Percy Bacon & Brothers Stained Glass

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St Peter's, Binton: The Mystery of Sir John & Lady Johanna Greville

Sketch in Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire showing Sir John and Lady Greville.

Posted 17 December 2024.

As already mentioned, under the entry for St Peter's, Binton, Warwickshire in Dugdale's "Antiquities of Warwickshire" there is a sketch of a kneeling couple with scrolls above their heads. The title states, "In the East Window of the Chancell", and alongside the names of those depicted:

Grivell [sic]
Williamscote

This sketch depicts Sir John Greville of Milcote and his wife Johanna. Pinning down their exact identities is somewhat of a puzzle, not least because the Greville family was well represented in the midlands of England, and in that family there were a considerable number of male issue named John. The identity of John Greville is not in doubt, but the inclusion of the name Williamscote in Dugdale's sketch has, it seems, led to considerable confusion as to Johanna's true identity.

Dealing with Sir John Greville first. Save for the sketch in his first edition of "Antiquities of Warwickshire" (1656) William Dugdale does not mention Greville in any detail under Binton.¹ The main entry for John Greville is under Milcote. The Greville's connection with Binton is therefore left hanging somewhat, and begs another question; why was this particular glass in the medieval church at Binton when this Sir John has more connection with Milcote and Weston-on-Avon where he was buried? Even Dugdale was a little unsure about his facts and writes:

"Of this name, viz. Greyvill or Greynvill (for both ways it is written) there was an elder date in this County, as in Burmington I have shewed; but whether that they of Campden were of the same line I cannot say: and therefore of what family this William Grevill was I am yet to learn".

However, he goes on with confidence:

Sir John Greville as depicted in the Kempe
window in the north aisle.

"..as also what is memorable of him other than his death, which hapned in 2 H. 4 [1401] at Campden above specified; in the Parish Church whereof he lyeth buried leaving Joane his wife, sister of Sir Philip Thonbury Kt. surviving, who lived a long time after, and John his son and heir, but by a former wife, as may seem by the Entail before mentioned; which John resided also at Campden and being Shiriff of Gloucestershire and the Marches of Wales in 6 H. 4 [1405] bore for his Arms Or, upon a Cross engrailed, within the like border sable, x annulets of the first, with a mullet of 5 points in the dexter quarter. This John wedded Joyce, Sister to Hugh, but daughter of Walt. Cokesey; by reason whereof, Thomas her grandchild became heit to Cokesey's lands, as I shall shew by and by. But John the son and heir to the same John and Joyce dwelt at Cherleton-Regis in coun Glouc. and by the death of Joan his grandfather's second wife, hapning in 28 H. 6 [1450] came to posses this Mannour of Milcote (which she held during life) where making then his residence, be bacame first a Justice of the Peace in this Shire, from the last year of K. H. 6 reign [1471]; then seil [so to speak] in 1. E. 4. Shiriff of this County and Leicestershire. In 5 E. 4 he was Knighted. In 13 E. 4 [1474] he again bore the Office of Shiriff for these Shires; in which year he had livery of the lands descended to him by death of his mother: and in 17 E. 4. [1478] being then Shiriff the third time, bore the same cote that his father did, excepting the Annulets upon the Cross, as by his Picture, together with his wife, both kneeling in their surcotes of Armes in the East Window of the Parish Church at Binton in this County, appeareth; but departed this life 6 Aug. 20 E. 4 [1480] and was buried in the Church of Weston Super Avon, as may be seen by the direction of his Testament; leaving Thomas his sone and heir, and two daughters; viz. Anne and Margaret: which Thomas, in respect of the inheritance he enjoyed by descent from his grandmother, assumed the surname of Cokesey..."

