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 NOTES 
 
 ON THE PARISHES OF 
 
 FYFIELD, KIMPTON, PENTON MEWSEY, 
 WEVHILL AND WHERWELL, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 COUNTY OF HAMPSHIRE 
 
 BY 
 
 Elje l\el). Uotm l^aUilei? iffUittniuuU, Jf.ir>..a.; 
 
 REVISED AND EDITED BY 
 
 EDWARD DORAN WEBB, F.S.A. 
 
 SALISBURY : 
 BENNETT BROTHERS, PRINTERS, JOURNAL OFFICE. 
 
 i«98. 
 coFVKiciir.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 List of Subscribers 
 
 Preface 
 
 Chapter I.— Fifield and Some of Its Associations 
 
 „ II. — KiMPTON 
 
 „ III.— Weyhill 
 
 „ IV.— The Story of Wherwell Abbey 
 V. — Penton Mewsey 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 iii 
 
 vi 
 
 1 
 
 52 
 
 84 
 152 
 
 188 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of the Author Faciug- Title 
 
 Frontispiece, Anna Valley from Bury Hill 1 
 
 Fifield Church 4 
 
 Parson White's House at Fifield 9 
 
 KiMPTON Church 52 
 
 Plan of the Site of Wherwell Abbey 152 
 
 Penton Mewsey Church 188 
 
 Bell found at Penton Mewsey July, 1845 192
 
 -> / ' 
 
 
 UNIVEIISITY OF CALTFORNIS 
 
 G.\:\'TA XSAUBAllA 
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 COPIES. 
 
 Abi'am, Gr. S., Esq., 106, London Road, Reading ... ... 1 
 
 Abram, E. A., 45, Greeuci'oft Gardeas ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Atterbnry, Mrs. K. L. St. Moritz, Cranes Park, Snrbiton ... 4 
 
 Awdry, Rev. W. H., Lvidgersliall, Andover ... ... ... 1 
 
 Bailey, W., Esq., London Hospital, E. ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Baker, Rev. Dr., Merchant Taylors' School, London, E.G. ... 1 
 
 Bail, Rev. J., Harland Rise, Glebe Avenue, Enfield ... ... 1 
 
 Beach, W. W., Esq., m.p., Oakley Manor, Basing.stoko ... 1 
 
 Beddingtou, H. M., Esq., 8, Cromwell Terrace, Regent's Park, W. 2 
 
 Bennett, F. J., Esq., F.G.S., Belle Vue, London Road, Salishnry 1 
 
 Best, Mrs., Abbotts Ann, Andover ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Bird, Arthur, Esq., 6, Bedford Row .. ... ... ... 3 
 
 Bird, A. H., Esq., 2, Kelfield Gardens, North Kensington, W. 1 
 
 Bird, S., Esq., 20, Bedford Street, Covent Garden, W.C. ... 1 
 
 Bird, S. J., Esq., Upper Grange Road .. ... ... ... 3 
 
 Bird, W., Esq., 24, Wyuustay Gardens, Kensington, W. .. 1 
 
 Bridge, Mrs. M., 44, St. James' Square, Nottiug Hill, London ... 1 
 
 Brown, G. S., Esq., 17, Cheyue Gardens, Chelsea, S.W. ... 1 
 
 Brown, St. John, Esq., 26, Percy Circus, London, W.C. ... 1 
 
 Buckman, P., Esq., 8, Portland Place, "West Kensington ... 1 
 
 Butt, Mrs., Finkley, Andover 1 
 
 Chalke, Mrs. R. J., Inveresk, Bournemouth ... ... .. 1 
 
 Clark, E., Esq., Western Lodge, Andover 1 
 
 Cluttcrbuck, A. W., Esq., 230, Finchley Road, Loudon ... 3 
 
 Cokayne, G. E., Esq., College of Arms, London, E.C. ... 3 
 
 Coles, Rev. E. T., Knight's Enham Rectory, Andover ... 1 
 
 Cotton, Miss A. O. R, 21, East Park, Southami)ton 1 
 
 Crews, C. T. D., E.sq., Billingbear, Wokiiigliam, Berks ... 6 
 
 Dickens, H., Esq., Atterstouc, Eton Avenue 2 
 
 Dickenson, Rev. C. R. Ponton Mcwsey Rectory, Andover ... 1 
 
 Dorling, Rev. E. E., The Close, Salisbury 1 
 
 Dudley, J., Esq., May field, Cheriton, Hants 1 
 
 Durham, The Vei-y Rev. Tlie Dean of. The Deanery, Durham . . 1 
 Edraeades, Rev. W. R., Groat Bedwin, Huugerford, Wilts ... 1 
 Freeman, Commander F. Williams, United Service Club, Pall 
 
 Mall 1 
 
 Freeman, J. P. Williams, Esq., M.D., Woyhill, Andover ... 1
 
 IV 
 
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 Goddard, Miss, Lower Froyle, Alton, Hants 1 
 
 Grelliei", Mrs. A., Downside, Epsom, Surrey ... ... ... 1 
 
 Grellior, W., Esq., Beddin^ton Gardens, Wallington, Surrey ... 3 
 
 Hale, Mrs., Hillside, Andover ... ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Hall, Mrs., Bratliay House, Tunbridge, Wells ... ... ... 1 
 
 Hammans, H., Esq., Clatford Lodge, Andover ... ,.. ... 2 
 
 Hammond, John J., Esq., Mitre House, Salislniry ... ... 1 
 
 Hai-mar, Colonel, Ramridge, Andover ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Heatlicote, J. A., Esq., Stock Exchange, London, E.G. ... 1 
 
 Hindson, Rev. J. H., Finkley House, Andover ... ... ... 1 
 
 Hoare, Sir Henry, Bart., Stourhead, Bath ... ... ... 1 
 
 Holbrooke, Rev. F. G., Kimpton Rectory, Andover 1 
 
 Holbrooke, Mrs., Kimpton Rectory, Andover ... ... ... 1 
 
 Jerrett, T. R., Esq., East Dean, Salisbury ... . ... 1 
 
 Keyser, G. E., Esq., F.S.A., Aldermaston Gourt, Reading ... 1 
 
 Kidstone, Rev. J. W., Weyhill Rectory, Andover ... ... 1 
 
 Kingsbury, Rev. Gauon, Salisbury ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Knatchbull, Miss, Apple.sliaw, Andover ... ... ... 2 
 
 Lugg, T. W. H., E.sq., 53, St. James' Road, Bermondsey ... 1 
 
 Lai.sh, Mrs. K. M., 52, Lower Sloane Street 1 
 
 Mansfield, A., Esq., 9, Park Hill, Ealing, W 1 
 
 Mansfield, H., Esq.. Firwood, Frans Road, Tunbridge Wells ... 2 
 
 Mansfield, Mrs., 50, Goombe Road, Groydon, Surrey ... ... 1 
 
 Marling, Sir William, Bart.. Stanley Park, Sti'oud, Gloucester 1 
 
 Mar.sland, E., Esq., 73, Sydenham Hill, S.E 1 
 
 Marsland, J., Esq., Elmside, Newlands Park, Sydenham, S.E. 1 
 
 Menzies, E. St. John, Esq., 2, The Grove, Hammersmith, W. ... 15 
 
 Merceron, H., Esq., 60, Leinster Square, London ... ... 1 
 
 Mills, Miss E., 17, London Street, Andover 3 
 
 Milman, W., E.sq., Glafford Manor. Andover 1 
 
 Moreland, J. B., Esq., Youlg-reave, Beckenham, Kent ... ... 3 
 
 Morcland, R., Esq., Highbury Gardens, London, N. ... ... 1 
 
 Muuday, J. A., Esq., The Laurels, Winchester ... ... ... 1 
 
 Newcastle, the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of. Bishop's Gourt, 
 
 Morpeth, New Soixth Wales 1 
 
 Newman, Mrs. G., 10, Saville Row, W 4 
 
 Newman, P. H., Esq., 21, Eudsleigh Gardens, London, N.W. ... 2 
 
 Norris, C., Esq., F.R.G.S., Rokeby, Putney, London, S.W. ... 1 
 
 Paravicini, Rev. F. de. Grateley Rectory, Andover ... ... 1 
 
 Phillimoro, W. P. W., Esq . 124, Ghancery Lane, Loudon, S.W. 1 
 Poore, G. V., E,sq., F.R.C.S., Neville Lodge, Woodlands, Isle- 
 worth, S.W 1 
 
 Poore, Miss M. J., Priory Lodge, Andover ... ,., ... 1 
 
 Poore, P. H.. E.sq., Highfield. Andover 1 
 
 Portal, Wyndham S., Esq., Malshanger, Basingstoke 1
 
 COPIES. 
 
 Portal, W. W., Esq., Soutliiiigtou, Ovei'tou, Hants 1 
 
 Powney, C, Esq., Fyficld House, Andover 2 
 
 Prior, Rev. E. E., Charlton Rectory, Oxford 1 
 
 Radcliffe, Rev. H. E. Deline, South Tedworth Rectory, Marl- 
 borough ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Randolph, C. F. E.sq., Kimptou Lodge, Andover 1 
 
 Ravenhill, W. W., Esq., Medbourue House, Snrbitou Hill, Surrey 2 
 
 Reeson, J., Esq,, 68, Holland Park Avenue, Loudon, W. ... 1 
 
 Reynolds, Rev. E. K., Fyfield Rectory, Andover 1 
 
 Richardson, Rev. P. J., Seaton Vicarage, East Devon 1 
 
 Rider, T. F., Esq.. Stanstead House. Durand Gardens, Stock- 
 well, S.W 1 
 
 Robbins, J. B., Esq., Millway Lodge, Andover 1 
 
 Routh, R. A., Esq., Amport, Hants ... ... ... .. 1 
 
 Rowden, Mrs., Hafod, Gordon Road, Ealing, W. 1 
 
 Rycroft, Lady Dorothea, Dunimer House, Basingstoke 1 
 
 Sanger, Miss, 36, Doughty Street, London, ■W.C. 1 
 
 Sheehy, Mrs. S., 39, Great Percy Street, London, W.C. ... 1 
 
 Simouds, H. A., Esq., Red Rice, Andover ... ... ... 1 
 
 Simms, Mrs., 5, Dean Road, Andover ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Sion College Libraiy, London, E.G. ... ... ... 1 
 
 Slee. Mrs. H., Knowle Green House, Staines 6 
 
 Slec, F. E., E.sq., B.C.L., Knowle Green House, Staines ... 1 
 
 Smith, J., Esq., Weyhill, Andover 2 
 
 Stamford, tlie Right Hon. the Earl of, 15. St. James' Place, 
 
 London, S.W 1 
 
 Steedman, Mrs. A., Ramridge Cottage, Andover 1 
 
 Stockey, Rev. W. F., Chax^lain's House, Pentonvillc Prison, N. 1 
 
 Straton, C. R., Esq., West Lodge, Wilton, Salisbury 1 
 
 Sutton, Lady Evelyn, 18, Curzon Street, Loudon 1 
 
 Tamer, G., Esq., .3.5, High Street, Marylcbone, W 2 
 
 Veitch, J. L., Esq., Salisbury 1 
 
 Wakeman, Mrs., 20, Groat Percy Street, London, W.C. .. 3 
 
 Ward, J. B., Esq., Beaufort Lodge, Strcatham Common 1 
 
 Washington, Miss, 20, Addison Road, North Kensington, W. , . 1 
 
 Wilkinson, Rev. R. P., Longparisli Vicarage, Hants 1 
 
 Wilson, Rev. Sumner, Preston Candover Vicarage, Basingstoke I 
 
 Wooldridge, J. H., Esq., Canal Wharf, Hungerford 1 
 
 Yates, E., Esq., Ivyhurst, Half Moon Lane, Didwich, Kent ... 1
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The Rev. Robert Hawley Clutterbuck, the second son of 
 Charles Clutterbuck, citizen and draper of London, and 
 Hannah his wife, was born on the first day of January, 1837, 
 and was, therefore, at the time he passed away, August the 
 tenth, 1896, in his sixtieth year. Mr. Clutterbuck came of 
 an old Gloucestershire family, their principal house was at 
 King's Stanley in that county, whose members were among 
 the chief cloth workers of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries, and whose " cloth mark " is still to be seen on the 
 doorway of a house called " Town's end" at Leonard Stanley; 
 the Arms of Clutterbuck are : — Azure, a lion rampant 
 argent, in chief three escallops of the second. Crest : — A 
 buck sejant, between two sprigs of laurel. 
 
 Mr. Clutterbuck was ordained priest in 1864 by the Bishop 
 of London, and after serving as curate at Plaistow, Essex, 
 from 1864 to 1866, and at St. Mark's, Clerkenwell, from 1866 
 to 1867, was instituted to the living of St. Philip's, Clerken- 
 well ; in 1880 he became St. Antholin's lecturer at St. Mary 
 Aldermanbury, City of London. Failing health brought on 
 by overwork caused him, when the opportunity offered itself, 
 to leave London, and in 1882 he became Rector of Knight's 
 Enham, Hants, from whence he removed in 1890 to the 
 neighbouring living of Penton Mewsey. 
 
 Mr. Clutterbuck was twice married ; by his first wife 
 Harriet, daughter of George Washington, Esq., who died 
 May, 1875, he leaves one son and three daughters, he 
 married secondly Marianna, daughter of Thomas Hyett 
 Mansfield, Esq., who survives him.
 
 VII 
 
 Mr. Cluttei'buck was the author of many pamphlets mostly 
 relating to antiquarian matters, in which he took a great 
 interest. He was a frequent contributor on such subjects to 
 the columns of the local newspapers, and articles by him 
 have appeared from time to time in the Journals of the 
 British Archneological Association, the Bristol and Gloucester- 
 shire Archneological Society, the Wiltshire Archgeological 
 Society, the Hampshire Field Club, and the Salisbury Field 
 Club. On March the tenth, 1892, he was elected a Fellow of 
 the Society of Antiquaries ; he was also a Vice-President of 
 the Hampshire and Salisbury Field Clubs, and in May, 189G, 
 had been elected on the Committee of the Salisbury and 
 South Wilts Museums, where he had several times lectured. 
 
 Mr. Clutterbuck's last appearance in public was at Salis- 
 bury on July the fourteenth, 1896, when he delivered an 
 address on "Fraternities" to the Members of the Wiltshire 
 Archseological Society on the occasion of their visit to that 
 city. 
 
 In all things that concerned the past history of the border 
 parishes of Hampshire and Wiltshire, Mr. Clutterbuck was a 
 perfect mine of information, and he had a way of imparting 
 his knowledge to others in such a manner that his addresses 
 at archaeological meetings were always looked forward to 
 by his many friends with great interest, and his cheery 
 presence was certain to ensure the success of the dullest 
 programme. 
 
 A keen antiquary with a wonderful knowledge of manuscript 
 Mr. Clutterbuck had been employing the little amount of 
 leisure time at his disposal in deciphering and printing the 
 ancient borough records of Andover ; he had also nearly 
 completed a transcript of the Black Book of Southampton for 
 the Hampshire Record Society. It was Mr. Clutterbuck's 
 intention, had he lived, to have published an account of the 
 villages in the neighbourhood of Penton Mewsey, and with
 
 Vlll 
 
 this object in view be bad contributed to the Andover 
 Advertiser and the Hampshire Observer articles on the 
 history and antiquities of Fyfield, Kimpton, Weybill and 
 Wherwell, these articles, with the addition of some notes on 
 Penton Mewsey, never before printed, the writer of this 
 Preface has, at the wish of Mr. Clutterbuck's family, re- 
 arranged and edited in their present form in the hope that 
 they will serve as a memorial, however slight, of one who did 
 such good work for the history of not only Hampshire but 
 also of our own county. 
 
 Wiltshire has lost in Mr. Clutterbuck an antiquary whose 
 wide knowledge of the study that he took so great an interest 
 in was always at the disposal of others. Speaking personally 
 of him, who now rests at Penton Mewsey in the quiet church- 
 yard which surrounds the village church that he loved so 
 well, I would like to add that, a kinder man, a truer friend, it 
 would be impossible to find, were one to search the wide 
 world over. 
 
 EDWARD DORAN WEBB. 
 
 Salisbury, July 1st, 1898,
 
 ririELD AND SOME OF ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 There can be no doubt as to the place The Village takes 
 in English literature. Many of the choicest of our classics 
 have it for their theme, and there are few English writings 
 that are better known or better loved than those which 
 describe " country scenery and country manners as they 
 exist in a small village in the South of England." I have 
 quoted this expression from one of the most precious examples 
 of these writings — Miss Mitford's "Our Village;" and I 
 own to a strong temptation to claim Miss Mitford as a 
 Hampshire authoress, for she lived for some time at Ashe, 
 where her grandfather. Dr. Russell, was rector for fifty-four 
 years. Curiously enough Miss Jane Austen's parents resided 
 in the immediate neighbourhood at the same time, so that 
 these two popular writers must have been intimately ac- 
 quainted with each other at their Hampshire home. We 
 know Miss Mitford drew her life-like pictures from a 
 " Berkshire hamlet," but my object in mentioning her is 
 partly to attract attention to the very distinctly typical 
 character of the villages of the valley of the Anton, and 
 partly to take advantage of her association of the ideal 
 enjoyment of such rural spots with another of those EngHsh, 
 thoroughly English, books, which can never lose their charm. 
 Very little apology is needed for giving the passage as it 
 stands — " Nothing is so delightful as to sit down in a 
 country village in one of Miss Austen's delicious novels, 
 quite sure before we leave it to become intimate with every 
 spot, and every person it contains, or to ramble with Mr. 
 White over his own parish of Selborue, and form a friendship 
 with the fields and coppices, as well as with the birds, mice 
 and squirrels that inhabit them." If now, for the name 
 Selborne I may substitute Fyfield, I shall have all the 
 introduction I want for the remarks I have to offer. But, at 
 the risk of spoiling the efi'ect of Miss Mitford's pleasant 
 rippling words, I sliall venture to make an addition to this 
 introduction ; and this time to ask for notice of the remarkable 
 
 B
 
 completeness of the individuality of the villages of our valley. 
 Contenting ourselves with the quiet home-like scenery of the 
 Upper Chalk, I doubt if any district could excel the typical 
 beauty of the separate village. Each perhaps has its own 
 particular feature, which is retained in the memory, but they 
 stand one by one complete, and yet lending themselves to a 
 harmony which is remarkable. Take a position on one of the 
 higher points and note the spots— for you don't see much of 
 the villages themselves from any distance — where nestle 
 Thruxton, Monxton, Fyfield, Kimpton, Penton, Enham, 
 Quarley, Araport, orGrateley ; or though not so clearly distinct 
 perhaps, Abbotts Ann and "Coodworth Clatford. The beauty 
 has other features than merely the picturesque. It is the 
 beauty of reaHsed history, the old tale of the past ever being 
 told before our eyes. As you tell off the list of parishes, with 
 their names ending in the familiar ham and ton and field and 
 ley, you are recounting a whole era of the " history of the 
 English people." You might read this passage frona Mr. 
 Green's admirable book as the most accurate description of 
 the valley, ''they live alone," Tacitus says, "each by him- 
 self, as woodside, plain, or fresh spring attracts him . . . 
 and as each dweller within the settlement was jealous of his 
 own isolation and independence among his fellow-settlers, so 
 each settlement was jealous of its independence among its 
 fellow settlements. Each little farmer-commonwealth was 
 girt by its own border or mark, a belt of forest, or waste, or 
 fen, which parted it from its fellow villages, a ring of common 
 ground which none of its settlers might take for its own." 
 While, in common with numberless other places, these 
 villages tell their Anglo-Saxon origin by the structure of 
 their names, Fyfield does more. Its name associates more 
 than the rest the modern parish with the ancient manor. In 
 Domesday the place is called " Fifhide," and it is said: — 
 " William de Malduith holds five hides of land, which were 
 held by Ulveva as a manor, allodially of King Edward, called 
 Fifield. They were then assessed at 5 hides, now at 3 hides. 
 Here are five ploughlands, one in demesne and ten villeins, 
 and five borderers with three ploughlands, also a church, two 
 servants and two acres of meadow. In the time of King 
 Edward its value was then as now 100s., and when it came 
 in possession 508." There are 1252 acres in Fyfield, and it 
 looks as if a very simple exercise in arithmetic would give us 
 a solution of the knotty problem of the area of a " hide.""
 
 But this does uot work out according to the usually accepted 
 ratio, and probably all we can say is that in this case the 
 hide represents the amount of land required for one family, 
 and that the five families here each held a hide. 
 
 The localisation of these families within the confines of the 
 Manor of Fyfield renders it quite easy to understand the con- 
 stitution of the Tything, and the grouping of the several 
 Tytldngs into the Hundred is a very plain and obvious de- 
 velopment. Thus then, I think, we may claim for Fyfield, 
 through its very name, the distinction of being a most clear 
 and illustrative example of the Manorial system. We can go 
 back to the very remote past when within its 7nark or 
 boundary there were five families. We have the inhabitants 
 of the same area; the members of the same defined com- 
 munity kept clearly distinct and separate by their association 
 in the tything ; and then the tything of Fyfield with the ten 
 other ty things, making up the " Out" or " Foreign" Hundred 
 of Andover. There is but this one very slight complication — 
 that the Hundred of Andover is divided into two parts, the In 
 and the Out Hundred. All difficulty however disappears if the 
 fact is put in this form — That comprised within the Hundred 
 of Andover is the inner circle of the Parish of Andover itself 
 (twenty-two miles in circuit), which goes by the name of the 
 In Hundred ; while the Tythings not within the parish of 
 Andover are known as the Out or Foreign Hundred. Law 
 and order were maintained within the area of the Hundred 
 by the responsible authority, who in this case were the " Go- 
 verning Body of the Borough and Town of Andover."" They 
 were the authority over the Hundred because that authority 
 with View of Frank Pledge had been granted to them by 
 Charter from the King. They were responsible to the Lord 
 King, and the Courts of Justice were held in his name. As 
 lords of the Manor of Andover that governing body had other 
 rights ; but those other rights of property as lords of the 
 Manor did not affect Fyfield in a direct way. 
 
 It is not a little singular that the small, retired, one might 
 almost say out-of-the-way, little parish, perhaps topographi- 
 cally the least conspicuous place in the valley, should present 
 the readiest and most complete example of the integrity and 
 self-contained completeness of a member of the Hundred, 
 and should show with such fortunate distinctness how the 
 parish grew up with, and out of, the work of the Church in 
 the tything. 
 
 b2
 
 When the Domesday survey was taken (1085) the little 
 village church at Fyfield was already old, the time-honoured 
 witness to the working out of Archbishop Theodore's wise 
 plan. And it is significant that while the primitive folk laws, 
 the Hundred-moot and its marvellous organisation, have 
 faded out of practical life, and here, as in most places, are 
 only matters of record and history, the parochial system 
 has survived even the destructive spirit of modern centralisa- 
 tion, and remains as vigorous and effectual as it has ever been 
 throughout the past twelve hundred years. 
 
 The Corporation of Andover possesses a wonderful series 
 of the rolls of the Hundred Court, the Court Leet, and View 
 of Frank Pledge. The Ty thing of Fyfield, of course, made 
 regular and periodical returns, which were duly entered on 
 these rolls, so that through several centuries we are kept in 
 touch with the various circumstances which arose out of the 
 " Local Government " of the Tything. From these rolls we 
 learn of the stocks, the pound, and the butts for the practice 
 of archery, which the good people of Fyfield were once and 
 again called to account for allowing to be out of repair. We 
 read also the particulars of the suits and causes between the 
 inhabitants during the years for which these records are 
 preserved. There are also, no doubt, the same kind, and 
 probably an average number, of historical evidences, such as 
 may be found about most places in the usual sources of such 
 information. For these I have made no search. My present 
 object is to bring to notice an association with Fyfield of 
 comparatively modern date, and one which I hope may be 
 felt to have the closer interest from the fact that on the one 
 hand it is with a notable Hampshire writer, and on the other 
 hand with houses still standing, and the immediate ancestors 
 of people still living amongst us. 
 
 It would be difficult indeed to imagine anything more 
 thoroughly typical than the tiny little village church of St. 
 Nicholas, Fyfield. It looks as if it ought to have a place in 
 the sweetest stories of village life. Its little churchyard has 
 such an air of holy calm and rest that the title of God's Acre 
 is the most appropriate that can be given it. Perhaps from 
 an antiquarian point of view the church is a little dis- 
 appointing, for all original details have been '' restored " 
 away, and although the plan of nave and chancel with western 
 bell gable is probably the same it always has been, yet there 
 are none of the fittings or even the stone work as they were
 
 I 
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 at the time I wish to speak of. On the north side of the 
 chancel is a white marhle tablet with this inscription : — 
 
 " On the outside 
 
 of this Church 
 
 are iutei-red the remains of 
 
 Henet White, A.M., 
 
 tAventy-six years Rector of this parish, 
 
 who died December 27, 1788, 
 
 in the 53rd year of his ag-e, 
 
 leaving a widow 
 
 and ten children. 
 
 Elizabeth, his widow, 
 
 died at Northampton 
 
 December 9, 1815, 
 
 in the 81 year of her age, 
 
 and is bixried in the Parish Church 
 
 of Maidford in that County." 
 
 It is the worthy rector thus commemorated I wish to write 
 about. His grave was kindly pointed out to me, but with 
 some degree of uncertainty. There is no inscription over it 
 to mark the spot, a touching and pathetic fact, and according 
 with his distinguished brother's tombstone at Selborne, which 
 is — or was when I last saw it — marked only with the letters 
 G. W. 
 
 John White, of Selborne, Esq., who married Anne, 
 daughter of the Rev. Thomas Holt, rector of Streatham, 
 Surrey, had five sons, who were all enthusiastic naturalists, 
 two of them attaining great distinction in that branch of 
 science. 
 
 The eldest son, Gilbert, was the author of the well-known 
 " Natural History of Selborne" in the preface to the 1880 
 edition of that work brought out by James Edward Harting, 
 F.L.S., F.Z.S., it is stated that Gilbert White was born on the 
 18th July, 1720, but by his brother's diary it would seem 
 that his birthday was either the 9th or 10th. Gilbert was 
 educated at Basingstoke at the Grammar School in the 
 Liten, which was held in part of the Chapel of the Holy 
 Ghost, the ruins of which are so conspicuous from the rail- 
 way. From thence he proceeded to Oriel College, Oxford, 
 where he was admitted 17th December, 1739, took his degree 
 of B.A. June 1743, was elected Fellow of his college 1744, 
 took his M.A. 1746, was Proctor of the University 1752. He 
 was curate of Faringdon, near Alton, but never took a benefice. 
 He resided in Selborne, which is the next parish, and died 
 there a bacheler 26th June, 1793.
 
 Another son was John White, to whom frequent reference 
 is made in the succeeding pages, he was at one time vicar of 
 Blackburn in Lancashire and had also resided at Gibraltar, 
 where he made large collections for a natural history of that 
 place. He is honourably mentioned by Pennant in his 
 " Literary Life" as having rendered him material assistance 
 in connection with the birds and fishes of Gibraltar. I am 
 enabled to give by the following entry in the Diary the date 
 of his death : — Wednesday, 22 November, 1780. 
 
 Yesterday Brother Jolm White died at Blackburne after a very 
 terrible long illness. 
 
 Another son, Thomas H. White, who lived at South 
 Lambeth, had been an wholesale ironmonger in London, but 
 retired from business with an ample fortune, and devoted 
 much of his time to literary pursuits, especially on subjects 
 connected with meteorology and natural history. He was a 
 Fellow of the Royal Society, and author of numerous essays 
 which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine between the 
 years 1780 and 1790, under the signature of T.H.W., among 
 them a series of articles on the " Trees of Great Britain," are 
 particularly deserving of notice for the extensive information, 
 good taste, and variety of reading which they display. 
 
 A fourth son, Benjamin, was during the latter half of the 
 past century the principal publisher of English books on 
 Natural History. On the death of his brother Gilbert he 
 succeeded to the Selborne estate and transferred his business 
 to his second son, John, who continued it until within a few 
 years of the present time. The house in which the business 
 was carried on was distinguished according to the fashion of 
 the times by the sign of the Horace's Head. 
 
 The youngest son, Henry White, was rector of Fyfield. 
 He likewise was of Oriel College, matriculated 11th April, 
 1749, at the age of 15 ; took his B.A. 1754, M.A. 1760. 
 He was presented to the living of Fyfield in 1762. He 
 married Elizabeth Cooper, by whom he had ten children. 
 
 Sampson, the eldest son, named after his great-great- 
 grandfather. Sir Sampson White, Knight, was admitted at 
 Oriel College 10th December, 1782, and was then the junior 
 of six Whites at that College at the time. He took his B.A. 
 1786, M.A. 1789, was vicar of Upavon, Wilts, 1789, rector of 
 Maidford, Northampton, 1798, died 1826 ; his mother was 
 buried in his church at Maidford ; she died in the 81st
 
 year of her age, 9th of December, 1815 ; his son, Sampson 
 Henry White, was of Merton College, matriculated 22nd 
 February, 1820, at the age of 17, was Postmaster 1820-23, 
 B.A. 1823, rector of Wandsford 1826, died 22nd October, 
 1871. 
 
 The second son of the Rev. Henry White was Charles 
 Henry White, of St, Alban's Hall, Oxford, matriculated 11th 
 July, 1787, aged 20, B.A. 1793, M.A. 1797, rector of Shalden, 
 Hants, 1797. He married 3rd June, 1802, Christian, 
 daughter of Alexander St. Barbe, Esq. She died 9th July, 
 1806, aged 22, and was buried at Fyfield. Charles Henry 
 White died 25th October, 1859. 
 
 Another son, Gilbert, died of a nervous fever June, 1795, 
 and was buried at Fyfield. 
 
 The 3'Oungest son, Francis Henry White, was born 14th 
 May, 1782. He was of Worcester College, Oxford, 
 matriculated 12th March, 1799, B.A. 1803. He was a 
 chaplain in the Royal Navy, sailing with Captain Smith, 
 brother of Mr. Assheton Smith ; but subsequently was vicar 
 of Patteshull, Northampton, 1842, which he resigned and 
 came back to the neighbourhood of his old home, living in 
 the house at Abbotts Ann in which Mrs. Best now resides till 
 his death in 1864. He is buried at Fyfield. His descendants 
 most worthily represent at the present moment this singularly 
 gifted family ; one of his sons, WiHiam White, Esq., 
 F.S.A., is a distinguished architect whose works are well 
 known in this country ; whilst a daughter who married the 
 Rev. W. Gray was the mother of the present Earl of Stamford. 
 It is not a little remarkable that not only did Gilbert 
 White, of Selborne, make a series of observations which have 
 ever been a delightful source of information, but that his three 
 brothers, John, Thomas, and Henry, and his two nephews, 
 Charles Henry and Sampson Henry, also kept records of what 
 they observed with so much zeal and love of nature. 
 
 The Rev. Henry White, Rector of Fyfield, took constant 
 and regular observations of all that was within his roach in 
 matters of natural science ; and the record of these observa- 
 tions was kept and compared with similar records which his 
 brothers made and preserved. Recently I have been per- 
 mitted by the Rev. F. G. Holbrooke, the Rector of Kimpton, 
 whose property they are, to examine the diaries for the 3^ear3 
 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, and 1784 ; the books are of paper, 
 folio size, each page ruled with red ink, now much faded,
 
 8 
 
 into three columns ; as one column serves for each day, when 
 the book is open the record of a week's doings is before the 
 reader, Sunday's doings being entered under the heading of 
 "yesterday" in the Monday column. A heading line marks 
 off the space for the date, another line a short distance from 
 the bottom of the page reserves room for the daily readings 
 of the barometer and thermometer, and the direction of the 
 wind. A horizontal line about the middle divides each day's 
 memoranda into two parts. As a rule, the upper portion is 
 occupied with notes of what went on day by day in the house, 
 family, or garden, while the lower half is used for recording 
 how his team of horses were employed and what the men in 
 his service were engaged on. These diaries contain much 
 that is of the greatest interest, and give a vivid picture of the 
 life of a quiet country clergyman in the second half of the 
 eighteenth century. Mr. White, as he shows himself to us 
 in the pages of his Diary, might have sat for the portrait of 
 dear old Dr. Primrose, and indeed it is impossible to follow 
 him through a single week of his recorded doings, without 
 being continually reminded of that delightful character, and 
 the excellent " gooseberry wine, for the making of which we 
 had lost neither the receipt nor the reputation." We do not 
 come, happily, on any trace of such misfortunes as Oliver 
 Goldsmith tells of, in his inimitable history. And Mr. 
 White's home-made wine was mostly " brewed" from raisins. 
 But the industry with which a liberal supply was maintained 
 leaves no room for doubt that its flavour was appreciated quite 
 as highly, and it has left an aroma that will always afford 
 pleasure to those who love to realise the days gone by. It 
 would be a happy thought if the perusal of the journal of this 
 Hampshire clergyman called up in the mind of any of its 
 readers a suggestion of association between two of the most 
 delightful books in our language. Mr. White lived in the 
 house now occupied by Dr. Lush, which on the whole is 
 probably much the same, structurally, as in his time ; the 
 drawing-room, on the first floor, has a very good plaster 
 ceiling ; on one of the window cills at the back of the house 
 is carved " H. W. 1774." A window is still pointed out as 
 the means by which a young lady, who eloped with her lover, 
 made her escape. The tradition clings to it only so far as 
 that. I have been unable to identify the errant damsel or 
 the time of the exciting incident, and I do not think it was 
 during the occupation of the Whites at all.
 
 9 
 
 The gardens which had so much of the Kector's attention 
 do not exhibit, with the exception of the cyprus tree and the 
 lawn which he ahvays speaks of as the " Green," any of the 
 features he alkides to. The Whites made a sort of bay in the 
 hank of the stream where it runs through the meadow, which 
 they called the " Cold Bath," and used it for bathing. The 
 Rector constantly notes the height of the water in it. A 
 building, round at the back and thatched, covered part of it, 
 and there was a bathing step. This can be traced still, but it 
 is no longer kept up. 
 
 Mr. White retained the rectory house in his hands, farming 
 the glebe with some additional land which he rented, keeping 
 a team of horses for that purpose, which he also let out on 
 hire to his neighbours when they required them. The rectory 
 house, rebuilt in 1830, was used by the pupils of a school 
 which he kept (he does not call it " taking pupils"), his 
 assistant masters were mostly in Holy Orders, and helped 
 him with the numerous clerical duties for which he was 
 responsible. Among his pupils were Sir Philip Houghton 
 Clarke, the sons of most of the neighbouring gentry, and 
 several of his nephews. Nothing can be more clear than 
 that he and his family were held in the highest estimation 
 and were welcome guests at all the houses round. And 
 from this circumstance his diaries have a great value for local 
 history, as there is not a household of any note for miles and 
 miles of which he does not mention some particulars. The 
 man chiefly employed about the house is always called " Sop," 
 and very varied indeed must have been his occupations, for 
 not only were the butter and cheese made at home, but beer, 
 " Siberian beer," Raisin wine, Cider and Perry were all 
 " brewed" by this indefatigable establishment, and the home 
 farm supplied them with all domestic necessaries. Here 
 then in this lovely retired nook of our lovely county this busy 
 but typical family lived their quiet life. We might fancy his 
 saying of it, as the Vicar of Wakefield said, " Walking out, 
 drinking tea, country dances and forfeits shortened the rest 
 of the day without the assistance of cards, as I hated all 
 manner of gaming." We find a quaint lament under the 31st 
 of December, 1782: — "Dined at Redenham with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Butcher ; Chute Lodge family came to tea, Whist 
 instead of Music, dreadful alternative. Alas ! alas ! ! alas ! ! !" 
 
 The earliest diary that I have seen is for the year 1780 ; 
 on the title-page is a quotation from Exodus xx. 10, " Six
 
 10 
 
 clays shalt thou labour," written in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, 
 Spanish, French, and English. The top corner of the left- 
 hand column is usually marked " yesterday," and affords a 
 most remarkable illustration of the Sunday life of a country 
 parson who " served" more parishes than one. Whilst we 
 are on this subject, it may be w^ell to give a few extracts 
 which will serve for an example : — 
 
 1783, March, Mouday lOtli. — Yesterday— White Frost. Showers and 
 cold liarsh driving Wind am., cleared away abt Noon bright and 
 pleasant, clear vesp and bright Night — most beautiful Rainbow 
 just before Sunset. Served 4 churclies, Ludgershall, 2 Tidw""' 
 and Fyfield, at home in good time. No Summer Corn sown yet 
 ye ground too soft to Harrow. Vast plentiful River down Tid- 
 worth Vale, amazing Floods in ye Avon Bourn last week. 
 
 1783, May, Monday 26th.— Yesterday. Very bright night and Morn, 
 white Frost and Ice enough to scorch ye young French Beans and 
 potatoes at Tidworth, incessant parching Wind continues night 
 and day. A most dreadful severe season to all Counties particu- 
 larly this. Even ye Wheat seems to languish. Servd Kimpton 
 and Fyfield a.m., Ludgershall and N. Tidw"" p.m., called on 
 Messrs. Humpris and Goddard, vast multitudes of Hares by 
 Ashen Copse. Beautiful even, tho cold Great Coat necessary 
 all day in ye full Sun. Mrs. Pn and Mrs. Wildg at Church 
 mat. 
 
 1784, April 12th. — Yesterday [Easter Sunday] Dark, cold blowing 
 morn : wind very rough, seems threatening for rain. Served 
 Kimpton Church 9th time. Sacr' there and at Fyfield a.m. Very 
 stormy ride to Tidw"" with C.A.S., p.m. Rain began misty and 
 came on harder about sunset . Conns'" P at Tidworth dr. T. [drank 
 tea] with do. and ret'' home rather wet. Some stripes of snow 
 rems on Chute hills, and a little on ye hollow roads entering 
 Tidw'N 
 
 1784, April 19th. — Yesterday. Fine bright morn., no frost, spring- 
 like and pleasant day ; brisk wind a.m. Served Kimpton Church 
 10th time and Sacr' at Tidworth ; Conns'" P""" received, do Mr. 
 Dykes fam^. To Dr. with Mr. Recorder. Nephew T.H.W. rode 
 to D^ Snow still visible in specks on ye hills near Conholt. 
 Ref rather late, to church p.m. Went to A'isit ye sick man at 
 Red" [Redeuham] ve.sp. Dark and threatening at night. George, 
 the son of John and Sarah Shipway, was l)aptized privately. 
 
 1784, May 17tli. — Yestei-day. Perfect settled dry weather continues, 
 with summer warmth beyond ye season ; thin light grey clouds 
 with hot sun between. Went to serve Kimpton before 10 a.m., 
 but ret** not being wanted. Rode to N. Tidworth with C. S. A. 
 and Gil. sent Knapper on to Mr. Dykes. Serv*" Thi-uxton for Mr. 
 Toft and Fyfield vosp. Bathing in ye new sheep pond. Tea on 
 ye green. Mr. C. called vesp. Letters from Mr. T. D. H , S'^ 
 P. H. C, and Rev. Mr. Wilson. Oaks at Periham begin to show 
 leaves.
 
 11 
 
 Taking the distances into consideration, it is rather difficult 
 to understand how time was got for the usual sermon of the 
 period with its many divisions into " fifteenthly," and so on. 
 
 Hampshire is not usually reckoned a cider county ; it 
 may he of interest therefore to quote some chronicles of the 
 brew-house. 
 
 1780, April 7tli. — Sop helping' about the Raisin wine all day. Raisin 
 wine filled up the Drawing cask, and put about 20 gallons of very- 
 rich Malaga made last November into the store cask and also jjut 
 2 baskets of the new fruit into the 3 qr. cask and one basket into 
 the half hogshead from the Parsonage cellar. 
 
 1782, April 29tli. — Filled the draught barrel of wine quite full, enough 
 in ye Parsonage cellar of ye Michs maniifacture to refill ye inter- 
 mediate barrel. 
 
 1782,* April 30th. — Sliei)pard ye Cooper unheaded the ta^ier barrel and 
 put in 1 cwt. of Malaga Raisins. Bottled off ye Shrub from 
 Saunders, 8 bottles and about 1 pint. Bottled off Siberian Beer 
 7 doz. and 5 bottles, more left and worth preserving, having no 
 seed of ye Hordeum Nuda to sow. 
 
 1780, Nov. 7th. — Paid ye cyder man 4s. 6d. for grinding 6 sacks 
 of apples. 
 
 1781, Oct. 26th. — Pnrrc hogshead tapped and most excellent liquor. 
 1781, Nov. 9th.— Purre Barrell fails alas ! lasted just 14 days. 
 
 1784, Oct. 2Gth. — No tithe api)les from Rednam. "Ward's orchard 
 being grubbed up. Cyder said to be sold iu ye West at 5s. pr 
 hogshead. 
 
 ^c- 
 
 These excellent home-brews were from time to time sup- 
 plemented by other wines, as for instance, 
 
 1780, Oct. 28th. — Team came from Southampton and brt pipe of 
 port vnne fr Mr. Ballard, 27 bs of coals, 1 sack of salt, 2 doz. and 
 4 of whitings, 200 oysters, and 1 sack of salt fr Mr. B. to Dr. 
 Domut, and a few coals for Mundy and also 4 doz. of white wine 
 and 1 hamper. Buckland, his man, Lansley's man, and Jas. Batt 
 all day widening ye hall and cellar doors at ye parsonage to admit 
 ye inpe. Put pipe into ye cellar and on ye stand by 8 vesp. 
 
 We hear of this " Pipe" again in misfortune, with reflec- 
 tions thereon, which once more take our minds to Wakefield. 
 
