church. For example, at a Vestry meeting in April 1877, churchwardens had raised the possibility of selling a piece of land known as ‘the old belfry ground’. This was a piece of land at the rear entrance to the present Magistrates Court where the belltower of St Lawrence's had once stood. In 1624 the bells were moved to the Abbey and the belltower was demolished in the following year. Since then, the Church had let the land. The suggestion of selling it was immediately dismissed by Berthon who said that the Church needed to retain it "as it may one day be needed as a site on which to build a new belltower".
It emerged later that Berthon did not like the octagonal wooden structure which had been built on top of the church tower to accommodate the bells and he thought that lowering the ceiling of the church tower to house the bell-ringers had spoiled the interior of the Church. He was prepared to contemplate building a new belltower in order to be able to restore the Abbey Church to its former condition. In the event, the ‘old belfry ground’ remained in possession of the Church until 1941 when it was bought by ‘Gunner’ Moody (of the gunshop in Church Street) so that he and his sister could park their cars in the shed that had been built on it.
Lack of money certainly limited the execution of many of Berthon’s ideas. At a Vestry meeting in April 1869, the shortage of cash was such that he ordered that there was to be no unauthorised expenditure on the church, that the old custom of chiming would have to cease and the church clock would be stopped, in order to save money. From now on, Berthon declared, he would fund the church lighting from his own account so that services in the evening could continue without interruption. Furthermore, he would continue to do so until the churchwardens had found "the necessary means", which, happily, they managed to do by the following year.
A small access problem
When Berthon moved into the vicarage in 1860, the wide gate that Avery Moore had erected to allow him to get his horse and carriage through to the road was still in place. Having no use for the gate, Berthon planted a holly hedge backed by a dense row of laurels. However, fifteen years later, when the hedge had become a thick shrubbery, he cut a small way through to the Public Walk.
Within a matter of days he got a bill from the Corporation for one shilling payable as rent! Berthon cheerfully paid up but was asked to write a letter agreeing to the same terms as Avery Moore; that is, the Corporation would allow access (as far as they legally could) and that the agreement would be immediately revoked should anyone complain.
Berthon would like part of the Public Walk
Berthon was interested in improving the grand new vicarage he had inherited from Avery Moore.
| Perhaps as an ornament or possibly with conservation in mind, he assembled an arched stone window frame (left over from previous work on the Abbey Church) in the rear garden of the vicarage where it makes a very attractive feature. The house later derived the name Folly House from this structure. |
Berthon's arch built in his garden
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Berthon would certainly have been aware of Avery Moore's problem with the site and his attempts to acquire the adjoining public land as part of the church glebe. Twenty years after the departure of Avery Moore, he thought it prudent to re-open the subject with the Corporation and this appears to have met with some success. In 1880 an agreement was drawn up between Berthon and the Corporation. It allowed Berthon to lease the triangle of land adjoining the vicarage (the area that is now grassed) provided he erected and maintained a fence around it. Surprisingly, the lease carried no caveat that Berthon should immediately give up his rights at the demand of the Corporation. Over the 25 years since Avery Moore's vicarage problem the Corporation seemed to have become less diligent in its approach to the Public Trust which governed the use of the Public Walk.
For some reason that is not clear, Berthon suddenly dropped the idea. Possibly he had referred the lease to the Church Commissioners whose legal adviser, Mr Ker, had in 1855 so emphatically denied that the Corporation was legally entitled to let, sell or give away the land. However, in Berthon’s time the Corporation had made up its mind to fence off and let the land. In doing so it breached the Public Trust.
Berthon's long and productive incumbency came to an end in 1892 when he was replaced by the Reverend Cooke Yarborough.
1. Berthon was remarkably inventive and among his inventions was a folding boat which was manufactured in Romsey on a site that is now Lortemore car park. A copy of his autobiography can be found in Romsey public library.