The Grevilles are thought to have arrived and settled in Chipping Campden by 1276, and the grandfather of our John (he who is depicted with his wife in the window of Binton church), William Greville (d. 1401) was one of the richest and most influential of the Cotswolds wool merchants, and with his wealth had invested in a considerable amount of property in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, including the Manor of Milcote near Stratford upon Avon. This manor, along with others would remain in the possession of his wife Joan (or Johanna), the stepmother of our John's father, also called John (henceforth John Snr). Joan, as Dugdale mentions outlived William by many years, suggesting she was actually considerably younger than him. It was through her that the manor of Milcote passed on her death to our John (henceforth John Jnr). John Snr had abandoned being a wool merchant some time after his father's death and seems to have had a charmed and lucrative life, being three times Sheriff of Gloucestershire, four times a Member of Parliament and sometime counselor to the Duke of Bedford, King Henry V's brother. Inheritances from marriage also substantially increased his fortune and posessions.² At the time of John Snr's death in 1444 his son, John Jnr was just 17 years of age. It was not until 1449 on the death of his grandmother, Joan, that he inherited from her the manor of Milcote and took up residence there. John Snr's second wife Joyce, mother to John Jnr, and daughter of William Cokesey a Worcestershire landowner, outlived John Snr by 30 years and married twice more, firstly to Walter Beauchamp and second to Leonard Stapleton. She was to inherit the Cokesey Estates from her brother, Hugh Cokesey, on his death in 1445 and further on his widow's death in 1460. The Cokesey estates would eventually pass to John Jnr's son Thomas, who changed his name to Cokesey. Thomas died in 1497 without issue and his estate passed to his nephew, another John Greville of Milcote, who, according to Dugdale, also married a Johanna. This further muddies the water.

Lady Johanna Greville as depicted in the
Kempe window in the north aisle.

So much for Sir John Greville. Unravelling the true lineage of his wife, Johanna, is considerably more tricky and fraught with uncertainty. Dugdale seems to have been the source of this confusion. It is clear that the correspondents to "Notes and Queries" between January and March of 1913 also found the task difficult.³ However, some tantalizing clues arise, notably from the correspondent "A. M." ⁴ and also from the coat of arms on Johanna's cloak in the Kempe window, and in the sketch provided by Dugdale (although the latter is not especially clear). A. M. states that they personally saw the medieval window before the medieval church was demolished^,5 and doubtless noted the colouring. "A. M." identifies the arms as, Azure, an eagle displayed argent, a bordure fleury argent, as that of Vampage. As a direct result of Dugdale's annotation in his sketch, there was a lot of speculation in the correspondences in Notes and Queries as to whether there was a difference of spelling or corruption of "Williamscote"; e.g. Wimcote, Wilcott, Willicot etc. If Dugdale had identified Johanna by her coat of arms, an obvious trip hazard would be encountered, as the arms of Wilcott are Azure, an eagle displayed argent. Note the Wilcott arms are absent the bordure or tressure.

In Notes and Queries A.M. goes on to quote the Rev J H Bloom, who stated that Johanna was actually Anne, daughter of Sir William Vampage. In the final piece of correspondence on the subject in Notes and Queries⁶ one St Clair Baddesley boldly suggests that Johanna had been married previously to a Williamscote, and was her given name when she married Greville. Unfortunately this leaves us none the wiser as to Johanna's true lineage

Perhaps the most authoritative biography of this line of the Greville family was written by Joseph Edmondson and published in 1766.⁷ Edmondson follows the same lineage outlined by Dugdale, but adds one key piece of information; "By Joan, his [John Greville's] wife, daughter of William Scote, he left Thomas, his only son and heir...". Dugdale's annotation, "Williamscote" was not, it seems, Johanna's surname, but (according to Edmondson) the name of her father, William Scote. This information is repeated on a number of genealogical websites with Johanna being identified as Joan Scote (Vampage). Unfortunately I have yet to find any corroborative references to either William Scote, or if Joan acquired the name Vampage by birth (as Bloom suggests) or by marrying into that family prior to her marriage to John Greville. This latter theory may be more likely and also account for the word "relicta" (widowed) against Johanna's name in Greville family tree drawn by Dugdale under his entry for Milcote.

Both Bloom and Edmondson could be mistaken; The Visitations of the County of Worcester under the name Handford, suggests Anne Vampage was daughter of John Vampage and Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Walter.⁸ Against the entry for her the words vxor (wife of) Sr. John Greville K. Unfortunately Visitations does not give dates so it is hard to conclude this was our John and Johanna. Dudley George Cary Elwes, in his history of the castles, mansions, and manors of western Sussex outlines the pedigree of the De Braose of Bramber and the tree extends to our Sir John being married to "Johanna or Anne" Vampage".⁹ This is undoubtedly the Greville line associated with the window in Binton Church, but there is nothing connecting Johanna to anyone to corroborate "Visitations".

Extract from the De Braose of Bramber family tree.