 1780, Dec. 7th.— Bottled off the jjipe of port wine. Dr. Shoppard 
 and Mr. Griffith had 1 qr. of it. Mr. Ekins had 1 qr., it ran 56 
 doz. exactly and 4 bottles and 1 of tliick, all done in excellent 
 order and "without any accident till 30 doz. bottles were danced 
 over and 2 doz. and ^ broke by a drunken beast from Andor. 
 
 " Moustrum horrcndum " 
 — unctos saliorc per litres 
 
 1782, Oct. 19th.— Claret brt home in Buckland's cart. Horse ran 
 away with the cart and greatly endangered the cargo.
 
 12 
 
 The busy home at Fyfield was not much disturbed by 
 events outside the circle of their own interests. News did 
 not travel very fast in those days, and very few public matters 
 are recorded. 
 
 1781, March 15. — News of Roduey's conquest of St. Eustatia, &c. 
 
 Firing heard about 6 vesp of artillery or small arms. 
 1781, Nov. 28. — Fatal news reported of Ld. Cornwall's army sd from 
 the D. of Gloster. 
 
 1781, Dec, 20th.— Mr. Hy and T. H. W. to Andover to hear the news 
 of Adm. Kempenfeldt. 
 
 1782, March 1. — American war sd to be voted against in H. of C. by 
 a majority of 19 ! ! ! ! 
 
 1782, Aug. 31. — News brt of the sinking of the Royal George at Spit- 
 head by laying her too low on her side with the ports open to 
 stop a leak in an expeditious manner not to delay her sailing. A 
 dreadful accident, no instance like it was ever heard of before, 
 so many lives, and a most able Admiral lost Kempenfeldt. It 
 happened on ye 29th inst. 
 
 Nor is there much recorded in the way of antiquarian 
 notes ; in fact the following entry would perhaps tempt one 
 to question the orthodoxy of Mr. White's antiquarian taste. 
 
 1781, March 13th. — Rode to Soper's Bottom and Redenham ; saw ye 
 large stone and bespoke Siberian Barley for seed of Mr. Baily 
 Appleshaw. 
 
 1781, March 20th. — 2 carprs and 2 men, No. 17 and 5 nags went to 
 Soper's Bottom to bring home ye enormous Druidical Stone, but 
 ye rope of Mr. Robinson's engine was so very much decay'd that 
 it broke 3 times ; and all were obliged to return re infecta. 
 
 1781, March 21st. — Team brought home ye great stone and went to 
 plough for Jno Smith p m. Borrowed Nash of Sarsons rope, and 
 by putting it double took ye stone up safe and brt it safe to ye 
 grove without injuring ye waggon in ye least, tlio supposed to weigh 
 near 4 tons. Gave Farmer Fuller 3s. for it. 
 
 1781, April 12th. — Druidical Column or Kist Vaen erected in ye grove 
 very successfiilly p.m. will make an excellent gnomon for a meri- 
 dian line when settled firm. 
 
 White's "Druidical Column" is not now standing, but there 
 are large fragments of Sarson Stone all about the village.* 
 
 * Since the above was written the liouse, which remained empty 
 after the removal of Mrs. Lush, has been newly tenanted, and the 
 shrubs which bordered the pathway south of the house leading to the 
 " grove " have been trimmed, bringing to light three Sarson Stones. 
 Of these three stones the two on the west side of the path measure, the 
 one 2ft. 9in. in height above the ground by 3ft. 4in. from north to south 
 by 2ft. thick, the other 4ft. Iiigh above the gi'ound by 1ft. 3iu. from 
 north to south ))y 2ft. Gin. thick ; the third stone is on the east side of 
 the path, and measures 3ft. 9in. in height above the ground by 3ft. 
 from east to west by 2ft. 9iu. thick. Possibly these stones formed 
 part of Parson White's "Druidical Column."— E. D. W.
 
 13 
 
 1782, April 29tli. — The bones and skull of a human body found by Mr 
 
 P's labourers, buried near ye spot where Fr. Saunders barn stood 
 
 it was covered abt 1 foot beneath the surface. 
 1784, July 19th. — New church at S. Tidwth. Foundations dug out. 
 1784, Jidy 26th.— The old church at S. Tidworth began to be taken 
 
 down this morn in order to be removed by Wm. Lansley. 
 1784, Sept. 1st. — Rode to see ye new church at S. Tidworth, ye 
 
 porch just covered and ye inside ceiled. 
 1784, Oct. 18th.— Served Fyfield and N. Tidworth both a.m. rode back 
 
 by ye new church which is quite finished, ye doores open to dry it. 
 
 The church White speaks of at S. Tidworth was superseded 
 in 1880 by the present beautiful structure built by Sir John 
 Kelk, and was pulled down in 1892. 
 
 1784, November 8th. — Roman earthenware foiind to ye west of 
 Kimpton Copse betwixt that and Ashen Copse some pieces of 
 brick and a fragment of a cullender ; coins are frequently found 
 there when ye land is ploughed, found to-day by Bro. Tho., &c. 
 
 But while little was recorded of antiquarian interest some 
 things are noted which were very strange to them, though 
 familiar enough now to us. Balloons for example : — 
 
 1784, Oct. 18th. — Mr. Wellman came instead of Wednesday. He saw 
 on Saturday last p.m. half-past 4, at Rumsey Mr. Blanchard in 
 his grand air baloon hovering at a great height over ye church, 
 and soon after saw him descend into a meadow near the toAvn, he 
 then let out ye gas, folded up ye baloon and put it into a chaise, 
 in which he returned to London instantly. — Mr. Sheldon set out 
 with Mr. Blanchard, but ye land being too heavy he was obliged 
 to be set down 17 miles on this side of London, at Sunbury 
 Common, near Lord Veres. 
 
 Mr. Blanchard was only 3| hours passing from London to 
 Rumsey, 75 miles, and was seen passing over manj^ places, parti- 
 cularly from Selborne Hill and \'illage, where he appeared in ye 
 N.E. like a blue spot in ye sky about ye size of a small tea urn, 
 and passed on rather to ye N. of Alton, Alresford, and Wintou, 
 passing over Lord Northbrook's at ye Grange, possibly witliin 
 view of ye hills in this district. 
 
 1784, Oct. 30th. Mr. Blan chard's balloon was conducted by ropes 
 through Rumsey Town into ye garden of ye Rev. Mr. Pentou, 
 where it was folded up. 
 
 1784, Nov. 18th. Received an account last night from Sam of Mr. 
 Sadler's ascent in his baloon at Oxford, his passage through a 
 cloud wants explanation, i.e., whether it rained on ye ground at ye 
 same time that liis machine received so much water. 
 
 Among the things recorded as strange or novel we have an 
 entry relating to what we should probably call a Gorilla, 
 there is nothing to indicate where the exhibition was : — 
 
 1780, October 13th. — Saw ye CEtliiopian Savage, a very wonderful but 
 frightful resemblance of ye Human Form. Tlie countenance
 
 14 
 
 terrible ; it is said to be from Abyssinia or the interior parts of 
 Africa. Its arms and bauds are q^uite of liiiiuan form, but its feet 
 are like hands, therefore more intended for climbing trees than 
 walking. It seems by no meaus so gentle, docile, or intelligent as 
 monkeys of the smaller kinds. Sir Ashton Lever has one of this 
 same kind preserved in his museum. The forementioued animal 
 has the brightest colouring on his posteriors of the crimson and 
 purple tints of any animal known. A very large Cassowary also 
 to be seen, from Java, a very wonderful and beautiful bird. 
 
 1782, October 19th.— Went to Andover to see Mr. Walker's Eidour- 
 aniou, a very ingenious and curious exhibition, but particularly 
 that part of his machinery which shews ye compound orbit and 
 complicated motion of 2 unequal bodies round one common center 
 of gravity. 
 
 1784, January 27th. — Sam. Gale, formerly a native and a keeper of 
 sheep in this village, has published a learned mathematical essay 
 on publick credit. Received several copies of Do. as a present 
 from ye author for Brother B. on Saturday even. 
 
 1780, November 8th. — Buried at N. Tidwortli wid" StockAvell, aged 
 100. Within about 2 months she retained all her faculties except 
 hearing, died instantly without any apparent agony. 
 
 Notes on ecclesiastical matters are very rare. Here is one 
 worth preserving : — 
 
 1781, September 21. — Chaner. Sturges sine Perriwiggs. Visitation 
 Day at Andover, 20 dined at ye Star. 6s. for a very middling 
 ordinary, and wretched ucav nauseous black strap. Winter peaches 
 and sour grapes. Fish rather antient. 
 
 Parson White found himself exercised by the Rates, some- 
 times a trial still familiar to those of his order. 
 
 1781, April 19th. — Parish vestry held, paid 12 Rates this year ! more 
 by jth than last year. 
 
 A "Rate" is presumably twopence. 
 
 1782, Aj)ril 16th. — Parish reckoning 13 Rates ! 1 more than last 
 year ! ! ! ! Parish expenses more than £61. This year insufferable 
 burden ! 
 
 1783, April 23. — Parish accounts settled and amounted to more than 
 
 last year by 13 Rates gathered again ! Many antient people 
 
 now on ye book. 
 
 1784, April 15th.— Parish meeting, ye Poor Rates higher than ever, 
 16 ! Rates, 3 more than ever was kuosvn before, but 13 last year. 
 
 The poor Rector might not find much consolation from the 
 subject now. iJ ut at any rate he did not have to pay Rates 
 on a commuted Tithe Rent charge. 
 
 It has been mentioned that observations as to the weather, 
 &c., are recorded every day, and the entries about the 
 migrations of birds and matters of that kind are so very
 
 15 
 
 numerous that in this article notice can only be taken of 
 phenomenal events. Amongst these must be classed the 
 Frost of 1784. On December 8th Mr. White records :— 
 
 Horses taken iuto ye stable having no dry slielter in ye farm. 
 Snow furs up tlie windows on ye N.E. and S.W. sides of ye 
 house nearly equally. 
 
 Next day, the 9th, he ^Yrites : — 
 
 Snow fell much deeper in ye Night with a very strong Wind 
 W. by N., and much drifted that no measure of it could be taken. 
 Cleared up before Day, ye cold increased much till noon, freezing 
 p.m. vesp with imcommon severity, but perfectly calm and still. 
 Starlight. Severe weather for ye African birds, guinea fowl's 
 leg' broken, trod ou by ye horses in ye farm yard. Roads much 
 filled up with last night's Snow, quite deep in ye Turnpike ; that 
 on Weyhill field quite smoothed over aud not visible. Road by 
 Tapps Croft quite blocked up aud ye Foot Path at ye bottom of 
 ye village. Icicles of vast length on ye S. side of ye building ; 
 the. ye cold was so intense that ye dripping was soon stoppd ; 
 Frost more intense than ever known excepting in Jan., 1768. 
 Windows furred surprisingly. 
 
 The readings of the thermometer this day were ; — Morning 23, 
 afternoon 25, night ^ above zero. 
 December the 1 0th.— The hardest Frost ever remembered exceeding 
 even that of 1768, vast degree of freezing all day, very clear and 
 bright, but ye Sun had scarcely any power to mitigate ye fierceness 
 of ye Frost even at Noon, very thick misty Rime at Night and 
 Frost rather harder than last night. 
 
 Siberian weather, everything freezes Avithin, even by ye Fire 
 side. Wild geese seen migrating towards ye S. to day and 
 yesty. Iron was so cold as to adhere to ye Hand this Morn 
 and ye sensation of cold is much different when ye Tliemr. is 
 below 10, takes off ye power of Fire at a very small distance. 
 Boys skating on ye Pond at ye end of ye Village. Ice very 
 tolei'able but small. The Frost seem'd rather fiercer than yesty, 
 till late in ye Even when it began to abate, but ye severity of yesty, 
 and this Day seemed quite alarming. 
 
 The thermometer readings for this day were : — Morning 5 
 below 0, afternoon 19, night (2, i.e., 2 degi-ees below 0, ye lowest 
 ever heard of in this climate. 
 December the 11th. — Snow, 2 to 3 inches more fell in ye night so 
 that it lies rather deep ; continues falling a.m. aud light scattering 
 till p.m., ye Degree of Cold mucli abated and more like other 
 Frosty weather in this Climate but very sharp ; stars most bright 
 at night. 
 
 John, yc carter, to Andover vesp, with ye horses, to meet S.W. 
 from Oxford. Very comfortable change and ye cold much abated 
 from ye Russian severity of ye 2 former days. 
 
 Sam arrived fr Oxford abt 6 ve.sp, met with great difficulties 
 between Newbury and Andover, where ye snow lies much deeper 
 than at Oxford. Very great interruption of travelling on the
 
 16 
 
 public Turnpikes, many parties obliged to stop at Audover. 
 Rooks seem much distressed and pull ye Ricks very mucli. They 
 have roosted during ye hai'd nights in ye Farm Orcliard and like- 
 Avise ye Jackdaws. 
 
 The thermometer readings "were morning 23, night 26. 
 
 December the 13th, yesterday. — Not much Snow fell in ye night, 
 abt an inch, bright Morn, Frost continues b\it moderate, clear 
 Sunshine but a very keen sharp Wind more than has been since 
 ye Frost began. Servd. N. Ticlworth, p.m. Snow lies deep over 
 Littleton Fields more than on ye Downs, wonderful di-ifts in all 
 ye Hedges like grotesque Rocks round the enclosures. Snow 
 uncommonly light on ye ground and drives in vast currents over 
 ye surface. Better riding than cd be expected, got home early 
 vesp. Rime at night. To-day, Bright Morn and Day, Frost 
 continues just ye same and no sign of change tho. moi-e Snow was 
 expected. The degree of cold rery tolei-able but keen sharp wind. 
 Most beautiful pm-ple clouds in ye sunset. Roads begin to grow 
 more passable, but by no means pleasant. 1 of ye Western Coaches 
 overturned before they reached Andover. Post Chaises refused 
 to Mr. Hawes. Spidei's appear which generally foretells Rain but 
 ye Baromr does not show for change. 
 
 The readings of the thermometer for the 13th were 24 mat. 28 
 p.m., 22 night. 
 
 December the 14th. — Bright Morn Frost rather harder, but not so 
 severe to feel, use reconciling even this unpleasant sensation. Cold 
 has abated much of its fierceness to-day and seems inclined to 
 relax a little ; but will probably return agaiu before noon. 
 Waggons move about in abundance, though ye roads are no better. 
 Chief of ye difficulty in passing from London is between Overton 
 and Andover ; from Oxford, between Newbury and do. T. Burs 
 went to Sarum yesty moi'n , afraid to venture by night. 
 
 December the 21st. — Coaches stay at Andover every night and make 
 2 days Journey instead of one to London. 
 
 December the 22nd. — All ye broad leaved evergreen, even ye holly, 
 seems to have suffered severely by ye imusual degree of cold, as 
 they did in Jamiary 1768, and probably ye timber trees may be 
 damaged and split in the same manner as then. 
 
 December the 2ith. — Misty Morn ye sky thickened over cleared 
 away very bright before noon — not nearly so cold Frost last night, 
 but quite settled as ever, froze much harder p.m., Thermr. at 
 Sunset down to 20, very thick rimy, stinking Fog came on after 
 Sunset. Very bitter, fierce frost again to Night. The Thermo- 
 meter registered 10 night. 
 
 Christmas Day, vei-y bright morn. Trees beautifully powdered with 
 Rime, more severity of Freezing than any since the very first 
 beginning, very little Wind but ye Air amazingly keen. Sound of 
 Bells heard fr all ye Villages on every side. Sac""' at Fyfield. 
 Riding not ixnpleasant over ye open Fields and Downs. Trees 
 powdered most amazingly by ye Rime, make a very picturesque 
 appearance at Tidworth. Pimip frozen in ye Wash House ! so 
 that ye Frost tho. not quite so cold as ye 2 first days yet operates 
 more strongly within doors. Winter reigns in all its rigour and 
 yet ye Sun shines vmusually warm p.m. evei'y day which seems to
 
 17 
 
 destroy every sort of broad leaved evergreen. Holly and ivy leaves 
 brt to decorate the cliiirches and houses seem scorched and blasted. 
 Thermometer 6 mat., 30 p.m., 31 night. 
 27th. Yesterday. — The rigour of ye Frost much abated this morn 
 tho. it froze very smartly, quite calm and still and seems mild and 
 pleasant compared to the violent severity of yesterday, vast Rime 
 and Fog rollhig abt. partially all day, cleared away vesp. very 
 ' bright and beautiful Ijefore Sunset. Fog returned at night. 
 Large Congr. at Tidworth a.m. Snow lies deep as everywhere 
 di'ifted. Horse tracks in genei'al quite obliterated excei)ting where 
 waggons have passed. Sheep venture but little fr. ye Fold and 
 cease fr. using Turuejis. 
 31st. — It is very remarkable that no Flocks of Small Birds are 
 to be seen in ye Fields as used to be in such hard weather tho. 
 Larks abounded at ye 1st frost. Riding and walking more 
 tolerable tiU ye even when tlie freezing snow was more glazed and 
 dangerous than it has ))een at all. Spent ye Day at Mr. P"% 
 met Mrs. D. and famy. Music, vesp and no cards, ret"" in ye 
 beginning of ye yr. 1785 with S. W. and C. H. W. Haydown one 
 continual sheet of Ice and all tlie beaten Paths uncommonly 
 dangerous. 
 
 Mr. P. was Mr. Powlett, of Amport, S. W. and C. H. W. 
 were the sons of Mr. Henry White, Samson and Charles 
 Henry. 
 
 The remarkable frost of 1784 is the subject of a most 
 interesting letter from Gilbert White to the Hon. Daines 
 Barrington (No. 62), in which he mentions the peculiar local 
 character of the cold, which was not as severe at Selborne as 
 at Fyfield. 
 
 As a contrast to this long and severe frost we may select 
 the record of a sudden rise and fall in the temperature on 
 June 20th, 1781. On the 19th the thermometer had been 
 70. But on the next day there was a '" Violent thunderstorm 
 which lasted about 2 hours, it came from the S.E." " Ther- 
 mometer 85 to 65, it fell 20 degrees during the storm. He 
 mentions on 11th August the same year the '* great heat," 
 83, highest this year, within two degrees of ye morn before 
 ye great storm."" 
 
 A remarkable storm is chronicled on 27th February, 
 1781 :— 
 
 Some few driving showers, then a most dreadful huiTicane for more 
 tlian 3 hours ; Family forced to leave the parh)ur by reason of the 
 smoke. The wind raged so fiercely witli squally sudden gusts 
 that the trees began to fall about in Tapp's Grove and Gale's 
 Orchard at a sad rate. Thatch tlying about. The ridge and other 
 tiles on ye N.W. point of ye wasli house thrown with violence on 
 ye green. Tlie largest elm in ye lower grove whicli had ye seat 
 round it blown down, though it stood so remarkably slieltered ! 
 
 C
 
 18 
 
 The wind seemed r.atlier more mischievous just as it shifted round 
 to tlie N. by the W., which visually happens iu storms of wand, 
 but ceased, or ratlier bated its force soon after. 
 
 28th. — Mason repairing- the tiling on ye wash house. The Parsonage 
 tiling and also the chancel sadly torn and the Church roof 
 damaged. The effect of ye storm more general than was imagined 
 at first, many barns and other buildings down everywhere and the 
 state of trees wonderful indeed. Waggon loads of hay which 
 were left abroad for the sheep blown over in many places, and the 
 waggon turned upwards on Thoniey Down. Largest walnut tree 
 in the meadow broke off short, being deeper rooted than ye elms. 
 The great gigantic elm at Thruxton entirely demolished ; it was 
 much injured Ijy a storm about 7 years siuce, but before that the 
 most truly grand tree I ever saw, both in size and beauty. Large 
 trees blown down at Appleshaw. Most of the venerable old trees 
 destroyed at many noble seats, viz.. Lords Pembroke and Ports- 
 mouth, Mr. Portman's, and at Farley, near Basingstoke. 
 
 5th March. — Served S. Tedworth. Mr. Smith's fine large spreading 
 trees which were thinned out, sadly torn and demolished. Mr. 
 Poore lost only 4 trees, but says it was ye fiercest storm since 1734. 
 Hayter's barn blown into ye street. Elm which was blown down 
 measured 17| feet, sold to Buckland for 17s. 6d. ; it was measured 
 in ye smallest part. Mr. Holt's large trees before his house re- 
 ceived no damage from ye hurricane, which seems sui'prisiug, as 
 being the almost only instance. Elms which were blown down 
 show much bloom. The storm was as vehement at Selborne by 
 accounts from there. 
 1783, 17th July. — The sun sinks away every day into ye blue mist about 
 5 p.m., and seems to set behind vast black clouds. 
 
 19th. — Air seems clearer from ye late blue thickness, which has been 
 so very remarkable that ye superstitious viUgar in town and country 
 have abounded with ye most direful presages and prognostications. 
 
 1782, 25th September. — Hail laid so thick on ye road near Overton 
 yestei'day, as to resemble snow and be mistaken for it. 
 
 1784, May 6th. — "Wliirly puffs of whirlwinds seen last Tuesday in many 
 places moving from N. to S. Hats hung up to dry taken up to a 
 vast height into the air. Prognostic of dry weather. Hats taken 
 up by the whirlwind on Tuesday were pursued towards Quarley, 
 but kejit on flying in the same direction like an air balloon. 
 
 It is very possible that other considerations beside those 
 interesting to the Meteorologist impressed this freak of the 
 North wind on the worthy Rector's mind, for the arrival of a 
 new hat was an event sufficiently important to enter, thus : — 
 
 1783, May 3rd. — New hat an-ived ; Mundean system. 
 
 June 21st. — C. H. White's and Harriet's hats came from Watts, 
 London, by the Bath coach. 
 
 Gilbert White has observations on English snakes in 
 letters dated 1768 and 1776. In the former to Thomas 
 Pennant, Esq., he remarks, " Providence has been so in- 
 dulgent to us as to allow of only one venomous reptile of the
 
 19 
 
 serpent kind in these kingdoms, and that is the viper." It 
 seems impossible therefore to suppose that Henry White 
 should have called any other snakes vipers, but it is rather 
 surprising to find the record of so many killed. 
 
 1781, March 26th. — Viper seen first and killed yesterday in Southfield, 
 was very active aud furious, and bit itself when wounded ; his 
 slough seemed vei-y loose, aud ready to come off. 
 
 May 24th. — Vijper taken p.m. about 7 o'clock in ye close by ye 9 
 acres. Very alert and fierce in his new skin — positis uovus 
 exuviis, nitidusque juveuta . . couvolvit . . . — et Unguis micat 
 ore trisulcis. 
 
 1782, May 13th. — Vi^jers killed, 1 yesterday aud 1 on Sunday near ye 
 village. 
 
 3rd June. — Viper killed in the Newfield yesterday. 
 .5th Jtme. — Viper killed in the Field behind the Grove. 
 
 1780, Sept. 23.— Walked with Mr. Hy. (HaUiday) to Dr. Sm(iths), 
 killed a yoving viper with a frog in him almost digested. 
 
 1781, Sept. l!— Mr. Halliday and T.H. W. walked to Audover, killed 
 a Adper on ye Turnpike road. 
 
 Similar entries occur continually. A rare find is mentioned 
 on 19th May, 1781. " Gryllo Talpa, a very curious insect, 
 found near Penton, seldom met with in this country. (See 
 Gilbert White's letter to Hon. Daines Barriugton, xlviii.) 
 
 1781, May 28th.— Gryllo Talpa, very fine, found by T. H. W. in lower 
 edge' of ye sanfoin generally found in clay near water. 
 
 1781, April 19th. — A bird with a soft, gentle, delicate, laughing note 
 appeared with ye blackcap, supposed to be of ye Titmouse trilje. 
 
 Many birds now extinct in these parts were not uncommon 
 in Mr. White's time. No ravens are known hereabouts now, 
 though there were some at Taugley within memory, but they 
 were not so rare in 1781. In that year 
 
 April 19th.— Boys went to Abbots Anne Wood, brought home 2 young 
 Ravens neai'ly fledged. 
 8th October.— Rode to Mr. Duke's through Thruxton. Ravens and 
 rooks on ye trees warbling. 
 1784, 8th April.— Young men went to ye woods Ampoi-t, Sarsen, and 
 Abbot's Anne, found no eggs ; only a raven's nest with 5 young 
 bird.s nearly half grown. 
 8th May.— Viper killed in ye hedge west of ye field garden ; given 
 to ye I'avens. 
 
 1781, April 14th.— Young men to Periham Copse took 6 crow's eggs. 
 
 1783, January 2nd.— Snipes in great multitudes by ye brook. 
 
 1780, April 19th.— Heron's nest taken with 4 eggs at Abbot's Anne 
 Wood by C. H. W. J. White, Bcnj. Woods, and R. Cano. 
 
 1782, April 25th.— Young men to Abljot's Anne Wood found an 
 Heron's nest. 
 
 1780, Octo])er 10th —Sir P. H. C, Mr. Barker, and Bob Cane to 
 Stonehcnge, Wilton, &c„ saw 18 bustards. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 
 
 The collection of truffles was a regular part of the year's 
 work, and the entries are very numerous and precise which 
 record the result of the " Trufleman's " visits. 
 
 1780, Jauuaiy 6th. — Trufle man came ; absent near 6 weeks, very few 
 found 7th time. 
 
 1782, January 6t]i. — Trufle inau 3i*d time ; scarcely any to be found 
 wliere the man has been into Glostershire to Lord Davies, where 
 they find many trufles, though it has not been the custom to hunt 
 for them. He found his Lordship hunting y'" with a pig. 
 
 Mr. Henry White seems to have always been keenly alive 
 to any possible improvents in farming and on the look out for 
 anything that could be introduced with advantage, and 
 amongst other things gave some attention to the cultivation 
 of tobacco. He often speaks of the tobacco plants in his own 
 garden, and at any rate took great interest in those raised by 
 his neighbours. Thus he notices : — 
 
 1780, September 14ih. — Fine plantation of tobacco at Taylor, Keuts, 
 and Smith, ye Malsters, some leaves 13 inches by 21. 
 
 1781, May 7th. — Tobacco plants of last year's growth, cut by E. 
 Smith. Smoked at ye parish meeting at Easter and much ap- 
 proved. Tobacco plants from Buckland's put into ye boy's hotbed 
 and seeds. 
 
 1781, September 28th. — Tobacco leaves gathered and cut green by R. 
 Smith, then dried and proved to be excellent, with a fine flavour 
 like ye Havanna Segars. 
 
 Here is a notice of an " occupation," which like many 
 similar ones has "gone" from these parts now. 
 
 1781, October 13th. — Yalerian ye Medicinal, gathered by poor women 
 from the hedgerows and copses ; to be sent to Loudon for the use 
 of ye Apothecaries ; 2 women in ye new field gathered it to-day. 
 It abounds much in this part of Hants. 
 
 1781, May 11. — Dwai'f Elder or Dane Weed flourishes much beyond 
 ye Parsonage House. It was brought from Selborne about 3 years 
 since, and is uncommon in these parts ; planted some slips on ye 
 edge of ye grove. 
 
 1783, February 5th. — Water Cresses in great abimdance in ye brook, 
 many people come with horses to carry away loads of them to send 
 to London by ye coaches. 
 
 Several visits from Gilbert White, of Selborne, are re- 
 corded. The diaries do not begin early enough to include 
 that one during which he wrote the letter to the Hon. Daines 
 Barrington (No. ix in his Natural History) dated from Fyfield, 
 nor are any particulars given as to his observations while 
 there ; but there are several notes of intelligence which had 
 come from "Brother Gilbert" or "Brother White from
 
 21 
 
 Selborue" as he is called. For instance the construction of 
 the well-known path on the Hanger there is thus men- 
 tioned : — 
 
 1782, April 4. — The New Path up Selbonie Hanger cut obliquely t" 
 ye foot of ye Zigzag to ye corner of Wadden Close, opens the most 
 picturesque View of the inside Wood in ye style of Reubens ; and 
 the most amazing Views ever seen. 
 
 1781, March 8, — The Storm Avas so vehement at Selborne by accounts 
 from there, broke Bro. White's large walnut tree and overset his 
 Alcove and by Ace' in ye French Paper numbers of large Trees 
 were demolished in ye Tuilleries aud Luxembourgh Gardens at 
 Paris. 
 
 " The old family tortoise," spoken of in Letters vii, xiii, 
 xviij xxxvi, aud L. to Hon. Daines Barriugton is thus remem- 
 bered 1784, July 23, " Tortoise at Selborne seems to enjoy 
 his present situation as well as he did Ringmer but does not 
 appear to increase in size." 
 
 2 very beautiful Tortoises brt from Madagascar by Mr. Chs. Etty ; 
 but both died immediately after their arrival at Selborne, sup- 
 posed to be destroyed by ye jolting of ye Boot of ye Stage 
 Coach. — Hail Storm at Selborne on ye 5th ult. with vast pieces of 
 Ice made great destruction of Windows, Hot-bed lights as also of 
 Wheat and Hops and Avas accompanied with a vast deluge of Rain. — 
 Neither Annual Powers nor Cucumbers nor any production of 
 Hot-beds have grown for some time past, owing probably to ye 
 cold nights and shady wet weather. This is the case at Selborne 
 as well as here. — Grapes at Selborne blossom just a fortnight later 
 than last year. — Wheat not so forward by much at Selborne, some 
 not turned colour at all. 
 
 1782, Oct. 12. — Hop Fair mostly finished very few b" and almost all 
 sold, ye best at £10 aud £11. Old and bad ab' £6 p-- cwt. Sel- 
 borne s'' to have sent tlieir wliole crop in one Waggon ! 
 
 1781, Oct. 15th. — Some of ye Hops which were cut oil by ye Hailstorm 
 at Selborne June ye 5th sprouted out so much as produce (some 
 say) a better crop for it. Qu, might not this be a hint for pruning 
 or pinching in ye same manner as is practised on Melons or 
 Cucumbers. 
 
 1780. Aug. 28. — Bro. aud Neice arrived from Selborne. Miss Poore 
 and Miss Butcher sat for their xnctures to Mr. Metz 1st time. 
 This article should be in ye next day's column. 
 
 This Mr. Metz who appears to have lived in London, paid 
 many visits to the Whites at Fy field and painted the portraits 
 of many of them. There is a tradition in the family that 
 Gilbert never would sit for his likeness, and there is not one 
 of him known to exist. The fact, however, that ho was 
 staying with his brother at Fyficld at the same time as the 
 artist, who certainly painted many of his relatives, almost
 
 22 
 
 raises hopes that some sketch may some day be found, espe- 
 cially as on Aug. 30 " Neice M. White sat for her Picture to 
 Mr. Metz 1st time." " Bro. White," however, was taken ill 
 on Sept. 1st and " H. White taken ill in ye night"" the same 
 date. The illness was not a long one, for there is nothing to 
 shew he did not take duty on the 3rd, and on the 4th he 
 " Dined at Mr. Foyles, West Cholderton, with Mr. and Mrs. 
 Ekins, fine Pine Apple in ye Dessert, Cool evg. Aurora 
 Borealis and Meteors." On Friday 8th, "Bro. White re- 
 turned to Selborne in Robt Lake's chaise." 1780, Oct. 3, 
 " Nephew Barker arrived from Selborne." On Tuesday, 
 April 2nd, 1782, Henry White "set out for Selborne ab' 10 
 a.m., dined at Lunways, arrived ab* 7 vesp at G.W.'s." The 
 next day he found " Vast Torrents gushing into the lanes 
 ab' Selborne and violent Floods in ye sands beyond Woolmer 
 Forest." While the Rector of Fyfield was staying with his 
 brother, April 6th, " H. W. and 0. W. saw the new Altar 
 Piece at Winchester Cathedral ; ye raising of Lazarus, by Mr. 
 West — very fine, ye Frame gone to be changed. 
 
 Yast thunderstorm with violent hail rose up about 2 p.m. ueai' South- 
 ampton and steered away for Winton ; hailstones very large but 
 no irregular formed pieces of ice. The sound was so formidable 
 that it was thought prudent to take shelter imder ye eaves of ye 
 Turnpike Hovel on Magdalen Hill. The melting hail which lay 
 deep on ye road, clogged to the horse's feet so as to make it very 
 difficult riding. Bright evening and very cold, but no frost. 
 H. W. and Gr. W. arrived at home about 9 vesp. Dibsdale's House 
 cheaper tlian Lunways. 
 
 The next day was Sunday. It would be interesting to 
 know if Gilbert White took any part in the services ; pro- 
 bably he did, for this is what is entered 
 
 Yesterday cloudy and rough N.E. wind all night and morn, rather 
 cold, dai'k day but no sign of rain. Sacr*. at Fyfield. Served 
 Kimpton afternoon service for Mr. Cane. Do. began 1st time 
 at Shipton. Thunderstorm arose about 4 p.m., very black in 
 ye S. and wore away to ye W. A very steady gale blowing from 
 N.E. quite cold ; thunder at a distance but no rain came near. 
 Comis^ Poore at Tidhworth. S. H. W. to drink tea with do. 
 
 There is no indication of the date of Gilbert's return, but 
 on Friday, 26th April, "Mrs. Carley paid in full for je horse 
 to Idmestone, Tidworth, and Selborne paid by Rob*, lis. 6d." 
 He made another visit late in that year (1782) for it is men- 
 tioned November 1st, " Martin seen flying about ye chalk 
 cHff at Wherwell by G.W. on his return to Selborne."
 
 23 
 
 To Mr. "White's old fashioned, but sound and well tried 
 principle, of doing oneself what we wish to have done, we owe 
 the fact that many interesting traces of the interior economy 
 of the household are preserved in his diaries. It is as difficult 
 in these altered days to realize what the value of a Fair was, 
 as to think of a correspondence so scanty, that the reception 
 of a letter was a matter to chronicle. It is this difficulty 
 which makes much of the record of Urban life and govern- 
 ment a century ago, as hard to understand as if the reign of 
 Edward III. rather than of George III. were the period of 
 study. The alteration is so thorough, and has come so 
 suddenly, that it carries with it an inevitable air of exag- 
 geration. 
 
 It says a very great deal for the energy and activity of this 
 worthy Kector, that while he was doing so much which 
 depended on his own learning, while he was taking so 
 honoured and prominent a place in local society, there were 
 but comparatively few matters connected with the pro- 
 visioning of the house or the work of the farm which he does 
 not set down as they occurred. 
 
 Perhaps the most characteristic and illustrative are the 
 notes on the cheese consumed. 
 
 There was a cheese fair at Andover ; it is frequently men- 
 tioned in the town documents. I have often heard of it from 
 those who can recollect how the cheeses used to be piled up 
 by the roadside, and offered for sale. There is still a corner 
 in Weyhill Fair where cheese is sold. If I am not mistaken 
 most of it comes from Wiltshire. In my own Rectory house, 
 built between 50 and 60 years ago, there are capacious racks 
 which tradition tells were filled with cheeses at " Fair-time." 
 I have no distinct recollection of ever tasting a Hampshire 
 cheese, or at least one made near here, but a friend of mine 
 whose memory can go back well nigh three score years and 
 ten, tells me that if a (wooden) plough wanted tightening up 
 while work was going on, the readiest plan was the usual one, 
 to cut a wedge from the cheese in the dinner bag and hammer 
 it in. 
 
 However, the household at Fyfield throve on it. It was the 
 custom to buy a stock at Andover Fair and replenish it at 
 Weyhill Fair, and every cheese that was cut is duly entered 
 in the Diary, a cheese as a rule lasting about four days. 
 Once, however, in 1782, it did not last so long. The 28th of 
 the stock was cut on March 1st, and on March 2nd wc read,
 
 24 
 
 " Cheese cut 29th, that yesterday being very strong." _ The 
 followmg entry Mali explam the designation "Fives," "Sixes," 
 &c,, meaning that number to the hundredweight : — 
 
 1781, October 10th.— Fair at Weyhill. 
 
 Cheese bought of Mr. Stone. 
 
 cwt. 
 Common Cheese 7 Sixes. 
 Do. 1 Fives. 
 
 Do. 1 Sevens. 
 
 54 Cheeses. Total 9 at 33s. 
 
 at the same time 2 Mr. Powlett. 
 1 Mr. Cane, 
 no Truckles or Sage. 
 
 11th. — Cheese fair very h\\l and said to be sinking in price. 
 
 This was the second supply in that year, for at Andover 
 
 Fair on 11th May the purchase had been, 
 
 Cheese b' of R. Stone 61 in No. 
 
 Common Cheeses at ] 
 
 4 cwt. of Fives / 33s. per cwt. 
 
 3 cwt. of Sixes f 14 17 
 
 2 cwt. of Sevens ) 
 
 9 cwt. 
 
 and 1 cwt. 8 lbs. of Truckles, No. 7, and Sages, No. 2, 
 
 at 46/9 £2 6 8 
 
 It may be assumed that this was not all Hampshire cheese 
 of the typical character mentioned above. 
 
 These were stored on shelves in " the Parsonage," but 
 
 " The best laid schemes o' mice and men 
 Gang aft agley." 
 
 1781, Dec. 24. — Shelves behind ye kitchen fell with 21 Cheeses — 
 providential escape that no one was hurt. Clieeses on ye shelf 
 which fell ys morn 15 new ones, 4 old, 1 Sage and 1 Truckle, 
 weight sufl&cieut to have l)roken the airiest Head. 
 
 1782, April 13.— Cheese cut 38th and 39th, 1 almost eaten up by the 
 mice coming along ye ceiling to ye hanging shelf and not observed 
 in time. 
 
 1783, January 15. — Jos. Lansley stopped ye Holes in ye ceilings to 
 keep ye mice from ye cheese. 
 
 18th. — Mice gnaw this fresh mortar and come to ye cheese again — 
 stoj)pd once more to-night. 
 
 Other stores were bought in the same way, so that the 
 household were for many things, at any rate, quite independent 
 of shops.
 
 25 
 
 1781, Jamiaiy 22.-2 Cwt. Malag Raisins at 28/- 
 1 CAvt. Smyrna do. at 34/- 
 i Cwt. Currants 52s. and 56/- 
 Total Loaf Sugar, 2 Cwt. 71b. 
 Powder do. 5611). 
 23rd. — Weighed off Sugars, Currants, &c. 
 
 2 loaves of 13d. 
 10 do. 10 
 
 2 do. 11 
 
 4 do. large 9 
 z Cwt. Powder Sugar. 
 14 loaves hanging on ye beam in ye kitchen. 
 
 A substantial reserve like this is calculated to calm 
 domestic prognostications, even when it can be recorded as 
 it is pn 5th March, 1783 :— 
 
 Mutton has been so very scarce for some time as not to be got at 
 any rate owing to ye Rot among ye sheep, br' on by ye past 
 wet seasons, particularly ye last most unparalleled summer. Bacon 
 getting dear in proportion. 
 
 1780, January 25th. — Great want of all sorts of produce from ye 
 garden, and great comj)laints in] ye markets in London and ye 
 country. 
 
 Some notes of the prices at which farm produce sold are 
 worth preserving : — 
 
 1780, February 13th.— Sold L<* of wheat to Horsebridge Mill for 
 £9 5s., by Mr. Berrett. 
 
 April 17th. — Farmer Kibbeck bought 1 ton of the meadow hay rick 
 
 of 1777 for £3 per ton. 
 July 14tb. — Paid Jane Thorn, finished weeding, paid in fuU 11 days, 
 
 5s. 6d. 
 July 29th. — Wheat, sold 1st load from ye rick for 11 guineas, to Mr. 
 
 David, of Rushall. 
 September 16th. — Yiolet bot. 3 doz. and half butter at 7M, bad stuff. 
 October 2ud. — Geese 8 b' at Monxton mill at 2s. 6d. each, 2 bro' 
 
 home and killed. 
 October 30th. — Uphaven Fair, pigs rcmai'kably cheap ; good sized 
 
 do. sold at 4s. each. 
 November 25th. — Team to Audover with Mr. Goodall's hay and Mr. 
 
 Hemming's cheese and honey. 4 Truckle cheeses at 6d. weighed 
 
 48 lbs.— £1 4s. ; honey at 5^. per lb. 25 lbs.— lis. 5 id. 
 
 Packages and Pan. 
 
 1781, March 24th. — Barley sold at Andovcr nuirket by Mr. Bennett, 8 
 quai'ters at 18s. to Faiuuer Cooke, of Collingboume. 
 
 May 25th.— Butter from Andovcr, 6 lbs. at 7Ad. 
 
 Do. from farm, 4 lbs. at 8d. 
 May 29th. — Butter from farm, 6 lbs. at 7id. 
 June 26th. — 5^ gallons of goosebemes fi'oin Taylor, Kent, 28. 9d. 
 July 24th. — Hogshead of Cyder price £3 lOs., cask to be returned. 
 November 3rd. — Appleshaw Fair very full, and sold very cheap, 
 
 many Dorsets unsold.
 
 26 
 
 1782, December lltli. — Sent a sample of ye old oats to Andover market 
 by Mr. B', but for waut of examiuiuo^ them myself it was taken 
 out of a damaged musty part where a little rain had entered ! ! 
 This day a proper sample was sent, and sold at 23s. per quarter ! ! 
 at least 3s. per quarter under ye market price ! ! ! 
 
 1783, Jauuai-y 7th. — 21 quarters 4 bushels of oats sold for £23 lis. 
 January 9th.— Mr. Butcher called and took another sample of ye 
 
 oats, he says tliat our finest dry barley would yield 2 gs. per 
 quarter at Warminster, 39s. at Rumsay. 
 May 3rd. — Wheat falls in ye price owing to importation from 
 America ! it has been as high as £18 per load lately in ye western 
 markets. 
 
 1783, October 11th. — Hops, none from Selborne and vevj few from 
 that district, few from Faruham and a very thin shew on ye Hill 
 tho. some Kentish and some old Hops were brt. Best price £11 
 j)er cwt. Bought none. Weyhill being ye worst market when 
 they are dear tho. the best when they are cheaj). 
 
