Smeeton / Combe Abbey / Combe Fields / Lower Smite / Smite / Smitham

There is an entry for Smeeton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SP4180/smeeton/] [accessed 27 January 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. West's entry for Combe Fields (1831: 729), Warwickshire, notes: "Combe Fields [...] was originally two villages, bearing the name of Over-smite and Nether-smite. In Doomsday book it is written Smitham, and was a place of considerable interest, and is indeed at the present period from its noble and leading feature, Combe Abbey erected on the foundation of a monastery of the Cistercian order, founded in the reign of King Stephen, by Richard de Camvill. It was the first settlement of the monks of this order in the county". The Victoria County History (Warwick, vol. 6, 1951) notes: "Brinklow was originally a chapelry of Smite, and was granted with the parent church, in the reign of Henry I [i.e., 1100-1135], by Samson de Albenei with the consent of Roger de Mowbray to the priory of Kenilworth", which makes Smite [aka Smeeton, Smitham] the mother church at the time. The VCH entry for Combe Fields (ibid.) adds: "The church of Smite was evidently given by Roger de Mowbray to Samson d'Aubigny, who was a clerk of Roger de Clinton, Bishop of Chester (1129–48), as Samson gave the church with its chapel of Brinklow to Kenilworth Priory, his gift being confirmed by Roger de Mowbray [...] and later by Henry II. [...] When the abbey of Combe was founded the monks must have acquired the church from Kenilworth and no more is heard of it. The fabric was still standing, with a cemetery attached to it, [...] having presumably been used as a chapel served by the monks, until the dissolution of the abbey, after which it was allowed to decay and was converted into the present house of Peter Hall. [...] A 'tumulus' marked on the O.S. maps, north of the Abbey, is of doubtful antiquity. Due east of it is Peter Hall, a farmhouse largely of 18th-century red brick but incorporating the remains of the church of Smite, consisting of chancel, nave, and south aisle, built of red sandstone ashlar, which survives to first-floor level and in places up to the eaves. [...] Combe Abbey occupies the site and includes a few remains of the Cistercian abbey. Towards the end of the 16th century John (afterwards Lord) Harington built a house incorporating three sides of the 15thcentury cloister–the south side had been destroyed with the church. The next alteration seems to have been in 1667". Darby (1977: 46) writes: "In 1150, Combe Abbey in Warwickshire depopulated Smitham [...] which in 1086 had 47 households with 14 teams". [NB: the lack of mention of a church or priest in the Domesday entry does not necessarily mean there was not one there at the time].