Henry Wise and St. Gregory's Church, Offchurch

Church of St. Gregory, Offchurch. 1958.
Warwickshire County Record Office reference PH(N) 600/220/8.

Henry Wise was about 37 when he inherited Warwick Priory in 1810. Five years before this he had become the Vicar of St. Gregory’s Church, and continued there until his death in 1850.

There  is a pair of windows inside the church, near the pulpit, which commemorate Henry and his daughter Catherine, wife of Sir Thomas Wathen Waller. Her tomb is in the churchyard because she asked to be returned to Offchurch to be buried. Two of Catherine’s sisters are also buried in the churchyard; Charlotte, and Mary Patience with her husband, Charles Thomas Willes.

Whilst Vicar of Offchurch, Henry lived in the Vicarage (now Offa House, Diocesan Retreat House and Conference Centre). Henry Christopher Wise was born there and two of his children, Arthur Skipwith and Lelia Charlotte, are buried in the churchyard.

The churchyard is managed as a haven for wildlife.

The text for this article was originally published in the leaflet Explore Warwick and surrounding villages through the lives of the Wise & Waller Families, published by the Warwickshire County Record Office.

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