 1784, January 17th. — Called at Mr. Daniels Rushall a.m. Do called 
 here on his return from And' Market, wd. bid no more than 34s. 
 for ye Barley therefore he had it not. Newbury Market much 
 cheaper than Devizes and Warminster 5 or 6s. per Qr. 
 
 March 13th. — Hay, ye last yi's meadow, sold yesty to F' Taplin at 
 3 Gn' per Ton supposed to be ab' 5 Tons, proved to be sadly 
 damaged by putting musty shocks into ye rick from ye summer 
 cocks, fetched to day 1 Ton 2 Cwt., abatement expected and must 
 be made, sad neglect of Serv'" ! and a great loss as weU as vexa- 
 tion. 
 
 April 19th. — Hay sold at £5 per Ton in ye Avon Bourn, sd. to be 
 sold for 6 and £7 in ye West and at 45s. only at Oxford. 
 
 October 5th. — A sack full of walnuts brot in for ye Tithe of Hold- 
 ways winch he b' of Farmer Berrett, sent some to Ramridge. 
 
 November 9th. — Barley rose last Sat'' at Andover Market 5/- p"" Q"" 
 from 25/- to 30/- said to be caused by ye reduction of ye price of 
 spirituous Liquors which has set the DistiUey "to work. This 
 counteracts ye effect of ye vast plenty of Cyder. 
 1784, December 4th. — Markets fall much both for Wheat and Barley. 
 
 December 18th. — Markets continue to fall, ye best Barley not worth 
 more than 25/- per Quarter and Wheat more dull than it was. 
 
 There are a few observations which perhaps may be called 
 Farm Lore, as for example : — 
 
 1784, March 26. — Smut Balls do not break when wheat is threshed on 
 Hurdles, therefore the Grain is not Blackened, but they do not 
 blow away in winns. 
 April 3rd. — It is thought best not to sow Barley immediately after 
 Snow as it is apt to chill ye earth. 
 
 1780, July 24th. — Reaping Wheat begim in Fr. Berrett's piece N. of 
 ye Grove. It was by no means ripe or near it, but was sadly 
 Blighted so that many ears have now no corn in them at all, and it 
 is to be feared that this mischief is more general than it is now 
 suspected. Farmers think Barberry Trees effect this ; others 
 rather suspect Frosty nights and scorching Days in June to be a 
 more probable cause.
 
 27 
 
 1784, Marcli 5tli. — Rooks seem to build more in earnest — Hesiod's 
 rule seems inverted — be and Aristophanes say that the Farmers 
 sh"* sow corn when directed by ye Birds, bnt in fact these Birds 
 wait till Farmers sow corn before they begin their nidificatiou. 
 
 The following observations on the Natural History of by- 
 no-means extinct species may possibly be read by some with 
 sympathetic recollection of the line 
 
 " One touch of Natui'e makes the whole world kin." 
 
 1783, January 7tli. — Lansley Men 2, Boys 2, mending ye Tiling of ye 
 House and Parsonage. Do. had time enough to have mended ye 
 Chancel, but walked off with a ])' of Robert's shoes. 
 9tli. — Robert's shoes b" back from Ludgershall, to which place 
 they had been ingeniously convey'd by ye Mason's hoj, nomine 
 Richardson. 
 
 1781, December 25th. — Hannah French dismissed from her service ; 
 Robt. gave much sage advice thereon. Sevts. now past all 
 reprehension. 
 
 Who Eobert was may be gathered from the following 
 
 extracts : — 
 
 1783, February 19th. — Robt. delirous and absurdly saucy and obliged 
 to be desired to take his leave. 
 20th. — Robt. discharged and paid off to make up ye yr 3 13 6 
 odd time since to this day ... ... ... ... 2 10 
 
 Advance Extra ... ... ...0 8 3 
 
 £6 11 9 
 
 On submission and entreaty permitted to stay on. 
 March 4th. — Robt's Livery and Hat brot. home. H.W.'s Synagogue 
 
 Waistcoat and breeches. 
 1783, Fcbrnary 18th. — Anthony Cook built up ye wall which bulged in 
 
 ye Front of ye Parsonage house. Too Early for Building, but 
 
 suits the workmen well as it will probably soon want doing 
 
 again. 
 February 5th.— Goat at ye Farm, ye Male Killed by a Kick from ye 
 
 Poney in ye straw y"*, ye carcass by way of Perfume put just under 
 
 ye Fir Trees facing ye house. 
 May 22nd. — Tom Kent kicked in ye shin by ye Cart Mare ; Plough 
 
 boys must play foolish tricks. 
 
 1781, September 3rd. — After 26 Houi-s obstinacy and confinement 
 Betty Oak confes.ses to have hid the broken handle of ye Dessert 
 Spoon in a chink of ye Laundry Floor where it was found, and she 
 was dismissed after a very severe reprimand. 
 
 More discoveries of Betty Okes thciving : — Linncn given to yc 
 neighbours. 
 
 1782, February 25th. — Fine Baking Pear Tree broken to pieces moat 
 vilely by ye Masons at yc new washhouse. 
 
 28th. — Turni)iko Gate and Hut next Davis's demoli.shod last night. 
 The Gate vanished. The Hut lying across the Road.
 
 28 
 
 178-1', July 24t}i. — Ruff's finest Doo- puppy run over by F'' Berrett's 
 
 Cart of Green Votclies and killed ou ye spot to ye great delight of 
 
 ye savage Raee of swinish cai-ters ! ! ! 
 1784, August 7th. — Curtis's Flora Londinensis ye 3 vols, returned from 
 
 Clmtc Lodge, in yo Butchers's Hampers, with abundance of Suet, 
 
 &c., &c., &c., yet escaped unhurt ! ! ! ! 
 
 It has been already remarked that the family at Fyfield 
 Rectory were in great social request ; nor is this to be 
 wondered at. His diaries prove that Mr. White was a man 
 of much learning, ever ready with quotations from the classic 
 authors, and familiar with all country loving subjects he 
 could converse practically on things connected with the farm 
 and garden, as well as about dogs and guns, coursing and 
 hunting, Astronomy, botany and natural history were his 
 hobbies. Whatever subject he begins, the concluding sen- 
 tences of his paragraphs are fairly sure to have a notice of 
 some matter of natural science. His sense of the humorous 
 was very keen ; even when recording vexatious incidents he 
 generally puts it in a genial way, for example : — 
 
 1781, October 31st. — Lansley's man and boy sifting earth for mortar 
 in new washhouse ; not being able to obtain ye wire coal rudder 
 contented themselves with destroying ye bottom of ye wheat 
 rudder. Not near enough sifted, and gi-eat want afterwards for 
 want of dry earth. 
 
 1784, January 10th. — Bush faggots, 5 lost their way coming up ye 
 village, embezzlements strongly suspected among ye Poles and 
 elder Lop. Barley rick iralled much higher than four-legged pigs 
 could reach. 
 
 But his love for music, and the proficiency in performance 
 attained by some of his family and household contributed, no 
 doubt, a great deal to the enjoyment afforded by those friendly 
 gatherings so frequent in the neighbourhood, at which the 
 Whites were ever welcome as guests, and the hearty hospi- 
 tality with which he entertained travellers as well as the 
 friends living round him, is refreshing to read of. Everybody 
 seems to have been on the most cordial terms with them, 
 visiting and being visited in turn, without the least trace of 
 clique or exclusiveness. The musical instruments in use at 
 the Eectory included the Harpsichord, Pianoforte, Spinet, 
 Fiddle, and Violoncello. Mr. White could not only play, but 
 tune and re-quill the Harpsichord. One of their friends, Mr. 
 Holt, of Redenham, possessed a "Coelestina," which afforded 
 great delight to the music-loving Rector. An extract has 
 already been given which shows his disappointment when 
 cards took the place of music, but it would almost seem as if
 
 29 
 
 at his owu house it had upon occasion been too much for his 
 patience. 
 
 1783, January 23rd. — Peiitou, Clauville, and Blismore Hall families to 
 dinner. Cards, cai-ds, cards, et prseterea nihil. 
 
 1780, July 11th.— H. White, Chas. White, and Sir P. H. Clarke rode 
 to Andover. Harpsichord timed by Mr. Tremain. 
 
 1781, September 19th. — Harpsichord is to be sent to Mr. Pether, 
 Loudon, for new jacks, keys, &c., &c., &c. 
 
 1781, October 19th.— Sent Rob', with the cook Jolly and Bucklaud's 
 machine to return Sir P, H. C's Piano Forte to Mr. Bank's, Sarum. 
 B"^' hack Mr. Wellman's Harpsichord for Eliz. and also 1 cwt. of 
 Sope and ISdoz" of Comm" Candles, 4 doz. mold do. Sir P. H. C. 
 had the Piano Forte from Sarum July 17th, by T. Burr's cart. 
 
 October 20th.— Sent the Harpsichord to go to Mr. Pether, No. 25, 
 
 — ; Street, Oxford Road, London. Avho is to put in new keys, 
 
 jacks, wires, &e., &c., and to make it a complete instrument for 
 10 ^s. By Hatherall next Monday, car. p"*. 
 
 1782, January 7th.— Waggon to Andover ab' noon b"^' home Treakle, 
 stinking Prmiut Mash tulj and Harpsichord. Harpsicliord had 
 been sent to London ever since October 20th. 
 
 January 8th. — Harpsichord unpacked and b" very safe. Its touch 
 
 is not inferior to that of any new instrument, and the tone very 
 
 soft and equal to any new or old, and it is very comi^lete indeed, 
 
 well worth the expense. 
 February 19th. — Packed up and put into ye 1'' of hay, Mr. Wellman's 
 
 Harpsichord, and also sent Yioloncello to Banks to raise ye sound 
 
 post. 
 March 19th.— Fiddle sent to Mr. Banks for a new peg by T. Burr'. 
 
 No ink ceuld be had, no q' bottles in Sarum. 
 March 25th. — Harpsichord sunk a whole note below concert pitch ; 
 
 raised it half way. 
 April 23rd. — Raised ye Harpsichord to concert pitcli ; it was sunk 
 
 half a note 
 
 1784, December 23rd. — Began tuning ye Harpsichord and quilling _ it. 
 Took out ye Piano top and discovered ye reason of ye keys sticking 
 80 sadly, it was ye want of more play in ye pinholes, and also 
 casting of two of ye long keys Mr. Pether's wood not being well 
 seasoned ; soon rectified by ye assistance of ye carp'. 
 
 December 24th. — Harpsichord completely tuned and quilled, and ye 
 keys perfectly rectified, so that it is nowin better condition tlian ever. 
 
 1783, March 1. — Put a green blind to ye middle light of ye Parlour 
 window to skreen ye Harpsichord from ye sun. 
 
 1784, February 4th. — Harpsichord b""' downstairs into yo common 
 Parlour. 
 
 May 8th.— Harpsichord carried upstairs for ye summer. 
 
 Apropos of quilHug the Harpsichord the following is an 
 interesting entry bearing on the importance of Fairs in the 
 country life of the time. 
 
 1781, Octoljcr 9th.— Quills 1500 b' from ye Sedgemoor Mareliant on 
 Weyhill at Is. per Hund., the cheapest market by far. At 
 Andover they are full three times as dear.
 
 30 
 
 When opportunity offered the White family attended public 
 concerts, but " musical invitations " to neighbours' houses 
 were a continual source of pleasure to them. Now and then 
 we get the reflections of a candid though friendly critic. 
 
 1780, August 23rd. — Mauy horses collected for ye expedition to Sarum. 
 August 24th. — No. 14 (i.e.. 14 in number) went to hear the Sarum 
 
 musick. The Miss Aljrams witli their mouths shut and dusky 
 faces. The Messiah at Church and Daphnis, &c., at ye Room. 
 Greek ode best calculated for the Arctic Circle, Piozzi shamm'd 
 Abram. 
 
 1781, October 5th. Mrs. White, &c., went to Mr. Parry's Concert at 
 Sarum, most beautiful travelling thither and back. Road dusty in 
 ye track over ye Downs. 
 
 1782, March 6th.— Mr. Parry to dinner with Mr. Wellman. Some 
 lessons and one song, unlucky hoarseness prevented more. 
 
 March 1st.— Set out after d^ with T.H.W., H. W"% C.H.W., and 
 went to Mr. P's concert, Mr. Dale and S.W. on horseback. Downs 
 very pleasant and dry enough for travelling. 
 
 December 19th.— "Went to Sarum Concert with Mr. F.D.Hy. Dor- 
 setshire Band, very full room. 
 
 April 15th. — To Redenham vesp. with Eliz., Chas., and Mr. Dale. 
 Musical visit to meet Mi's. P*. 
 
 February 6th.— Dined at Mr. Holts with Mrs. W., E.W., and Chas., 
 met Mrs. Mabbot, Mr. and Miss Butcher. Music vesp. Coelestina, 
 &c. Mr. H> and T.H.W. ret^' from Sarum to tea. L" from 
 Oxford 7d. 
 
 1783, August 29th.— Went to the Oratorio of the Messiah for Mr. 
 Wellman's benefit at Romsey. 
 
 September 26th.— H. and B. Wood and Dale, and S.W. and C.H.W., 
 
 went to the Oratorio of Estlier at Salisbuiy. 
 October 16th. — Mrs. and Miss Powlet, Mrs. Goater and Miss Sanez, 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Pollen, Mr. and Mrs. Leversuch, Mrs. and Miss 
 
 Butcher, &c., &c., came to hear Master Crotch. 
 October 17th.— Went mth Bro. B. White, &c., to Mr. Pollen's to hear 
 
 Master Crotch perform on the Celestina. 
 
 This must have been the celebrated Dr. Crotch, Professor 
 of Music at Oxford, who was born 5th July, 1775, and died 
 29th December, 1847, and therefore eight years old at this 
 performance. 
 
 1784, September 24th. — Mrs. Bruce and ye Miss Litchfields from 
 Rami-idge called a.m. to hear musick. 
 
 October 29th. — Drank tea at Redenham ; Mr. and Mrs. Penton, 
 &c., there. Musick was proposed and attempted but ended in F. 
 flat, Mr. Bayes's note. 
 1782, May 5th.— Mr. Parry came and staid. Dr. with M. Wellman, 
 recomd' for his benefit in a V from Mr. B''. 
 
 May 14th. — Rode to M. Parry's benefit concert at ye Sarum Theatre. 
 
 Judas Machab" very decently performed. Mr. Parry very great as a 
 
 singer and player ; had a tolerably good liouse and more than expd. 
 
 1782, Febb. 23rd. — Musical invitation to Redenham disappointed by ye 
 
 wet even. Mr. Holt going to Bath.
 
 31 
 
 The dinner hour is not stated, but it was probably about 
 4 o'clock, as there was time for expeditious after it, as well 
 as music. There is a favour of appreciation in the records 
 of the dinner parties that makes us think of the successes of 
 Dr. Primrose's daughter. " If the cakes at tea are short and 
 crisp, they were made by Olivia, if the gooseberry wine was 
 well knit the gooseberries were of her gathering, it was her 
 fingers that gave the pickles their peculiar green, and in the 
 composition of a pudding it was her judgment that mixed 
 the ingredients ;" and we almost listen for the voice that still 
 calls with such human accents : " Deborah, my life, grief 
 you know is dry, let us have a bottle of the best gooseberry 
 wine -to keep up our spirits — and Sophy, love, take your 
 guitar and thrum in with the boy a little." 
 
 1782, March 21st. — Diued at Mr. Bowles with liis nephews ye Revn'' 
 Messrs, Powell and Matthews. Detained by bad weather till 9 
 vesp., di-eadfnl bad weather full in ye face so as to make it terrible 
 riding. Snow clogged to ye horse's feet, continual danger of 
 falling and in many places ye track nearly obliterated made a late 
 return rather hazardous, and duiibtful as well as painful through 
 ye cold and wet. 
 
 1781, August 10th.— Sir P. H. 0., Mr. F. D., Hy., H., and Mrs. W. to 
 dinner at Mr. Powlett's. Venison, cantaleupe, &c., &c. Mrs. went 
 in Mr. Crookshank's phaeton. H. retd. 
 
 1784, Sept. 27th. — Venison a side presented by Sir Sidney Meadows 
 very fine and fat. Sept. 29th venison feast. 
 
 1783, July 21st. — Mr. Cook brought his son back to dinner from 
 Andover, his own horse's knee demolished, his servant's horse so 
 lame as to be left under ye farrier's care. Mr. Dale brought his 
 son back from Blandford to dinner in a Avhiskey. Invited to dine 
 at Dr. Smith's. Mr. C. went. Venison foetid. 
 
 1781, Sept. 8th.— Dined at Mr. Gauler's, Weyhill, with Mr. Crook- 
 shank, Barrett, Gray, &c. Venison, Champagne, and Pine Apple. 
 
 1784, Feb. 7th. — Cheese, a very fine old Cheshire received from London, 
 weighed GOlbs., a present from Brother Tliomas : Do. cut this 
 evening. Shrub 2 galls, b' from Mr. Bunny's. Cheese cut from 
 Parsonage ye 3rd. 
 
 1780, Sept. 16th.— Mr. and Mrs. Powlett dined here; brought the 
 Garden of Eden wall fruit. Grapes, and the finest Cautaeleupe 
 Melon, weighed 91b.. ye flesh near 4 inches in thickness ! 
 
 1780, Sept. 4th.— Diued at Mr. Foyle's West Choldcrton, with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Ekins ; fine Pine Apple in ye dessert. Cool even. 
 
 1782, July 17th. — Jno. Cooke sot out this morn for Stockbridgo on 
 Minny, Rob", on Carley's Hack; bought 1.50 crayfish at 7s. 6d. 
 sent do. at night to Andover to go by ye coach to Bro. B. L". from 
 Mr. Fielden 8d., and T^ P. Id. L'. from Mr. Fieldon Lango, 
 brought next day. 
 
 1783, May Ist. — Trouts begin to couu- up ye Brook in pursuit of 
 minnows. About 200 miimows were caught \:\»i Saturday and 
 dressed, nearly as good to eat as gudgeons.
 
 32 
 
 1783, April 30th. — Two brace of fine cucumbers sent from Redenham. 
 Received a fine present of salmon and lobsters from Mr. Cooke, 
 Christ Church, came by a P. chaise from Sarum ; should have been 
 brouofht by T. Burr last night. 
 
 The notices of tea parties are innumerable, very valuable 
 as giving the names of local people, but otherwise generally 
 of no particular interest. One room in the house appears to 
 have gone by the name of the " Tea Room." There are but 
 two allusions to the china, so that our feelings are spared the 
 coveting that might have suggested itself. 
 
 1784, January 13th. — Wedgwoods yellow earthenware sliivered to 
 pieces by ye frost by standing with water in it under garden pots. 
 
 1781, January 21st. — Received parcel of books from Bro. B. and a box. 
 
 china Bro. Woods. 
 1780, August 26th. — E"'. W., jun'., picture put uj) in ye Tea Room ; a 
 
 remarkably good likeness. 
 1784, March 30th.— Mr. C. S. A. and C. H. W., and W. A. H., to 
 
 Andover vesp. dinner, tea, Mr. D. Amport. Great riots at Andover 
 
 Election, Town Hall Avindows broke, three hogshd beer let about 
 
 ye street, &c. 
 
 1783, January 13th. — TAvelfth Day Cake, a fine one j)resented by Mr. 
 Berrett. 
 
 1780, February 14th. — Nine Valentines, at Munday's all day. 
 
 1781, November 6th. — Dined at Mr. Cane's and came back soon in 
 expectation of playing ofE ye fireworks. 
 
 November 8th. — Bon Fire, seven sky rockets, four J^ in a box, and 
 five Roman candles. 
 
 Mr. White was also a cricketer, as appears from the 
 following entries : — 
 
 1782, July 3rd. — Game of Cricket with Mr. Hy. &c. vesp. in ye Home 
 Meadow. 
 
 1782, August 20th. — Played at cricket in Privet with Mr. Amy'', &c. 
 All wet through coming home. 
 
 The residence with the family at Fyfield Rectory, of young 
 men of position who were preparing for the Universities, 
 must have secured for the Whites a wider range of society 
 than so retired a neighbourhood would have afforded. An 
 entry under 4th March, 1784, explains the system : — 
 
 Sams" sett off ab' 8 mat to keep term at Oriel with H H W. 
 Settled in full with Mr. Dale, whose son having resided here just 
 three years goes to Ball. Coll. Oxford, as Gentn Comm^ Sett oft' 
 for Newbury abt 2 p.m. His books w"" just 2061bs. 
 
 Another entry lets us into some of the domestic arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 1784, February 10th — No fire liglited yet in ye School Room in ye 
 Parsonage ; lecture held in ye Nursery, the weather being too cold 
 for a larger room.
 
 33 
 
 In his scholastic work the Rector was assisted by several 
 gentlemen, who among other subjects taught French, 
 Drawing, Music, and Dancing. Mr. Wellman was the music 
 master, Mr. Delarnelle took the French and drawing. 
 Extracts have already been given which mention Mr. Well- 
 man's concerts ; he probably lived at Salisbury, and had a 
 wide circle of pupils. Mr. Goodall was the dancing master, 
 and is very frequently mentioned. 
 
 1781, July 13tli — Mr. Goodall came the 1st time, improved and ap- 
 proved of by ye Vestris's and Gallani. 
 
 July 20tli — Messrs. Delarnelle and Goodall absent on account of 
 Sarum Races — ut semper gaudes illudere rebus Humauis. 
 
 August 31st — Grand Ballett under ye direction of Mr. Goodall. 
 
 December 14tli — Mr. Goodall ye last time. Grand ball with the 
 Starkie family. 
 
 1782, October 25th— Full Ball with Mr. Goodall. Mr. H^ came from 
 Andover. 
 
 The Rev. — Cane whose son " Bob" was one of the 
 pupils, also helped in the teaching. Mr. Cane lived some 
 time at Kimpton Rectory and probably held the curacy of 
 Shipton BeUinger. The Rev. — Goddard was also, I think, 
 accustomed to give some assistance, he became afterwards 
 Rector of Kimpton on the death of Mr. Foyle. 
 
 1784, May 22— Rev. Mr. Goddard S. Tidworth presented to ye 
 
 Rectory of Kimpton yest'' by G* Foyle Esq. 
 1784, August 2— Mr. Goddard inducted to Kymptou p.m. Went to 
 
 attend do. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Topping was a great personal friend, and 
 possibly a helper. We have an entry of his wife's burial. 
 
 1784, May 11— Mrs. Topping died before noon. Mr. P. Duke ill. 
 May 18— Buried Mrs. Topping near her uncle, the late Dr. Barnes, 
 in Thruxton Chancel. 
 
 The Register of Thruxton records the interments mentioned 
 in the diary. 
 1772.— The ReV^. Dr. Joshua Barnes, Rector of this Parish, was buried 
 
 Feb. the 14th. 
 1784, May 18th.— Buried, Catherine, wife of the Rev. Samuel Topping. 
 
 Assistance probably only in elementary subjects was also 
 given by a Mr. Hedderly, of Appleshaw. The Mr. Dale men- 
 tioned above was George Dale, of Ruddleston, co. Hereford, 
 Gent. The son, John Dale, who matriculated at Baliol 
 College, Oxford, 12 December, 1781, at the age of 17, took 
 the degree of B.C.L. 1788, and D.C.L, 1793. The pupil 
 
 D
 
 34 
 
 who figures most conspicuously in the diaries is Sir Philip 
 Houghton Clarke, of Shirland, whose pedigree may be thus 
 condensed : — 
 
 Sir Simon Woodclmrcli K' married Susau daughter and lieiress 
 of Heury Clarke and had issue two sons, Simon, who married 
 Adrian Fortescue, and Clarke "Woodchurch who inheriting his 
 mother's estates adopted the name of Clarke and had issue. Peter 
 Clarke, alias Woodchurch, whose son Sir John Clarke, fought at 
 Poictiers whose descendant Walter Clarke of Ratcliffe, co. Bucks 
 married Elizabeth, daughter of Simon Edolpli of St. Radigans, co. 
 Kent, and had issue : — Sir Simon Clarke created a Baronet 1 May, 
 1617, and died 1642 ; he married Margaret, daughter and heiress of 
 Jolm Alderford of Abbots Salford, co. War., and had issue three 
 sons, John, second Bart. , who died s.p., Peter, killed in 1639, and 
 Sir Simon Clarke, third Bart., who died in 1687. He married 
 Mercy, daughter of Philip Brace of Doverdale, co. Wark, and was 
 succeeded by his eldest son. Sir Simon Clarke, foui'th Bart., who 
 died 1718 ; he married a daughter of the Rev. Castle and was suc- 
 ceeded by his only child. Sir Simon Peter Clai-ke, E.N., who dying 
 without issue the title reverted to his cousin, Sir Simon Clarke 
 [eldest sou of Philip, the second son of Sir Simon the third Bart.] 
 who man-ied Mary daughter of Philip Bonny, Esq., of Jamaica 
 and had issue. Sir Simon Clarke, seventh Baronet who manned 
 Anne, daughter and co-heir of Philip Houghton, Esq., the great 
 Jamaica planter, and had issue, Sir Philip Houghton Clarke, who 
 succeeded in 1777, but died unmarried, and the title devolved upon 
 his brother. 
 
 The first entry mentioning him is 
 
 1780, February 29th.— Sir Philip Houghton Clarke and Mr. Poore 
 arrived from London. 
 
 From that time he went about with the Whites everywhere. 
 We read of his horse, his piano, his pictures, his plaster 
 casts, his books, his prints by Albert Durer, until on 
 
 1782, January 29th. — Sir Philip Houghton Clarke left this place to live 
 with his mother in Town. Jno. White rode almost to Winton with 
 him on Charley's nag. 
 1782, February 8th. — Packed up and corded S. P. H. C.'s boxes etc. last 
 night young Nash came to do it. 
 
 4 Square Deal Boxes 
 
 1 Small long Do 
 
 1 Thin SmaU Case 
 
 1 Roll on Straw ye Easel Frame. 
 
 He came down at intervals to visit his old friends, but not 
 to stay long. 
 
 The White's nearest neighbour was their medical adviser who 
 was besides a great personal friend, Mr. Philip Henry Poore 
 (grandfather of Major P. H. Poore, of Andover), then quite a
 
 85 
 
 young man, having been born in 1765. He lived in the house 
 now occupied by Mr. Neate. His son, the Rev. Philip Henry 
 Poore, was Rector of Fyfield, but died .young in 1837. There 
 are other friends of the name of Poore very frequently 
 mentioned, and without a few words of explanation it will not 
 be easy to distinguish them. The family of Poore, of 
 Wiltshire and Hampshire, is one of the most ancient in the 
 country. They probably came out of Gloucestershire in the 
 twelfth century. And the complete working out of the 
 pedigree is a duty still owing to those three counties. The 
 oflfshoot of the family in America has grown to very great 
 importance. A most remarkable and interesting gathering of 
 those bearing the name in the United States was held at 
 Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 14th, 1881, an 
 account of which was printed in New York. 
 
 Edward Poore, of Salisbury, M.P. for New Sarura and a 
 Wiltshire Judge, died 19th May, 1780, and was buried at 
 Salisbury, where he had lived, but although this date is 
 within the period covered by these diaries I do not think he 
 is alluded to. Smart Poore, by his wife Elizabeth, left two 
 sons, whose names Mr. White very frequently mentions — 
 Edward Poore, of Tidworth, who died in 1787, and George 
 Webb Poore, of Devizes, who is called the " Counsellor." 
 He married a daughter of — Philips, of Devizes, and had 
 issue Edward Poore, of Tidworth, who resided for the most 
 part abroad and died at Rome in 1803, and two daughters, 
 Elizabeth and Jane. A portrait of " Counsellor Poore " 
 hangs in the dining room at Thruxton Rectory. Elizabeth, 
 his daughter, was married to W. Dyke, of Syrencot, in the 
 parish of Figheldean, Wilts, Esq., who on inheriting the 
 property of his maternal uncle, Edward Poore, of Tidworth 
 (the younger), assumed the name of Dyke-Poore. He was 
 the grandfather of Mrs. Baker, of Thruxton. An interesting 
 mention of his seat is here quoted : — 
 
 1 783, May 16th.— Rode with E.W., jun., C.H. W., aud dined at Syren Cot 
 quite a single tract over ye wide Down, shady pleasent riding 
 though the hottest day tliis year, much water remaining in long 
 bottom of ye Land Springs from tlie Ijack of Chidbury Hill. Mrs. 
 W. could not go, went to bed ill of a cold. Two of ye little Pigs 
 killed ])y ye sows lying on them, 1 lust night 1 to-day. Downs look 
 more brown and bare than ever remembered, many farmers think 
 they must return to foddering with hay, some in ye Avon Bourn 
 have actually begun. Mr. Dyke says Polygala Bloom looks liriglit 
 among the brown grass. Barley said to advance from 30 shillings 
 to 3<3 shillings at Warminster Market. Tho most magnificent 
 
 I) 2
 
 86 
 
 Hoi'se Chestnut Tree ever seen is now growing in Mr. Dyke's 
 garden in vast vigour and strength, and seems not to have 
 attained to its full size, its bloom is destroyed and leaves injured 
 by the late frost. He moved the fence of his garden to take this 
 tree in from ye meadow adjoining. Beeeli trees scorched totally 
 brown as in t)" in ye plantations at S. Tidworth at ye NW corner. 
 
 Mr. Pugb, however, takes the place of medical adviser, and 
 the diaries give no further indication of Mr. P. H. Poore's 
 movements. 
 
 1780, Feb. 12th.— Rode to induct Mr Thos Fountaine into ye Rectory 
 of N Tidworth dined at Mr. Poore's. 
 
 This is Mr. Edward Poore, the younger, who died 1803. 
 
 1781, May 28th.— Noble piece of salmon sent by Mr. Poore of Tid- 
 worth, in high season. Ground very hard and dry ; young shoots 
 of Oaks &c. ; sadly scorched by *ye Frosty Morn^. — Influenza 
 very afflicting and violent painful ab' ye Face and Mouth, quite 
 agonizing. 
 
 31st. — M. Pugh twice, Dr. Downe vesp to ye sick — sad house. 
 
 Lucy much worse Jno W. very ill bothe bled by Jno Tapp. 
 July 16th. — Showers before noon, but cleared away p.m, Seems to 
 
 promise dry weather. Couns"' Poore at Tidworth S^ P. H. C. and 
 
 Sam. Served Thruxton. 
 Oct. 11.— Served Fyfield at 9 Ma'. S Tidworth at half-past eleven 
 
 called at Mr. Smiths. Mr. Townsend and son dined at Mr. 
 
 Poores with S. P. H. C, ye Coun», and Ja W returned early, 
 
 vesp cloudy and dark. Mr. Dale and H. W to Andover. 
 
 1782, Jan. 21.— Rode to Mr. Poores with Sam to dine with Mr. 
 Fountaine, and the Tenants, ret'' to Tea with ye Coims''. Sam 
 and B'' Cane to Andover with Do vesp. 
 
 1783, March 15th. — Mr. Pugh came to Master Halliday. Do blooded, 
 has been bad with a cold ever since Tuesday. 
 
 Sometimes we sigh lor the " good old times'" — sometimes 
 we do not. Entries like this are about as good as anything 
 to modify longings for the past, and stifle such sentimental 
 sighs. Many of the great houses of the neighbourhood are 
 described briefly, or rather Mr. White sets down his opinions 
 and impressions about them. 
 
 Hurstborne Park, which was built by the second Earl of 
 Portsmouth, did not command his unbounded admiration. 
 The house was unhappily burnt down in 1891. 
 
 1782, September 14th. — Rode to L** Portsmouth's ncAv House with Mr. 
 Metz, Mr. Dale, and C. H. W. Roads violently dusty, hard and 
 disagreeable. Hurstbourue House, a vast enormous pile, strong 
 building, very little ornamented, on a bleak uncouth and un- 
 comfortable situation, but ye Apartments spacious and magnificent. 
 
 1784, May 13tli.— Went with Mr. C. to Mr. Ekius. Do returned 
 from Ireland. Bp. of Killala if he pleases. Rec"* Messrs. Barton
 
 37 
 
 and Heyes. Saw Wilbury House, &c., a very beautiful spot and 
 elegantly planted, some good pictures and 2 or 3 grand rooms, the 
 chambers raised 7 feet high to 14 feet and consequently the whole 
 roof taken off; ornaments of ye pleasure groimds rather uncouth, 
 delightful shady lawn close behind. 
 
 Rami'idge House, in the Parish of Weyhill, a fine specimen 
 of Adams's work, was another building Mr. White did not 
 so much admire. The park is still remarkable, as it was in 
 the time of Edward III., for its very fine trees, but the 
 Rector observes with an evident shake of the head. 
 
 1780, December 18th.— Walked to Ramridge with Sir P. H. C. &c. 
 
 p.m. a very larg*e and expensive house and too lofty for the 
 
 country. 
 Jiily.24. — Rode to Ramridge vesp. with Bessy &c. lime bloom, fine 
 
 perfume. 
 August 23.— Sir P. H. C. Mr. W., Mr. Metz, and Bessy rode to 
 
 Ramridge vesp. 
 December 4th. — Sent ye picture home to Ramridge. 
 
 Most likely one by Mr. Metz. 
 
 1782, October 11th. — Dined at Ramridge with brother Benj" house 
 most elegently finished two most superb looking glasses in ye 
 Drawing room said to have cost originally at Paris £500 each ; 
 veiy dark walk home. Messrs Leversuch and Crookshanks and 
 several ladies from Loudon visiting Mr. Gaules. 
 
 1784, April 17th.— Dined at Ramridge with Mr. W., Mrs. Wallop and 
 Miss Bailey and Messrs. Chamljerlain, Barlow and Haynes gi'cat 
 cutting down and grubbing up sed quantum mutatus ab illo. 
 
 The Manor of Ramridge, now the property of Ewelm 
 College, Oxfordshire, was once owned by Geoflfrey Chaucer, 
 the poet. It's history may, it is hoped be more completely 
 worked out in connection with Weyhill Fair. 
 
 The estate was purchased in 1858 by M. H. Marsh, Esq., 
 M.P. There are many entries in the Diary alluding to Mr. 
 Talbot, a gentleman I have not satisfactorily identified ; I am 
 open to correction but I think that he must have lived in the 
 mansion at Quarley, subsequently the residence of the Cox 
 family, which was pulled down many years ago. Mr. Talbot 
 was a great sportsman and kept a pack of hounds, which he 
 used at times for deer hunting. 
 
 Genial, scholarly and talented as Mr. White must have 
 been, it is no wonder that he was fond of company, especially 
 if there happened to be music, or that he was always a most 
 welcome guest. He was very much given to outdoor exercise, 
 and frequently mentions the keen delight ho found in his 
 walks and rides, that such a lover of nature was fond of dogs
 
 38 
 
 goes without saying and there are many entries in his diaries 
 in which he alkides to his dogs in affectionate terms : the 
 following anecdote of one of them, which was told me hy W. 
 White, Esq., F.S.A., the Eector's grandson, is worth pre- 
 serving : — "He kept several sporting dogs, which were 
 admitted to the house. One winter evening an old pointer, 
 lying on the hearthrug, started up barking ; having been let 
 out she returned in a short time to her repose. The next 
 morning some rails were found broken up and ready to be 
 carried away. The depredator had been disturbed by the dog 
 which had detected the trespass notwithstanding the number 
 of persons passing close by along the high road." Fond of 
 his dogs and his gun and with a warm appreciation of sport, 
 the Rector did not recognise the real character of true sport 
 in the so-called " deer hunts." 
 
 1782, January 15th. — Mr. Talbot's hounds broug-ht a doe through the 
 
 village* and took her alive in Farmer Berrett's rick yard. She 
 
 had run, it was computed, about 15 miles; yet looked lively and brisk. 
 
 January 16th. — The doe carried to Grately in a cart, poor animal, 
 
 to be persecuted again. 
 
 1784, December 4th. — Deer taken at Thruxton by Mr. Talbot's hounds ; 
 after a long chaise it vras caught in Conholt Wood by ye fox 
 hounds, having strayed from ye pen at Grately in ye summer. 
 The Prince of Wales expected to hunt deer with Mr. Talbot this 
 morning at Sarson Copse, to come with Mr. Fitzi-oy from Dowles 
 Lodge, but prevented by ye weather. 
 
 The Prince of Wales was of course afterwards George IV. ; 
 he did come in 1795, and on November 4th of that year 
 hunted at Clatford Oakcuts. C. F. Randolph, Esq., J.P,, of 
 Kimpton Lodge, has a bureau which was purchased at the 
 sale at the house at Quarley, and the tradition clings to it 
 that when he was visiting at the house it was used by the 
 Prince of Wales to keep his " George" in. 
 
 The Rector went in for coursing, as witness the following 
 entry, which, if it were dealt with as it ought to be, would 
 take several pages of notes to itself : — 
 
 1781, Dec. 4th.— Went out coursing with T. H. W., Sam., Chas., Gil. 
 and Bob Cane to see ye Norfolk gentl" near Tidworth. Many 
 horses, but too many people spoiled the sport and baulked the 
 hares from running up the hills, consequently many caught. 
 About 100 people, E of Orford, L'' G. Lennox, 2 other Geul", 
 Howe and Pitt, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Pitt, Dean of Sarum, &c., 
 &c., Sir Jno Rouse, Sir G. Paul. 
 
 1781, Dec. 7th. — Boys went after the Norfolk gentl" who were coursing 
 near Lavington, therefore contented themselves with a course near 
 Snoddiugton, and brought home a fine hare.
 
 39 
 
 Of the distinguished company mentioned above some may 
 easily be identified, the " E of Orford" was George, third 
 Earl of Orford, a lord of the bedchamber, and ranger of St. 
 James's and Hyde Parks, who succeeded to the title in 1761, 
 and died unmarried December 5th, 1791, when the honours 
 reverted to his uncle, the celebrated Horace Walpole, who 
 became fourth Earl, and died 1797. It was George, the third 
 Earl, who disposed of the splendid collection of pictures made 
 by his grandfather. Sir Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford. 
 
 Sir George Onesiphorus Paul, of Eodborough, was the son 
 of Sir Onesiphorus Paul of Eodborough, co. Gloucester, 
 created a baronet 3rd September, 1762. 
 
 General Lord George Lennox, M.P. for Sussex, was the 
 second son of Charles, second Duke of Pdchmond, he married 
 Louisa, daughter of the Marquis of Lothian, and died in 
 1805 ; his son Charles succeeded his uncle as fourth Duke. 
 
 General Howe must have been the distinguished com- 
 mander in the American War. 
 
 * Was General Pitt the son of "Diamond Pitt" who in 
 1716 had built Abbots Anne Church ? 
 
 It is highly probable that the " Norfolk Gentlemen" was 
 the name of a club, and while on this coursing tour the 
 members most likely made their headquarters at Amesbury. 
 Mr. Assheton Smith, the elder, was living in the neighbour- 
 hood at the time ; but not in Tedworth House as it is now, 
 because that did not receive its present shape until 1828. If 
 there was any house near at which such guests were more 
 likely at that date to be quartered at than another it would 
 probably be the Mansion at Quarley, for there was a sporting 
 master. 
 
 An interesting entry in the Diary for the year 1781 records 
 a visit paid by Mr. White to Amesbury House : — 
 
 1781, February 20th. — Expedition to ye Duke of Quecnsbury's aud 
 Stonehenge, " Metaque fervidis vix avitata rotis." " Thus ye 
 ancieut Druids," &c. Excellent Shrub, Ch. Brandy, &c. House 
 at Amesbury much altered by ye present Duke, the approach now 
 on the side next the turnpike. 
 
 Pictures likewise differently placed and some taken away. 
 Lady Forljes and Lady Clarendon possess the other half of tliis 
 grand collection of portraits by Vandyke and Lely, which were 
 formerly all to be seen together at Cornbury Lodge, Oxfoi'dshire. 
 
 * General Pitt was probably Sir William Augustus Pitt, K.B., of 
 Heckfield, Hants, who was a general in the army ; he was the youngest 
 son of George Pitt, Esq., of Strathfieldsaye ; he died December, 1809. 
 
 E. D. W.
 
 40 
 
 1781, February 22iid. — Paper covering at ye Duke of Queensbury's 
 new kitchen and cart house ; very light, beautiful and elegant, but 
 query vrhether durable, and how expensive ! 
 
 William Douglas, third Earl of March, fourth Duke of 
 of Queensbury, was created an English peer August, 1786, 
 by the title of Baron Douglas of Araesbury, He died un- 
 married 1810. The parish of Kimpton adjoins Fyfield, and 
 in its quaint old church Mr. White frequently took service 
 for the Eector, the Rev. Edward Foyle [senior], who was 
 non-resident. Mr. Foyle, who had succeeded in 1750 the 
 Rev. William Goodenough in the living of Kimpton, held 
 the stall of "Minor pars Altaris" in Salisbury Cathedral ; 
 he lived at ths Manor House, West Cholderton. The diaries 
 record : — 
 
 1784, April 19th.— Served Kimpton Church 10th time. 
 26th. — Mr. Foyle returned to Kimpton Church. 
 May 3rd. — Served Kimpton Church again, making 11th time . Mr. 
 
 Foyle ill and remains at Bath, 
 loth.— Served Kimpton Church again 12th time. News arrived 
 
 that Mr. Foyle died at Bath last Friday. 
 17th. — Went to serve Kimpton before 10, but returned not being 
 
 wanted. 
 
 This Mr. Foyle was succeeded by the Rev. John Goddard, 
 whose acquaintance we have already made while he was 
 rector of Tedworth. He did not live long to enjoy his change, 
 dying in 1785. Mr. Goddard was succeeded by the Rev. 
 Edward Foyle [junior], son of the former Rector, whose 
 daughter married the Rev. Charles Randolph, his successor 
 at Kimpton. The present Chairman of the Bench and of 
 the Board of Guardians of Andover, C. Foyle Randolph, 
 Esq., M.A., of Kimpton Lodge, is the son of the last named 
 Rector. 
 
