DUNCHURCH, a parish in the Rugby division of
the hundred of KNIGHTLOW, county of WARWICK, 15
miles (E.N.E.) from Warwick, containing, with the hamlets
of Toft and Thurlaston, 1251 inhabitants. The
living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Coventry,
and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the
king's books at £14. 1. 10., and in the patronage of
"the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. The church, dedicated
to St. Peter, is a handsome and curious edifice,
with a square embattled tower; the western porch has a
fine Norman- arch, ornamented with heads and zigzag
mouldings; the chancel is of early English architecture,
with some windows in the decorated style j the nave is
"also decorated, and the door-ways of the aisles are ornamented
with remarkably rich mouldings: the tower is
in the later English style, much enriched, but mutilated.
Here is a free grammar school, founded in 1707, and endowed
by a bequest from Francis Boughton, of twentyseven
acres of land and a house for the master, who must
be a clergyman: the same benefactor left twenty-four
acres of land, directing the produce to be applied in apprenticing
poor boys; both charities are vested in eight
trustees. In 1695, Thomas Newcombe, printer to the
kings Charles II., James II., and William III., bequeathed
property for erecting and endowing six almshouses, for
three poor men and three poor widows, which were
rebuilt in 1818. The village of Dunchurch, being a
thoroughfare on the great north road, contains some
good inns, and several respectable houses, presenting
the appearance of a small market-town; at its northern
extremity is an obelisk, where stood an ancient cross.
A court of requests is held here every three weeks.