Extract from Visitations of Shropshire

There are two further references which seem to confirm Johanna's or Anne's connection to William Vampage, and corrobrating the comment attributed to Bloom; The first is from The Visitation of Shropshire Taken in the Year 1623.¹⁰ Here in the entry for the St Piere (or St Peter) lineage the note against Anne's name (or in this case Anna") reads "fil. Will'i Vampage. But perhaps the most authoritative confirmation comes from Collins's Peerage of 1741. The entry for Greville, Lord Brook, makes a lot of references to Dugdale, but makes no bones about who Lady Johanna Greville's father is;

"In 13 Edw. IV he [Sir John Greville] again bore the office of Sheriff of those shires and ...[he] bore the same coat of arms as his father did, excepting that the Annulets on the Cross, as by his picture, together with his wife, both kneeling in their surcoats of Arms, in the east window of the parish church at Binton in County Warwickshire appeareth. He departed this life, 6 Aug 20 Edw. IV. [1481] and was buried in St Anne's Chapel, in the church of Weston-Super-Avon, as may be seen by the direction of his testament, leaving (by Anne, his Wife, Daughter of Sir William Vampage, Kt), Thomas, his sone and heir, 26 years of age".

This does not fully explain the entry in Visitations of the County of Worcester 1569 (Ed. Phillimore, W. P. W.), which has Anna the daughter of John Vampage and Elizabeth Walter.¹¹ However it does give the coat of arms of this branch of the Vampage family which provides perhaps the best clue of all. Differences occur in the Vampage coats of arms, most likely to discriminate the various branches of the family; e.g. one Vampage branch has; Azure, an eagle displayed argent, beaked and membered or, within a single tressure fleury of the second. Indeed, the eagle in the Kempe window does have a golden beak and claws, though the feet are silver which would not be entirely correct for that branch. However, looking very closely at the Kempe window, it seems clear that the coat of arms on Johanna's cloak has a double tressure counterflory. This coat of arms is identified by Phillimore under the entry for Handford as belonging to Sir Bryan Vampage of county of Worcester (probably Pershore) whose line extends to Anne who married Sir John Greville.¹² These arms are; Azure, an eagle displayed, within a double tressure counterflory argent. Dugdale's sketch does not seem to show a double tressure, but he was reknowned for inaccuracies in his drawings. Given that "A. M." states that part of the medieval window was "found" in around 1913 at the time the scheme for the window was being planned, it is also possible that more than just the coat of arms was preserved (even fragmentary remains) and the Kempe Studio artists were able to inspect the heraldic devices more closely and create an accurate representation of the coat of arms in the new window.

Johanna's lineage from Sir Bryan Vampage is the most likely. It is also more likely that her father was John Vampage, not William, and certainly not William Scote. Dugdale's cryptic error in the sketch which appeared in his Antiquities of Warwickshire has a lot to answer for. However, this still leaves hanging the question of why the images of John and Johanna Greville were in the church at Binton rather than Weston-on-Avon. Sir John had provided funds for the church at Weston and that is where he directed he should be buried. There is also evidence that he paid for a priest to pray for his soul (and presumably that of his wife). The Chapel no longer exists and was probably demolished in the 16th century during the suppression of the Chantries. Although I have found no supporting evidence, it is not unreasonable to speculate that the medieval window had originally been installed in St Anne's Chapel in the church at Weston-upon-Avon and that it was translated to Binton church to save it from destruction.

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References: Use your browser's Back button to return to text.

Dugdale, William; Antiquities of Warwickshire, 1656, p529. Note in the later edition of 1730 updated by William Thomas DD see page 706.
The History of Parliament Website; Entry for John Greville of Sezincote, Glos.
Notes and Queries, 11th Series, Volume VII, January -June 1913: pages; 8, 49, 75, 93, 115, 192
Ibid, Feb 1, 1913; p93.
Ibid, Mar 8, 1913; p192.
Ibid, Mar 29, 1913; p257.
Edmondson, J. An Historical and Genealogical Account of the Noble Family of Greville; 1766.
The Visitation of the County of Worcester made in the year 1569; pp68-69; Pillamore, W. P. W. 1888.
A history of the castles, mansions, and manors of western Sussex; Elwes, Dudley George Cary; p48 (under Bramber").
The Visitation of Shropshire Taken in the Year 1623; Publications of the Harlian Society Treswell, R. & Vincent, A: 1889. p 425
The Visitation of the County of Worcester made in the year 1569; pp68-69; Pillamore, W. P. W. 1888.
Ibid.

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