 Here is the record of visits made and received during the 
 month of January, 1780, as they are entered under the 
 respective days. Just one word of introduction. I believe 
 whenever Mr. White speaks of riding it is on horseback, as 
 at this time, 1780, I do not think he had a carriage for the 
 road ; later he set up a " whisky," but when Mrs. White rode 
 with him, I have no doubt it was on a pillion behind him. 
 
 1780, January 2 — " Walked to Redenliam ; very thick fog and gentle 
 thaw ; Mr. Holt not at home." 3rd — " Went Famy. visit to Mr. 
 Topps, No. 8 (i.e., eight in number) ; very warm close weather ; 
 some few drops, but wind bearing up to N." 4th — " Dined at Dr. 
 Smith's. Venison." 6th — " Rode Avith Mrs. W. to Appleshaw,
 
 41 
 
 p.m. Ground very cloggy ; inucli ice iu ponds, &c. ; wheat nipped 
 by ye frost iu some places, and ye blade withered." 10th — " Mr. 
 and Mrs. Berrett and Mr. Goodall to diur. Rode to Abbott's 
 Anne, Amport, &c., &c. Called on Mr. Burrough, Mr. Evans, Mr. 
 D., &c." 11th — " Went to dinner at Mr. Andrews'. Very good 
 riding on the turn]iike ; still weather and cloudy, nr. Ford." 
 14th—'- Walked to Amport with Bessy and H. Woods." loth— 
 " Rode to Conholt Park with S. Gravelly roads, not bad. Mr. 
 Scroggs and Fam. with Sir Sydney Meadows." 17th — " Rode to 
 Appleshaw with 2 E. Ws. and H. Woods, and dined at Mrs. 
 Butcher's, Mr. Holt, Pollens, &c. Ground very cloggy." 19th — 
 " Mr. Powlett's family and Mr. Duke's to dinner ; Mr. P. and 
 Mrs. Duke unable to come." 21st—" Mr. Mebbot's fam. and Dr. 
 Simson's dined here." 25th — "Dined at Redeuham; J. A. and 
 H. Wds., Celestina, &c." 
 
 To deal with this group of Hector White's friends first, 
 there are some who will recur again and again we are sure 
 ahout. " Mrs. W." was his wife. " S " was his son 
 Sampson. The "2 E. Ws." were Mrs. White and their 
 daughter Elizaheth, " Bessy." Henry Woods was a pupil, 
 apparently on very friendly terms with the family, with 
 whom he frequently went on their visits. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Berrett and Mr. Goodall were, I am almost sure, farmers at 
 Fyfield. It is natural to us to associate the name of Pollen 
 with Redenham : but at the time these diaries were written 
 it was the residence of Walter Holt, Esq., whose only 
 daughter, Louisa^ married iu 1778, Mr. afterwards Sir John 
 Pollen, created a Baronet 1795. 
 
 Mr. Holt rebuilt Redenham House, as the following entry 
 in Mr. White's diary shows, at his death the estate passed to 
 his son-in-law. Sir John Pollen, in whose family it remains 
 to this day. 
 
 1784, December 1st — Dined at Redenham with two E.W'. and 
 C.H.W., met Dr. and Mrs. Elkins, Mr. Sehvyn and B^-in-law ; 
 Doe Venison. New house covered in and ye parapet raised, rough 
 walking in Chapell lane. 
 
 So great is the interest of this neighbourhood in the most 
 worthy family of Pollen, that I think I may be excused if I 
 here give some part of their pedigree. I do this chiefly on 
 the authority of Burke. Edward Pollen, of London, mer- 
 chant, whose family had lived in Lincolnshire, died about 
 1636. His surviving son, John Pollen, of London, merchant, 
 married Anne, daughter of William Bernard, Esqre., and 
 widow of Nicholas Venables, of Andover, whose monument is 
 on the S.E. wall of Andover Church. This John Pollen was
 
 42 
 
 M.P. for Audovev, and had a sou, also named John Pollen, 
 who was also M.P. for Andover, who was thrice married. 
 By his 1st wife Elizaheth, daughter of Philip Jackson, of 
 London, he had a son Edward, with whom we are not just 
 now concerned. By his second wife, Frances, daughter of 
 Edward Exton, Esqre., he had a son, John, who died 
 young ; and hy his third wife, Mary, daughter of Edward 
 Sherwood, Esqre., he had a son, also John Pollen, and also 
 M.P. for Andover, the third in succession of that name. 
 He was one of the judges of Wales. He married Hester, 
 daughter of Paulet St. John, Esqre., of Dogmersfield Park. 
 His daughter, Elizaheth, married George Hungerford, Esqre., 
 of Studley, in Wiltshire. He was succeeded by his sou, also 
 John Pollen, afterwards Sir John Pollen, being created a 
 baronet in 1795. He was first of the name at Redeoham. 
 He married first, 1778, Louisa, daughter of Walter Holt, 
 Esqre., of Redenham, who died 18th July, 1798, his second 
 wife was Charity Ann, daughter and co-heir of Richard 
 Southby, Esqre., of Bulford, Wilts, who died 1830. Sir John 
 Pollen, first baronet, died 17th August, 1814. He had two 
 sons. His eldest son. Sir John Walter Pollen, born 6th 
 April, 1784, and died 2nd May, 1863, had no issue by his 
 wife, Charlotte Elizabeth, only daughter of the Rev. John 
 Craven, of Chilton House, Wilts, who died 7th October, 1877. 
 The second son of Sir John Pollen, first baronet, was Richard 
 Pollen, of Lincoln's Inn, and Rodbourue, Wilts ; born 17th 
 April, 1786, married 14th January, 1815, Anne, daughter of 
 Samuel Pepys Cockerell, Esqre., of Westbourne, Middlesex. 
 He died 7th February, 1838 ; his son succeeding to the title 
 of his uncle became Sir Richard Hungerford Pollen, third 
 baronet. On his death in April, 1881, he was succeeded by 
 his son the present baronet. 
 
 The Pollen's coat of arms is Az. on a bend, cotised or, 
 between six lozenges arg. ; each charged with an escallop 
 sable, five escallops vert. The crest is a pelican, wings 
 expanded in her nest, per pale or and az., vulning herself 
 and feeding her young proper ; charged on the wing with a 
 lozenge arg., thereon an escallop sable. It is clear, then, 
 that the Mr. Pollen who so frequently figures in these diaries 
 is the John fourth of that name, who was afterwards created 
 a baronet. 
 
 I am indebted to John Dudman, Esq., of Rosslyn Hill, 
 Hampstead, for the manuscript in " fair copy " of several
 
 43 
 
 poems and translations, from which the covers have been 
 torn, by S. C, an Andover poet who was writing in 1710, 
 
 One of these odes, in imitation of Horace, is inscribed to 
 " Charles Lord Halifax, the great Maecenas of our Nation ;" 
 another is headed, " A New Year's Gift to his much esteemed 
 Friend, Mr. Robert Waller, of Gosport." The two I quote 
 are given rather from their local intei'est than from the 
 impression of very high merit. 
 
 An Epitaph 
 
 On Mary the wife of the Worshipful! John Pollen, Esq., 
 of Andover, who died. 
 
 O Traveller, be kind and just 
 
 To this most rich and noble dust ; 
 
 These marble pedestals don't g;reet 
 
 With thy polluted hands or feet. 
 
 No less than Sherwood's daughter dear 
 
 And Pollen's wife is bury'd here ; 
 
 Who was of daughters, sure, the best 
 
 With whom a father e'er was blest. 
 
 And when he did resign his breath 
 
 And l3ody to all conquering death. 
 
 She was so loving to her mother 
 
 The world despairs of such another. 
 
 'Tis Pollen only best can tell 
 
 How she did act a wife's part well ; 
 
 'Tis he alone can best tell you 
 
 Her vertues and her graces too, 
 
 And how on earth her short abode 
 
 Was spent i'th service of her God. 
 
 The needy were her constant care, 
 
 They'd all the time that she could spare. 
 
 She heal'd their sores and cur'd their wants, 
 
 And answer'd all their just complaints ; 
 
 Nay she apply'd with her own hands 
 
 Fitt med'cines to their loathsom wounds. 
 
 All of her children found from her 
 
 Such tender and indulgent care, 
 
 That scarce her equall can be found 
 
 In English or in any ground ; 
 
 And quickly after two were dead * 
 
 Her own breath from her body fled. 
 
 Weep not ! But roses strew around her toombe. 
 
 And, as she did for her, j)repare for thy own doom. 
 
 S. C. 
 
 * Mrs. Mary iind Mr. Richard.
 
 44 
 
 An Elegy 
 
 Occasioued by the death of Mary the wife of John Pollen, Esq., of 
 
 Audover. 
 
 Oh cruell fates, and thou, too, cruell death, 
 Why dost thou with invaluable breath 
 Thus make thy sports P And why dost thou refuse 
 To give some respite to a breathless muse ? 
 Would it not satiate thee the fruit to take ? 
 But must thou also ev'n the body break 
 From whence it sprang, which might have yielded more 
 Hadst thou not thus its very vitalls tore. 
 I'd almost said thou bears't a spite, O death, 
 *Against the best of familys on earth. 
 For this I grieve, for this I make my mone ; 
 And 'tis for this my muse makes such a doleful tone, 
 And that with justice ; for the choicest wife 
 To the best husband hath resigned her life. 
 Oh how shall I give vent unto my tears ? 
 My tongue is dumb, my muse opprest with fears, 
 Lest she should mong great PoUen's lady's fame 
 With verse that's bald, verse that is weak and lame — ■ 
 But without this ; I can't the duty do 
 Which I to her transcendent Merritts owe. 
 Whom I may justly say was great and good ; 
 For, sure, her vertue was ally'd t'her blood, 
 Which from no less a Family did spring 
 Than Shei'wood's ; lofty for my muse to sing ! 
 Her piety and goodness were too high 
 For such an humble muse as mine to fly. 
 
 Her converse pleasing was, with proffitt join'd, 
 She always curteous was and always kind, 
 And condescending to the lowly mind. 
 
 Unto her precious memory the poor 
 Owe grateful thanks, for making many a cure 
 On them when vex'd with dismall sores and blains, 
 E'en crazed with grief for their excessive pains. 
 If she is dead, cry they, we cannot live, 
 Who long did by her charity survive, 
 Joyn'd with a knowledge in the healing Art, 
 Which God to her did librally impart. 
 
 And for a wife search all the kingdom round ; 
 
 For goodness scarce her equall can be found 
 
 To her dear sj)ouse (th' Almighty grant that he 
 
 A long, long blessing on the earth may be). 
 
 I say her love to that great man was such 
 
 That she thought nothing in the world too much 
 
 To do for him, who to return her love 
 
 Gave his, resembling what they do above. 
 
 Heav'n to this couple gave so vast a store 
 
 Of happiness in love, they could not wish for more ; 
 
 * Two of her children dying some time before her.
 
 45 
 
 Nay, but one thing was wanting to compleat 
 This happines substantial!, 'twas so great, 
 Which was (pitty 't had not) a longer date. 
 
 I never heard, nor ever yet could find 
 
 A mother so indulgent and so kind, 
 
 As she t'her children was, the darlings of her mind. 
 
 Nay, to her ineniall servants; always she 
 So calm and condescending us'd to be. 
 As if they were almost her fellow quality. 
 
 But ah ! my muse at length is weai-y grown, 
 AUready she to such a pitch hath flown ; 
 Consid'ring, too, that she must higher fly 
 If she her untold vertues would descry. 
 Which are above the clouds ; nay, e'en above the sky. 
 • Besides surveying what's already done. 
 My watery eyes quite stopt her going on. 
 
 S.C. (1711.) 
 
 Conbolt Park comes in for Kector "White's enthusiastic 
 admiration : — 
 
 1780, December 5th. — Rode Avith Sir P. H. C, and spent the day with 
 Sir Sidney Meadows, Mr. Scroggs and Fam-'' at Couholt Park. 
 Walked round do., the most lovely scenery of evergreens possible 
 to be imagined. The deer in Sir Sidney Meadow's Park remarkably 
 fine and large. 
 
 1782, July 24th. — Rode to Conholt Park, Sir Sidney making hay and 
 building barns. Wheat looks strong and well, some laid very 
 much by ye rains, other corn prosperous but rather late, hay 
 cutting at Ramridge, much spoilt at Clanville and much standing 
 in and about ye pai-k. 
 
 September 2nd. — Mr. Wentworth with Mr. A and Chas : to 
 
 Conholt park, beautiful day and jjrospects, Isle of Wight seen very 
 clearly. Alfred's Column at Mr. Hoar's very visible in ye mom. 
 Fine haunch of venison for D^ Mr. Dale to Amesbury on Sancho, 
 and to Stonehenge. 
 September 4th. — Sir Sidney Meadows horses in the most exquisite 
 accuracy of discipline in the menage, and very beautiful in this 
 form. The master a miracle of the most alert agility. 
 
 The great importance to local history, as well as the 
 eminence of the persons themselves, calls imperatively for 
 a short pedigree of the families connected with Conholt. 
 
 Daniel Meedowe, of Chatisham, born 1577, died 1651, by 
 his wife Elizabeth had a son, Sir Philip Medows, Ambassador 
 to Denmark and Sweden, born 1625, died 16 September, 
 1718, who married Constance, daughter of Sir Thos. Lucy, 
 of Charlccote, and had issue Sir Philip Medows, Knight 
 Marshal of the King's Palace, died 3 December 1757, who 
 married Dorothy, sister of Henry Boscawen, 1st Viscount 
 Falmouth, and had issue three sons and five daughters ; the
 
 46 
 
 eldest sou is the Sir Sidney Meadows, of Conholt, wlio 
 succeeded bis father as marshal of the palace, and married 
 Jemima, daughter of the Hon. Chas. Montague, youngest 
 son of the first Earl of Sandwich, hut died in 1792, s.p. 
 He was succeeded by his brother, Philip Meadows, Esq., 
 Deputy Ranger of Kichmond Park, who married the Lady 
 Frances, daughter of William Pierrepoint, Earl of Kingston ; 
 their son Charles, born 14 November, 1737, assumed the 
 name of Pierrepoint, and on the death of his uncle, the 
 second Duke of Kingston, was created 23 July, 1796, Baron 
 Pierrepoint and Viscount Newark, and made Earl Manvers 
 9 April, 1806. He married Anne Orton, daughter of John 
 Mills, Esq., of Richmond, who died 24 August, 1832. 
 They had issue Charles Herbert, second Earl, and the Rt. 
 Hon. Henry Manvers Pierpoint, of Conholt Park, P.C., 
 formerly envoy to the Court of Denmark, born 18 March, 
 1780, died 10 November, 1851, who married the Lady Sophia, 
 daughter of Henry, 1st Marquis of Exeter, who died 1823; 
 their daughter Lady Charles Wellesley, the late owner of 
 Conholt, was the wife of Lord Charles Wellesley, son of the 
 great Duke of Wellington, died 9 October, 1858, and whose 
 sons are the present Duke of Wellington and Lord Arthur 
 Wellesley. 
 
 Rector White expresses an opinion on Biddesden House, 
 which we shall not all agree with. The first visit of the writer 
 to that most intensely interesting place, was an experience 
 never to be forgotten. The drive through grounds ornamented 
 with trees of immense age, passing on the w^ay to the house 
 part of the terraced garden with its bowling alleys, brought 
 us to a building, the fa9ade of which has certainly not been 
 altered since it was built by General Webb, one of Marl- 
 borough''s most distinguished officers, who will live for ever 
 in the pages of Thackeray's " Esmond." When the door 
 closed behind us it seemed to shut out the nineteenth century 
 altogether, and transport one as by magic into the time of 
 the gallant General, whose picture on a very large scale faces 
 the door. The kitchen and its smokejack, vast table and 
 dresser, the meat safe approached by a stair, standing in the 
 quaintest of " quads," the furniture, such a collection as but 
 seldom feasts the eyes of a lover of things ancient, very much 
 of it probably the General's own, and the china ! ! ! It is 
 necessary even in reminiscence to insist on the fact that 
 " other men's goods" are not to be coveted.
 
 47 
 
 The Webbs sold the property to tlie Everetts, and it is 
 probably this sale -uhich Mr. White refers to. 
 
 1782, September 30th.—" Went to Bidclesdou Sale Exhibitiou, ye 
 house melancholy ; ye sitnaliou ill chosen and ye furniture vei'y 
 indifferent, most unfortunate specimens of taste, particularly in 
 Prints." 
 
 Mr. White gives the old and nearly forgotten name of 
 Blissamore Hall to Clanville Lodge, now the residence of 
 Mrs. Faith. What the club held there was I do not know. 
 Tradition points to the fine chestnut trees in the field, called 
 the " Grove," at Penton, as the remains of an avenue once 
 extendinof to that house. 
 
 o 
 
 1783, January 20th. — " Walked to Sir Sidney Meadows with Sam and 
 Clias., found do. gone out, Avalked round ye park after do. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Scroggs and Miss there, her bro. gone to dine with ye 
 Lunatic Club at Blissamore Hall. Yery rough and hard Avalkiug ; 
 ref home near midnight, much driving snow all ye way." 
 
 In Penton Mewsey, at the Lodge, now the seat of Mr. and 
 Lady Susan Sutton, Mr. Crookshanks was then living, with 
 whom the Fyfield parson was on terms of intimacy. 
 
 1782, October 17th. — " Rode to Penton after Breakfast to treat about 
 Mr. Crookshank's black mare. Presented with his remnant of 
 claret, 19 bottles." 
 
 19th. — " Claret br' home in Buckland's cart, horse ran away Tvath the 
 cart and greatly endangered the cargo." 
 
 22nd. — " Mr. Crookshank's auction at Penton began yes''', finished 
 to-day. Bought his black mare for £7, large looking-glass at 
 £2 16s, oval do. at £2 3s, total £11 19s. Bought also ye garden 
 stone roller for Mr. Caue at lis. Articles above £11 19s — 
 £12 10s." 
 
 23rd. — " Mr. Crookshank called to take leave. Looking-glasses br' 
 home and fixed up in ye Drawing-room." 
 
 It was to Penton Lodge Mr. Thomas Assheton Smith 
 came in 1826 and stayed here till 1828, when having effected 
 many alterations at Tedworth House after his father's death 
 he removed thither, but it was to Penton he brought his 
 bride, Maria, second daughter of William Webber, Esq., of 
 Binfield Lodge, Berks. There are many occasions on which 
 his father's name is mentioned, but nothing particular said 
 about him. We shall find the better known foxhunter figuring 
 in the log books of the Rev. C. H. White. 
 
 Very many interesting allusions to the persons and places 
 just named will be found in Sir John E. Eardley-Wilmot's 
 " Reminiscences of Thomas xVssheton Smith, Esq. "
 
 48 
 
 The most noble family of Paalet will be famous as long as 
 English history is read, but it had more local centres in this 
 part of Hampshire in the seventeeth and eighteenth centuries 
 than it has now, so that we claim a closer interest in it, than 
 that which we share with the rest of the county. There was 
 a settlement at Knights Enham, which I have not yet cleared 
 up, but the branch at Hurstbourne Tarrant is intimately con- 
 nected with the head of the family at Amport, the seat of the 
 premier Marquis of England. The Whites of Fytield con- 
 tinued on terms of intimate friendship with the family at 
 Amport, and mention of them is continually occurring in the 
 diaries. Another family in the same village named Duke 
 were in the same pleasant circle of friends. 
 
 1782, February 3rcl.— Mr. Powlett called. 
 May 18th.— Mr. Powlett, jun., called. 
 July lOtli.— Mrs. Powlett and Mrs. and Miss Duke to tea. 
 
 1781, February 1st. — Mr. Powlett's painted glass arrived in a trunk. 
 February 26th. — Mr. Powlett, lawn levelling and ground forming. 
 February 13th. — Sent the painted glass to Amport, vesp. 
 
 August 16th. — Borrowed Mi*. Powlett's telescope; it is a very fine 
 clear reflector for day objects, but alas ! the Planets are too far off. 
 
 August 18tli. — Jupiter's satellites tolerably distinct through the 
 telescope. 
 
 October 4th. — Sent Mr. Powlett's Reflecting Telescope home by Sop, 
 and a Truckle cheese. 
 
 1782, January 25th. — Rode to Mr. Duke's, a.m., put string in ye Piano. 
 Andover Gazette, &c. Dined at Mr. Powlett's, received in full 
 for cheese. The new approach to Amport House forming. 
 
 The Mr. Powlett so often referred to must, I feel sure, 
 have been George, youngest son of Norton Powlett, Esq., of 
 Amport, by his wife Jane, daughter of Sir Charles Worsley, 
 of Droxford. He succeeded in 1794 as 12th Marquis of 
 Winchester ; he married Martha, daughter of Thomas 
 Ingoldsby, Esq. Mr. White died in 1788, which was before 
 his friend came into his title, but in the Log Books of his 
 son, the Rev. C. H. White, he is spoken of at once {i.e., 
 1795) as Lord Winchester. 
 
 The painted glass mentioned in the diary may very 
 probably be that still to be seen in Amport Church in the 
 window of the transept which forms the Marquis's pew. 
 Some of it at any rate is seventeenth century, though it is 
 now leaded in with modern glass. 
 
 George, 12th Marquis of Winchester, died 22nd April, 1800. 
 
 There is, however, an interesting alliance in this branch 
 of the family. We must not pass over without notice Lord
 
 49 
 
 Henry Pawlett, second surviving son of William, 4th Marquis 
 — settled at Amport, and married Lucy, daughter of Sir 
 George Philpott, of Thruxton, who lived where Mr. Bailey 
 lives now, and an account of the troubles of whose family 
 will be found in Hants Notes and Queries, Vol. v. p. 8. 
 
 The Mr. Pawlett, afterwards 12th Marquis, mentioned above, 
 was the issue of this marriage. 
 
 I am indebted to Mrs. Straton, of Wilton, for the use of 
 the "Log Books" for 1795, 1797, and 1798, which were 
 kept by the Eev. Charles Henry White, who lived on in the 
 same house after his father's death. This gentleman 
 married, 3rd, June, 1802, Christian, daughter of Alexander 
 St. Barbe, Esq. She died 9th June, 1806, aged 22, and is 
 buried at Fyfield. He continued to "serve" some of the 
 churches his father had officiated in. 
 
 It will not be necessary to give very many extracts from 
 his " Log Books," which have but comparatively few obser- 
 vations, and are almost entirely lacking in the quaint and 
 graphic detail that distinguishes his father's journals. As 
 will be seen, they carry down the histories and notices for 
 fourteen years, but in most cases the entries are explained by 
 what has already been said. The Rev. C. H. White died 
 25th October, 1859. 
 
 1795, Jan 1st. — A robin in Fyfield Copse so tamed by the cold as to 
 foUow S.W. when shooting and settle some time on his gun. 
 
 Mr. Powlett had now come into his title, and we note, 
 
 1795, January 4th.— C.H.W. served Tidworth 6th time. S.W. and 
 
 C.H. W. dined at Lord Winchester's. 
 January 9th. — Mr. Asheton Smith caUed, walked from Tidworth. 
 January 2ith. — Wild goose shot in the meadows. 
 July 12th.— C.H.W. called at Mr. Ashton Smith's. Sir John Pollen 
 
 called. T.H.W. arrived from London on horseback. 
 July 22,— S.W. and C.H.W. to the visitation at Andover. C.H.W. 
 
 to Enham Sale. 
 
 Probably this sale was at Enham Place on the death of 
 David Dewar, Esq., who died at Milford, near Lymington, 
 December, 1794. 
 
 1795, November 11th. — S.W, to Oxford, on horseback to Newbury. 
 
 Mr. Foyle called. Settled Kimpton Curacy. 
 1797, February 13th. — Sent Dick to Romsey to swear in as substitute 
 for S.W. in the Provincial Cavalry. Sir Thos. Champneys called. 
 April 11th. — The Prince of Wales's Hounds at Abbots Anne Wood. 
 The Prince, who is visiting at Mr, Cox's, hunting with them ; very 
 large field. 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 April 12th. — Mr. Cox's Hounds with Bag Fox and Box Hares at 
 
 Juniper Hill ; good sport. The Prince of Wales, etc., with 
 
 them. 
 May 12tli. — May Day kept ; dancers pretty nnmerous notwithstand- 
 ing the showery Aveather. A battle threatened between Man 
 
 Lansley and Waters, of Thrnxton. 
 Jime 24. — S.W. to Stockbridge with Dick to have his uniform, &c., 
 
 for the Cavalry. 
 Sejatember 9th. — Agreed with Old Hutchins for Dick's wages to be 
 
 four guineas for the next year. 
 December 14th. — Mr. Asheton Smith's Election at Audover. 
 December 19th. — Thanksgiving Day for Naval Victories. 
 1798, April 4th. — C.H.W. to Andover to appeal against the Taxed 
 
 Cart being surcharged as a one horse chaise. A meeting of rogues 
 
 and fools. 
 May 8th. — The whisky, alias Taxed Cart, taken to pieces, the seat 
 
 made into a garden chair. 
 Jiily 16th. — C.H.W. to Audover to appeal about Tax Cart ; got off 
 
 the surcharge. 
 July 20th. — Began erasing the crest from the books in consequence 
 
 of New Tax. 
 July 21st. — Sent sj)oons, &c., to have the crests taken out. 
 August 21st. — S.W. with his Bride, late Miss F. White, arrived 
 
 from Selborne to dinner. 
 September 4th. — Part of tlie Gloucester Militia passed over Fyfield 
 
 field in 20 waggons, on their way to Ireland, by a forced march 
 
 they go fifty miles a day. 
 November 29th. — Thanksg-iving Day for Lord Nelson's "Victory over 
 
 the French, large congregation, bell ringing, &c. 
 December 22nd. — The parlour chimney Romfordized. 
 
 The youngest son of Rector Henry White, who we read of 
 in his very earHest days in the diaries, the Rev. Francis 
 Henry "White, was chaplain in the Royal Navy from 1811 to 
 1814, before he became Vicar of the first Medity of PattishalL 
 He too kept a " Log Book " of similar character for over fifty 
 years without intermission, but I have not seen it. In all 
 probability more of the volumes of the Diaries from which we 
 have quoted are in existence, and may some day furnish 
 further extracts of interest. 
 
 Enough has, however, been given to show the thoroughly 
 typical character of the family to which we owe the delightful 
 History of Selborne. The family is still abundantly repre- 
 sented by its members, who are distinguished in various 
 professions, and as a family seem to have made Gilbert 
 White's aspiration their common motto. 
 
 T was born and bred a gentleman and hope I may be allowed to die 
 such. 
 
 And I think our delight in his graceful writings is
 
 51 
 
 iu creased by a greater kuowledge of his belongings, and 
 their manners and customs. 
 
 I conclude with an extract from Gilbert White's letter to 
 Kobert Marsham, Esq., No. vii., 1792 : — 
 
 Surely, my dear Sir, we live in a very eventful time, that must cut 
 out much work for Historians and Biographers ! but whether all these 
 strange commotious will turn out to the benefit or disadvantage of 
 old England, Grod only knows. 
 
 E 2
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 KIMPTON. 
 
 Kimpton, as we see it on the Ordnance map, is the fifth 
 in size of the parishes within the valley of the Anna ; and 
 in regard to population it stands in the ninth place. Andover, 
 including Smannell and Hatherden, and enclosing the ancient 
 parish of Knights Enham, so far exceeds all its rural 
 neighbours, that comparison with them is hardly possible, its 
 acreage being little short of twice and a half that of even the 
 largest of them. Kimpton, however, with an area of 2710 
 acres, is only exceeded by Amport, Abbotts Ann, and 
 Goodworth Clatford if Andover be omitted. It lies nearly 
 due north and south, measured in which direction it is about 
 three miles long, while from east to west it is two miles. It 
 is bounded on the north by Ludgershall, and on the north- 
 west by North Tedworth, both in Wilts, on the west by South 
 Tedworth and Shipton Bellinger, on the south by Thruxton, 
 and on the east by Fyfield. 
 
 In regard to levels the Bench marks show the lowest point 
 to be just south of the Church, where the stream runs 
 intermittently on its way through Fyfield, 254 feet above the 
 sea. The highest point is just on the north-west boundary, 
 where the road from Ludgershall comes in, 420 feet ; so that 
 the difference between the highest and lowest parts is 166 
 feet. Pickford Hill on the west is 400 feet, Kimpton Down 
 Farm, 338, and Great Shoddesden, 327 feet. Whatever 
 water there is or ever has been must have flowed out by the 
 south-east corner of the parish, where are situated the 
 Church, the old Rectory, and Kimpton Lodge. 
 
 None of the great Roman roads we know of ran near the 
 parish ; but the chief road shown on the map is the one 
 which would take the traveller south eastward through 
 Weyhill, Andover, and Harewood Forest to Micheldever, and 
 north-west to Ludgershall.
 
 53 
 
 In the south-west corner of the parish near Pickford Hill 
 is a Tumulus, which will call for further notice later on. 
 
 A comparatively small amount of wood exists ; Kimplon 
 Wood, Littleton Copse, and Newdown Copse are the prin- 
 cipal, none of which are of great extent. 
 
 Having thus examined the physical features of the country 
 we shall be the better prepared to inquire who have been the 
 people inhabiting Kimpton in the past, and what have been 
 their life's stories ? 
 
 And first, it will be convenient to have a definite time to 
 start from, and it is natural to make that starting point the 
 Doomsday Survey. 
 
 We find there that within the area now forming the parish 
 of Kimpton there had for a long long period been three 
 manors — Shoddesden, Littleton, and Chemonstune — for 
 Kimpton, after all, is but a comparatively modern form of the 
 name. The account given stands thus : — 
 
 Hugh de Port holds Littleton, and Azor held it allodially of King 
 Edward. It was then assessed at 5 hides and now at 5 yard lands. 
 Here are 4 ploughlands, 2 in demesne and 5 villeins, and 6 borderers 
 with 3 ploughlands. The woods are unproductive. Its value in the 
 time of King Edward was ten shillings, and afterwards, and is now, 
 four pounds. Hugh de Port holds Chemontune, and Goisfrid holds it 
 under him, and Wenesi held it allodially of King Edward. It was 
 then as now assessed at 2 hides. Here are three ploughlands, 2 in 
 demesne, and 2 villeins and 8 borderers with 1 ploughland : also one 
 servant and woods which are unproductive. The value in the time of 
 King Edward was sixty shillings, afterwards forty shillings, and now 
 four pounds. 
 
 Ageuiund holds Shotesdene of the King, and he held it allodially of 
 Queen Eddid. It was then as now assessed at one hide. Here is one 
 ploughland, one half in demesne, the other held by a villein. Its value 
 was fifteen shillings and now is ten sliillings. 
 
 The names of the manors let us a little into their history. 
 
 If we compare the local names in England with those on the Con- 
 tinent we shall find that for more tlian a thousand years England has 
 been distinctly and pre-eminently the land of inclosures. The suffixes 
 which occur most frequently in Anglo-Saxon names denote an enclosure 
 of some kind — something hedged, walled in, or pi'otccted. .An examina- 
 tion of these names shows us that the love of privacy and the seclu- 
 sivencss of character which is often laid to the cliargo of Englishmen 
 prevailed in full force among the races which imposed names on our 
 English villages. The prevalence of these suffixes in English names 
 proves also how intensely the nation was imbued with tlie sacred 
 natui-e of property, and how eager every man was to possess some spot 
 which he could call his own and guard from the inti-usiou of every 
 other man.
 
 54 
 
 The suffix " ton " constitutes a sort of test word by which Ave are 
 enabled to discriminate the Anglo-Saxon settlements. It is the most 
 common termination of English local names; and, although it is a 
 true Teutonic word, yet there is scarcely a single instance of it in 
 Germany. 
 
 The primary meaning of the suffix " ton" is to be sought in the 
 Gothic " tains" the old Norse " teinn," and the Frisian " tene" all of 
 which mean a twig, a radical signification which survives in the phrase 
 " the tine of a fork." Hence a tun or ton was a place surroimded by 
 a hedge, or rudely fortified by a palisade. Originally it meant only a 
 single croft, homestead or farm, and the word kept this meaning in the 
 time of WiclifEe. He translates St. Matthew xxii. 5—" But thei 
 dispiseden, and wenten forth oon to his toun, another to his 
 marchandise.'' 
 
 But in most cases the isolated ton became the nucleus of a village ; 
 the village grew into a town ; and, last stage of all, the word town has 
 come to denote not the one small croft inclosed from the forest by the 
 Saxon settler, but the dwelling place of a vast popu.lation twice as 
 great as that which tlie whole of Saxon England could boast. 
 
 These extracts, which I have preferred to make in his own 
 language, from Canon Isaac Taylor's " Words and Places" 
 (pp. 124, 125, 127), account for the significance of the names 
 of other parishes in our valley, as Penton, Thruxton and 
 Monxton, and another passage from the same book (p. 387) 
 will help us still further to realise the growth of the parish of 
 Kimpton : — 
 
 We meet with indication of the existence of extensive estates on 
 which stood large houses, occasionally of stone, but more frequently of 
 wood, for the residences of the proprietor surrounded by the tun, or 
 inclosure for cattle, and the hartun, or inclosure for the gathered crops. 
 Rovmd the homestead were enclosed fields witli barns, mills and weirs. 
 There were detached outlying sheep folds and sheep cotes, with resi- 
 dences for the serfs, and special pasturages were allotted to swine and 
 goats. The estates were separated from one another liy a marh or 
 broad boundary of woodland. There were open forest pastures fed by 
 swine. In these woodlands the prevalent vegetation consisted of the 
 thorn, hazel, oak, ash, lime, elm and fern. The maple, beech, birch, 
 aspen and willow grew less abundantly. 
 
 We shall probably be justified in concluding that as the 
 woods in this case are said to be " unproductive" there was 
 but a small proportion of beech and oak to furnish " pannage" 
 for the hogs. 
 
 The suffix " den" indicates a wooded valley where the swine 
 pastured, which was presumably the origin of the name of the 
 manor of Shottesdene. 
 
 A special interest has always attached to Shottesdene, 
 which comes out as early as the Doomsday Survey. Like
 
 55 
 
 Penton Grafton it was held by the lovely and saintly Queen 
 Edith, wife of Edward the Confessor, daughter of Earl 
 Godwin and sister of Harold. There are few more attractive 
 characters in history than this gentle and beautiful though 
 badly treated queen. Her beauty and sweetness of character 
 were proverbial, as were her skill in needlework and learning 
 generally. 
 
 I have quoted in " The Story of Wherwell Abbey," where 
 she sojourned for a time, the verse Ingulph of Croyland gives 
 about her : — 
 
 As comes the rose from the thorn 
 
 Came Edith from GoclAviu ; 
 
 Thus out of it was made a coui'teous verse, 
 
 Of which Clerks knew well the French 
 
 That is : Sicut spina rosam 
 
 Genuit Godwinus Editham. 
 
 It is hardly probable that we shall ever trace out any par- 
 ticulars of Queen Edith's connection with the manor of 
 Shoddesden. She held it allodially, or in other words it was 
 her freehold ; but there is no trace of her being at Kimpton. 
 
 Hugh de Port, who held Kimpton and Littleton, was a 
 large landowner, and had many manors besides these ; 
 amongst them part of the Anna Country, which from him gets 
 the name of Amport." Mudie, in his translation of the 
 Doomsday Book of Hampshire, remarks on Amport being one 
 of the very few manors of which its present proprietor can 
 say that it was held by his ancestor in the reign of William 
 the Conqueror, the Marquis of Winchester being a lineal 
 descendant of Hugh de Port. 
 
 We get some indication of the population of Kimpton in 
 the time of the Conqueror by comparing the particulars 
 given. 
 
 Thus in Littleton ... 
 
 . . . there were 5 villeins. 
 
 ,, Chemonstone 
 
 ,, 2 ,, 
 
 ,, Shotcsdcne 
 
 >> ^ }) 
 
 8 „ 
 
 These villani with their families were in servitude to the 
 lord of the soil like the rest of the cattle and stock on it, 
 and held the folk land by which they supported themselves 
 and their families, and from which they would bo removed at 
 their lord's will, but not their own. The villein performed
 
 66 
 
 practically the same services in his day for kind as the 
 agricultural lahourer now-a-days performs on a farm for a 
 weekly wage. 
 
 Of borderers and cottagers there were 6 in Littleton, and 
 8 in Chemonstone, but none in Shotesdene. 
 
 There does not appear to have been more than one of the 
 class of Servi or Esne, the least free of the dependents on a 
 manor, and this was in Chemonstune. 
 
 So that we get a total of about 16 families within the area 
 now forming the parish of Kimpton. 
 
 In after times, when the Hundred Courts were more fully 
 developed and the record kept of the view of Frank pledge, 
 the Kimpton manors were in all probability included in the 
 tithing with Fifield, and bore the name of that village, and 
 from that source we may hope to gather further information 
 as to its people. 
 
 Before we lay the map aside there is an historical incident 
 of much interest, which ought to be noticed, and which 
 belongs to Kimpton from its proximity to Ludgershall. 
 Along the road, which, as we have already noticed, crosses 
 the top of the parish, there rushed one September Sunday 
 in the year 1140, a panic stricken host with at any rate one 
 terrified woman in their midst, sparing neither spur nor 
 threats nor blows to urge horses and men to reach the 
 shelter of the Wiltshire fortress as quickly as might be. 
 The hot haste of that ride has been drawn for us by the pen 
 of an eye witness, and it is the most exciting story in the 
 annals of this quiet Hampshire valley. Once again, indeed, 
 during the great rebellion, we have a chase of retreating men 
 by the fierce soldiers who had surprised them, and the 
 entries in the register of burials at Audover preserve the 
 memory of that sharp encounter. Otherwise the records 
 of our valley are records of peaceful rural life. If I am right 
 in believing that the Battle of Sceorstan was contested with 
 such indomitable courage and such terrible carnage on both 
 sides on the plain country below Weyhill, we may reckon 
 one of the earliest battle-fields noted in the History of 
 England as among the interesting features of our parts. 
 But I do not think that there are more than these three 
 occasions in which war has come within the hill framed 
 picture of peace presented by the basin of the Anna. May 
 that peace ever be continued to us, and in God's good time 
 plenteousness once more be granted.
 
 57 
 
 The witness from whose pen we have the description of the 
 scene I have alluded to is the nameless, but contemporaneous 
 writer of the " Gesta Stephani.'^ It will be necessary to 
 supplement it bj^ quotations from Florence of Worcester and 
 other chronicles, but as far as I possibly can I shall give the 
 story in the very words of the old writer himself. 
 
 We must, however, for the sake of clearness, start with 
 the Empress Matilda's romantic escape from London and 
 arrival at Winchester to negotiate with its Bishop, Henry of 
 Blois, her dealings with whom were a more complete failure 
 than even her dealings with the Londoners. 
 
 The Dean of Winchester tells us. 
 
 Soon after tliis time, as it seems, the Bisliop, anxious to secure 
 Winchester for Stephen, invited the chief citizens to a banquet at 
 Wolvesey, and, when he had them safely there, proceeded to persuade 
 them to go over to the King" ; but the Provost of Winchester, who had 
 his suspicions, had slipped away before the gates were barred, and, 
 hastening up to the castle, secured it for the Emj)ress. Robert of 
 Gloucester quickly brought her thither from Oxford, and Winchester 
 Castle became their headquarters. She summoned Bishop Henry to 
 appear, and he rei^lied by the notable message, "I Avill preimre myself," 
 which he did by rallying all the men of Stephen's party to Wolvesey. 
 Earl Robert, to secure commimicatious with Oxford and the West, 
 placed gaiTisons at Andover and Wherwell to hold the passage of the 
 Test. 
 
 Take a good look at the map, and if you have coloured the 
 old roads on yours as I have on mine you will have the story 
 before you at a glance. 
 
 But spare me a moment to recall the terrible state of things 
 at Winchester. For seven weeks there was nothing but 
 bloodshed and burnings. Bishop Henry of Blois was at 
 Wolvesey ; Matilda in the Castle ; and the fire balls from 
 Wolvesey soon set the north-eastern parts of the city in a 
 blaze. Colebrook Street and the venerable Nunnamenstre 
 were soon burnt to the ground ; and in the terrible destruc- 
 tion Hyde Abbey buildings were destroyed. I ask j^our recol- 
 lection of this, because any day in the crypt of the Cathedral 
 you may see some evidences of this conflagration ; and those 
 traces may serve to connect our own present with that sad 
 past, for, though not less terrible at Andover than at Win- 
 chester, those days of dread have left no marks behind them 
 here. 
 
 And now it is but needful to call to mind that while the 
 contending parties were in the positions thus described, 
 Stephen's queen, Matilda of Boulogne, marched upon Win- 
 chester.
 
 58 
 
 I think fit (says the writer of tlie Gesta Stepliani) to give here a 
 short account of those who, collecting" their forces, joined the Countess 
 in this siege, in order that the reader may reflect that it was not by 
 niau's strength but by the marvellous power of the Almighty that so 
 vast and so mighty a host was quickly sulxlucd and dispersed, made 
 captive and annihilated, as will be shown in what follows. There was 
 David, king of the Scots, who, as I have before narrated, had l)een 
 already twice driven from England in shameful discomfiture, and was 
 now a third time to his deep disgrace and with great peril to his 
 followers forced to flee as many others were. Tlicre were also Robert, 
 Earl of Gloucester, Reginald, bastard son of King Henry and Earl of 
 Cornwall ; Milo of Gloucester, who was now made Earl of Hereford 
 to the satisfaction of all ; Ranulf , Earl of Chester ; Baldwin, Earl of 
 Exeter ; Roger, Earl of Warwick ; William de Mohim, who was now 
 made Earl of Dorset ; also Botterel, Earl of Brittany. The barons 
 were no wise inferior to the earls in faitlifulness and merit, in courage 
 and gallantry. There were Brian, mentioned before ; John, sumamed 
 the Marshall ; Roger de Oleo, Roger de Nunant, William Fitz Allan, 
 with others, whom it would be tedious to enumerate. All these having 
 mustered their followers in great force vied with each other in joint 
 and indefatigable efforts to reduce the bishop's castle. 
 
