The Register of Monk Hopton – General Information

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Monk Hopton Registers.
Monk Hopton is a parish and village four miles south of Wenlock, in the hundred of Stottesdon, rural deanery of Wenlock, and diocese of Hereford.  The area is 2,324 acres; and the population in 1881 was 169, and in 1891, 198.  The Hon. Richard T. Lawley is lord of the manor and patron of the vicarage.
The Parish Register Abstract, 1831, gives this account of the Monk Hopton Registers: – “Monk Hopton P.C. No. 1. Bap. Bur. Marr. 1698 – 1765.  No. II Bap. Bur. 1766 – 1812.  No. III Marr. 1768 – 1812.”  As will be presently seen, the dates are not accurately given in this return.
The first volume extends from Nov. 1698 to Dec. 1761.  It contains 18 leaves of parchment, 10 ¾  by 7 ½  inches, in a brown leather cover.  It has no heading, or fly-leaf at the beginning, and possibly may have lost some earlier leaves.  It is in fair condition, and is well written.

The second volume contains entries of baptisms and burials from Jan, 1762 to Dec. 1812, and a few entries of marriages from 1805 to 1811, but all these also occur in Vol. III.  It consists of 23 leaves of parchment, 10 ½ by 6 ½ inches, partly interleaved with blotting paper on which a few entries are written, in a parchment cover.  At the end of this book are several entries of the year 1766, which in the body of the work are placed under the year 1765.  The volume is in good condition, and the entries are well written and legible.
The third volume contains entries of marriages from 1756 to 1812.  It is a paper book, in the usual printed form, in a parchment cover, and 22 pages are filled with entries.  Outside is written, “Monk Hopton Register for Marriages, 1768.  Morgan Jones.”  This date, when Mr. Jones commenced his ministry here, led to the mistake in the return above referred to.
The family of Littleton is the most important one that occurs n these Registers.  Its members are styled “Mr.” or “gent.”  The entries of Adney, also styled “Mr.,” of Mitton, and of Smallman are also of interest.
The clergy named in the Registers are as follows:-
1698.        George Lem, Clerk.
1713 – 19.    Robert Whittingham, Minister
1719 – 25    John Rogers, Minister. [? M.A. Christ Church, Oxford]
1725 – 32    Daniel Plumpton, Curate.
1753 – 56    William Parsons, Curate.
1759 – 62    John Attwood, Curate.
1760 – 66    Edmund Pryce, Curate.
1768 – 71    Morgan Jones, Curate.
1773 – 77    Robert Williams, Curate.
1779 – 87    John Atwood, Minister.
1791 – 94    George Braithwaite, Curate.
1799        Thomas Wright, Curate.
1800 – 9    W. R. Jones, Curate. [? M.A. Christ Church, Oxford.]
1810 – 12    Joseph Morris, Curate. [? B.A. Wadham College, Oxford, and Rector of Tasley 60 years.]
1809 – 12    Thomas Denison Tinklar, Minister.  On 5 March, 1818, he had a license of non-residence until 31 Dec., 1819, there being no parsonage house, and he having a licensed Curate residing near the parish.
1841 – 69    Robert William Dayrell, Vicar; M.A. Magdalen College, Cambridge.
1869 – 77    John Gibson, Vicar; M.A. Trinity College, Dublin; also Vicar of Acton Round.
1877        Samuel Boot.
1884        Samuel Gracie Hayward; also Rector of Upton Cressett.
The Church is dedicated to St. Peter, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch and western tower, and has a fine Norman window.  It was restored about 1840.  A chapel existed at Hopton from a very early period, and was confirmed in 1331 by Thomas, Bishop of Hereford, to Wenlock Prior, as a dependent of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Wenlock.  Iverard, chaplain of Hopton, attested a deed in 1180.
Monk Hopton is not named in Domesday, but was probably then a part of the manor of Oxenbold, which was dismembered before 1255, in consequence of some previous grant to Wenlock Priory.  At an early date Hopton, with Weston and Muckhall, passed to Wenlock Priory, and belonged to it until the dissolution.  The manor and advowson afterwards came to Lord Wenlock’s family.
The present transcript was made by Mr. T. R. Horton, and has since been compared with the original Registers by the Rev. W. G. D. Fletcher, F.S.A., who has also passed the proof sheets through the press.  They are here printed by the kind permission of the Rev. Samuel Gracie Hayward, the present Vicar of Monk Hopton, and Rector of Upton Cressett.