The following is an imperfect list of the Incumbents of Battlefield,
chiefly taken from the Parish Registers, which commence in 1663. From
1749 until 1875, Battlefield and Uffington were held together by the same
Incumbent.
1553. Edwarde Shorde, formerly chaplain, left in charge by the King’s
Commissioners.
16.. Thomas Orpe, ejected from Stanton-Hine, preferred by Mr. Pelham
Corbet to Battlefield, which was then worth 5 marks per annum.
1694. Roger Eddowes, curate; mar. 21 Jan. 1717, Elizabeth Young; died 1
May, 1728. His widow was buried 12 April, 1731.
1749. Leonard Hotchkiss, M.A., St. John’s Coll., Cambridge; for 19 years
Headmaster of Shrewsbury School; died 12 November, 1771, aged 80; buried
in S. Mary’s, Salop. Sarah, his wife, died in 1759, aged 81. His
portrait is in the entrance hall at Shrewsbury School.
1772. Beaumont Dixie, of Emmanuel Coll., Cambridge; son of Rev. Beaumont
Dixie and Elizabeth, dau. of Andrew Corbet, of Shrewsbury; vicar of St.
Peter’s, Derby, 1773; died at Dalbury, co. Derby, 10 May, 1786; he mar.
Margaret, dau. of Richard Shewin, and his eldest son, Sir Beaumout Dixie,
succeeded in 1806 as sixth baronet.
1786. Edward Williams, M.A. and Fellow of All Souls’ College Oxford; the
well-known Shropshire topographical collector; several of his MSS. are
now in the British Museum; others were sold at Lord Berwick’s sale in
1843. He died 3 Jan. 1833, aged 70, and was buried on the south side of
the church on the 10th.
1833. John Oliver Hopkins, M.A., of Magdalen College, Cambridge, vicar
until 1851; afterwards vicar of St. Mary’s, Salop, 1852; died 1 August,
1853, buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard on the N.E. corner. His widow,
Beatrice Julia, daughter of Egerton Leigh, esq., re-married in 1859 the
Rev. Robert Linden Burton.
1852. Arthur James Pigott, B.A. and postmaster of Merton Coll., Oxford;
3rd son of the Rev. John Dryden Pigott, of Edgmond; born at Edgmond;
rebuilt Uffington, and restored Battle field Church; resigned his
incumbency, 1872; died at Uffington, 19 July, 1881, aged 64.
1872. Thomas Bainbridge, B.A., St. John’s Coll., Cambridge; vicar of
Uffington 1872 to 1875, when the vicarages were divided.