 Meanwhile the Bishop had summoned the barons of the king's party 
 from every quarter in England, and had also taken into his pay at 
 great exj)ense a number of stipendiary soldiers, and with these he 
 harassed those who lay outside the city by all the means in his power. 
 The Queen also, with a gallant body of men-at-arms and the stovit 
 array of the Londoners, a thousand in number, well armed with helmets 
 and breastplates, besieged from without the besiegers of the castle 
 inside the city with great spirit and vigour. The King had also on 
 his side certain great men who were of liis privy councils, and admitted 
 to his familiar intimacy, but not being endowed with great domains 
 possessed merely of castles. The most distingi;ished of these were 
 Roger de Casuet and William, his brother, accustomed to war, and 
 second to none in military skill and every kind of excellence. When 
 the rest of the King's adherents flocked to Winchester to encounter 
 his enemies these brothers, also with a well-equipped troop of cavaky 
 and archers, threatened the city in one qiiarter with a formidable 
 attack. The siege was therefore of an extraordinary character such as 
 was unheard of in our days. All England was there in arms, with a 
 great conflux of foreigners, and their position against each other was 
 such that the forces engaged in the siege of the bishop's castle were 
 themselves besieged by the royal army, which closely hemmed them in 
 from Avithout, so that there were perpetually skirmishes attended Avith 
 great losses on both sides. Not to speak of the soldiers who in these 
 daily conflicts were taken prisoners on the one part or the other, or 
 who perished by varioiis mischances, and in various ways, the position 
 of the troops led to serious losses, for while the Countess's party 
 pressed the siege of the castle by eveiy invention of skill and art, the 
 garrison from within shot lighted brands, with which they reduced to 
 ashes the greatest part of the city and two abbeys. 
 
 — that is, as explained above, Hyde Abbey and the Nunnery 
 of St. Mary.
 
 59 
 
 On the other hand the I'oyal army, cantoned without the city, care- 
 fully watched all approaches by the cross roads to prevent supplies of 
 provisions being throAATi into the town, and tlnis severe famine was 
 inflicted on the great numbers now shut up within the walls. It was 
 therefore decided in council, by common consent, to be desirable that a 
 fort should be constructed at Wherwell, which is distant vi. miles from 
 the city, as a station for 300 soldiers, from whence they might straiten 
 the king's troops and facilitate the entrance of supplies into the city. 
 But the royalists, alive to the danger they incurred by this manoeuvre, 
 made a sudden and unexpected attack on Wherwell in great force, and, 
 assaulting the post on all sides, many of its defenders were taken or 
 slain, and the rest were compelled to evacuate it and seek for shelter in 
 the church. There, using the chiirch as a fortress, they defended 
 themselves until brands were thrown upon it and it was set on fire, and 
 they*were compelled, half burnt, to come forth and surrender at dis- 
 cretion. It was a horrible and lamentable spectacle. Mailed soldiers 
 trampled recklessly on the floor of the church, the seat of religion, the 
 house of prayer. In one quarter there was butchery ; in another the 
 prisoners were dragged along bound with thongs. Here the flames 
 burst forth in the church and consumed the roof of the monastery; 
 there the consecrated virgins, reluctantly compelled by the fire to issue 
 from their inclosure, filled the air with shrieks and lamentations. 
 
 We must supplement this account by an extract from 
 William of Malmesbury, who says : — 
 
 To comprise therefore a long series of events within narrow limits, 
 the roads on every side of Winchester were watched by the Queen and 
 the Eai'ls who came with her lest supplies should be brought in to 
 those who had sworn fidelity to the Empress. The town of Andover 
 also was burned. The abbey of nuns at Warewell was also burned by 
 one William de Ipres, an abandoned character who feared neither God 
 nor man, because some of the partizans of the Empress had secured 
 themselves Avithin it. 
 
 It is a matter for regret to us that we have no fuller 
 account of the burning of Andover. This very simple record, 
 " Andover also was burned," is all we know directly of the 
 event so immensely important in the history of the town. 
 Possibly, though we have no more particulars of the catas- 
 trophe, we may be able to deduce some conclusions from the 
 date, which is thus made certain. 
 
 When the new line from Hurstbourne to Fullerton was 
 being constructed in 1883 eight human skeletons were found 
 very close together. Mr. W. Money, F.S.A., who mentions 
 the discovery in his Ilistoi'ij of Neivbury, suggests with great 
 probability that they may have been the remains of some who 
 fell in this encounter. 
 
 But we may now continue the account given in the Gesta 
 Stephard of the route and retreat to Ludgershall : —
 
 60 
 
 When Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and the vest of his party learut 
 the disastrous termiuation of this affair they entirely despaired of 
 success in prosecuting the siege, and considted how best they might 
 secure their own safety by retreat, for it seemed unwise and inexpedient 
 to hold out any longer after the serious loss they had sustained, when 
 the bishop's troops had burnt the town, the citizens were wasting -nath 
 famine and Avant, and they themselves were threatened with the same 
 calamity unless they made a speedy retreat. Collecting thei'efore their 
 light baggage they threw open the gates and marched out in a body, 
 the troops being skilfully formed by divisions in close order, the whole 
 army commenced the retreat. 
 
 Now we must let Florence of Worcester take up the 
 tale : — 
 
 The Empress had already mounted her horse, accompanied and 
 guided by her brother Reginald, having more than two hundred cavalry 
 under the command of the Earl of Bristol (Gloucester) as a rear guard, 
 when the Bishop suddenly ordered his troops to fly to arms, and making 
 a desperate attack on the enemy to take as many j)risoners as they 
 could. Many were thus captured, and very many scattered and slain, 
 among whom was a knight named William de Curcell, Avith six troopers, 
 and he was buried at St. Grimbalds. The lady (Matilda) learning this 
 was in great terror and dismay, and reached the castle of Ludgershall, 
 for which she was making, sad and sorrowful, but she found it no safe 
 resting place for fear of the Bishop. In consequence of which she 
 once more mounted her horse, male fashion, and was conducted to 
 Devizes. 
 
 We take the account of the rout from the Gesta : — 
 
 They were met by the King's troops, who poiired in upon them 
 with so much impetuosity that they were routed and dispersed, and the 
 Earl of Gloucester, who commanded the rear guard, was cut off fi'om 
 the rest and taken prisoner, with all his followers. The royal army 
 spread itself all over the neighbouring country in pursuit of the vulgar 
 crowd of fugitives, and not only captured the soldiers whenever they 
 could be met with, but obtained an immense booty in valuables, which 
 had been cast away and lay scattered about. Coursers, of high metal, 
 which had thrown their riders, were to be seen galloping about ; others, 
 exhausted with fatigue, were drawing their last breath. Shields and 
 coats of mail, with all sorts of weapons and armour, strewed the 
 ground: rich robes, precious vessels, and valuable ornaments lying 
 in heaps were everywhere ready to the hand of the first comer. Need 
 I speak of the knights, and even the greatest barons, who, throwing off 
 all the distinguishing marks of their rank, fled on foot, disguising even 
 their names in shame and fear. Some fell into the hands of the country 
 people, and underwent the severest torments. Others concealing them- 
 selves in loathsome caves, half starved and full of alarm, either lay 
 there until an opportunity of escape presented itself, or being discovered 
 by the enemy they were dragged out without shame or decency. Need 
 I speak of the King of the Scots, who a third time captive as they say, 
 but always ransomed, was set at liberty, and returned to his own
 
 61 
 
 couutry sorrowful and worn with fatigue, with a few only of his fol- 
 lowers. What shall I say of the Archbishop of Canterbury, with other 
 bishops and eminent men from all England, who, separated from their 
 attendants, their horses and clothes carried off, or barbarously torn 
 from them, were scarce able to creep to some safe hiding place after 
 the fearful rout. 
 
 Such was the history of that hurried flight, which must 
 have made at any rate the last part of its rushing course 
 through Kimpton. It is a very curious fact, and entirely in 
 accordance with the chronicler's narrative, that a silver seal 
 was found at or near Ludgershall representing a knight in 
 armour, with lance and shield, riding on a horse, the inscrip- 
 tiop on which, " Sigillvm Milonis de Glocestria," proves it to 
 have heen the property of one who we know was in that rout 
 — Milo of Gloucester, Earl of Hereford, " ex-constable," as 
 he is so often called. 
 
 This seal was engraved in Vol. xiv. of the Ai'chcsologia, and 
 a woodcut of it is given in Knight's Old England, Vol. i. 
 
 Everywhere throughout the land it is the old parish church 
 which is the great connecting link that unites the past and 
 the present in one continuous history. Although in so many 
 cases the registers and other records are imperfect or de- 
 fective, yet round the church there always gathers the 
 testimony of the ages, and ever since there has been written 
 history at all neither the story of a parish nor its people can 
 be told without reference to its church, as the storehouse of 
 witness to historical facts as well as sacred truths. 
 
 Kimpton is no exception to this rule ; on the contrary, it 
 is an admirable example of the manner in which family 
 history is preserved by sepulchral monuments. And I am 
 glad of the opportunity thus afforded of entering my protest 
 against the destruction of memorials to the dead, which has 
 been such a characteristic of modern church restoration. 
 Whether such memorials are in accordance with views of 
 good taste, or whether they seem to us so marked by archi- 
 tectural inconsistency as to suggest their being " matter out 
 of place," their wanton destruction is a wrong to the whole 
 community, and the removal of them from the church to 
 which they belong must be denounced as a public injury. 
 At the same time it must be admitted that in bye-gone days 
 the positions selected for them were often ingeniously in- 
 appropriate ; so much so that the most conservative restorer 
 has no choice but to relegate those that interfere with 
 important architectural features to more convenient places.
 
 62 
 
 There is no mention of a church at Kimpton in Domesday 
 Book ; but that is no proof whatever that there was not one 
 at the time the survey was made, there being no instructions 
 issued to the inquisitors who collected the information 
 respecting the church or churchmen. They did not 
 enumerate them unless it was necessary, as for example, 
 when either held taxable property as a portion of the 
 maintenance of the church, or as a private possession, it 
 became needful to enter this in the return, and it was 
 invariably done ; but it was unquestionably done for the sole 
 purpose of taxation, and without any intention to enumerate 
 either churches or priests. 
 
 There does not appear to be any work in Kimpton Church 
 of earlier date than the thirteenth century. The church of 
 Saxon times was very likely of wood, and at any rate the 
 architect of the " Early English" period left no remains of 
 the building which occupied tho site when he began the 
 structure, which after six hundred years calls forth our 
 admiration by the true art displayed in the beautiful 
 proportion of the whole building, and especially of the 
 windows of the chancel. 
 
 From time to time alterations have been made, the effect of 
 which is disastrous. The filling up of the exquisite lancet 
 windows is a great misfortune, and I cannot suppress the 
 hope that a true " restoration" may be undertaken when 
 opportunity presents itself. No one would carry out such a 
 work in a truer spirit of reverence for the past than the 
 present Rector. To an antiquary the so-called " restoration" 
 of a church is too often a word of fear. When, therefore, an 
 ancient building of such exceptional interest is in the loving 
 care of one who knows thoroughly how to appreciate it, we 
 must be pardoned for expressing a fervent hope that so very 
 desirable, and indeed essential, an undertaking should be 
 carried out under his own direction. As it is few would 
 think, from a casual view of the outside, that there is so 
 much that is of interest in the interior ; but there is little 
 room for doubt that a judicious restoration, such as I have 
 hopefully indicated, would increase the interest a hun- 
 dredfold. 
 
 The dedication of the Church is SS. Peter and Paul, the 
 festival of which is June 29. Its plan is a nave of four bays 
 with south aisle and porch, north and south transepts and 
 chancel, and a modern brick tower at the west end.
 
 63 
 
 The churchyard has become very much raised on the south 
 side, which makes it difficult to speak with certainty as to 
 the character of two most curious and remarkably interesting 
 windows, which deserve careful attention. It is confidently 
 expected that investigation will determine several questions 
 when it is possible to examine them. 
 
 There is no chancel arch : probably there never was one. 
 A fictitious arrangement of comparatively modern erection has 
 been put up to give the appearance of an arch ; but originally 
 the rood screen, with perhaps a loft on it, made the division 
 between nave and chancel : most likely the lower part was 
 panelled. Access to the rood loft was from the north 
 trans'ept, where part of the structure of the gallery leading to 
 it may be seen. 
 
 There are four very fine lancet windows in the chancel, two 
 on either side ; only, unfortunately, they are all blocked up. 
 One on the north is an example of those architectural puzzles, 
 a " low side window." The tracery of the east window and 
 the two-light window on the south side of the chancel were 
 introduced by Dr. Bayues when officiating here in 1870 ; he 
 also opened the chancel door, which had been blocked up. 
 
 The altar is a very fine example of the first half of the 
 seventeenth century. The carving on the legs is strikingly 
 beautiful. 
 
 There is also a good chair dating from about the time of 
 Charles the Second. 
 
 There are two architectural features in the chancel which 
 call for special notice. 
 
 On the north side is a shallow recess within an arch with 
 seven cusps. The hand of the mason has been heavy on it 
 and overloaded it with details, which we may venture to say 
 difi"er considerably from the original. This is usually called 
 the Easter sepulchre, and it may have been turned to account 
 in that way. 
 
 It will be seen by reference to the Andover Churchwardens' 
 Accounts of 1471, which have been already published, that a 
 great deal of the sepulchre furniture used at Paschaltide was 
 movable. The image representing the '* Lord's body" being 
 placed in a box during the time it was watched. I am very 
 much inclined to think that this arch at Kimpton is part of a 
 tomb, although very likely the slab of the monument placed 
 under the arch may have been utilized for the Easter sepulchre 
 ceremonies.
 
 64 
 
 On the opposite side is the Thornborough tomb, which I 
 think is by no means in its original form. As it is, it consists 
 of a low altar tomb of Purbeck marble, held to the wall by 
 ancient iron clamps, above which is a slab of Purbeck, with a 
 cresting of Tudor flowers and the brasses of Robert Thorn- 
 burgh and family 1522. 
 
 This brass is very interesting. It represents Robert 
 Thornburgh in the armour of the period, with head un- 
 covered, showing the long hair as then usually worn, 
 kneeling on a tasseled cushion at a desk, over which is a 
 cross marked with the four bleeding wounds. From his lips 
 issues a scroll, with the words " Crux xpi libera me." 
 
 Immediately behind him is his first wife, Alys, in the 
 usual costume of that date, kneeling at a desk, and with a 
 scroll bearing the inscription " Crux xpi salva me." Behind 
 her the small figures of her son and unmarried daughter 
 stand with their hands joined in prayer. 
 
 Behind these is Anne, the second wife, also kneeling at a 
 desk, and with a scroll inscribed " Crux xpi defende me." 
 Her son and six daughters, four of whom were unmarried 
 when the monument was erected, occupy positions behind 
 her. 
 
 The inscription beneath is — " Of yor charite pray for the 
 soule of Robert Thornburgh, esquyer, whos body here restyth, 
 and dyed the xij day of May in the yere of or Lord God m.v.c. 
 xxii, & for ye souls of Alys & Anne, his wyves, & all there 
 children, on whos souls Jhil have mercy." 
 
 The Thornboroughs lived at Shoddesden Manor, which, as 
 we have already seen, was at the time of the Domesday 
 Survey in the tenure of Agemund, who held it allodially of 
 the beautiful Edith, Queen of Edward the Confessor. It 
 passed into the Thornborough family, and is now, together 
 with the Manor of Littleton, the property of Sir R. H. Pollen, 
 Bart., of Reddenham. When we are talking about the 
 Kimpton families we shall have more to say about the 
 Thornboroughs. 
 
 On the south wall of the chancel is a piscina or drain for 
 rinsing the sacred vessels after Holy Communion. It has a 
 trefoil head and projecting basin, but has been so much 
 renovated that it is not easy to speak with certainty of its 
 date. 
 
 The tie beam of the roof has a good boss carved with oak 
 leaves, and the king post is well moulded.
 
 65 
 
 In the fourteenth century, probably after 1350, the work 
 of church alteration went on with great vigour, but extended 
 over some years. During that period the nave and chancel 
 were re-roofed, and the arcade of four bays, with the aisle, 
 erected, and probably the transepts, one before the other. 
 
 The window on the south side of Penton Mewsey Church, 
 and those in the sides of the chancel there, may be regarded 
 as perfect models of the style of this date. If the windows 
 at Kimpton be compared with them the same general princi- 
 ples of design will be observed, but with a roughness of 
 outline and workmanship which indicates a provincial archi- 
 tect and mason. 
 
 The transepts are especially interesting. The south, in 
 which the organ is placed, has a good window, with moulded 
 jambs and mullion, part of the oak cornice shows on the 
 east wall. There is a most curious piscina with ogee head 
 and bold stop-chamfer, which has a credence shelf (like the 
 Penton one) apparently renewed at some time. 
 
 There were, of course, altars in each of the transepts, and 
 the curious corbels on the east walls may have been to 
 support the baldichino over them. I incline however to the 
 opinion that they were used as brackets for images, a 
 feature by no means uncommon in Hampshire churches. 
 The corbels or brackets in the north transept are dissimilar 
 in design. The north window of two lights with moulded 
 jambs and hood mould is very fine. There is the indication 
 of an arch in the north-west angle of this transept. 
 
 It will be noticed that the arches dividing the nave and 
 aisle spring at once from the octangular piers without any 
 intervening capital. The font is modern, the panelling of 
 cast iron, which marks off a kind of baptistery, was once in 
 Thruxton Church. 
 
 The window over this, with a roughly worked ogee head, 
 has a remarkably deep splay. 
 
 The wooden dormer window, of conspicuous ugliness, may 
 possibly have been inserted over the aisle in 1702. The 
 windows on the north side of the nave are of late 15th or 
 early 16th century work, having three lights each and a flat 
 head. The glass with which they are glazed though plain is 
 old. The jambs of these windows are moulded ; but the 
 western one has been very much injured. The oak panelling 
 remains on the south side of the nave and in the south 
 transept. 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 The tower was re-built in brick, to correspond with Kimp- 
 ton Lodge, by G. S. Foyle, Esq., in 1887. There are three 
 bells. In the interior of the tower is the Hatchment for 
 King George III., 1812. 
 
 A stone on the outside near the porch probably gives the 
 date of one of the occasions on which the Church was 
 " repaired and beautified." 
 
 George Fleet 
 Wood, John 
 Batt, Chvr 
 chwardens 
 1702 
 
 The question suggests itself involuntarily as to whether 
 Bill Stumps may not have been the sculptor. 
 
 Taking a final glance at the whole church* before pro- 
 ceeding to record the monumental inscriptions, it is ira- 
 
 * Since the above account of the Church was -written, various works 
 of repair have been carried out. 
 
 In the interior, the lancet windows of the chancel which were blocked 
 up have been opened out and glazed, two squints one on either side of 
 the entrance to the chancel have been brought to light ; tliese squints 
 enabled the congregation in the transepts to see the priest at the high 
 altar. 
 
 The miserable deal roofs, lath and plastered beneath the collar, of 
 about tlie same date as the tower, of nave, aisle, and south transept have 
 given place, in the transept to an oak panelled roof, and in the nave and 
 aisle to a similar roof without the panelling. In the thickness of the 
 south wall of the south transept between the bottom of the sill of the 
 fine two-light window and the gi-ound a cusped arch much mutilated 
 was discovered ; in the centre of the wall of the recess at the back of 
 the arch is a one-light window measuring in the clear two feet six 
 inches in height by eleven inches in width ; the sill of this window is 
 but a few inches above the floor level of the transept, level with the 
 eill of the window and immediately under the arch is a shallow trench, 
 once doubtless covered over with a stone slab, which contained a stone 
 cist measuring externally 4 feet in length by 15 inches in width ; this 
 cist, which was broken in half, probably once contained the relics 
 of some saint or martyr in whose honour, no doubt, the altar which 
 stood in the transept was dedicated. Externally the brick buttresses 
 built against the east wall of the chancel and the south wall of the 
 transept have been removed and the gables of both chancel and tran- 
 sept, which had fallen down, have been rebuilt. The north and south 
 walls of the nave, the walls of tlie south transept and the east wall of 
 chancel have been cleansed of the plaster which disfigured them, the 
 dormer window of the aisle has been removed, and a dry area formed, 
 with a drain to take off the rain water, on the south side of the church 
 and also on the north side of the nave. 
 
 E. D. W.
 
 67 
 
 possible to avoid being struck with the admirable proportions 
 of the building, which give it a peculiar dignity. The little 
 aisle is but 5ft. 9in. wide ; but it has an admirable effect. 
 The chancel measures 25ft. 8in. by 14ft. 6in. From the 
 north wall of the north transept to the south wall of the 
 south transept measures 43ft. 9in., the transepts are each 
 13ft. wide. The length of the nave is 47ft., and its width 
 14ft. Gin. 
 
 The monuments in the church are numerous. The 
 inscriptions are given in full, with numerals for facility of 
 reference. 
 
 I. 
 
 On the East Wall. 
 
 On a watered stone. 
 
 D. Positum 
 
 Marise Norborni uxoris Gulielmi Norborni Armig simul 
 
 et filiae Joannis Foyle Armig et Millecent uxoris ejus 
 
 Quae Stemnatis claritatem vita ornavit clariore 
 Syncere erga Deum religiosa vixit evangelium quod 
 professa est uxor casta mater prudens 
 pariter et pia uemini iniuria, benefaciendo 
 pluribus nota nihil illius severitate 
 jucundus jucunditate severius fuit 
 Displicuit ei ornamentorum vanitas cui semper 
 cordi fuit, uon corpus auro atque gemmis ditare 
 sed animan exornare virtutibus 
 In liberis suis Humfredo, Gulielmo, Millecent, Rachel, 
 Maria sibi ipsi quasi superstes abiit potius 
 quam obiit 
 . (Domini 1658 
 ^'^"^t^tatis Suae 37 
 
 Hour glass Skull and cross-bones Mattock d shovel 
 
 II. 
 
 On the East Wall. 
 A marble monument with cherubim. 
 At the base a coat. Argent, a bend sable, on which are 
 3 arrows gules. 
 
 M. S. 
 
 Reverend! Thomse Cholwell 
 in Artibus Magistri
 
 68 
 
 et hujus Ecclesige nuper Rectoria 
 Qui Pietate in Deum Reverencia in Ecclesiam, 
 
 Amore in Patriam, Fide in amicos, 
 
 Et Humanitate Erga omnes fuit Spectatissimus 
 
 obiit XX die Sept Anno iEtatis suae Ivii 
 
 Anno Salutis m.d.cxciii 
 
 Seculi Pertsesus 
 
 Ric'^"' : Kent gen et Honoratissima Elizabetha 
 
 Miller, Amicitise, et Gratitudini, 
 
 nunquam morturse 
 
 Dicarunt 
 
 III. 
 
 On the South Wall of the Chancel. 
 On a marble urn. 
 
 Sacred 
 To the Revd Edwd Foyle m.a. 
 Rector of this parish 
 He died 20th July 1832 
 aged 74 years. 
 
 IV. 
 
 On the Floor of the Chancel. 
 
 1668 
 
 Here lyeth 
 The body of 
 Millecent Nor 
 borne the daughter 
 of William Nor 
 borne Esquire She 
 departed this life 
 the tenth day 
 of February 
 aged 18 
 
 V. 
 
 On the Floor of the Chancel. 
 
 E. F. 
 1882
 
 69 
 
 VI. 
 
 On the Floor of the Chancel. 
 
 The Revd John Goddard a.m. 
 Rector of this parish 
 and of South Tidworth 
 
 born 13 Jan 1708 
 Died 21st March 1786. 
 
 VII. 
 
 On the Floor of the Chancel. 
 
 In Memory 
 
 of Elizabeth second wife of 
 
 the Reverend Edward Foyle 
 
 late Rector of this parish 
 
 who departed this life 
 
 December 12 1793 
 
 aged 61. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 On the Floor of the Chancel. 
 
 Depositum Doiae 
 
 Millicent Foyle 
 
 Relict Johanis Fo 
 
 yle de Kympton in 
 
 Comitat Southton 
 
 Armiger que obiit 
 
 Primo die Martii 
 
 Anno Domini 1661 
 
 aetatis suae 68. 
 
 IX. 
 
 On the Floor of the Chancel. 
 
 Hie jacet Johannes Foyle de 
 Chute in Comitatu Wilts Armiger 
 qui obiit tertio die Junii Ano Dom 
 
 1671 aetatis suae 54 
 Serius aut citius sedam properamus 
 ad unam.
 
 70 
 
 X. 
 
 On the Floor of the Church. 
 
 Sacred 
 
 to the memory of 
 
 George Soley Foyle Esq 
 
 who departed this life 
 
 on the 14th day of October 
 
 1839 
 
 In the 71st year of his age 
 
 also of Anne his wife 
 
 who died September 18th 1841 
 
 in the 68 year of her age. 
 
 XI. 
 
 On the Floor of the Nave. 
 
 Hie jacet Johannes Foyle Generosus 
 
 filies nat marjmus Joannis Foyle 
 
 de Chute in Comitatu Wills Armiger, 
 
 qui obiit octavo djr Martii anno 
 
 domini 1670 setatis sul 
 
 26 Tendimus Hue omnes. 
 
 XII. 
 
 On the North Wall of the Chancel. 
 A marble monument having a coat of arms at the top. 
 Gules a saltier, compony counter-compony, or and azure 
 between four crosses crosslet fitchee argent, on an escutcheon 
 of pretence argent three lozenges gules each charged with an 
 eagle displayed o/i/te^eW. 
 
 Near this place are interred 
 The remains of 
 John Foyle Esq 
 Of Chute in the County of Wilts 
 eldest son of Edward Foyle Esq 
 of Somerford Keynes 
 in the said County 
 who died April 21 1715 aged 33 
 also of 
 Frances his wife 
 the daughter of John Bishop Esq 
 of Chilcomb in the County of Dorset
 
 71 
 
 and afterwards married to "Win Harris Esq 
 who died Nov 10 1753 aged 77 
 also of 
 Constance Fovle 
 daughter of Edward Foyle Esq 
 by Constance his wife 
 who died Nov 8 1746 
 aged 14. 
 
 XIII, 
 
 On the NortJi Wall of the Chancel. 
 
 A marble monument. 
 
 Sacred to the Memory of 
 George Soley Foyle Esq 
 of this place 
 who departed this life Oct. 14th 
 1839 aged 70 years 
 He was the only son of 
 George Foyle Esq 
 of Somerford Keynes, Wilts. 
 Also in Memory of 
 Ann relict of the above 
 George Soley Foyle 
 who departed this life Sep. 13th 
 1841 aged 67 years 
 This tablet is erected 
 as a tribute of affection by 
 their only children 
 Mary Ann Randolph and Sarah Frances Fawcett 
 
 XIV. 
 
 On the North Wall of the Chancel. 
 A marble monument with coat of arms. 
 Quarterly. 1st Gules, a saltier, compony couuter-compony 
 or and azure, between four crosses crosslet fitchee argent. 
 2nd Gules, a bend ermine; 3 Barry of six, sable and argent, 
 in chief three plates ; 4 azure, a chevron between three cocks 
 argerit. 
 
 Near this Place 
 lie the Remains of 
 The Rev Edward Foyle 
 of West Cholderton
 
 72 
 
 Prebendary of Sarum 
 
 and thirty four years 
 
 Eector of this Parish 
 
 He was Second Son of Edward Foyle Esq' 
 
 of Somerford Keynes, Com. Wilts 
 
 and died May 7th 1784 aged 57 years 
 
 leaving by Anne, his first Wife 
 
 Daughter of Thomas Hayter Esq 
 
 of the Close Salisbury 
 
 one son Edward and 
 
 one daughter Frances 
 
 Who 
 
 In memory of a deserving Man 
 
 and a most affectionate Father 
 
 erected this monument. 
 
 XV. 
 
 On the North Wall of the Chancel. 
 
 Coat of arms at the top. 
 
 Argent, a saltier counter-compony sable and or, between 
 four trefoils slipped of the second. 
 
 D.S. & M. 
 
 Johannis Foyle Armigeri, nee non 
 
 Johnnis Filii ejus natu maximi 
 
 Quorum corpora hie propter iacent 
 
 Ille Pater Honesta stirpe oriundus, Virtute sua 
 
 Familise suae Dignitatem adauxit in posterum 
 
 Educatus Libere, moribus probus, spectatus fide, 
 
 Indole insuper et Ingenio 
 
 Ad Pietatem Prudentiam Patientiam Pacem temperatiam 
 
 Factus Totus 
 
 Nobilibus et Primoribus viris Gratus 
 
 venerabilis vulgo charus omnibus 
 
 Quia omnibus profuit opibus Consilio Exemplo 
 
 Vir plus, prudens, providus, Dives uec tamen Avarus 
 
 Qui rem suam satis ampliam 
 
 Industria propria (bono cum deo) partam 
 
 (ut vivus benigne usus) ita moriens 
 
 Suis Pauperibus liberis nepotibus 
 
 Largissime effudit 
 
 Sic deraum vita laudibiliter Acta
 
 73 
 
 Quartoque et octuagessimo aetat suae Anno exacto 
 Bona Canitie, et senio satur 
 Fate cessit xix die mensis Septemb 
 Annoque Domi mdciil. 
 
 Hie Jilius dum vixit, tali vixit uon indig : Patri 
 
 In omnibus parentis gressus insequtus 
 
 nisi quod eius eetatem non sit assequtus 
 
 1 ... . A f aetat suae Ivi 
 obiit emm Anno < -r\ 
 
 { Domini MDCxxxxiv. 
 
 Outside the Church at the north-east, are the folowing : — 
 On a marble crosi, East side. 
 
 Sacred to the memory of the Kev. Charles Randolph of 
 
 Kimpton Lodge and Rector of this Parish who died July 
 
 29th 1871 aged 76 years. 
 Also of Mary Ann relict of the above and daughter of the 
 
 late G. S. Foyle, Esqre, who died May 20th 1882 aged 76 
 
 years. 
 
 On the North side of the Cross. 
 
 Sacred to the memory of Myra Elizabeth Mary the beloved 
 wife of C. Foyle Randolph Esqre, eldest son of Charles 
 Randolph who died May 23rd 1872 aged 40 years. 
 
 On a coped stone. 
 
 Constance Foyle Randolph, born Dec. 13, 1834, died Feb. 19, 
 1873. 
 
 On a Calvary, 
 
 In fond memory of Eddie (Edward Foyle) the dearly loved 
 and only son of the Rev. Edward Foyle and Louisa Ann 
 Randolph, born May 9, 1868, died Sept. 3, 1877. 
 Of such is the kingdom of heaven. 
 Also of George Foyle the beloved infant and only surviving 
 son of the Rev. E. F. and L. A. Randolph. Born June 
 25, 1878, died Sept. 28, 1878. 
 
 He will gather the lambs with his arms and 
 carry them in his bosom.
 
 74 
 
 It often causes me much surprise that the good folks who 
 live in the Anna Valley, as their fathers and grandfathers have 
 done before them, do not show a keener interest in their 
 family history ; for although we have not many of the large 
 land-holding families of the middle ages represented amongst 
 us, yet the fact that the ancestors of large numbers of our 
 neighbours have been hereabouts, and left their traces through 
 centuries, is most remarkable. If it were only that we can 
 point to the lands held by Hugh de Port before the Norman 
 Conquest being still in the possession of his descendants, it 
 would be much to feel a pride in ; but it is true throughout 
 our population. Among the children in the Penton School 
 are some having the same name (christian as well as surname 
 in one instance) as the Baylilf of Andover exactly three 
 centuries back, and a good friend of mine who kept my garden 
 for me at Enham was a namesake of one figuring constantly 
 in the Town Records more than another century before that. 
 
 The Parish Registers of this valley ought to have a peculiar 
 value, because it is through them that family histories can 
 alone be traced. The fortunate circumstance, that we have 
 been able to make the old lists handed in by the tithing men 
 available for research, enhances greatly the value of all the 
 other records ; because, taking all together, it enables us to 
 gather a much more complete view of the past than is 
 generally obtainable. 
 
 The registers of Kimpton have been kept, at any rate since 
 the beginning of this century, with the most scrupulous care, 
 and may be cited as exemplary for preservation. An entry in 
 the book lettered C, No. 8, contains a copy of 
 
 " A List of all Extaut Register Books iu the Parish of Kimpton iu 
 the county of Southampton transmitted to the Registrar of the Diocese 
 of Winchester according to the Act of Parliament passed in the fifty 
 second year of George the Third King, and are deposited in the Parish 
 Chest at Kimpton." 
 
 A. No. 1. A Register Book of Baptisms Marriages and Burials 
 from the year 1593 to 1662, on Parchment. 
 
 B. No. 2. A Register ditto from 1662 of Baptisms Marriages and 
 Burials to 1732, on Parchment. 
 
 C. No. 3. A Register ditto of Baptisms to January 1st 1782, on 
 Parchment, when a new Register with Printed Forms began. Mar- 
 riages in the same Register (C. No. 3) on Parchment to 1754, when 
 they were entered in the New Register, according to the Act of Par- 
 liament, with Printed Forms. 
 
 Burials in the same Register (C. No. 3) on Parchment to January 1813, 
 
 D. No. 4. A Register of Marriages with Printed Forms from 1754 
 to January 1st 1800.
 
 75 
 
 E. No. 6. A Register of Baptisms from January 1st, 1782, to 
 January 1, 1813, with printed forms. 
 
 F. No. 6. A Register of Marriages from January 1st 1809 to 
 January 1, 1813, with printed forms. 
 
 Edward Foyle A.M. 
 
 Rector of Kirapton 
 To John Ridding, Esqre. ^^^ ^0. 1813. 
 
 Registrar of the Diocese of Winchester. 
 
 The 19th Section of the Act of Parliament passed in 1812 
 directed lists of all registers then in every parish, together 
 with the periods at which they respectively commenced and 
 terminated, to he transmitted to the registrar of the respective 
 dioceses ; but very few of the clergy were so careful and con- 
 scientious in carrying out this requirement as Mr. Foyle. In 
 the diocese of London only four or five of these lists were 
 transmitted. 
 
 There are in the country 812 known examples of registers 
 beginning as early as 1538 ; hut the general starting point 
 was the injunction of Queen Elizabeth, 1559, though it was 
 not till 1599 that every parish was ordered to provide a 
 parchment book in which the entries were to be fairly and 
 legibly transcribed from the earlier paper book or the 
 temporary paper memoranda, and each page authenticated 
 by the signature of the minister and churchwardens. This 
 parchment book was to be kept " in a sure coffer with three 
 locks and keys." The Kimpton register therefore begins six 
 years earlier than the average. In 1813 the present form of 
 registers for baptisms and burials was ordered by Act of 
 Parliament, so that in most villages the volume then 
 commenced is the one in present use. The present form 
 of the register of marriage was introduced in 1836. 
 
 The earliest of the Kimpton registers, A No. 1, is a book 
 of parchment fastened at the narrow end of the leaves. It is 
 not bound, as is frequently the case with the oldest registers ; 
 possibly careful binding might be better for the preservation 
 of these books, but it requires consideration in each separate 
 instance. 
 
 An entry under January 18, 1727, gives some particulars 
 about the then present condition of the church. 
 
 Att a vestry duly called and held this day it is unanimously agreed 
 by all present viz Chr. Fleetwood, Mr. Woodward, Giles Vincent, 
 Robt Munday, John Gale, John Munday, John Gale, Robert Gyat, 
 and Wm. Mayn, yt ye broken bell should be now cast and ye church 
 ceiled. G. Greenway Rector.
 
 76 
 
 The following entry is an interesting one :- 
 
 A rate agreed Tpou. made 
 
 by the 
 
 paryshioners of Kympton for 
 
 clerk's wages and the keeping o 
 
 : the belles at East 
 
 Bv, 1688. 
 
 Impr. Mr. fPoyle 
 
 
 
 ij8. 
 
 viijd. 
 
 Crofer Hopkyns 
 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 Ralplie Goodall 
 
 
 
 
 xijd. 
 
 Edward Gale . . . 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 xijd. 
 
 Crofer Fleetwood 
 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 Wm. Hopkyna 
 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 John Chalyn . . . 
 
 • * • 
 
 
 
 xijd. 
 
 John Davies 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 iiijd. 
 
 JohnTybull ... 
 
 
 
 
 iiijd. 
 
 John Shevier ... 
 
 
 
 
 iiijd. 
 
 X for Hedges . . . 
 
 
 
 
 iiijd. 
 
 X for Kent 
 
 
 
 
 iiijd. 
 
 Rich Barnes. M 
 
 Miller 
 
 
 
 iiijd. 
 
 Lytleton ffarme 
 
 
 
 • ijs. 
 
 viiid. 
 
 Shodesden ffarme 
 
 
 
 ijs. 
 
 viiid. 
 
 Brixies hould . . . 
 
 
 
 
 xijd. 
 
 Ed Blackmans hould 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 M.Hunt 
 
 
 
 
 iiijd. 
 
 Widdow Millett 
 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 Widdow Goodall 
 
 
 
 
 xijd. 
 
 W iddow Gale . . . 
 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 Tho Graylie . . . 
 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 Mich Morrell . . . 
 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 James Edington 
 
 
 
 
 viijd. 
 
 Sm. ... 
 
 
 
 xxis 
 
 viijd. 
 
 The entries of collections after briefs are not so numerous 
 as at some of the churches, but are worth recording. They 
 appear to belong to the year 1661 only. 
 
 Received at Kympton for Elmiter the summe of fower shillings and 
 
 eight pence in the year 1661. 
 Julie 1661 Gathered at Kympton, Oxford, foure shillings 
 Julie 1661 Collected at Kympton for Watchet three shillings and two 
 
 pence 
 Julie 1661 Gathered at Kympton for Fakenham in the countie of 
 
 Norfolke three shillings 
 Julie 1661 Gathered at Kympton for re-edifying of the church at 
 
 Pontefracte in the county of Yorke four shillings Id 
 August this 18 1661 Received then at Kympton for Watringburie in 
 
 the county of Kent two shillings nine pence 
 August 26 1661 Received then at Kympton for Bolingbrooke in 
 
 Lincolnshire three shillings ten pence 
 Collected for the ship called The Blessing of Dublin two shillings ten 
 
 pence 
 Collected for Drayton in the county of Salop three shillings eight 
 
 pence 
 Collected at Kympton for Milten in Norfolk one shilling and nine 
 
 pence
 
 77 
 
 Briefs were letters patent issued by the Sovereign directing 
 the collection of alms for special objects named in them. It 
 will be remembered that the rubric in The Book of Common 
 Prayer directs that after the Nicene Creed (if occasion be) 
 
 briefs, citations, and excommunications read. An 
 
 Act of Parliament was passed to regulate these appeals in 
 1705. And when we consider these sample entries relate to 
 one year only, and the complete absence of local claim or 
 interest in the objects for which these collections were 
 ordered, we are not surprised to find that Act begin — 
 " Whereas many inconveniences do arise and frauds are 
 committed in the common method of collecting charity money 
 upon briefs by letters patent to the great trouble and pre- 
 judice of the objects of such charity and the great discourage- 
 ment of well disposed persons." 
 
 The Act provides that the forms should only be printed by 
 the Queen's printers. The number of copies to be expressed 
 on the registered copy filed in the register of the Court of 
 Chancery. These copies were then to be delivered by the 
 " undertaker or undertakers" and produced to the clergy and 
 churchwardens, &c., very special care being taken that " the 
 people called Quakers" should not escape. The registration 
 of the amounts collected was compulsory within two months, 
 and the " undertakers" were to be " allowed for their pains," 
 " and whereas there hath been an evil practice in farming and 
 purchasing for a sum of money the charity money that should 
 or might be collected on such briefs, to the very great 
 hindrance and discouragement of almsgiving on such occa- 
 sion," the purchase of them was made illegal. 
 
 Possibly the brief holders came out extra strong in 1661 ; 
 but at any rate we find that Mr. Pepys was rather exercised 
 about it, for in his diary he has entered — " 1661, June 30 
 (Lord's Day). To church where we observe the trade of 
 briefs is now come up to so constant a course every Sunday 
 that we resolve to give no more to them." The wonder is 
 the system lasted so long. 
 
 The churchwardens' books of a parish are always in- 
 teresting, but as a rule have not been so well preserved as the 
 registers. There is but one volume remaining at Kimpton 
 from 1763 to 1791, from which I abstract the account for 
 the earliest year, 1763 : — 
 
 April 7. Paid the Clarke 5 
 
 10. Paid Wm Munday 5 adders 2 6 
 
 Paid Eliz Gale 2 6
 
 78 
 
 April 11. 
 
 Paid Tim Tayler 3 adders 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 12. 
 
 Paid Fillamore 4 hedghogs 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 13. 
 
 Paid for two adders 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 17. 
 
 Paid Eliz Gale 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 Paid Auue Alexander 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 Paid "Woodlands 
 
 ... 10 
 
 
 
 
 Paid Wni. Spratts adder 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 24. 
 
 Paid Englands Maids addir 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 Paid Elemes for 1 hedhog 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 Paid Eliz Gale 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 30. 
 
