The above was extracted for the Priors Marston Parish Plan, which was adopted by the Parish Council in 2005, and endorsed by Stratford District Council and, if you scroll down the page,  you'll discover lots more about our village, alternatively click on the links to the left, or any of the underlined words or phrases contained within this web site.

Now, who are we to argue with a local authority, however if a population of around 500 makes this a large village what is a small one?

The village has several key areas that are of particular quality and do much to raise the profile of the settlement and these are discussed in a later section.  The Conservation Area encompasses most of the village and although there are some weak areas, standards of development within the Conservation Area are generally high. Improvement and refurbishment work on old buildings is sensitive to the character of the village.

Approximately a quarter of Priors Marston’s 500 or so residents are aged under 18, another quarter aged over 60 with the remainder being in between. They are equally divided between male and female and 46% go to work, 23% to school and 19% are retired. Of those in work or at school, approximately 50% travel out of the village, some as far away as London. A third of the respondents have lived in the village for less than 5 years and a fifth for over 25 years.

Priors Marston is situated on gently sloping land that rises 12 metres over one kilometre from north to south. The village is virtually level on its east to west axis, but on its eastern periphery the land rises steeply from circa 144 metres to 188 metres to the crest of Marston Hill and lies within ironstone Uplands of the District.

As a consequence, Marston Hill provides a backdrop to the village when it is viewed from the west; views and vistas are mainly introverted with the longest along roads and these are generally limited to between 100 to 200 metres. The village can be seen almost in its entirety from Marston Hill, but hardly at all from the western and northern approaches.

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Approaches to the village are via small country roads that bend and curve their way towards Priors Marston. The accesses into the village as a result are incidental rather than monumental; the greatest impact occurs at The Green where the richness of mature trees, wide expanses of grassed verges and attractive buildings give a sense of arrival. The greatest vehicular movement is in the vicinity of The Green with traffic entering and passing through the village from Southam, Byfield and Hellidon.  As a consequence the north-eastern and central parts of the village being comparatively quiet with less traffic movement. The other three approaches from Napton and Shuckburgh; from Priors Hardwick and the alternative approach from Hellidon through Keys Lane are much quieter. Which ever way you approach our village from you will find a peaceful and tranquil community where strangers are only friends we haven't made yet. All we would ask is that you respect our community in the same way as you would expect yours to be treated and wherever possible please try to preserve the integrity of our valuable greens - parking upon them causes untold damage and disruption. Oh yes, you may see some 30 mph speed signs - they are there for a purpose, 30 mph means just that, so please adhere to them, or even better, keep to 20!

The landscape at Priors Marston is characterised by the abundance of trees and shrub planting that line roads, paths and define borders, edges and gardens. Species are rich and varied.  The most notable landscape feature of Priors Marston has to be the Churchyard which contains two magnificent Cedars of Lebanon, mature Yews, mature Ash, an Incense Cedar, Laburnum trees and scattered groups of Holly and Laurel shrubs.

The wide grassed verges at Priors Marston are a key component in the landscape and these must be fostered; at present they are well maintained.  There are fine examples of Weeping Ash in the vicinity of The Green.

In Priors Marston, there are three main greens, which reflect the development of the village through the ages. The earliest village was to the north and northwest of the existing, on both sides of Shuckburgh Road almost as far as the old watering pool and into the field where the Village Hall and adjacent houses now stand.

This (Northern) Green was part of all this and extended to the east up Keys Lane and Vicarage Lane, linking to the churchyard in front of The Orchard. It is generally recognised that, with the earlier greens, the Church is always very close. On a Spencer Estate plan of about 1750, this is shown as ‘the Common’.

As the village developed further south, another open space or Green was established running from where the telephone box now stands to the east as far as Westwood House, back to the churchyard wall to the north side where the remnants of the Village Pound still exist. This was where stray livestock would be kept until claimed by the owners who would have to pay a fine.