 Paid John Phialemore 3 liedhogs 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1 10 9 
 
 On the fly leaf of the register book B No. 2 a list of rectors 
 is given, which is singularly complete. We must wait 
 patiently — very patiently — till the Hampshire Record Society 
 brings out the long promised volumes of the Episcopal 
 Registers before we can get the names of the pre-Reformation 
 rectors. It is however much to have so good a list as this, 
 extending over three hundred years. 
 
 Rectors of Kimpton with year of Institution. 
 
 Christopher Perrin 
 
 18 Oct. 1592 
 
 Robert Addams D.D. 
 
 1 Oct. 1613 
 
 William Hobbes ... 
 
 1652 
 
 Henry Jolly 
 
 1671 
 
 Thomas Cholwell ... 
 
 1680 
 
 Thomas Smith 
 
 1694 
 
 George Greenway ... 
 
 1719 
 
 William Goodenough 
 
 1740 
 
 Edward Foyle 
 
 ... 17 Jany. 1750 
 
 John Goddard 
 
 2 Aug. 1784 
 
 Edward Foyle 
 
 ... 24 June 1785 
 
 Charles Randolph ... 
 
 1832 
 
 Edward Foyle Randolph . . . 
 
 1871 
 
 F. G. Holbrooke 
 
 1882 
 
 The monumental inscriptions of Rev. Thomas Cholwell 
 (II.), Rev. John Goddard (VI.), and Rev. Edward Foyle (III.) 
 have been already recorded. 
 
 The Rev. Henry White, rector of Fyfield, brother of the 
 celebrated naturalist, " White of Selborne," whose most 
 interesting diaries for the years 1780 to 1784 are in the 
 possession of the Rev. F. G. Holbrooke, rector of Kimpton, 
 was on intimate terms with the clergymen who held the living
 
 79 
 
 during that time, and makes frequent mention of them. For 
 instance — 
 
 1784 April 19. Served Kimptou Cliurcli lOtli time. 
 
 ,, April 26. Mr. Foyle returned to Kimpton Clinrch. 
 
 „ May 3. Served Kimptou Clnirch again, makes lltli time. Mr. 
 Foyle ill and remains at Batli. 
 
 „ May 10. Served Kimpton Church a.m. 12th time. News ar- 
 rived that Mr. Foyle died at Batli last Friday. 
 
 „ May 17. Went to serve Kimpton before 10. but returned not 
 being wanted. 
 1784 May 22. Rev. Mr. Goddard, S. Tid worth, presented to ye 
 Rectory of Kimpton yesty by Gs. Fojde Esqre. 
 
 „ .Aug. 2ud. Mr. Goddard inducted to Kimpton, p.m. Went to 
 attend do. 
 
 The Rev. John Goddard was Fellow of King's College, 
 Cambridge, he took his B.A. in 1730 and IM.A. in 1738. 
 
 Thomas Cholwell matriculated at Oxford (Oriel College) as 
 serviter 1 April 1656, took his B.A. 1659, M.A. 1663, was 
 rector of Asley, Hants, 1679, and of Kimpton 1680. 
 
 The old rectory house at Kimptou, which stands just off 
 the road to the north east of the church, is a building of 
 unusual interest. More modern additions have concealed the 
 original plan to a great extent. But I have very little hesi- 
 tation in saying that the old part of the house dates as far 
 back as the fourteenth century. The subjoined description 
 of a typical rectory house of this date from Dr. Cutts* 
 admirable " Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages," 
 page 256, is exactly what the Kimpton house was before the 
 floors and other additions had been introduced : — 
 
 Its principal feature was of course the hall. We know at once what 
 the hall of a timber house of this period of architecture woidd be. It 
 would be a rather spacious and lofty apartment with an open timber 
 roof. The principal door of the house would open into it. The screens 
 at the lower end of the hall, and the back door of the house would be 
 at the other end of the screens. At the upper end of the hall would be 
 the raised dais, at which the master of the house sat with his family. 
 The fireplace would either be an open hearth in the middle of the hall 
 like that wliich still exists in tlie fourteenth century hall at Penshurst 
 Place, Kent, or it would be an open fireplace under a projecting 
 chimney at the further side of the hall. 
 
 There was also a chamber and soler at one end of the hall. 
 The soler of a mediceval house was the chief apartment after 
 the hall ; it answered to the " great chamber'*' of the sixteenth 
 century, and to the parlour or drawing room of more modern 
 time. Sometimes there was a chamber under the soler,
 
 80 
 
 reached by a stair from the upper end of the hall. Next there 
 was a buttery and cellar at the other end. In the buttery in 
 those days were kept wine and beer, table linen, cups, pots, 
 &c., and in the cellar the store of eatables, which, it must be 
 remembered, were not bought in weekly from the village shop 
 or the next market town, but were partly the produce of the 
 glebe and tithe, and partly were laid in yearly or half-yearly 
 at some neighbouring fair. The buttery and cellar were 
 always at the lower end of the hall, and opened upon the 
 screens with two whole or half doors side by side. 
 
 There was a good mantel of the 17th century in one of the 
 rooms into which this old house had been divided, which has 
 been re-erected at the " Stone House," Madiugley Road, 
 Cambridge. A new rectory house was built in 1872. 
 
 A store of history almost always lies hidden in the names 
 of the fields of a parish, though often it is difficult to give 
 satisfactory explanations of them. It requires a thorough 
 local knowledge which none but an old resident is likely to 
 possess, and in the case of the parishes it is hoped to deal 
 with in these papers it is not likely we shall exhaust all that 
 should be said. There is however a fear lest derivations 
 should be attempted which are too far fetched, or made up to 
 suit the name as given in spelling perhaps not accurate, or 
 from a pronunciation of a word that may not really be what 
 it sounds like from rustic lips. 
 
 But there are certain words which come into field names 
 all over the country about which there is no doubt. And it 
 may be well to begin with the word Field itself. This is 
 without doubt Anglo-Saxon, and comes from the same root — 
 says Canon Isaac Taylor in his " Words and Places" — as the 
 Norse fell. A fell is a place where the ground is on the fall ; 
 a field or feld is where the trees have been felled. In old 
 writers "wood" and "feld" are continually contrasted. 
 Just like the American term " a clearing," the word field 
 bore witness to the great extent of unfelled timber which still 
 remained. With the progress of cultivation the word has 
 lost its primitive force. But bearing its original meaning in 
 mind we shall be able to trace in some of the field names at 
 Kimpton a sort of comparative history of its cultivation, or at 
 any rate to say what parts were left as wood after the sur- 
 roundings had been cleared by the felling of the timber. The 
 information about the Kimpton fields has been gathered from 
 the tithe map made in 1836, and in speaking of a particular
 
 81 
 
 field the number on that map will be quoted for more ready- 
 identification. 
 
 The first point which strikes anyone on looking at that 
 map is the great size of many of the fields as compared with 
 other parishes in this part of the country. For instance, 
 " Great Field" (80) contains 118 acres and 26 poles; while 
 " Bushey Hedge Furlong" (219) measures 85| acres, and 
 " The Down" (257) extends to 226 acres 31 perches. Some 
 of the fields take their names from their measurement. Thus 
 " Four Acres" (9) is 4a. Oa. 6p. in dimensions; " Six Acres" 
 (10), 5a. 3r. 3p. ; "Twelve Acres" (11), 11a. 3r. 14p. ; 
 "Lower Six Acres" (27), 5a. 8r. 14p. ; "Eleven Acres" 
 (12), 11a. Ir. 17p. Some other .fields take their names from 
 their shape, thus for instance " Three Cornered Ground" 
 (41), 3a. Or. 8p., shows the reason at once for its appellation; 
 " Picked Piece" (133), 19a. 2r. 23p., is clearly so named 
 from its pointed or peaked shape. Picked is good Hampshire 
 for anything that is pointed. " Picked Cowdown" (144) is 
 another instance. Others from their situation, as " South 
 Field" (169). But I do not think " Round Field" (106), 
 15a. Or. 35p., can derive its name from its configuration ; but 
 I suggest, subject to correction, it may be from either rytie, 
 a spring, or rugan — rugged. " Hollv Bush Piece" (218), 
 " Sycamore Croft" (169), " Walnut Mead" (76), and " Furze 
 Down" (54), suggest naturally that their name clings to them 
 from some distinctive tree or shrubs which were conspicuous 
 at some time or other. "Well Piece" (107), " Lime Kiln 
 and Waste" (57), " Brick Kiln Piece" (63), seem as if, like 
 "Windmill Piece" (214), they ought to call out recollections 
 which would account for their names. But " Hangers Hill" 
 (84) and " Upper Frieths" (58), point to a derivation from 
 times when the clearance of timber was not so complete as it 
 is now. A hanger is a wood on the side of a hill, like the 
 one at Selborne, made famous by Gilbert White. Freetli 
 comes ivova ffridd, a forest or plantation ; like frith, a woody 
 place. It seems odd that there should be a " Kitchen" (202), 
 and "Little Fryingpan" (20), and " Great Fryingpan" (16). 
 These latter are a puzzle, and as I do not recognise the like- 
 ness to that useful article in their shape, I am inclined to 
 think the name is merely arbitrary. But kitchen means a 
 summit, the ridge of a hill. In " Plaister" (235) we may 
 possibly have, I think, the Plaistow, or Play Field, where the 
 " sports and pastimes" of the people were practised before 
 even old Stow arose to chronicle them.
 
 8'2 
 
 The " Town Meadow*" (204) seems to me a very interesting 
 field name. It was so called because it was the meadow of 
 the ton, or enclosed place where the lord of the manor (or his 
 representative) lived, as has already been said in an earlier 
 part of this article. The word " Furlong" occurs more than 
 once among the names of the fields ; as a measure of length 
 it was equivalent to 40 perches. Its original signification, 
 however, is all that can be applied to it here — furrow long, 
 or the length of a furrow, which might, of course, be 
 indefinitely extended. In Kimpton " Perram Furlong" 
 measures 5a. 3r. 28p. ; while "Bushy Hedge Furlong" is 
 as much as 85a. 2r. 25p. The " Common Field" (22), we 
 must observe while on the point, measures 50a. Or. 27p. 
 But the most interesting subject of early cultivation which 
 it introduces will be better discussed under some of the other 
 parishes we hope to describe hereafter. 
 
 The manor house at Shoddesden is a very picturesque and 
 interesting building near the road. There have been so many 
 alterations from time to time that it is difi&cult to trace its 
 original plan, and with the exception of the side towards the 
 highway there is probably nothing to be seen of earlier date 
 than the seventeenth century. But there appear to be some 
 traces of a moat, and viewing it from the higher ground on 
 which Mr. Fowler's dwelling house stands, it is almost 
 impossible to avoid the conclusion that the house, as we see 
 it, represents a structure of earlier date than details warrant 
 our assigning it to. Walls, windows, doors, and chimney 
 stacks have been re-built ; but it is probable that the general 
 prospect of the outside is to a great extent as the Thorn- 
 boroughs saw it. That the spot, and perhaps the general 
 arrangement of the farm clustering round the dwelling, is the 
 same as in the days when the manor belonged to the lovely 
 Queen Edith, may be taken for granted. It would have been 
 gratifying if we could have pointed with certainty to any 
 remains of the time of " Robert Thornburgh, esquyer," 
 whose monument (or the remains of it) stands in the chancel 
 of Kimpton Church, with the date 1522. But it would 
 hardly be safe to say that. That gentleman seems to have 
 been succeeded at Shoddesden by John Thornburgh, probably 
 his grandson, also styled esquire, who was buried at Kimpton 
 30th December, 1593 ; after whom we have record of Edward 
 Thornburgh, of Shodsdeane, Esqre., who was buried in the 
 6oth year of his age on the 31st of December, 1627. William 
 Thornborrowe, possibly the son of the last-mentioned, seems
 
 88 
 
 next to have represented the family, and we find the baptisms 
 of his children recorded. Constance 1605, Bridget 1607, 
 Elizabeth 1610, John 1613. 
 
 Then in 1628 we find " Edward Goddard, gent., and Mrs. 
 Constance Thornburgh, daughter of William Thornburgh, 
 Esquire, were married the four and twentieth daie of July." 
 
 I am afraid at present I have no more about them, but it is 
 very delightful to have the picture in our mind of what must 
 be, so far, the concluding scene of Kimpton in the past with 
 the gallant bridegroom and his fair bride, " Mistress 
 Constance," as the central figures in the most picturesque 
 costume ever worn in England, namely, that of the early 
 years of King Charles the first, with which the portraits by 
 Vandyke make us so familiar. We leave them at a period 
 when life as drawn by Shakespear, with its formal method of 
 address, its courtly phrases, and the charm of polish of 
 manners, had not past away, and while the elevating laws of 
 Chivalry were still remembered. 
 
 I most freely and gratefully acknowledge that in the 
 pursuit of enquiries about Kimpton, I proved to myself that 
 the frank, free courtesy, the thorough old fashioned real 
 hospitality, is quite as much in evidence as ever it was, and 
 as ever it will be, so long as Englishmen love their home and 
 their country. 
 
 I think it will be better now to leave Kimpton for a time, 
 and try what can be said of its neighbour — Weyhill. 
 
 It is not pretended that these remarks are anything more 
 than the roughest sketch, rather meant to show what direc- 
 tion enquiry should take than to be supposed to exhaust the 
 subject. It used to be that a man wrote a history of a 
 County, and gave some account of each parish. There were 
 giants in the earth in those days. But historical science 
 has since then made such strides that no one would even 
 contemplate such a task. If local history is to be written in 
 accordance with our present means of knowledge, it must bo 
 parish by parish, or hundred by hundred. 
 
 I have hardly so much as alluded to any evidence from 
 Eccords and MSS. All that remains to be done ; but to be 
 done thoroughly it wants the continuous application of years 
 and years, and the help of many hands. There is no spot- 
 in England which is more full of historical interest in a quiet 
 way than our own valley, and I earnestly wish that the 
 search fur that interest were more common than it has been 
 hitherto. 
 
 g2
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WEYHILL. 
 
 The parish of Peiiton Grafton, or Weyhill as it is com- 
 monly called, lies between Appleshaw on the west and Penton 
 Mewsey on tlie east. Its northern boundary, where it 
 touches the parish of Chute Forest, is the division between 
 the counties of Hampshire and Wiltshire, though on the east 
 it is overhung by a part of the great parish of Andover, round 
 which the county boundary is continued. The parishes of 
 Amport and Monxtou join its southern limit. The area is 
 1885 acres, and it is therefore the sixth in point of size of the 
 parishes in the valley. In 1891 the population was 430. 
 
 One main road runs through from north to south, going 
 upwards through part of Chute Forest, and forming for some 
 distance the western boundary of Tangley, striking the old 
 Roman road from Winchester at Hampshire Gate, the border 
 of the county. Southward this main road goes to Winchester, 
 though now with one or two breaks, joining that from Stock- 
 bridge just above Weeke. In this direction the parish 
 measures but little short of three miles. Its greatest width 
 from east to west is about a mile and a half. Quite near 
 the southern extremity the main road is crossed by one which 
 runs from Andover to Ludgershall, and this last is even now 
 almost touched by an ancient British trackway, which runs 
 across Penton Mewsey and joins the Roman road known as 
 the Portway at Holdown. This " Drove"" road is called the 
 " Harroway." The Portway was the direct communication 
 between Old Sarum and Silchester. 
 
 One great difficulty in topographical studies is always that 
 of imagining localities without the roads that are so familiar 
 to us. As very many of the " turnpikes," however, are 
 comparatively quite modern they often give rise to mistaken 
 conjectures. In the case before us the antiquity of the
 
 85 
 
 Roman roads is certain, and there is no room for doubt about 
 the British trackway. But a very sHght examination of the 
 map will, I contend, show conclusively that the country im- 
 mediately to the south of the village of Weyhill, say between 
 that and the village of Monxton, with east and west limits in 
 Sarson and Penton Park, would undoubtedly have ready access 
 to Old Sarum, to Winchester, or the road to London, along 
 ways made during, or previous to the Roman occupation. 
 
 Now a word with regard to the levels. The parish is 
 mostly on a spur of the chalk which projects out into the 
 valley. The highest point is at the north, above Duck Street, 
 353ft. above sea level ; eastward of Clanville Lodge the level 
 is 344ft. ; Clanville Lodge itself is 300ft. ; a point on the road 
 to Nutben 329ft., and the fair ground at the top of the hill is 
 300ft., precisely the same height as the top of the Harroway 
 hill. The fall is rapid, as we all know from experience, from 
 the fair ground, and the lower level is maintained without 
 much variation ; within the imaginary limits I have described 
 at about an average of 260ft. From almost any part of that 
 area, where they can be seen at all the two conspicuous 
 points are the top of Harroway hill with its two cottages, and 
 the hill whereon the fair is held. It is very remarkable how 
 plainly these are to be seen from a large tract of country. 
 
 These considerations have led me to the conclusion that 
 this neighbourhood must have been the scene of the battle of 
 Sceorstan in a.d. 1016. The story of which battle is this : 
 
 During the Lent of a.d. 1014 ^Ethelred had returned from 
 Normandy and placed the command of his army in the hands 
 of his gallant son, Eadmund, and Eadric Streona Duke of 
 Mercia, his daughter Eaditha's husband. William of 
 Malmesbury {sub anno 1015) says : — 
 
 A grnwl council of Danes aud En^lisli was assembled at Oxford, 
 wliore the King commanded two of the noblest Danes, Sigeferth and 
 Morcar, accused of treachery to him by the impeachment of tlie traitor 
 Eadric, to be put to deatli. He had lured them by his soothing 
 expressions into a chamber, and deprived tliem, when drunk to excess, 
 of their lives by his attendants, who had been prepared for that 
 purpose. The cause of their murder was said to be liis unjustifialile 
 desire for their property. Their dependants, attempting to revenge 
 the death of their lords by arms, were worsted and driven into the tower 
 of St. Frideswide's church at Oxford, wliore, as they could not be 
 dislodged, they were consumed by fire. However shortly after the foul 
 stain was wiped out by tlie King's pcnitonco, and the sacred i)laco 
 re[)aired. I have read the history of this transaction, Avhich is 
 deposited in the archives of that church. The wife of Sigeferth,
 
 86 
 
 a woman remarkable for her rank and beauty, was carried prisoner to 
 Malinesburj, on which account Eadmund, the king's son, dissembling 
 liis intention, took a journey into those parts. Seeing her he became 
 enamoured, and becoming enamoured he made her his wife, cavitioiisly 
 keeping their union secret from his father, who was as m\ich an object 
 of contempt to his family as to strangers. 
 
 This marriage took place between the fea- 1 of the Assump- 
 tion (Aug. 15) and the Nativity of St. Mary (8th Sept.), 1015. 
 About this time Florence of Worcester tells us {sub anno 
 1015), Cnut, the brave and noble son of Swegen Forkbeard, 
 arrived at Sandwich with a large fleet to claim the crown his 
 father had won. " And shortly afterwards sailing round the 
 coast of Kent entered the mouth of the river Frome, and 
 swept off much booty in Dorsetshire, Somersetshire and 
 Wiltshire. King ^thelred then lying sick at Corsham, his 
 son, Eadmund the Etherling on the one hand, and Eadric 
 Streona the Ealdorman, who was steeped in stratagems and 
 deceits on the other, levied a great army. But when their 
 forces were united the Ealdorman laid all manner of snares 
 for the Etherling and plotted his death, which being found 
 out they presently parted and made way for the enemy." 
 
 The men of Wessex, the Saxon Chronicle tells us, sub- 
 mitted to Cnut, *' and delivered hostages and horsed the 
 army, and then it was there until mid-winter." That makes 
 clear the position of this county in the party politics of the 
 time. 
 
 The next year, 1016, Cnut worked his way plundering and 
 spoiling as he went, " and Eadric the Ealdorman with him, 
 over the Thames at Cricklade, and on to Warwickshire. So 
 his course must have been through the southern part of 
 Warwickshire, traversing Northamptonshire, Buckingham- 
 shire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and so by the north 
 east corner of Northamptonshire, again along the fens to 
 Stamford and thence to York. He returned by another way 
 all to the west, " and then before Easter came all the army 
 to their ships." And after Easter Cnut went with his ships 
 to London. Meanwhile Eadmund the Etherhng had ridden 
 through Staffordshire, Shroj)shire, and Cheshire, " and they 
 plundered on their part and Cnut on his part," is the feeling 
 way the English chronicle puts it. Uhtred, the Earl of 
 Northumbria, though he submitted to Cnut " from need," 
 was ruthlessly killed by the counsel of Eadric the Ealdorman. 
 King iEthelred was throughout this double foray in London,
 
 87 
 
 where Eadmund went to meet him before Easter. And up 
 to this time Cnut and Eadmund seem to have had no 
 encounter. 
 
 ^theh-ed II. died 23 April, 1016. As the Saxon chronicle 
 puts it, " He ended his days on St. George's Mass Day, and 
 he held his kingdom with great toil and under great diffi- 
 culties the while his life lasted," 
 
 The Londoners, it is clear from Higden and other chro- 
 nicles, declared for Eadmund ; while Cnut was as promptly 
 proclaimed at Southampton {Florence of Worcester, sub anno 
 1016) by the bishops, abbots, ealdormen, and all who ranked 
 as nobles in England having come to him there. The intrepid 
 Eadmund left London and came into AYessex, where he was 
 well received. I conjecture that he went up the river Stour 
 and probably made Shaftesbury his head-quarters, and em- 
 ployed his time in rallying his friends around him and 
 collecting a large army. 
 
 Cnut left Southampton and arrived at Greenwich on Roga- 
 tion Day, 7 May, " and within a little space they went to 
 London, and they dug a great ditch on the south side, and 
 dragged their ships to the west side of the bridge, and then 
 afterwards they ditched the burgh around so that no one 
 could go either in or out, and they repeatedly fought against 
 the burgh ; but the townsmen strenuously withstood them." 
 Therefore raising the siege for the present, and leaving part 
 of the army to guard the ships, they made a forced march 
 into Wessex, and allowed King Eadmund Ironside no time 
 to get together his army. However, with such troops as he 
 was able to muster in so short a space of time he boldly 
 encountered them in Dorsetshire, giving them battle at a 
 place called Pen, near Gillingham, when he defeated and put 
 them to flight. 
 
 It is quite clear that this first battle was an attack by Cnut 
 on Eadmund's position, and one in which the Danes got a 
 sharp repulse. The site of this conflict appears to have been 
 pointed out uninterruptedly by local tradition. 
 
 In Hampshire Notes and Queries, vol. v., p. 125. ct seq. 
 I have gone fully into the subject of the authorities who 
 describe this campaign, and also into the diifereut sugges- 
 tions which have been made as to the scene of the second of 
 the five battles between the claimants for the crown of Eng- 
 land, and to that article I must refer those of my readers who 
 wish to go into the matter more fully. I maintain that the
 
 88 
 
 country I have mentioned fulfils every particular by which we 
 can identify that battle field. 
 
 I shall now quote from the contemporary translation of 
 Polydore Vergil, an author, of whom Sir Henry Ellis says, 
 " That Polydore Vergil is without mistakes cannot be 
 asserted, but they are very few ; his endeavour was to write, 
 as he says, a sincere history," 
 
 Siicli haste made Cauutus to cope with Edraiindus, whom he under- 
 stood to be returned to Andover, a towne within xv miles of Sarisberie, 
 whither as soon as hee approached hee planted his tentes on a playne 
 gronnde within the sight of his enemies, and brought his soldiers 
 forth in good arraye. Edmundus refused not the profer as soone as 
 hee espied the standerdcs of his adversaries to be hoysed. They con- 
 tinned the fight from iij of the clocke until verie night, and neither 
 partie on the better hand ; at the length Edricus minding to appal and 
 kill the hearts of the English menn, went up into a certaine watch 
 tower, and then crieing with a high voice that Edmundus was slaine, 
 showed forth a swoorde droppinge full of blodd, whom, while he thus 
 yelled and shouted, tlje English archers had near hand slayne. This 
 deceytful trayne was a small pleasure to the devisers, for the King 
 now being accended with wouderus indignation, encouragiuge his 
 noble warriors, soe furiuslie assayled them that first he cawsed them to 
 geve ground, and consequentlie, as altogether enraged, hee putt them 
 all to flight, and had committed wonderful slaughter if they hadd not 
 been verie swif te, and the night verie darke and farr spente. Canutus 
 being thus foyled travayled all the night toward Winchester, and har- 
 borowed himself in a safe place. Edmundus, as I find in summ 
 writers, didd not pursewe his adversarie, but deflected towardes Saris- 
 berie, minding to succoure his [people there, being in distresse through 
 another rout of tlie Danes. Not longe after Canutus was there himself 
 in presence, soe that addressing their companies they fought not far 
 from that cittie. The conflict was crewell to beholde, while their 
 stomackes and boddies Aveare f reshe, and continued in equall proportion 
 until the nighte departed them. The next daye from the verie rising 
 of the sunne the Englishmen stoode in arraye untill that Canutus 
 came unto the fight, whicli was mautayned nol)lie and with like end on 
 botli sides with much slaughter and semblable conclusion the evening- 
 dissevered them. The day enscwenge the armies took reste, refresh- 
 inge themselves with meate, and heaping all the dead carkasses 
 together they boomed them, neither yeat in the meanwhile didd they 
 lay tlieir weapons from them, for on both sides they wanted xx thousand. 
 The night following Canutus privilie bie stealithe removed his tentes 
 and went towards London, which citie was almost beeseeged with his 
 navie. Edmimdus, assoue as the daylight descried the departure of 
 his adversaries, followed tlieir steppes, and with final conflicts raysed 
 the seige, whereof in greate pompe and triumph hee entered the citie. 
 
 Supposing Ironside to have come from Gillingham, where 
 the first battle was unrjuestionably fought, by way of Sarum, 
 he would easily be able to march along the Portway, and on
 
 89 
 
 his way to occupy and leave behind him the formidable 
 strongholds of Quarley Hill and Burry Hill ; while the very 
 name of Danebury lying to the south-east tempts us to think 
 that was Cnut's position. The roads to Winchester and to 
 London, as we have seen, would be easily reached, and Sarum 
 was open to him. If the "watch tower" were situated on 
 either the Harroway or Weyhill, we know how plainly it 
 must have 'been visible to a large tract of country. The 
 manor of Sarson, which gives its name to one of the tithings 
 of the Hundred of Andover, is called Soresdene in Domesday. 
 The name of Weyhill, by which the parish is popularly 
 known, really indicates only one particular feature of its 
 physical geography ; but it has come to be the designation 
 of the whole area included within the parish boundaries, and 
 although this change of name is not without historical 
 significance, it does, perhaps, obscure in some degree that 
 continuity of story which in all other respects is so distinctly 
 marked. The old form of the name is Wee, or in the 
 Norman-French of early documents " la Waye." Thus, 
 Lydgate in his poem. Piers Plowman, written about 1365, 
 says : — 
 
 At Wy and at Wincliester I went to the fair 
 
 The parish is officially known as Penton Grafton, and thus 
 keeps up the most interesting traditions of its history. 
 
 It derives this name from the holders of one of the manors, 
 the Benedictine Abbey of Grestein, founded by Herluin de 
 Coutville, near the mouth of the river Seine in Normandy. 
 
 The Doomsday Book gives the following account of this 
 manor : — 
 
 Abhatia tie Greistan tenet de rege Penitone. Edclid regina tenuit 
 pro manerio Tanc geldavit pro Hi. liidis modo pro nichilo Terra est 
 vj. carrucatce. In domino sunt ij. carucatce et v. villnni et xxvij 
 hordarii cum iij. carrucatis. Ibi ecclesia et v. servi. Tempore Regis 
 Edwardi et post valuit x. libras modo viij. libras. 
 
 The abbey of Grestein holds Penton of the King ; Queen Edid 
 (Edith) held it as a manor. It was tlien assessed at three hides, but 
 now at nothing. Here are six ploughhinds, two in demesne, five 
 villeins and twenty-seven borderers with three ploughlands. ^ Here 
 also is a church and five servants. In the time of King Edward it was 
 worth ten pounds, now eight pounds. 
 
 So that in Weyhill, as in Kimpton, we have as one of the 
 earliest characters in the story, Earl Godwin's sweet daughter,
 
 90 
 
 the gentle, lovely, and accomplished Queen of Edward the 
 Confessor. It is not necessary to repeat what has been said 
 of her under Kimpton. And in that article I have also 
 described the condition of the dependents of a manor in 
 Anglo-Saxon times. And I need only draw attention to the 
 number and condition of the population of Penton Grafton at 
 the time of the survey. There were 27 borderers or cot- 
 tagers ; nearly twice the number in the whole three manors 
 in Kimpton. 
 
 In the other manor of Clanville there were four borderers, 
 so that within the area of the parish of Weyhill, as we know 
 it. we are certain that the families may thus be reckoned — 
 
 Families of the Lords or of the Reeve ... 2 
 
 Villeins ... ... ... ... ... 5 
 
 Servi ... ... ... ... ... 5 
 
 Borderers ... ... ... ... ... 31 
 
 43 
 
 Which shows a very large amount of prosperity. 
 
 A quotation from a charter of Richard I. will now be 
 useful as showing how Queen Edith's manor became the 
 property of the Abbey of Grestein. It is taken from an 
 Inspeximus Charter of Edward II. (ii. 21), in which he 
 recites the earlier grant. 
 
 Ricardus Dei Gratia rex Anglice dux Normannice, &c. Hciatis 
 nis concessisse et presenti carta nostra confirmasse omnes subscriptas 
 donationes factas Deo et ecclesice Sanctce Marice de Grestein et 
 tnonarchis ibidem Deo Serventibus ex dono Willielnii regis Anglorum 
 et ducis Normanorum in Anglia quicquid habebat in Penitona in 
 terra in pratis in silvis in consuetudinibus et aliis villce pertinentibus 
 cum, tota ecclesia. 
 
 Data per manum Willmi de Longo Campo Cancellarii nostra 
 Eliensis electi. apud Westm xiiij. die Novembris anno primo Regni 
 nostri. 
 
 Richard, by the grace of God King of Englaid, Duke of Normandy, 
 &c., know ye that I have granted, and by this my present charter liave 
 confirmed, all the underwritten gifts made to God and the church of 
 Saint Mai*y of Grestein and to the monks there serving God, by the 
 gift of William, King of England and Duke of Normandy, whatever 
 they had in England, in Penton, in land, in meadow, in woods, in 
 customs, and other things belonging to the ville with the whole church. 
 
 Given by the hand of William Long Champ, our Chancellor (Bishop) 
 elect of Ely at Westminster the fourteenth day of November, in the 
 first year of our reign (1189).
 
 91 
 
 In Gougli's Alien Priories, the date of the foundation of 
 the Abbey of Saint Mary Grestein is given as a.d. 1140. 
 But this is an obvious mistake, as we see by the passage in 
 Domesday it was in possession of " Penitone " before a.d. 
 1066, and the date should probably be 1040. Beside the 
 manor of Penton this abbey held the manor of Wilmington, 
 in Sussex, by gift of Robert, Earl of Moreton, in the time of 
 William II., and an alien priory was estabhshed there ; and 
 they also held the manor of Gratinges, in the parish of S. 
 Olave Creting, Suffolk, by gift of Ptobert, Earl of Moreton, in 
 the reign of William the Conqueror. It 
 
 " Was taken care of by some monks belonging thereunto, or by their 
 agent, the prior of Wilmington, their chief cell in England. King 
 Edward III. granted this to Tydeman de Lymber, a merchant, and 
 afterward the abbot and convent sold it by the king's license to Sir 
 Edmond de la Pole. Tanner's Notitia, p. 511. The parish of Creting 
 St. Mary, in Suifolk, which was most usually styled the priory of 
 Creting, was cell to this abbey, and after the suppression of these 
 foreign houses was by King Henry V^I. made part of the endowment 
 of Eton College. Tanner's Notitia, p. 511." Alien Priories, Vol. I., 
 page 89. 
 
 That the Abbot of Grestein spent some of his time in 
 England is plain from several entries on the Patent Rolls. 
 On those occasions if he visited Penton it would probably be 
 only to receive the Compotus from the steward. His residence 
 would most likely be at Wilmington. 
 
 In Letters Patent, dated at Canterbury, July 9th, 1285, 
 Reginald Abbot, of Grestein, nominates Nicholas, de Magna 
 Villa, his fellow monk, and John de Grenstead, clerk. A 
 further clause permits the Abbot to be quit of summonses 
 before the justices of the forest for four years (14 Edivard I., 
 memb. 10). So far as this exemption applies to Penton it 
 would exempt him for the time from attendance at the Court 
 of the Forest of Chute and Finkley. 
 
 The same date (14 Edward I., memh. 10) a mandate is 
 given to the escheator on this side the Trent to restore the 
 temporalities of St. Mary Grestein to Reginald, called 
 " Carvel," elected Abbot and confirmed by the Dean and 
 Chapter of Lisieux, and a writ de intendendo is directed to 
 the tenants. A memorandum is appended that the said 
 abbot did not have letters of the dean and chapter testifying 
 his confirmation directed to the king, but only to the Bishop 
 of Lisieux (the diocese in which Grestein was situated), 
 praying a favour of his benediction ; and the king restored
 
 92 
 
 the temporalities by special grace ; and Master William de 
 Lunda, keeper of the wardrobe, has gone bail to the 
 Chancellor to have the said letters sent. 
 
 By Letters Patent, dated at Pontefract, May 21st, 1327, 
 William, Abbot of Grestein, staying beyond seas, has letters 
 nominating Richard de Milleward and William Conreye, his 
 attorneys, for three years. By fine of one mark at the 
 instance of Adam de Brom, Sussex. 
 
 In 1330, by letters patent, dated at Aseney, July 2 (4 
 Edward III. mcmh. 11), protection is given for one year for 
 the Abbot of Grestein. 
 
 As we shall have to speak of the alien priories when 
 dealing wdth Monxton and Abbots Ann, it may be well to 
 describe what they were, and it will be best to quote for that 
 purpose J. Nichol's Introductory Preface to Alien Priories, 
 Vol. I., to which the reader is referred for references to the 
 Kolls of Parliament, the Close Kolls, Rymers Foedera, &c. 
 
 Alien priories were cells of the relig-ious houses iu England which 
 belonged to foreign monastei-ies. For when manors or tithes were 
 given to foreign convents, the monks, either to increase their own rule, 
 or rather to have faithful stewards of their revenues, built a small 
 convent there for tlie reception of such a number as tliey thought 
 proper, and constituted priors over them. Within these cells there 
 was the same distinction as in those priories which were cells 
 sul)ordinate to some great abbey. Some of these were conventual, and 
 having priors of their own choosing, thereby became entire societies 
 within themselves, and received the revenues belonging to their 
 several houses for their own use and benefit, paying only the ancient 
 apport acknowledgment, or obvention, at first the surplusage to the 
 foreign house, but others depended entirely on the foreign houses, who 
 appointed and removed their priors at pleasure. These transmitted all 
 their revenues to the foreign head houses, for which reason their estates 
 were generally seized to carry on the wars between England and 
 France, and restored to them again on return of peace These alien 
 priories were, most of them, founded by such as had foreign abbies 
 founded by themselves or by some of tlu'ir family. The whole number 
 is not exactly ascertained. The Monasticon hatli given a list of 100. 
 Weever (p. 338) says 110; an account is here given of 14(i. A few in 
 Normandy, mentioned in Neustria Pia only (whose lands have not yet 
 been discovered', are supposed to have been founded by some of the 
 ancient English nobility or their descendants. Some of these cells 
 were made indigenous, or denizon, or ciulenized. 
 
 The alien priories were first seized by Edward 1. 1285 (see quotation 
 from Patent Roll for that year given above), on the breaking out of 
 the war between France and England, and it appears from a roll that 
 Edward 11. also seized them, though this is not mentioned by our his- 
 torians, and to these the Act of restitution 1 Edward 111. seems to 
 refer.
 
 93 
 
 lu 1337 Edward III. confiscated their estates and let out the priories 
 themselves, with all their lands and tenements, at his pleasure for 23 
 years, at the end of wliich term, peace being concluded between the 
 two nations, he restored their estates 1361, as appears by his letters 
 patent to that of Montacutc, county Somerset, printed at large in 
 Rymer (vol. vi., p. 311), and translated in Weever's Funeral Monu- 
 ments (p. 339), and in the appendix to Yol. 11. No. vi. At other times 
 he granted tlieir lands, or lay pensions out of them, to diverse no))le- 
 men. They were also sequestered during Richard 11. 's reign, and the 
 head monasteries abroad had tlie king's license to sell their lauds to 
 other religious houses here, or to any particular persons who wanted to 
 endow others. 
 
 Henry lY. began his reign with sliowing some favour to the alien 
 priories^ restoring all the conventual ones, only reserving to him in 
 time of war what they paid in time of peace to the foreign abbies. 
 
 They were all dissolved by Act of Parliament 2 Henry Y. and all 
 their estates vested in the crown, except some lands granted to the 
 college of Fothringhay. The Act of dissolution is not printed in the 
 statute books, but is to be found entire in Rymer's Fcedera (ix., 283), and 
 in the Parliament Rolls (vol. iv., p. 32). In general these lands were 
 appropriated to religious uses. Henry YI. endowed his foundations 
 at Eton and Cambridge with the lands of tlie alien priories, in pur- 
 suance of his father's design to appropriate them all to a noble college 
 at Oxford. Others were granted in fee to the prelates, nobility, or 
 private persons. Such as remained in the Crown were granted by 
 Henry YI. 1440, to Archbishop Chichley, &c., and they became part of 
 his and tlie Royal foundation, J. N., Aug. 3, 1779. 
 
 This very valuable account will, if read carefully, afford a 
 key to much of the history of Penton Grafton, and to many 
 things which will appear in the histories of the other parishes 
 in the valley, and I am therefore particularly glad to give it 
 entire. 
 
 It will now be necessary to go back to the Domesday 
 survey to notice the other manor comprised within the 
 boundaries of the parish of Penton Grafton. This is the 
 account given of it — 
 
 Hugli do Port holds Clavesfelle (Clanville) and Herbert holds it 
 under him and Azor held it allodially of King Edward. It was then, 
 as now, assessed at Ih hides. Here is one ploughland wliich is in 
 demesne with 4 borderers. Its value in the time of King Edward and 
 afterwards was xxx shillings and is now 20 shillings . 
 
 It may be well to record hero that, when in the occupation 
 of Mr. Chown, some Roman buildings were traced in the land 
 by his house at Clanville, and foundations and roofing tiles 
 of limestone were found. 
 
 How long Clanville was held separately I do not know ; 
 but by 131G it had come into the same hands as Ramridge,
 
 94 
 
 as appears from the following extract from the Patent Roll of 
 9 Edward II. (?n. 23), in which the name of the parish should 
 be specially noticed. The instrument is one reciting and 
 confirming gifts to the Abbey of Grestein. 
 
 Translation — The King to all to whom, &c.. greeting, &c. We have 
 grauted and confirmed the gift which William de Mersse made to the 
 aforesaid Abbot and convent of that whole laud with its appm-tenauces 
 which sometime belonged to Randulph de la Hull and Alice his wife 
 in Penton Gresteyn and Clanfeld, to haA^e and to hold thom for us and 
 our heirs as much as in us lies to the aforesaid Abbot and convent and 
 their successors. We do grant and confirm, as by the charter and 
 writing of their gift aforesaid which they thence have is reasonably 
 testified, &c. At Westminster xxiii day of Api'il. 
 
 So far as the manor goes then, it will be safe to regard 
 Eamridge and Clanville as by this time united in one holding. 
 A MS. in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, speaks 
 of " Tria mauoria Ramrugge in Hamptonia, Conock in 
 Wiltonia, Marshe in Buckinghamia," as given to God's 
 House of Ewelme, which expression seems to imply that the 
 Hampshire manors were known by the name of Ramridge 
 only. 
 
 The Corporation of Andover among its muniments possess 
 copies of four very interesting deeds, the originals of which 
 are in the Public Record Office. These copies were made for 
 use in the suit about the site of Wej'hill Fair, of which we 
 shall have to speak later on. 
 
 The three earliest are what are known as " Inquisitiones 
 post mortem.'" 
 
 It may be well to explain that these were enquiries held by 
 a sworn jury of the district. The jury was summoned by 
 virtue of a writ directed to the County Escheator, before 
 whom the inquest was held — when any tenant in capite died. 
 The Court thus formed had to enquire — first, of what lands 
 the person died possessed ; secondly, by what rents or 
 services the same lands were held ; and thirdly, who was the 
 next heir and what was the heir's age. The object of 
 obtaining this information was that the proper officers might 
 be able to levy the duties and services thereupon due ; for on 
 the death of each tenant in capite a tax termed "a relief 
 was claimed by the Crown, and the heir could not take pos- 
 session until the relief was paid and homage done. More- 
 over, if the heir was a minor the Crown claimed to administer 
 the estate until he could make proof of the expiration of his 
 legal infancy and perform homage.
 
 95 
 
 Translation of an Inquisition {Ex Bundel Escaet de Anno 
 Regni Regis Edwi Tertii xxxvto. pte 1. a. no. 61) from a 
 copy in tlie possession of the Corporation of Andover, a.d. 
 1361. 
 
 Inquisition made at Andever in the county of Southampton on the 
 last day of November in the thirty-fifth year of King Edward the 
 Third after the Conquest. Before John de Estbury, Escheator of the 
 Lord King by virtue of a certain writ of the said Lord King directed 
 to the said escheator and sewed to this Inquisition. By tiie oath of 
 Richard atte Mere, John Mewe, Thomas Bulkeput, Symon Gyot, John 
 atte Hale, Robert atte Court. Robert, Howlere, John le Eye, John 
 Crol, Jolm Nyweman, Henry Morannd and Walter Uppehull. Who 
 say that Thomas de la Pole, Knight, deceased, held in his demesne, as 
 of fee on the day on which he died the manor of Ramrugge with the 
 advowson of the church of the same manor with its belongings in the 
 county aforesaid— of the Lord King in capite by the service of a fifth 
 part of one knight's fee. In which manor is a capital messuage with 
 diverse buildings which is worth nothing a year beyond reprisals,^ and 
 one windmill which is worth two shillings a year beyond reprisals. 
 Again there are there two carrucates of land of which each carrucate con- 
 tains in itself one hundred acres whereof one hundred acres can be sown a 
 year, and each acre when it ought to be sown ought to be worth for 
 seed iijd. a year, and when it lies void it has no value a year because it 
 lies in the common. Again there are there iiij acres of meadow which 
 are worth viiis. a year, at the rate of ijs. an acre. Again there is there 
 pasture for xij oxen ccc. sheep which cannot be enlarged, nor is it of 
 any yearly value because it lies in the common. Again there are there 
 X acres of pasture in several, every acre of which is worth iiijd. a year. 
 Again there are there fifty acres of wood, the pasture and underwood of 
 which is worth nothing a year on account of the shadow of the trees. 
 Again there are there iij acres of wood in several, of which the underwood 
 and pasture is worth xij pence a year. And there is there three pounds 
 of rent held for fourteen shillings a year payable at the feasts of the 
 Purification of Blessed Marv and of St. Michael in equal proportions. 
 Again there are there vij yardlands the rent and service of each of 
 which is worth ten shillings a year, and ix half yardlands, the rent and 
 service of each of which is worth six shillings and eight pence a year, 
 to be paid yearly at the feast of St. Michael. Again the pleas and 
 perquisites are worth five shillings a year. 
 
 And they say that the same Tliomas did not hold any other land or 
 tenement in his demesne as of fee of the Lord King in capite nor of 
 others in the aforesaid county on the day on which he died. And that 
 the said Thomas died on the twenty-fourth day of October last past, 
 and that Michael de la Pole, brother of the said Thomas, aged thirty 
 years and more is his next heir. 
 
 In witness of Avhich the aforesaid jurors have affixed their seals to 
 this Inquisition. Given at the place day and year above mentioned. 
 
 It is more than a little remarkable that in this document, 
 the date of which is 1361, we should have a description of 
 the manor so very much as we see it now, though more than
 
 96 
 
 five hundred years have elapsed since it was written. The 
 many magnificent trees at present growing in Ramridge 
 Park are the successors (or in some cases perhaps may be 
 the very trees themselves) of those whose shade was more 
 grateful on the hot days of summer than profitable at the 
 annual account at Michaelmas. The " capital messuage 
 with divers buildings," the " common," the wood known 
 still as "Ramridge Copse," all derive an additional interest 
 from this clear proof of their historical continuity. 
 
 There is a curious little history in connection with one of 
 these " yardlands" mentioned in this inquisition. A yard- 
 land {virgata) was a measure of land, the actual area of 
 which is very uncertain, and we safely conjecture that the 
 nine mentioned in the inquisition were the smaller holdings 
 in the parish. It is given in Woodward and Wilks' History 
 of Hampshire, but as usual in that book without any re- 
 ference, and up to the present I have been unable to verify it. 
 
 In 1246 William de Devenys called in question tlie right of Lucy de 
 Montagu to a yardland in la Wage, of which Roger de Wanton and 
 his wife Catherine had warranted to her the title. William claimed 
 the laud, as his inheritance of which, in the time of King John, Gilbert, 
 his ancestor, was seized. Katherine's attorney offers on their part the 
 wager of battle in the person of William Cotele, a freeman. William 
 de Devenys accepts the challenge. The battle is arranged, William 
 giving 408. for license of agreement. The plaintiff's pledgmen for the 
 settlement of the business were Geoffrey de Maundevill and others. 
 Walter le Bretun, William Milkesop aud others were pledged for the 
 defendants" [vol. Hi., p. 187). 
 
 It will be well to give now translations of the other Inqui- 
 sitions, which are taken like the last from a copy among the 
 Andover Archives, but the originals are also in the Public 
 Record Office. (" Ex Bundel Escaet de Anno Regni Regis 
 Henr. 5ti. 8o. no. 56") a.d. 1420. 
 
 An Inquisition taken at Andever in the County of Southampton on 
 Saturday next after the feast of Saint Leonard in the eighth year of 
 the reign of King Henry tlie fifth after the Conquest, before John 
 Parsons the King's escheator for the said County, by virtue of a writ 
 of the Lord King directed to the same escheator and sewed to this 
 inquisition. By the oath of Robert Lylye Richard Pyumere John 
 Forster, Nicholas Notebem John Kynge.ston Nicholas Wale Nicholas 
 Taillour John Blyke John Sunbury John Colyns Robert Idde and 
 Thomas Tilly, wlio say upon their oath that Thomas de la Pole, Knight, 
 named in the said writ, on the day on whicli he died held of the Lord 
 King in capite the manor of Ramrugge with its appurtenances together 
 with the advowson of the church of Wee in the said County in his 
 demesne as of fee. And that the site of the said manor is worth nothing
 
 97 
 
 a year beyond reprisals. And that there are belonging to the said 
 manor ninety-five acres of arable land, price of each acre fourpence, two 
 hundred acres of fallow land, which are worth on the whole three 
 shillings a year, twenty acres of pasture, each acre worth twopence. 
 Twenty acres of underwood which are worth two shillings a year. 
 Twenty shillings of rent, of rent of assise issueing out of divers lands 
 and tenements in the said ville of Ramrugge and seven pounds of rent 
 issuing out of divers lands and tenements which the tenants hold there 
 at the will of the lord. Payable yearly at the terms of Easter and St. 
 Michael by equal portions. And so the said manor with its appur- 
 tenances reaches the value of ten pounds. Again they say that the 
 said manor with its appurtenances is held of the Lord King in capite 
 by the service of the seventh part of a Knight's fee. Again they say 
 that the aforesaid Thomas named in the said writ, did not hold any 
 more .lands or tenements in the said county on the day on which he 
 died, neither in demesne nor in service of the Lord King, nor of others. 
 They say also tliat the aforesaid Thomas de la Pole died the 21st day 
 of August last past, and that Thomas de la Pole the son of the said 
 Thomas de la Pole is the next heir of the same Thomas de la Pole, and 
 is of the age of three years and more. In witness of which the Jurors 
 aforesaid have affixed their seals to this Inquisition. Given the day, 
 place and year above written. 
 
 (Ex Bundel Escaet de Anno regni Regis Henr. 6ti. ix. o. n. 45) A.D. 
 1430. — " Sutht Inquisition taken at Odyham the aforesaid County the 
 third day of November in the ninth year of the reign of King Henry 
 the Sixth after the Conquest. Before Lawrence Gaweyu escheator of 
 the Lord King in the County aforesaid, by virtue of a writ of the 
 Lord King directed to the said escheator and sewed to this inquisition. 
 By the oath of Roger Cheston, Thomas Stukele, Thomes atte Riche 
 William Graunt Robert Tauerner Robert atte HaUe John atte Brooke 
 John Grauut William atte Nasshe Robert Wodele Robert atte Den 
 and Lawrence Serle, jurors, who say upon their oath that by the death 
 of Thomas de la Pole, Knight, and by reason of the minority of 
 Thomas de la Pole the son and heir of the said Thomas de la Pole the 
 father named (in the writ) the Manor of Ramrugge with its belongings 
 came into the hands of the Lord Henry late King of England father 
 of the present Lord King, and is now in the hands of the same Lord 
 King, the whicli manor the said Thomas de la Pole the father held on 
 the day on wliich he died in his demesne as of fee to wit to him and his 
 heirs male issuing of his body by virtvie of a certain fine levied at 
 Westminster in the Court of the Lord Richard the Second formerly 
 King of England in the Octave of the Holy Trinity in the seventh 
 year of his roign before Robert Bealknap and his fellows, Justices of 
 the said Richard late King's bench, by which fine Michael de la Pole, 
 Kniglit, granted that Thomas de la Pole the father named in the said 
 writ, by the name of Thomas de la Pole, Knight, the son of Michael de 
 la Pole, Knight, who held the aforesaid manor for his whole life, by 
 grant of the said Micliacl should have and hold the said manor 
 with its belongings to him and to his heirs male issuing from his 
 body. To hold of the Loi-d King his heirs by service thence due 
 and custom for ever. So that if the same Thomas should die without 
 heirs male issuing from his body the manor of Ramrugge with its 
 belongings should remain to William de la Pole the son of the said 
 
 H
 
 98 
 
 Michael and his heirs male issuing from his body to hold of the Lord 
 Kin.o- and his heirs by the aforesaid service for ever. And if the said 
 William should die without heirs male issuing of his body then the 
 said Manor of Ramrugq-c with its belongings should remain to Richard 
 de la Pole son of the said Michael and his heirs male issuing from his 
 body. To hold of the Lord King and his heirs by the aforesaid service 
 for ever, and if the said Richard should die without heirs male issuing 
 from his body then the Manor of Ranirugge with its belongings shall 
 revert to the aforesaid Michael and his heirs to hold of the Lord King 
 and his heirs by the aforesaid service for ever, by virtue of which fine 
 tlie same Thomas tlie father was then seized in his demesne as of fee 
 as is aforesaid and afterwards the aforesaid William de la Pole and 
 Ricliard de la Pole died, to wit each of them without heirs male 
 issuing of their body, and afterwards the aforesaid Thomas the father 
 died the aforesaid Thomas his son under age for this reason standing 
 in the custody of the King, who likewise died the 27th day of July last 
 past without heirs male issuing of his body, for which reason the afore- 
 said manor with its belongings reverted to William de la Pole now 
 Earl of Suffolk as kinsman and heir of him Michael, specified in the 
 same fine by virtue of the aforesaid fine, to wit the son of Michael the 
 son of Micliael specified in the said fine it ought to revert. And they 
 say that the said Earl William is of the age of thirty years and more, 
 and they say that the site of the manor aforesaid is worth nothing 
 a year in all outgoings beyond reprisals and there are in the same 
 manor ninety-five acres of arable land of whicli each acre is worth a 
 year in all oiitgoings beyond reprisals two-pence. Two hundred acres 
 of fallow laud which is worth nothing a year, twenty acres of pasture 
 of which each acre is worth twopence a year. Twenty acres of under- 
 Avood which are worth on the whole twelvepence a year. Seven pounds 
 of rent of rent of assise from divers tenements at the will of tlie lord 
 there to be paid yearly at the feast of Easter and the feast of Saint 
 Michael the Archangel equally, and twenty shillings of rent of the 
 rent of divers free tenants of the said manor to be paid annually at the 
 aforesaid feasts equally. And they say that the aforesaid manor is held 
 of tlie Lord King in capite by the service of a fifth pai't of a Knight's 
 fee, and they say that neither less or more land or tenement have come 
 to the hands of the aforesaid Lord Henry the King aforesaid nor into 
 the hands of the present Lord King, by the death of the aforesaid 
 Thomas tlie father, nor by reason of the minority of Thomas the son of 
 the same, nor are in his hands. And they say that Katherine sister of 
 the said Thomas the son is his next heir, and is of the age of fourteen 
 years. In testimony of Avhich the Jurors have affixed their seals to 
 this inquisition given the day year and place above written. 
 
 The inquisitions of 1420 and 1430 give almost identical 
 details of the manor. It would he very interesting to exa- 
 mine into those details more closely, hut it is not expedient 
 to take up the required space here. The fact of importance 
 is perfectly clear that the prominent features of common 
 wood and pasture, and the site of the capital messuage, were 
 then as we see them still.
 
 99 
 
 As before the date of the earliest of these inquisitions, 
 1361, we have shown reason to believe Clanville had become 
 absorbed into the larger manor of Ramrugge. There is no 
 reason for attempting to identify any particular features, for 
 the whole parish must be included. 
 
 The names of the holders of the manor, however, take us 
 into one of the most distressful periods of English history, 
 and we are thus introduced to a man who bore a prominent 
 part in the troubles of the time, and had no small share in 
 bringing about the disasters from which the country sufifered 
 so much. 
 
 It will be seen in the inquisitions just quoted that the first 
 member of the family of De la Pole mentioned is Sir Thomas, 
 who died on the 24th of October, 1361. He was the sou of 
 William de la Pole, merchant, of Kingston-upon-Hull, 2nd 
 Baron of the Exchequer, who died in 1366. 
 
 This William de la Pole had three sons — Michael, Thomas, 
 and Edmond. The eldest son, Michael de la Pole, was born 
 about 1330, knighted before 1355, created Earl of Suffolk 
 1385, and Chancellor of England. Attainted February 1388, 
 died 5th Sept., 1389. 
 
 Sir Thomas de la Pole appears to have been the second 
 son of William, the merchant of Hull. As we see from the 
 Inquisition taken at Andover in 1361, he died 24th October, 
 1361, seized of the manor of Ramridge, and, leaving no issue, 
 his brother Michael just mentioned became his heir. Edmond 
 de la Pole was probably the youngest son. 
 
 Michael de la Pole, the favourite of King Richard the 
 Second, who, by the death of his brother. Sir Thomas, in 
 1361, inherited the manor of Ramridge with his other pro- 
 perty, was a most conspicuous character in his day. The 
 weak and foolish King, who was ready to sacrifice his king- 
 dom for his favourites, made him Earl of Suffolk and Lord 
 Chancellor, and allowed him five hundred and twenty pounds 
 out of the profits of the county of Suffolk and the estates of 
 William Uflord, late Earl of Suffolk. But in the next year 
 he was removed from his office of Chancellor at the demand 
 of Parliament, impeached, and summoned to appear and 
 give account of his administration, and, being found guilty 
 of mismanagement, was compelled to restore all the grants 
 he had received of the King, which were so enormous that 
 even the King himself was surprised at their amount. He 
 was in addition confined in Windsor Castle. After the 
 
 H 2
 
 100 
 
 defeat of the army raised by the other favourite, the Duke of 
 Ireland, Michael de la Pole retired to Calais, where hia 
 brother, Edmund de la Pole, was governor of the castle. 
 Edmond, however, refused to harbour his brother Michael 
 without the consent of Lord William Beauchamp, governor 
 of the town, who sent the ex-Chancellor back to England as 
 a prisoner, and was himself imprisoned for doing so. Toge- 
 ther with the Duke of Ireland Michael de la Pole was 
 banished in 1388, and died 5th September, 1389. 
 
 This Michael de la Pole, the favourite, had two sons, one 
 of whom, Richard, we can pass without further notice than 
 that before 1430, as shown by the last quoted inquisition, he 
 had died without male issue. 
 
 His other son was, like himself, named Michael de la Pole, 
 and was born about 1361 ; lie was restored as Earl of Suffolk, 
 and died 14th September, 1415. He had four sons, Michael, 
 William, Thomas, and John. 
 
 The eldest of them, Michael de la Pule, was born about 
 1392 ; succeeded his father as Earl of Suffolk, but the same 
 year was slain at the battle of Agincourt, 25th October, 1415, 
 leaving no male heirs. 
 
 The second son (the one with whom we have the chief 
 concern) was William Earl of Suffolk, heir to his brother 
 Michael just mentioned. He was born 16th October, 1396, 
 made Knight of the Garter 1420, created Duke of Suffolk 
 1448, and murdered 2nd May, 1450. Pie had married 
 Alice, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Chaucer, Knight, 
 son of Sir Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous English poet. She 
 died 1474, and is buried at Ewelm. 
 
 The third son of Michael de la Pole was Sir Thomas de la 
 Pole, the inquisition on whom is printed above, from which it 
 will be seen that he died the 21st of August, 1420, leaving a 
 little son also named Thomas, only three years old, and a 
 daughter, Katherine, fourteen years old. The boy died, as 
 the deed informs us, on the 27th July, 1430. So that the 
 manor of Ramridge then went, according to the provisions 
 of a deed made in 1384, to William, second sou of Michael 
 (who had died in 1415), at that time Earl and afterwards 
 Duke of Suffolk, mentioned above. 
 
 The direct male line, it will be observed, had twice failed 
 in each case with a Thomas, and in each case the manor of 
 Ramridge had by that failure gone to an elder brother. 
 
 The pedigree of the De la Poles is of necessity rather com-
 
 101 
 
 plicated, but may perhaps be found clearer in the following 
 diagram. It is of great interest to us, as showing the im- 
 portance of the former owners of the manor : — 
 
 William de la Pole, of Kingston upon Hull, merchant, died 1366. 
 
 Sir Michael de la Pole, Sir Thomas de la Pole, Sir Edmond de la Pole, 
 Earl of Suffolk and died 1361. Governor of Calais 
 
 Castle. 
 
 Lord Cbancellor, the 
 favourite of Kiu^ 
 Richard II., died 1389. 
 
 Michael de la Pole, born 
 1361,Eavlof Suffolk, died 
 U Sept., 141.5. 
 
 Richard de la Pole, died 
 without issue. 
 
 Michael de la Pole, William de la Pole,Earl Sir Thomas de la Pole, 
 
 Earl of Suffolk, born and Duke of Suffolk, died 21 August, 1420. 
 1392 ; killed at the born 1396, murdered [ 
 
 battle of Agincourt 2 May, 1450. Mar- | | 
 
 25 Oct., 1415. ried Alice, daughter of Thomas, 3 Katheriue, 
 
 Sir Thomas Chaucer. years old 14 years old 
 
 in 1420, in 1420. 
 died 1430. 
 
 John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, married 
 Elizabeth of York, second daughter of 
 Richard, Duke of York, and Cecilie Neville, 
 Sister of the Queen. 
 
 The gift of the manor of Ramridge to Ewelrae College by 
 William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, was so completely the 
 turning point in the history of the parish of Peuton Grafton 
 that I hope it will be excused if I pause to tell the story as 
 briefly as possible of his tragic end. 
 
 " We are lost," muttered an English soldier as the 
 dying cry of poor Joan of Arc went up from the flames, 
 " we are lost, we have burned a saint," and it was so. The 
 English cause in France was irretrievably lost. Burgundy 
 allied itself with Charles the Seventh, Paris, after a sudden 
 revolt, surrendered to the King, and the English dominions 
 were at once reduced to Normandy, and the fortresses of 
 Picardy, Maine, and Anjou. To preserve these the English 
 soldiers, shrunk as they were to a mere handful, struggled 
 with a bravery as desperate as in their days of triumph. But
 
 102 
 
 in spite of all efforts those at the head of affairs saw that 
 success was no longer possible. A fresh effort for peace was 
 made by William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, who had now 
 become the minister of Henry VI., and negotiated for his 
 master a marriage with Marguerite of Anjou. Her father, 
 Rene, the titular King of Sicily and Jerusalem, was also 
 duke of the provinces of Maine and Anjou, and these were 
 surrendered by the English minister as the price of a match 
 which Suffolk regarded as the prelude to a final peace. 
 
 The head of the war party, the Duke of Gloucester, was 
 found dead in his bed at St. Edmondsbury. But the diffi- 
 culties he had raised foiled Suffolk in his negotiations, and 
 by 1451 the English were finally expelled from the soil of 
 France. 
 
 But the ruinous issue of this great struggle roused England 
 to a burst of fury against the Government, to whose weakness 
 and credulity it attributed its disasters. On the meeting of 
 Parliament at Leicester in 1450 the Duke of Suffolk was 
 impeached. The King, fearing what might come from the 
 fury of the people, banished the Duke for five years ; the 
 Duke himself looking upon this exile as a proper means to 
 secure him from worse harm, therefore speedily embarked 
 for France. But he was followed by a ship called the 
 Nicholas, belonging to the Duke of Exeter, then Constable of 
 the Tower, and being taken was brought into Dover, where 
 his head was struck off on the side of a cock boat, and the 
 head and body were left on Dover sands, where they were 
 found by a chaplain of his, and taken up and buried either at 
 Wingfield, in Suffolk, or at Kingston upon Hull. He served 
 24 years in France, and 17 without ever returning home. 
 He was Privy Counsellor 15 years, a Knight of the Garter 
 30. This slight sketch of the troublous times in which the 
 latter part of his life was passed will enable us the better to 
 appreciate the calm and pious plans and purposes which are 
 exhibited in the document of which I will give a translation, 
 taken like the Inquisitions given above, from a copy among 
 the Andover muniments. 
 
 From the Patent Roll of the 15th Henry VI., m. 3 :— 
 
 The King to all to whom, &c., greeting, know ye that of our special 
 grace and for two hundred and fifty marks paid to us into our hanaper, 
 we have granted and given licence for us and our heirs, as much as lies 
 in us, to our dear and faithful cousen, William de la Pole, Earl of 
 Suffolk, and Alice, his wife, they and either of them which shall 
 Burvive for a certain almshouse, of two chaplains and thirteen poor
 
 103 
 
 men, by the same Earl and Alice his wife, or either of them, their heirs 
 and assigns, to be instituted, placed and deputed ; to wit, chaplains to 
 celebrate divine service, and they, the chaplains and poor men afore- 
 said, to pray for the good estate of us and of them, the said Earl and 
 Alice, while they shall live, and for our soul, and the souls of them the 
 Earl and Alice after we have departed this life, and for the souls of 
 our ancestors, and for the souls of the parents and benefactors of them 
 the Earl and Alice, and of all tlie faithful dejiarted, and for the fulfil- 
 ment and execution of certain prayers and works of charity and 
 devotion, according to the order of them the Earl and Alice, or either 
 of them, in this case made and provided. To begin, make, found, and 
 establish at Ewelme, in the county of Oxford, as they or either of 
 them shall be able, for them, the chaplains and poor men. to live and 
 inhabit for ever, and that the same house which hereafter shall be 
 erected, made, founded, and established shall be called Ewelm Almes- 
 house for ever, and that the same chaplains and poor men in the same 
 house hereafter so erected, founded and established by the aforesaid 
 Earl and Alice, or either of them, shall be a body corporate in fact and 
 in name, having perpetual succession and having the aforesaid house at 
 the same time to live in. Also they shall have a common seal to be 
 used in the business of the aforesaid house for ever, and that they 
 shall be persons fit and capable of acquiring and receiving any lands, 
 tenements, rents, advowsons, and of prosecuting and defending all 
 maimer of actions and disputes in any Court and place, and of pleading 
 in the same. Moreover we grant and give licence for us and for our 
 heirs as is aforesaid, as much as in us lies, as to the aforesaid Earl and 
 Alice that they, or either of them or tlie heirs of them, so to any other 
 person whatever that they may give and assign to the same chajjlain 
 and poor men and the aforesaid house, or the house that shall be 
 founded and established, lands, tenements, rents, and possessions, and 
 advowsons and patronage of churches, both of those which are held of 
 us in capite or are otherwise held of us. and those which are held of 
 other persons than of us up to the value of 100 marks a year, as they 
 shall be able. To have to them and their successors as well for their 
 house and habitation as for aid in their sustentation for ever. And to 
 the same chaplains and poor men and tlieir successors that they may 
 receive, purchase, and appropriate to their whole and sole use such 
 lands and tenements, rents and possessions, and advowsons and 
 patronage of churches aforesaid up to the value of one hundred marks 
 a year, as from the same Earl aud Alice, or either of them or the heirs 
 of them, or from any other person whatsoever as shall desire to give, 
 grant, or assign such lands and tenements, rents and j)ossessions, and 
 advowsons and patronage to them, aud that they may l)e able to hold 
 such lands and tenements, rents and possessions to them and to their 
 successors for ever. In like manner by the tenor of tliese presents we 
 have given special licence, the statute de terris and of mortmain not- 
 withstanding. Nevertheless by inquisitions whence they ought to be 
 taken and in the chancery of us or our heirs rightly returned shall be 
 tried, that it may be done without loss or prejudice to us or our heirs, 
 or of any others whatever. In testimony whereof witness the King at 
 his manor of gton the third day of July. 
 
 By writ of Privy Seal.
 
 104 
 
 Note in the margin : 
 Memorandum that on the twenty-fourth day of February in the 
 twentieth year of the reign of the within written King, the chaplains 
 and poor men within written purchased to themselves and their 
 successors, lands and tenements to the value of fifty-nine pounds a 
 year, to have and to hold to them and their successors for ever in full 
 satisfaction of the hundred marks within written. 
 
 It is no part of my present purpose to give any account of 
 the " Almshouse, or house of God," at Ewelme, except as 
 the present owners of the manor of Ramridge. But I desire 
 to draw attention to a most interesting pamphlet by the Rev. 
 H. K. Simcox, rector of Ewelme, which not only gives a very 
 valuable historical account of the foundation, but makes some 
 suggestions which deserve earnest consideration. It is 
 entitled " Suggestions for the Amendment and Improvement 
 of the Scheme under which the ' Almshouse or House of 
 God ' at Ewelme is now Administered." Printed for private 
 circulation. Wallingford Bradford, printer and stationer, 
 St. Mary Street. Mr. Simcox quotes in the appendix the 
 preamble of the original statutes, which, as it shows much 
 of the personality of the nobleman by whose pious gift the 
 parish of Penton Grafton became the property of Ewelme 
 College, I feel it ought to be reproduced here. 
 
 In the name of God, be it knowne to all trewe cristen pepull the 
 contentes of this present foundacion seyng, heryng and undyi'standing. 
 "We, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolke, and Alice my wyfe, 
 Duchesse of Suffolke, desyre helth iu bodye, grace in sowle, and ever- 
 lastyng joy to opteyne. Because all ci-isten pepull mekely and 
 devoultly coisideryng how by the upholdyng and mayntenyng of 
 divine service, and by the exercyse of works of mercy- in the state of 
 this dedely lyfe in the last dredeful day of dome they shall with the 
 mercy of oure Lord take here parte and porcion of joye aud blysse with 
 them that shall be saved aught of reson to have a grete and fervent 
 desyre and a besy charge in mynde to uphold and mayntene divine 
 service, and to exercise, fulfiUe and do works of mercy before the end 
 of their dedly lyfe. And namely to suche persons that may by no 
 faculte of lawfuil crafte gete here bodyly sustynnaunce. But fothyr- 
 more bene betyn with so grete penury of poverte that for lakke of 
 sustynnaunce, and they were not by almesse relevyd they should 
 lyghtly pysh. 
 
 Thys we devoutly consideryng Willm and Alyce above sayde have 
 beldyt erecte and foundid an howse of almesse for two prestes and xiij. 
 pore men to dwell and to be susteyned in the same all tymes to come 
 in perpetuite set and edified upon a certyne grownde of oures 
 purteynyng to our maner and Lordshippe of Ewelme in the Cownte of 
 Oxenforde annexid unto the churchyerde of the paryshe church of 
 Ewelme in the west syde, the sayde church beyng in the est syde of the 
 said house of almesse.
 
 105 
 
 But for more clere and playner fuuuaeiuu ordinance and stabiliment 
 of the said howse and persones the whyclie shall be susteyned foundyd 
 and relevyd in the same. The might of the fadir, the wysdom of the 
 son, the goodnesse of the holy goste thre persones in oon godhede, 
 huml3ly we beseche of liis grace prcipally be oure helpe socoure and 
 spede the whyche called in and aspired we procede in thys manere. 
 
 The Chaplains and poor men of Ewehue to the present 
 day hold Courts Baron as lords of the manor and owners of 
 the soil. 
 
 If we look back at the records, quoted at what I fear my 
 readers have found such wearisome length, we shall have no 
 difficulty in coming to the conclusion that there can be no 
 place in England where the history is more clear and more 
 uninterrupted. We have the certain evidence of the Dooms- 
 day Survey that the manor belonged to Edith, Queen of 
 Edward the Confessor, so that the latest date we can fix as 
 the start of its recorded history is that of Edith's marriage, 
 1043. Seized by William the Conqueror and by him bestowed 
 on the Abbey of Grestein, it was by that Alien Priory sold to 
 one of the family of De la Pole, and by another member of 
 that family given to the " House of God" at Ewelme in 1437, 
 and as the college are the present owners it will be seen 
 that there is not a break in the title for at least eight cen- 
 turies and a half. And great additional interest is derived 
 from the fact that the transcript of the deeds here quoted has 
 been made from the actual papers used by the Counsellor in 
 the great trial about the fair ground to prove the title. It 
 will be noticed that counsels brief had positive evidence, 
 going back to a time before the reign of Richard II., the 
 legal limit beyond which it is not supposed to be neces- 
 sary to show that " the memory of man runneth not to the 
 contrary." 
 
 The manor house itself is at once interesting and beautiful. 
 As originally designed by Adams it consisted only of the 
 central block ; the wings were added by Mr. Marsh. The 
 ceilings, cornices, mantels, and other ornamental details are 
 exquisite examples of Adams' best style. On the ceilings 
 occur the initials in monogram of Mr. Gawler, by whom it 
 was built about 1779, and his coat of arms, viz., Gu. on a 
 bend, argent three caltraps sable, impaling a stag's head 
 between three cross crosslets fitchee. Crest a martlett sable. 
 There are many remarkable trees in the well-wooded grounds, 
 among them a cork tree and some Turkish oaks. It is re- 
 markable that the size and number of the trees should be
 
 106 
 
 alluded to in the inquisition of 1316. The landscape gar- 
 dening displays so much skill that it is impossible to help 
 the conjecture that it must be the work of " Capability 
 Brown." 
 
 The Rev. Henry White, rector of Fyfield, has many notices 
 of Ramridge House in his diary. He does not appear how- 
 ever to have appreciated its beauties : — 
 
 1780. December 18th.— Walked to Ramriclge with Sir P.H.C., &c., 
 p.m. A very large and expensive honse. and too lofty for the country. 
 
 1780. July 22nd. — Rode to Ramridge vesp with Bessy, &c. : lime 
 bloom, fine perfume. 
 
 1780. August 3rd.— Sir P.H.O., Mr. W. M. Metz, and Bessy rode 
 to Ramridge vesp. 
 
 1780. December 4th. — Sent ye picture home to Ramridge. 
 
 1782. October 11th. — Dined at Ramridge withbrotlier Benj. ; house 
 most elegantly fiirnislied. Two most superb looking glasses in ye 
 drawing room, said to have cost originally at Paris £500 each. Very 
 dark walk home Messrs. Levcrsuch aud Crookshanks and se\'eral ladies 
 from London visiting Mr. Gauler. 
 
 1784.. April 17th.— Dined at Ramridge witli Mr. W., Mrs. Wallop 
 and Miss Bailey, and Messrs. Chamberlain, Barlow, and Haynes. 
 Great cutting down and grubbing* up sed quanium mutatus ah illo. 
 
 Mr. Marsh, who took a forty years' lease of Ramridge in 
 1855, made a great alteration in the building. His initials, 
 M.H.M., with those of his wife and three daughters, 
 E.G.B.E., are in box edging on the terrace in front of the 
 house. He was succeeded by Colonel Shaw- Storey, and in 
 1887 by Col. Harmar, J. P., the present occupier. The arms 
 of Harmar are quarterly, or and sable on a bend engrailed 
 gules, between two roses argent barbed and seeded proper, 
 three lozenges erminois. Crest 'on a wreath of the colours 
 in front of a cubit arm vested sable cuff or, in the hand two 
 rose branches leaved and slipped vert, that on the dexter 
 gules that on the sinister argent both barbed aud seeded 
 proper, a portcullis with chains or. 
 
 I have remarked before that I do not know how long 
 Clanville was held as a separate Manor, but that by 1316 it 
 had come into the same hands as Ramridge. We find it 
 now, in my opinion, one of the most interesting and 
 picturesque places in the north of Hampshire. A long street 
 running nearly due north from Weyhill church continues 
 through part of the parish of Chute Forest, forming the 
 boundary between that parish and Tangley till it finally leaves 
 the county, where it comes upon the Roman road between 
 Winchester and Cirencester at Hampshire Gate. The gradient
 
 107 
 
 increases all the way along. It is 300 feet above the sea at 
 the point we have reckoned as its starting, and it reaches 
 600 at Hampshire Gate, although a spot very close to that in 
 Conholt Park is 697 feet. This road is joined at Duck 
 Street, close to the boundary of the parish and of the county, 
 by another coming from Penton Grafton. The two ways 
 making a sort of inverted V with the point to the north 
 between Nutbane on the east, and Flinty, in Wiltshire, on 
 the west. At this point is what yet remains of the village 
 green, once more extensive but now partly taken into the 
 gardens. 
 
 Clanville may be considered in many ways a typical village, 
 and would yield materials for careful study of the village 
 community. The age of the present street is proved by the 
 size of the trees standing on either side of it. One immense 
 chestnut is yet rearing its venerable head opposite Weyhill 
 school, and another, nearly as large, was felled within my 
 recollection. On the other side of the road, though nearer 
 the extremity of the parish, are some very large trees opposite 
 Clanville House. 
 
 Ramridge house stands in its park with unusually fine 
 timber on the west of the road, and Clanville Lodge is on the 
 east some way further down. The old name of this house 
 was Blissmore Hall, and, as such, it is frequently mentioned 
 in Mr. White's Diaries. It was to a great extent rebuilt by 
 the late T. Faith, Esq. 
 
 Further north, on the right hand side, is Clanville House, 
 a very interesting building of the early part of the eighteenth 
 century. A brick in the garden wall is inscribed P.L. (Philip 
 Locktou), 1793. This may indicate the date when the 
 drawing room was added, but the front part is certainly 
 much older. The dining room is particularly characteristic, 
 and there are three other panelled rooms, and a very quaint 
 staircase. Two enormous yew trees, one measuring 10 feet 
 4in. round the trunk, stood at the back, which must have 
 been many centuries in growth, and a most effective avenue 
 of limes, the average girth of which is 7 feet, is growing on 
 the slope of the garden to the border of the grounds, and is 
 so arranged that with the doors of the house set open a 
 striking view is obtained, which however was finer still when 
 the pollarded limes in the meadow in front extended to the 
 top ; at present only two remain. Clanville House was long 
 the residence of the Lockton family, and is now occupied by
 
 108 
 
 Montagu Edwards, Esq., to whom I am indebted for much 
 valuable assistance. 
 
 A capital example of the formal style of gardening so very 
 much in fashion in the seventeenth century, and which has 
 never been altogether discontinued, is seen in the trimmed 
 yew trees near the end of the village street. We find that 
 the trees in Andover churchyard were kept trimmed in this 
 fashion, as entries frequently occur in the old churchwardens' 
 books recording payments for doing it, as for example : — 
 
 1703. To moneys paid for foleing and staking the trees 
 
 in the clnn-ehyard 0110 00 
 
 To moneys paid Chubb for trimming* the yew tree 00 00 06 
 
 The signboard of the Three Horse Shoes inn is an in- 
 teresting specimen of iron work. 
 
 A very ancient house is still standing on the east side of 
 the road. A modern addition, as large as the original part 
 yet existing, very much conceals its character. It is built of 
 wattle and daub, with small projecting oriel windows, and the 
 old chimney stands but a very little way out of the thatch. 
 Some of the rooms are panelled. I regret to say I have been 
 as yet unable to investigate it, as I hope to do more fully ; but 
 so far as I am able to judge from the imperfect view I could 
 obtain I have no hesitation in assigning its erection at the 
 latest to the commencement of the lifteeuth century. 
 
 Much valuable information about the parish, illustrating 
 what has been said, and what still remains to be told, will be 
 found in an Act of Parliament, 52 Geo. III., 1812, for the 
 sight of which I am indebted to M. Edwards, Esq. I quote 
 the preamble entire. 
 
 A Bill for inclosing lands in the parish of Wey, otherwise Weyhill, 
 within the manor of Hamriclge, in the county of Southampton, and in 
 the hamlet or township of Appleshaw, in the said county (Royal 
 Assent 20 June, 1812). 
 
 Whereas there are witliiu the hamlets or townships of Penton 
 Grafton, Clanville, and Nuthean, and within the said parish of Wey, 
 otherwise Weyhill, in the county of Southampton, several open and 
 common fields, pastui'e, down, and waste lauds, containing in the whole, 
 by estimation, 680 acres or thereabouts, and divers ancient inclosures ; 
 and whereas there are within the said hamlet or township of Appleshaw 
 several open aud common fields, pasture, and waste land, containing in 
 the whole by estimation 120 acres or thereabouts, and divers ancient 
 inclosures ; and whereas the two chaplains and thirteen poor men of 
 Ewelvi almshouse in Ewelm in the county of Oxford are Lords of the 
 said Manor of Bamridge, comprising therein the whole of the said 
 hamlets or townships of Penton Grafton, Clanville, and Nuthean, and
 
 109 
 
 the said jjarisli of Wey, otherwise Weyhill aforesaid, and they the said 
 two ehaplaius and thirteen poor men and John Bellenden Ker and 
 Henry Gaivler, Esq., tlieir lessees for lives, are entitled to the right of 
 soil of and in the commons of waste land within the said manor, except 
 certain parts thereof to which the said tAvo chaplains and thirtfieu poor 
 men and Charles Heath, Thomas Heath, and William HaivMns 
 Heath, claiming under them for lives, are entitled as hereinafter men- 
 tioned ; and whereas the said two chaplains and thirteen poor men as 
 Lords of the said Manor of Ramridge and the said Charles Heath, 
 Thomas Heath, and William HaivMns Heath, claiming under them 
 for lives, are entitled to the riglit of soil of and in the Common Down 
 called Weyhill Down, otherwise the Hospital Down, in the said pai'isli 
 of Wey, otherwise Weyhill ; and whereas a certain ancient fair called 
 Weyhill Fair hath been annually held on the said down called Weyhill 
 Down, otherwise the Hospital Down, and also on a certain piece of 
 glebe land adjoining the aforesaid dowTi, on which piece of glebe land 
 sheep usually are, and have been penned for sale at the said fair, and 
 also on a certain piece of laud called Blissmore, otherwise Blissmore 
 Hall Acre, on which hops usually are and have been stored for sale at 
 the said fair, and the said two chaplains and thirteen poor men, and the 
 said Charles Heath, Thomas Heath, and William Hawkins Heath, 
 claiming under them, are entitled to the profits of picage and stallage. 
 and other profits on the said down at the said fair, and the Rector of 
 the said parish of Wey, otherwise Weyhill, is entitled to the profits of 
 penning sheep on the said glebe land at the time of and for the said 
 fair, and tlie proprietors of the said piece of land called Blissmore, 
 otherwise Blissmore Hall Acre, are entitled to the profits of stowing 
 hops for sale on the said aci*e at the time of and for the said fair. And 
 whereas the said two chaplains and thirteen poor men and their several 
 lessees for lives and copyhold tenants, and the said John Bellenden Ker 
 and Henry Ga.wler and divers other persons are seised of and interested 
 in the residue of the lands, grounds, commons and waste lands, and of 
 the said inclosed grounds within the said hamlet or townships of 
 Penton Grafton, Clanville, and Nutben, and in the said parish of Wey, 
 otherwise Weyhill aforesaid. And whereas James Edtvards, Esq., is 
 Lord of tlie Manor of Appleshaw, and as such entitled to the right of 
 soil in the commons and waste lands within tlie said hamlet or township 
 of Apxileshato ; and whereas the said James Edivards, Thomas Bailey, 
 William Horton, the said two chaplains and thirteen poor men, and the 
 said John Bellenden Ker and Henry Gaivler, the lessees of the said 
 two chajilains and thirteen poor men and divers other persons, are 
 seised of or interested in the residue of tlic lands, grounds, commons, 
 and waste lauds lying in the said open and common fields, pastures and 
 other commonable places and waste lands, and of the inclosed lands 
 within tlie said hamlet or township of Api^leshaiv. 
 
 This extract will not only prove the main facts mentioned 
 above about the manor, but it will enable us to trace the 
 reasons for the locality of the separate grounds for sheep, 
 hops, and other things brought for sale. 
 
 But there is one matter that does not on the face of it seem 
 clear. This Act states that one hundred and twenty acres
 
 110 
 
 " within the hamlet or township of Appleshaw" .... 
 " and whereas James Edwards, Esquire, is Lord of the 
 Manor of Ajypleshaw, and as such entitled to the right of soil 
 in the commons and waste lands within the said hamlet or 
 township of Appleshaw." It will come more properly within 
 any description we are able to give of the parish of Appleshaw 
 itself. 
 
 But it will perhaps save confusion to notice hei*e that part 
 of Mr. Edwards' property in the manor of Appleshaw, though 
 not of large extent, lay within the boundaries of the parish of 
 Weyhill, and that is the reason for it being mentioned in the 
 Act just quoted. We must not look upon it as appurtenant 
 to the manor of Ramridge, but " parcel" of the manor of 
 Appleshaw and Reddenham. 
 
 It gives name, however, to a part of the parish bordering 
 on Clanville, called Ragged Appleshaw, which may as well be 
 spoken of now. 
 
 Appleshaw is not a word needing very much explanation, 
 although it is an instance of the way in which place-names 
 elucidate our history. In no single instance throughout the 
 charters do we meet with a name implying the existence of 
 any kind of pine or fir, and this curiously corroborates the 
 assertion of Caesar that there was no fir in Britain. The 
 names of fruit trees are also very rare, with the exception of 
 the apple tree, and even this appears chiefly in Celtic names 
 — Taylor's Words and Places. The first part of the name 
 of the parish then is easily understood. Shaw means a wood 
 or shady place, and, like the kindred words holt, lea, hill, and 
 mere, proves that the greater part of the country was nothing 
 but woodland. Shaio, however, must not be confounded with 
 haw, which means a place where trees had been hewn. We 
 may render shmv (an Anglo-Saxon word) " a shady place in a 
 wood," and perhaps apple orchard would not badly represent 
 the meaning to us. But here we have a prefix ragged, which 
 has given rise to some misinterpretation. The explanation 
 is, however, at once easy and pleasant. Ragged is a term 
 applied to fruit trees when they have a good crop. Thus, they 
 say "How full of fruit that tree is, it's as ragged as it can hing" 
 — Halliwell. We may thus safely conclude that this part of 
 the jiarish had been renowned for its good apple crops from 
 pre-historic times. 
 