Up to about a hundred years ago, village workshops and a smithy stood where the Holly Bush Inn car park is now situated. It is possible that the earliest school was also on this site, all facing onto this Middle Green.

The newest green runs south from the Holloway (Shuckburgh Road) to the Byfield Road junction and was formed in the early sixteenth century when some of the existing houses were built. Here again it is a different shape but is the most recognisable as a green. It is unlikely that it was ever used for farming purposes; there used to be a sawpit on Chestnut Bank and in recent years a bus shelter and War Memorial have been erected. 
 

There is an interesting history of paths and roads through the Parish from very early times. We are set on the very ancient Ridgeway track, an Iron Age trading route locally linking Nadbury Camp Edgehill to Arbury Camp at Catesley - then out to Borough Hill Daventry. The Salt Road dating from at least the Roman occupation links Droitwich to Northampton and was used to carry salt for meat preservation and general trading runs across the centre of the Parish east to west.

The Jurassic Way dates from prehistory, stretches from the Severn to the Humber and was used by hunters and traders generally following the Jurassic Ridge, on which we lay, and is only half mile from the County border at the top of the hill. The Welsh Drovers Road enters the Parish, and running north to south forms the boundary with Priors Hardwick. It was used for several hundred years prior to the railways to drive livestock from the Welsh farms and others on route to the London markets. The main coaching route from Warwick to London ran through the village on its way to Towcester and was such an important link a High Constable was stationed here to deter highwaymen. The Oxford-Coventry canal opened in 1778.

The Field footpath and Bridleway network we have today has been established for several hundred years and was originally brought into use to get to places of work and adjacent villages. In turn, the paths linked to others to get further afield. They often are a shorter, more direct route than the Highways, and they take one through some interesting countryside. The Paths and Bridleways are mainly used for recreational purposes today and are surveyed, maintained and signposted by a small team of Parish volunteers in conjunction with the County Council Parish Partnership Scheme. Larger works are carried out by the County Council, as is the maintenance of the Village footpaths with tarmac and brick surfaces.

Because the early settlers had mainly light softwood forests to clear, they were drawn to the area to farm agricultural land and with its ready water supply it was ideal to group their dwellings together to form early villages. The Doomsday survey of 1086 records very little woodland but large acreage of arable and meadow in this, the Feldon area.

The name Priors Marston is from the Anglo Saxon ‘merse’ meaning marsh, with ‘ton’ meaning town. The Priors being added by the Benedictine Priory of Coventry when the manorship was endowed to them.  The village is mentioned in the Doomsday survey as part of Priors Hardwick, but in 1236 was listed as a separate place. After the dissolution of Coventry Priory in 1539, the manorship passed through several hands until it was granted to Robert Lord Spencer in 1602. About a third of the parish was owned by the Spencers, but was let to tenants so not farmed by the family. They are still Lord of the Manor.

The original water supply for the village was from numerous wells but in about 1910 a piped system from spring fed tanks on the hill was installed. A mains supply came in 1948. Electricity arrived in 1934 and mains drainage in 1962, all of which made the village expansion possible.

"A village is only as good as its inhabitants" is an often quoted saying and Priors Marston is no exception.  According to the 1837 census, about 30 percent of the population was directly employed in agriculture, with about twice that number working in the immediate area on other rural jobs such as iron ore extraction, brick making, blacksmithing, building etc. Sixty years later with the continuing impact of the Industrial Revolution and the crisis in farming, the number of labourers working on the land declined and this altered the parish structure both in housing and population. The figure for the census of 1831 was 655 inhabitants, and in 1891 was 554 with a continuing decline to a low of 386 in 1951.

Since then with the extensive new building, enlargements and barn type conversions, the number of dwellings has risen from 100 to about 200. It is interesting to note that only six houses were erected between 1900 and 1950, and there were numerous demolitions. The present population of around 500 has been reasonably steady for the last three decades.

The village includes a wide variety of different types and styles of building, from traditional Horton Stone cottages, farm houses and houses many of which are listed, through to more recent brick built structures that are not always in sympathy with earlier examples.

There are several houses dated from the mid sixteen hundreds:- The Old Manor, Westview House, and The Orchards still with thatched roofs. Court Leet Manor (dated 1663), The Chestnuts Farmhouse (dated 1659), Keys House (dated 1660), Low House (dated 1664), The Hermitage (dated 1618), Falcon House, The Cedars, The Old Vicarage. All these houses have had alterations, extensions, and general remodelling which has altered their original appearance.

A further number of houses were built about the middle of the 1700s, perhaps prompted by the Enclosure Act of 1758 which so radically altered farming methods with the farm houses being built away from the village.  There was also a further burst of building activity about a hundred years later.

Half of the homes are pre 20th Century with the bulk of the remainder being built post 1945 and 80% owner occupied. Less than 20% were listed buildings.  Many homes are heated by more than one energy source and about half of the Respondents want the Parish Council to investigate alternative sources of power such as wind power.

Almost all homes had a telephone and three quarters are connected to the internet.  Just over half of the properties are detached.  There are 20 former semi-detached council houses, most of which have now been privately purchased and also 7 old people’s bungalows.

Priors Marston enjoys, many good facilities namely, St.Leonard’s Church, the Priors School, the Village Hall, Sub-Post Office, the Holly Bush Inn, playing field, playground and the Sports and Social Club, some of which are shared with neighbouring Priors Hardwick.  Its many organisations also operate jointly with Priors Hardwick.  The village does however lack a shop and petrol station although such are available in nearby Napton and Byfield.

The village hall is known as The Priors Hall, which is the culmination of a project that was conceived by the two villages of Priors Marston and Priors Hardwick to replace the existing one. We have taken the traditional concept of the village hall and reshaped it to meet the needs of the two villages in the next millennium. The Priors Hall not only offers a large area where sports such as badminton and volleyball can be played, but also provides an ideal space for parties, weddings and business meetings. The hall has been designed to accommodate up to 250 people and there are good catering facilities. The Priors Hall also houses the Sub-Post Office and provides five offices for local businesses, which funds the maintenance of the building.  It also houses a broadband Base Station providing a service to the Offices and nearby residents. The Main Hall is used by a Badminton group, a Mothers and Toddlers group, the Women’s Institute and the Fun Club for young children, a Coffee and Chat group, the Priors Painters and Indoor Bowls group. The Priors Hall was funded by a Millennium Lottery grant, a grant from Stratford-on-Avon District Council, loans and gifts from villagers and also by the residents of the two villages by way of the Parish Precept. In addition, grants were received from the Carnegie Trust to provide furniture and equipment.

The land for the playground belongs to the Priors School but the equipment was provided by the Parish Council and installed by volunteers from the village. The maintenance of the playground is by the Parish Council, which was paid for by Stratford-on-Avon District Council but in future will be by the Parish Council.

The playing field belongs to the Parish but is let to the Priors School who maintain it. It is however open for use by the whole community. It is free of charge for children’s general use provided it is booked in advance and there is a responsible adult to supervise activities.  The playing field is also available for hire for any other suitable event, which can be booked via the school.

In the past there were two main forms of communication in the village. One is by notices in the village notice board outside the Village Hall and the other is by articles/notices in the Parish Magazine.  In addition, there is a notice board in the Village Hall and notices are also displayed on the lampposts throughout the village. Flyers are also a main source of information and these are invariably distributed with the milk delivery. 

Of course we now have www.priorsmarston.com

There is a Village Directory, which includes all the telephone numbers and other pertinent information concerning the villagers and the services available.  A welcome pack is provided to all newcomers to the village.  Broadband is available in the village but mobile telephone reception is variable.

Priors Marston has a Sub-Post Office, which is situated in the Village Hall and is open three days per week handling mostly pensions and, apart from general postage, is used for paying bills which is a valuable service to the community, and should it be closed it would be a considerable loss.  The collection and delivery service was rated as generally quite good.