 From Vanconver's Agricidture of Hampshire drawn up for 
 the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, 1810, it
 
 Ill 
 
 appears that " Penton Grafton contained 48 inhabited houses, 
 with a population of 345. The total sum raised for all 
 parochial purposes was £327 14s. 3d., of which £*304 8s. 6d. 
 was expended on account of the poor. The poor rate was 
 four shillings in the £." A note adds : " There is no work- 
 house in this parish, but 25 houses are found by the parish 
 for the resident poor." 
 
 The t3'thingman's returns and presentments to the Court 
 Leet, which existed at Andover for a vast number of j'ears, 
 mention the butts, the stocks, and the pound. A sample 
 entry will be sufficient : — 
 
 1568. Penton Grvafton. Item, that the butts for the archers and 
 the stocks for the punishmeut of malefactors are in default, and it 
 belongs to tlie inhabitants there to repair them. The butts and stocks 
 are to be sufficiently repaired before the feast of the Anunciatiou of 
 Blessed Mary next ensuing, under a penalty of vjs. and viijd. 
 
 1693. Oct. 5. Penton Grafton. Wee present the pound to be in 
 default, and to be amended in 20 days upon penalty of ... 1 
 
 Wee present the stoekes, formerly presented and not amended, to be 
 done in 20 days upon the penalty of 5 
 
 Wee presentt the way between Peter Noyes and the stocks to bee 
 mended by the 12t]i ffebruary next on the penalty of ... 5 
 
 In the same year the return of the "resiants" for Penton Grafton 
 was as follows: — 
 
 William Drake Esqr Thomas Thurstin 
 
 Richard Whitehead Gent Josiah Tarrant 
 
 Robert Tarrant Richard Stevence 
 
 William Mills Isaack Stevence 
 
 John iSToyes Thomas Noyes 
 Charles Beudall 
 
 Nathaniell Tarrant Richard More 
 
 Thomas Tarrant Thomas Steventon 
 
 Thomas Knowles Robert Tarrant junr 
 
 Richard Stevence William Fuller 
 
 Saniuell Tarrant William Hayes 
 
 John Gale John Helliar 
 
 Hugh Gale Robert Crosse 
 
 Peter Bendall Robert Barnes 
 
 John Barnes senr William Limpas 
 
 Peter Gale Thomas Wale 
 
 Robert Fuller William Greene 
 Hugh Green 
 
 John Hurst For Jewrymen 
 
 John Guyatt Anthony Biley 
 
 William Browne senr Peter Noyes 
 
 William Browne junr Thomas Dalby 
 
 Whilst we have Records of this character before us it will
 
 112 
 
 be well to quote the following, which may possibly form the 
 subject of further comments later on : — 
 
 1575, Sep. 19, Peuton Grafton. Peter Moyse has not amended a 
 certain footway leading from Andever to the Common called " le 
 Pyke " and " le heatlie " whereby the leiges of our L idy the Queen 
 who cannot freely go and return by that way to the Common are in- 
 convenienced therefore he is fined xijs. iiijd. 
 
 The following passage from — 
 
 A complete system of geography of the known world comprehending 
 the History of the Universe, both Antient and Modern, and the most 
 material Revolutions and changes that have happen'd in it, either by 
 Conquest or Treaties, 
 
 Published under the name of Herman Moll, London 1744, 
 is too good to be lost. Speaking of Andover — 
 
 We can't leave it without mentioning a village on the west of it at 
 the beginning of the open Down called Salisbury Plain. Its name is 
 WeijhiU where is only a desolate church, on a rising ground, with 
 hardly a house about it, yet 'tis of Note for a fair reckoned one of the 
 biggest in England for Hops, Cheese, and several other Commodities 
 and for sheep there is none so big especially of the Dorsetshire Ewes 
 for store sheep which the farmers come or send for to this fair not 
 only from the counties of Berhs, Oxford, Bucks, Bedford, and Hert- 
 ford, but from Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. The hops are 
 brought hither from the three counties last mentioned, and the cheese 
 from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire. 
 
 Among the traditions of the fair which are worth pre- 
 serving is the curious old practice which obtained at the 
 various inns in the village of " Horning the Colts." Anyone 
 who had not attended the fair before, either in the hop 
 market or otherwise, was deemed a " colt," and was initiated 
 or " made free" by the following rite, which seems to have 
 come down from very early date : — 
 
 The new hand was seated in a chair amidst the regular 
 frequenters of the house, and on his head was placed a hat 
 adorned with two horns, between which was fixed a " cup." 
 The officiant stood before him and sang the following strain, 
 the rest all joining in the chorus, which Avas repeated several 
 times : — 
 
 So swift runs the hare, so cunning runs the fox, 
 Wliy shouldn't this voting heifer grow up to be an ox, 
 And drink with his daddy with a large pair of horns. 
 Choriis — With a large pair of horns. 
 
 The head covering was then handed down so that the 
 novice could drink the ale from the cup, which held about 
 half-a-pint. The ceremony concluded by the company
 
 113 
 
 consuming balf-a-gallon of beer which was paid for by the 
 newly initiated. 
 
 The horns which were kept for the purpose at the " Star" 
 have unfortunately been mislaid owing to a change of landlord. 
 They were described to me as ram's-horns gilded at the tips, 
 and the head piece carved to resemble some animal's head, 
 " like a dog with an open mouth, which was painted red 
 inside." 
 
 But those which up to a few years ago existed at the 
 " Bell " were, I gather from the description I have had, 
 probably the horns of a fallow-deer. The head piece in this 
 case was of wood shaped like a billycock hat, "with the 
 band and all" painted green, and on a metal plate in front it 
 bore the inscription " Better times coming." The cup was 
 of wood, varnished, in shajje like a rummer or drinking glass 
 with a stem, and it was tied to the horns by a blue ribbon. 
 Unfortunately these " very old fashioned things," having 
 become rotten with time and use, were consigned to the 
 copper fire about the close of the last decade, the horns 
 themselves proving very hard to burn. 
 
 I am indebted for the words of this mysterious ceremonial 
 to Mr. Farmer, the genial landlord of the Red Lion at 
 Clanville, as delightfully quaint an old country inn as a tourist 
 in search of the picturesque would easily find, with a sign- 
 board in front which is not to be forgotten. To Mr. Seaman, 
 landlord of the Star, and to Mrs. Bendell, as well as to Miss 
 Sindell, of the Bell Inn, I owe warm acknowledgments for 
 the great pains they kindly took to enable me to preserve an 
 account of this interesting survival. 
 
 It may be well to note for the sake of comparison that a 
 somewhat similar custom was still observed at Highgate in 
 the north of London, after the year 1800. 
 
 Some of the public-liouses in Hi,2flig-ato liave a large pair of liorns 
 placed over the sign, and wlien any of the country people stop for 
 refreshment, a pair of largo horns fixed to the end of a staff, is brought 
 to tliem, and they are pressed to be sworn. If they consent a kind of 
 burlesque oath is administered that they will never eat brown bread 
 when they can get white, and abundance of other things of the same 
 kind, which thej' repeat after the person wlio brings the liorus, being 
 allowed, however, to add to I'ach article the words " Except I like the 
 otlier better." Ambulator London 1800. 
 
 I am not sure that the Weyhill '' horning" can be truly 
 said to have become obsolete, for I remember a former rector, 
 the Rev. W. H. Simcox, going through the ceremony. 
 
 I
 
 114 
 
 Whether any indications may be traced of the origin or 
 antiquity of this custom I will not venture to say, but I am 
 inclined to regard it as going back to remote date, and I do 
 not think it at all hopeless that further information may be 
 gleaned. I hope to be able to recur to the most interesting 
 inns of the parish later on. 
 
 We shall probably never dissociate the name of the parish 
 of Penton Grafton from Weyhill Fair, which, as has been 
 remarked, has absorbed all other geographical distinctions ; 
 for it is the fair that has made the hill to be the most re- 
 membered and noteworthy spot, and the fair that has always 
 held the paramount interest. There is no need of recalling 
 to those who live within reach the precise locality of the 
 " Fair Ground." We can recognise it under the adopted 
 name of Weydon Priors in Mr. Hardy's capital story of 
 " The Mayor of Casterbridge." But it is important to 
 notice that the ground we see so annually teeming with 
 life and animation is partly glebe and partly land "parcel 
 of the manor of Ramridge," and the strip we call the Hop 
 Ptows, for we shall have to see hereafter that it was the 
 subject of a long and tedious lawsuit to determine whether 
 this precise spot was obliged to be the place where the fair 
 must be held, or whether it might be kept in another 
 selected site in the neighbourhood. That its fame made it 
 familiar over all Southern England may not unfairly be 
 deduced from the passage already quoted from the "Vision 
 of Piers Plowman," and it will help us very materially to 
 understand the past history of the valley if we look into the 
 social want which thus met its supply in our midst through 
 the means of this great fair. 
 
 Professor Thorold Rogers, in his " Six Centuries of Work 
 and Wages," has much that will help us to sound conclusions 
 on the subject. He says : — 
 
 Our forefathers in their market regulations were always anxious to 
 ensiu'e what I may call natural cheapness. They did not attempt to 
 fix the price of articles, the plenty or the scarcity of which depended 
 on the atnmdance or the dearth of the seasons, for the assize of bread 
 and ale contemplated the exti-emes of either cheapness or deai-ness. 
 But they strove to prevent the artificial enhancement of price. Hence 
 the offences of forestalling, tliat is tlie purchase of corn on the road to 
 the market, and of regratiug, i.e., the re-sale of corn in the same market 
 at an increased price. 
 
 The essence of mediaeval trade was tlie bargain. It was no doubt as 
 long and as anxiously discussed as it now is in an Eastern town. The
 
 115 
 
 importance of it when hands were struck on it was indicated by the 
 gift of the luck penny — God's silver as it was called — the earnest or 
 pledge of the contract. 
 
 This grasp of bands after a bargain is concluded is still 
 well known, and tbe custom of GocVs Silver survives in the 
 Queen's shilling accepted by recruits. 
 
 As important, however, as markets in the economy of 
 medieval society were fairs. It is not easy to understand 
 their origin, but there is one particular which Andover 
 especially illustrates, as indeed it does the whole history of 
 trade through the Middle Ages. The great fact that all trade 
 was under the control of the Guild Merchant must not of 
 course be lost sight of. In the ordinances of the gild written 
 in the fourteenth century, in what is known as "The Oak 
 Book " at Southampton, it is enacted : — 
 
 And no one shall buy anything in the town of Southampton to sell 
 again in the same town unless he be of the G-ild Merchant, or of the 
 franchise, and if anyone does it and is found guilty all that he has thus 
 bought shall be forfeited to the King .... And no one except a 
 gildsman shall buy honey, suet, salt, herring, nor any kind of oil, nor 
 mill stones, nor fresh leather,, nor any kind of fresh skins, nor keep a 
 wine tavern, nor sell cloth l)y retail, except on market and fair day ; 
 nor keep more than five quarters of corn in his granary to sell by retail 
 if he is not a gildsman, and if anyone shall do it and be foimd guilty 
 all shall be forfeited to the King. 
 
 '»■ 
 
 These two regulations that non-gildsmen could not buy 
 certain articles, nor sell by retail, were, so long as the Gild 
 Merchants retained power of control, suspended during the 
 fair, and the feebler grasp of the Companies which succeeded 
 (in this neighbourhood in 1599) does not appear to have 
 interfered with the unfettered trading there. 
 
 Having seen then how amidst the regulations affecting 
 trade during the Middle Ages the free trading of the fair was 
 still possible, we want next to observe why the fair was so 
 essential, as it unquestionably became, at a very early date. 
 
 The trader did not exist in the villages. In most villages 
 he hardly existed in the beginning of the present century. 
 Professor Thorold Rogers says that in his native village the 
 first shop was opened for general trade about 60 years ago (he 
 writes in 1889), and for many a year afterwards the wants of 
 the villagers were supplied by packmen and pedlars, or, in 
 the case of the more opulent, by carts, which came 
 periodically from the nearest town for orders. In the 
 thirteenth century all but the largest towns were less than 
 
 I 2
 
 116 
 
 many modern villages. Except in Loudon it was not possible 
 to get foreign produce, other than wine, at a reasonable rate, 
 and the purchaser of such produce obtained it more cheaply 
 at the great fairs than he did in London itself. 
 
 Again, there were products sold in most towns wliicli could be pur- 
 chased in the greatest variety and at the lowest rates at the great fairs. 
 The landowner gained the best market for his wool at the mart to 
 which traders thronged from all jiarts of the world But he had to 
 lay in his own stock, either by exchange for his produce, or with his 
 own money. For 40 days he lived on fish ; here he could buy herrings 
 and salt fish at the lowest prices. He needed to put up liis o\vn winter 
 store in the powdering tub, and he purchased salt at half the rate 
 which the country dealer deuianded, and of much better quality. He 
 Avanted sheep medicines, verdigris and copperas, or, best of all, tar, and 
 ho could Iniy it by the barrel at half the retail price. Cloth and 
 leather, liuen and fur, kitchen vessels of iron or brass — I am writing of 
 what I find was actually Ijought — could l^e obtained here at reasonable 
 or natural prices. Nothing was too cumbersome or too costly for a 
 media3val fair, for if the dealer did not find customers here he could 
 find them nowhere else. It was frequented by noble and serf, by 
 churchman and soldier, by merchant or trader and peasant, by monk 
 and craftsmen. 
 
 I am drawing no imaginative picture, 60 years ago. A visit to an 
 autumn fair for the sake of laying in winter supplies was part of the 
 ordinary life of a small country gentleman or a wealthy yeoman. Here 
 he got bales of "West of England cloth for his household, hides and 
 uppers for shoes and boots, cheese in districts where dairy farming was 
 not practised, and a host of conveniences and rare luxuries. Some of 
 Wedgwood's fiuest potterj-^ was regularly sold over Southern England 
 at village fairs, and in the old days of differential and sumptuary 
 duties, upright and pious men, who would have defrauded no man con- 
 sciously, thought it no liarm if, in the inner recess of the booth, they 
 bargained for a keg of French brandy or a case of Hollands, or a roll of 
 i-ibbon, or a yard of lace. So a century and a half before, or over two 
 centuries, books, which would have hardly found a sale by any modern 
 means, were circulated even when they were imlicensed. 
 
 Ten or twelve generations ago these fairs were a necessity, three or 
 four, a great convenience, with which the country could ill dispense. 
 At present the importance which they once possessed has passed away, 
 and their significance is forgotten. There is no part of English social 
 life Avhicli has been so totally altered by improved means of commimica- 
 tiou as trade, especially trade in the countiy. Two generations ago 
 pedlars carried tea about in packs on their shoulders. At the present 
 time a country grocer can one evening bid his agent by letter free a 
 chest of tea from bond, and the next day he can have it in stock. 
 Goods can be carried at one-tenth the cost, time, and risk from the 
 centres of trade to distant villages. Migratory trade has therefore 
 become superfluous and obsolete, and the great marts of the Plan- 
 tagenets. of tlie Tudors, of the Stewarts, and of the early reigns of the 
 present Royal Family, have degenerated into scenes of coarse amuse- 
 ment, aud after having been granted and protected as the highest and
 
 117 
 
 most necessai-y franchises Lave been tolerated for tlie sake of their tradi- 
 tions, and are now bein^ generally suppressed. 
 
 A most interesting and charming account of the great 
 fair at St. Giles at Winchester is given in Dean Kitchin's 
 " Cathedral Records," to which ihe reader who wishes to 
 pursue the suhject is referred. I venture to quote some 
 passages from it because they show the similarity between 
 these two great fairs, and illustrate some features in the 
 arrangement of the fair ground which still survives at 
 Weyhill. 
 
 Of Winchester the Dean says : — 
 
 The fair itself was a kind of wooden town, which sprung up at the end 
 of Aucfust on the brow of St. Giles' Hill. As the ^'atheriuor grew in 
 popidarity this town grew with it until it appears to have covered the 
 whole open space on the hill top and to have descended the steep slope 
 towards the East gate of the city. We learn from one document (i.e., 
 the Charter of Edward III.) that the whole space occupied by it was 
 siirrounded by a palisading with only one gate, or at most two, pierced 
 in it, one towards the country and one towards the town. This paliMade 
 was not merely a defence against thieving at night, but it hindered 
 traders from bringing their goods into the market without paying toll, 
 the temptation to such smuggling being so strong that men sometimes 
 digged through the wall and so evaded the gates. Inside this great 
 fence the fair was laid out in streets, which were named from the 
 commodities sold in them. These were assigned to Flemmings, to 
 men of Caen, of Limoges, of Bristol, of Cornwall, to artificers such as 
 Goldsmiths and others. There was also a Drapery, a Pottery, a 
 Spicery, in which wares of different kinds were exposed for sale, and 
 also a place for the sale of birds and beasts. St. Swithun's drove a 
 fine trade in Avine and spiceries. and other religious houses in the 
 neighbourhood had their stalls, which they held under the Bishop, 
 paying rent for them year by year. The Bishop himself aj)pears not 
 
 to have been above a little trading The names of the 
 
 streets indicate clearly enough that it was a great place for foreign as 
 well as English trades, among them were those mysterious merchants 
 from foreign parts called " Dynamitters," who sold brazen vessels and 
 pots, and were bound liy ancient custom to present to the Justiciaries 
 of the Pavilion and to the Treasurer at Wolvesey four brazen basins 
 
 and ewers The tolls taken at the gates of the fair were a 
 
 considerable burden on the traders and buyers, and Avcre levied on the 
 goods of Englishmen and foreigners alike. A load of firewood or 
 charcoal was charged a halfpenny (perhaps sixpence or eightpence of 
 our money), a cartful of liay twice as much, a cartload of corn twice 
 as much (say from two to three shillings), a woolpack fivepence, a 
 pack of mercers wares twopence, for a falcon sold, or a ferret, an 
 ape, or a bear, fourpeuce (say from four to five shillings), and so on 
 through the list. 
 
 One more charming extract will enable us to contrast (or 
 compare) the present of the two great Hampshire fairs.
 
 118 
 
 The improvement in communications had also no little effect in 
 pulling down the fair when people found they could get from place to 
 place, buy what they wanted from hand to mouth instead of purchasing 
 once a year, and packing away their goods in store rooms, in which 
 they ran all the risks of rats and mice, of damp and staleness. They 
 soon ceased to arrange their commissariat ])y the fair, and learned to 
 deal for what they needed with the shopman in the town. Then by 
 degrees as the City grew stronger and the fair weaker, it slid down 
 St. Giles Hill towards the gates, until at last it entered into the town, 
 and abandoning the old site altogether camped for a day or two in the 
 broad High Street, where still its noisy ghost holds revel once a year, 
 
 In common with other fairs a distinctive feature at Weyhill 
 was the " Court of Pie Poudre," which was held in a specially 
 erected tent in late times by the officers of the Corporation 
 of Andover. I am almost certain that the late Mr. C. 
 Herbert, of Eastanton, has told me he has sat on it. 
 
 The Court of Pie Poudre. Curia pedis imlverxsati is a 
 court held in fairs to do justice to buyers and sellers, and for 
 redress of disorders committed in them. It is so called 
 because they are most usual in summer when the suitors to 
 the court have dusty feet, and from the expedition in hearing 
 causes proper thereto before the dust goes oif the feet of the 
 plaintiffs and defendants. It is a court of record, incident to 
 every fair, and to be held only during the time that the fair is 
 kept. See Statute 17, Edward IV., c. 2. 
 
 I have hitherto only found two instances of a roll of the 
 Court of Pie Poudre among 'the muniments of Andover 
 actually so described. One is of the fifteenth of Elizabeth, 
 1572, the other is of the twenty-first of Elizabeth, 1578. 
 
 The former is headed (in Latin) — 
 
 Weyhill Court held at Waybill the last day but one in 
 
 September in the xvth year of the Queen aforesaid. 
 John Bene plaintiff against Thomas Rooke, William 
 Gormell plaintiff against Henry Skeate, Henry 
 Tumks clerk plaintiff against — Smyth, Jes Hugo 
 plaintiff against Emele Vrell. 
 
 let a summons Edmunde Morell plaintiff against Richard Jones on 
 
 be issued a plea of debt. 
 
 let a summons Robert Veil plaintiff against Richard Gyatt on a 
 
 be issued plea. 
 
 Up Clatford The tithing man there, &c., sworn comes and presents 
 
 all well. 
 
 Ann Abbatis The tithing man there, iic, comes and presents all 
 
 well. 
 
 Sarston and The tithing man there comes and presents all well. 
 
 Tudwortli 
 
 Amport The titliiug man there comes and presents all well.
 
 119 
 
 let a summons 
 be issued 
 
 Cliolerton and 
 Applesliaw 
 Fifelde 
 
 Peutou Grafton 
 Foxcotte 
 Knights Enliani 
 Hatherden 
 Manor 
 
 po lo Ed Abbatt. 
 
 John Alkyuse plaintiff against Robert Holmes on a 
 
 plea of debt. 
 
 The tithing man tliere comes and presents all well. 
 
 The tithing man there comes and presents all well. 
 The tithing man there comes and presents all well. 
 The tithing man there comes and presents all well. 
 The tithing man tliere comes and presents all well. 
 The tithing man there makes default .... for 
 the manor. 
 
 The writing of tins roll is horribly bad ; intleed it is hardly 
 readahle. It will be noticed that the form of record is very 
 similar to that of the ordinary view of Frank Pledge ; but the 
 attendance is from other places beside the regular tithings. 
 
 The other roll is here given translated : — 
 
 Weyhill A court of pie poudre held there the twenty-ninth 
 
 day of September in the twenty-first year of the 
 reign of the Lady Elizabeth by the grace of God 
 Queen of England France and England defender of 
 the faith, &c. 
 
 In the time of Robert Noyse and Robert Hibbard 
 Bailiffs of Andover. 
 
 William Ratne tithing man there comes with Richd 
 Toggys presents all well. 
 
 William DaFoy tithing man there comes with William 
 Hurst i^resents all well. 
 John Batt tithing man there. 
 
 Michael Skete tithing man there comes with Le 
 
 Rewae Will Croft and Willin Fulan and Hugh 
 
 Ho^jkins and presents that a wether sheej) of while 
 
 colour came astray on the feast of Saint James last 
 
 past, and beyond that all is Avell. 
 
 Richard Myller tithing man there makes default 
 
 therefore he is in mercy xxd. 
 
 William Munday tlie tithing man there makes default 
 
 therefore ho is in mercy xxd. 
 
 The tithing man default therefore he is in mercy 
 
 xxd. 
 
 Thomas James the tithing man there come wiih. 
 
 Willm Cook and Thomas Horen sworn and presents 
 
 all well. 
 
 John Young the tithing man there came Avith David 
 
 Buckland, sworn and presents that a ( ?) sparrow 
 
 hawk of a ( ?) colour came astray on the xxvijth of 
 
 September last past and beyond that he pi-esents all 
 
 well. 
 
 John Noyse tlic tithing mau there comes with John 
 
 Munday and Thomas Page, sworn presents all well. 
 
 Vp Clatford 
 
 Abbotts Ann 
 
 Sarson and 
 
 Tidworth 
 
 Grateley 
 
 Amport 
 
 C hold war ton Si 
 Appleshaw 
 Kimpton and 
 Littleton 
 Fifield 
 
 Peutou Grafton 
 
 Foscott
 
 120 
 
 Kuights Euliam Ed\vard Blake the titliiugf man there presents that a 
 wliite lamb came astray on the last day of this instant 
 month of September and remains in his keeping and 
 fnrtlier that all is well. 
 
 William Goodyear plaintiff against Thomas Twyne 
 gentleman on a plea of taking away and unjustly 
 detaining his cattle. 
 
 Antony Peterson plaintiff against Henry Tririe in 
 his own person on a plea of trespass. 
 
 It was attached William Broker plaintiff against William Sper on a 
 
 therefore next plea of debt 11 quarters of bai'ley value xvis. 
 
 court 
 
 The part the fair supplied in the domestic economy is well 
 illustrated by entries in the diary of the Rev. H. White, 
 rector of Fyfield. I give extracts from a paper in Hamp- 
 shire Notes and Queries, Vol. VII., p. 88. It was the 
 custom of this worthy clergyman, who was a brother of 
 Gilbert "White, of Selborne, to buy a stock of cheese at 
 Andover Fair and replenish it at Weyhill Fair, and every 
 cheese that was cut is duly entered in the diary, a cheese as 
 a rule lasting his household about four days. Once however 
 it did not last so long. The 28th of the stock was cut on 
 March 1st, 1782, and on March 2nd we read " Cheese cut 
 29th, that yesterday being very strong." The following 
 entry will explain the designation " Fives," " Sixes," &c., 
 meaning that number to the hundredweight. 
 
 1781. October 10th. Fair at Weyhill. 
 
 Cheese bought of Mr. Stone. 
 cwt. 
 Common cheese 7 Sixes. 
 Do. 1 Fives. 
 
 Do. 1 Sevens. 
 
 54 Cheeses Total 9 at 33s. 
 at the same time 2 Mr. Powlett. 
 1 Mr. Cane. 
 No truckles or sages. 
 11th. Cheese fair very full and said to be sinking in price. 
 
 This was the second supply in that year, for at Andover 
 Fair on the 11th May the purchase had been 
 
 Cheese bt. of R. Stone, 61 in No. 
 
 Common cheeses at\ 
 
 4 cwt. of Fives j 
 
 3 cwt. of Sixes I 33s. per cwt. 
 
 2 cwt. of Sevens f 14 17 
 
 cwt. I 
 
 And 1 cwt. 8 lbs. of truckles No. 7 and Sages No. 2 
 at 46/9, £2 6s. 8d.
 
 121 
 
 I have no distiuct recollection of ever tasting a Hampshire 
 cheese, or at least one made near here ; but the late Mr. C. 
 Herbert of Eastanton, whose memory went back well nigh 
 three score years and ten, has often told me that in his 
 younger days if a wooden plough wanted tightening up while 
 work was going on, the readiest plan was the usual one to 
 cut a wedge from the cheese in the dinner bag and hammer 
 it in. 
 
 The following are Mr. White's remarks on Weyhill Fair 
 in 1783 :— 
 
 October 11th. Hoj)s, none from Selborue, and very few from that 
 district ; few from Farnliam, and a very thin shew on ye Hill, tho 
 some Kentish and some old Iwps were bot. Best price £11 per cwt. 
 Bought none. Weyhill being the worst market when they are dear, the 
 best when they are cheap. 
 
 The following trade announcement, copied from a hand- 
 bill kindly lent me by Montagu Edwards, Esq., is interesting : 
 
 Weyhill Fair. 
 J. Gills 
 From Salisbury 
 Respectfully informs the Public, that the following articles will l)e 
 exposed for sale, at his standing, during the Fair : — 
 
 Mens close bodied Coats, from 
 
 Cloth Surtouts 
 
 Ladies Great Coats 
 
 Fine Beaver Surtouts ... 
 
 Fine Hair Shag Waistcoats 
 
 Vclveret Waistcoats 
 
 Very Fine Flannel under Waistcoats faced 
 
 with Sattiu 
 Corderoy Breeches 
 Boys 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th Size Fustian Suits . , . 
 
 With every other Article in tlie Cloathing Branch proportionately 
 
 Cheap. 
 Such persons that prefer bespeaking any of the above Articles, may be 
 measured, and choose from a variety of Patterns. The great En- 
 couragement ho has met with for the last Twenty years, has enabled 
 him to purchase every Article from the first manufactories in England. 
 
 ^*^ Carters' and Shepherds' Cloaths, roimd Frocks, and double 
 milled Great Coats, as usual. 
 
 Salisbury : Printed by Collins and Johnson 1784. 
 
 It is a necessary consequence of the frailty of man's nature 
 that cases for the attention of the justices apart from the Pie 
 Poudre Court should from time to time arise. How far the 
 
 £ s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 £ s. 
 
 d. 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 2 10 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 to 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 to 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 16 
 

 
 122 
 
 incident at the commencement of Mr. Hardy's tale, " The 
 Mayor of Casterbridge," represents any feature of the life at 
 the fair I cannot say, but here are some notes from among 
 the indictments in the muniment chest of the Corporation, 
 which are not so unlike modern experience. 
 
 John Daiiiell late of Portsniontli labourer is a person of bad repute 
 and on 30 Sep. (1(399) at Weyhill obteyned and took away from 
 Richard Wallis by a certain deceptive game called cuppes and 
 balls ten shillings. 
 Caleb Clarke of London victualler, Benjamin Arnold of Southwark, 
 and William Stevens of London gent, and John Briant of the city 
 of Norwich, clothworker are persons of ill repute, and on 28 
 September 1697. at Weyhill stole certain pieces of gold called 
 guineas from Richard Mowland by a certain deceptive game with 
 cards. 
 
 Benjamin Arnold ) pleaded separately 
 and John Briant ) not guilty, 
 and pray travesty at the next session of the peace. Witness — Richard 
 Mowland SAVorn 
 
 as to Benjamin Arnold and John Briant — True 
 
 as to Caleb Clark and William Stevens — We do not know 
 
 I have now to speak of the lawsuits which have been con- 
 tested about Weyhill Fair, and I must confess the task is a 
 very formidable one indeed. I have often mentioned how 
 carefully the town of Andover has preserved the records of 
 its transactions, and, perhaps, there is no part of its history 
 where they are so full and numerous as about this long pro- 
 tracted struggle. And this difficulty presents itself. To 
 print the whole of the documents is out of the question, 
 and yet they contain information of the greatest interest, and 
 they ought to be printed, not only to pei*petuate that informa- 
 tion but to render it accessible. It is not too much to say 
 that they have almost certainly never been read since they 
 were tied up in bundles as they were done with, and that it 
 is in the last degree improbable that one in a thousand of 
 the present or future inhabitants of Andover ever will read 
 them. As manuscript documents scarce any of the town's 
 archives are likely to be known, though were they printed, 
 some, perhaps many, would learn their value. 
 
 I shall give as copious extracts as I can, even at the risk 
 of being tedious, because I feel so strongly that it is a duty 
 the present owes to the future to get as many records as pos- 
 sible into print ; but the great bulk must, I fear, be left, 
 although I cannot refrain from saying that it would be a very 
 welcome task to me to prepare them for the Press if any 
 desire were evinced for having them in type.
 
 123 
 
 The bulkiest bundles of papers are the "depositions," and 
 what follows Avill prove how much there must be in them of 
 local interest. The witness of the oldest people, and those 
 most likely to be well-informed about this part of the 
 country, is set down as to what they knew or could re- 
 member. As an example the first one I looked at was the 
 sworn recollection of an old gentleman of " four score years 
 and ten," and as it was taken in 1692 it will be seen at a 
 glance that it gives a personal reminiscence of the neighbour- 
 hood in the reign of Charles the First. 
 
 In order to really ascertain the matter in dispute we must 
 go "back to the year 1599, when the charter was given to the 
 town which revolutionised its constitution, although most of 
 the ancient institutions were preserved in their old form. 
 The fact must be grasped that although little difference was 
 made beyond substitution of one bailiff for two, and convert- 
 ing the " forward men " into burgesses, yet the intended 
 effect was to bring about a constitutional fresh start, and this 
 was not effected without some feeling being exhibited, as is 
 shown by the expression made use of in this charter of Queen 
 Elizabeth : — 
 
 And whereas the aforesaid g-ood meu and inhabitants of our borough 
 and town peaceably held and enjoyed divers other jurisdictions, etc., by 
 the letters patent of divers of our progenitors, made as of prescription 
 and use from time whereof the memory of man is not to the contrary. 
 And whereas also by the insinuation of divers of the men and 
 inhabitants of our said borough and town of Andever, We have been 
 informed that divers disputes, questions, and ambiguities have lately 
 been moved and arisen, and it is likely will daily more and more arise, 
 as well concerning the validity and force of the aforesaid letters patent, 
 by reason of the aforesaid variety of the names and incorporations afore- 
 said, and by reason of divers otjier defects in the said letters patent as 
 concerning the validity and force of the prescriptions and use aforesaid, 
 whereby many and grievous and inconvenient things have frequently 
 arisen and happened, not only to the men and inhabitants of our borough 
 . and town aforesaid, but also to many other of our faithful subjects with 
 them, bargaining and contracting, and thei-eupon the same men or 
 inhabitants have huml)ly bcsouglit us that we, for the avoiding of strifes 
 and controversies Avhich on that occasion may hereafter hap]ien, would 
 vouchsafe to make, reduce, and create the same men and inhabitants 
 into one certain dotiiiite and undoubted body, corporate and politic. 
 We therefore, desiring that such strifes, ambiguities, and incon- 
 veniences may be hereafter entirely done away, and considering that 
 the borough and town of Andever is an ancient and populous town and 
 a thoroughfare tlirougliout our whole kingdom of England in the 
 western parts, and willing that lieroaftcr a certain and undoubted mode 
 in the same borough and town of in and upon the keeping of oiir peace
 
 124 
 
 . . . And furtlic'i- ... we grant to the bailiff, good men and 
 burgesses tliat they may have a market to be held every week in the 
 said borougli and town, to wit, every Saturday, and four fairs to be 
 there holden and kept, to wit, one fair to be holden yearly at Weyliill 
 within the Foreign Hundred aforesaid on the day before the Feast of 
 S. Micliael, and on the day of the Feast of S. Michael, and on the day 
 next after tlie Feast of S. Michael the Archangel. Another fair to 
 be holden within the borough or town aforesaid on the day before 
 the Feast of S. Leonard, on the day of the Feast of S. Leonard, and 
 on the day next after the Feast of S. Leonard. And another fair to be 
 holden within the borougli or town aforesaid yearly on Thursday and 
 Friday in the third week of Lent, and anotlier fair to be holden there 
 yearly on the day before the Feast of SS. PhiliiD and James, together 
 witli a Court of Pie Ponder during the times of the said fairs, together 
 with stallage, piccage, fines, amerciaments, and all other profits, 
 comodities, and emoluments whatsoever of such markets, fairs, and 
 Courts of Pie Ponder issuing, happening, arising, and contingent, and 
 with all the liberties and free customs to such market and fairs appur- 
 taiaing and belonging. 
 
 This Charter (which is still in force) was accepted as the 
 working regulation of the town, and the title to the fairs and 
 markets, &c., until 1674. 
 
 On the 26th July in that year we find ^^•hat appears to be 
 the first record preserved of the litigation that proved to be 
 so tedious and lingering. 
 
 But before that there was evidently a movement towards 
 constitutional changes. The first indication is on 9th August, 
 1671. Liber C. jj. 8. 
 
 Ordered that the Charter be renewed, and that the Ld. Marquess of 
 Winchester be High Steward of Audover. To make it a Mayor Town, 
 and instead of Approved men and Burgesses to make Aldermen and 
 Burgesses as before to gaine a markett for Tuesday for sheep and 
 beasts and one faire about the last of August. Lres to Ld. Marquiss 
 and Sir H. Lucy concerning it. 
 
 The references given below are to the calendar of the 
 Andover documents which I am compilimi. Wlien It does not 
 seem essential to give a document at fall length I have only 
 transcribed the digest of it from this calendar. 
 
 F. 26 Mercnrii Yieesimo Sexto die Julii Anno Regni Caroli Secundi 
 
 1674 Regis Vicesimo Sexto Inter Magistrum Didasculum tredecem 
 
 Pauperos Homines Hospitii de Ewelme in Ewelme in Comi- 
 
 tatu Oxon. Willm's Drake Armiger et Constantia uxor ejus. 
 
 Henrie' Whithead and Will'm Goddard Ar' quer Ballivi probi 
 
 Homines and Burgi de Andover in Com' South'ton.' Walterum 
 
 Robinson Petrum Blake and Jolin Spentey defts. 
 
 Upon opening of the matter this present day unto the Right Honble 
 
 the Lord Keeper of the Greate Scale of England by Mr. Serjeant
 
 125 
 
 Maynard Sr John Churchill Mv. Kerk and Mr. Thomas of counsell for 
 the plaiutiffs in the presence of Mr. Shuter and others of Couucell for 
 the defendants. Itt was alleadged tliat the said Master Schoolmaster 
 and thii-teen poor men of Ewelme Almeshouse were seized of the 
 inheritance of the Manor farme and demeasnes of Rambridg'e in the 
 County of Southampton. And that upon the Dowaies and feilds parcel 
 of the said manner att or on Weyhill a greate parte of the faire called 
 Weyhill faire hath been tynie out of mind yearly held on the twenty 
 eighth twenty ninth and thirtieth dayes of September and that the 
 dutyes for Pickage and Stallage and placing of Coopes Penns Booths 
 Standings and the like hath been constantly paid and answered to the 
 Owner of tlie said Manor farmes and demeasnes of Ramridge or unto 
 their Leasees respectively of the farme and demeasnes of the said 
 Manor and that Wm. Noyse the father and William the son and Thos. 
 Drake Esqr father of the plaintiff William Drake and the said William 
 Drake imcler his trustees the plaintiffs Whitehead and Goddard as 
 successive Leasees for lis'cs of the said farm and demeasne of the said 
 Manor of Rambridge have for many yeares last past enjoyed and 
 received the said dutyes without any disturbance or interruption untill 
 of late the defts under pretence of some grant of the said faire on the 
 one and fortieth yeare of Queen Elizaljeth endeavoured the last yeare 
 to have made a disturbance in the said faire and have removed the same 
 from the said Almeshouse. But upon the petition of the said severall 
 To^vns in Hampshire Wiltshire and Barkeshire to his Majestye in 
 Councell for avoiding of tumults and pi'eser\dng of the peace were 
 comanded by his Majestye in Couucell by order of the 10th of September 
 last to permitt and suffer the next ensueing faire to be kept in the usual 
 place att the same tyme and in the same manner as formerly it had been 
 without any trouble or disturbance and which order was accordingly 
 obeyed and that since the plaintiffs finding the same disposicion and 
 intencon in the defendants to continue for the disturbance of the said 
 faire have exhibited theire bill into this Honourable Court for to 
 examine their witnesses in perpetuaU memory touching their right 
 unto the said dutyes and benefitt of the said faire and to obteine the 
 injunction of this Honourable Court for the quietting of the poss'ion 
 of the plaintiff Wm Drake in the said Downes and feilds att or on 
 Weyhill aforesaid belonging to the said manner farme and demeasnes 
 of Raml)ridge and off and in such parte of the faire as hath been 
 formerly held thereupon. And in the receiving of siich dutyes as have 
 been formerly paid unto the said farmers and Lessees of the said farme 
 and demesnes without any distui-bance by the defts or any of their 
 agents or servants. Whereunto the defts have answered and doe say 
 that they doe intend to keep the faire upon the plaintiff"s land uj)on 
 pretence of the Grant only making sattisfaccion for the damage done 
 to the lauds and commons thereupon. Wlicreupon and upon producing 
 and reading of severall affadavitts shewing tliat for eighty years last 
 past the said faire hath been held on the said plaintiff's land and 
 such dutyes received by the leasees of the said farm and demeasnes 
 as aforesaid. And that it would bee a gi-eat damage to the people of 
 the neighbourhood of the saido faire and of tlie Couutys of Soutli- 
 ampton Berks Wilts Dorset and Somerset and other Couutys as well 
 as to the plaintiffs if any disturbance by reason of the defendants
 
 126 
 
 pretence of Tytle sliould be made in the said faire being the greatest 
 and most beneficial faire to the Westerne Conntyes of England and 
 that thereby great tumults in soe greate a faire and breaches of the 
 peace might ensue. Itt was therefore prayed that this Court for the 
 preservacon of the publique peace and to prevent such disturbance as 
 might happen att soe great a meeting would grant an injunction for 
 the quietting of the plaintiff Drake in the possession of the said 
 Downes and fields att or on Weyhill aforesaid belonging unto the saide 
 Manor farme and demeasnes off and in such parte of the saide faire as -/ 
 hath been formerly held and kept thereupon and in receiving such 
 dutyes as have been formei-ly paid unto the farmers or Leasees of the , 
 said farme and demeasnes or their servants and agents without any 
 disturbance whatsoever l)y the defts of any of their agents or servants 
 or any clayming for from by or under them or any of them or any 
 other persons whatsoever wliereupon and upon debate of the matter 
 and on full hearing of Councell for the defendants and what could be 
 alleadged on their behalfes. This Court held it very reasonable and 
 just and doth order the same, and that the defendants and all other 
 persons whatsoever bee enjoyned accordingly. The plaintiffs councell 
 further offerriug to adinitt of any entry and tresspasse as if made 
 by the defts on the premisses in order to bring their Tytle if they have 
 any unto a Legall determinacon by any tryall at the Common Law 
 without delay. 
 
 1 do not think there is any further reference to the matter 
 in any of the documents preserved until we come to this 
 subjoined entry in Liber C, page 70. It has a sort of 
 disheartened tone about it, which would almost lead to the 
 hope that the end of the strife was in view. 
 
 2 April, 1680. It is this day ordered that the hurdles att Wayhill 
 be disposed of to Mr. Wm Chuncetts or any other person that will give 
 most for the same, and in case difference arises about the value then it 
 be referred to skilfuU workmen (on each side to be chosen) about 
 settling- the value thereof. 
 
 ■*ri 
 
 But two years afterwards the tone is quite different, 
 although the record shows the working of some party feeling, 
 which, happily, we cannot follow. The subjoined extract 
 from Liber C, page 78, will explain a great many docu- 
 ments, which need not all be given in full, but which will 
 pretty nearly tell their own tale. 
 
 16 May, 1681. Whereas the King's Matie, upon the Coi-poraciou 
 addresse presented hath beene pleased to manifest great kindnesses to 
 the Corporacon and since its happy restouracon hath already granted 
 unto them a weekly markett for cattle and one faire to be held j'-eerly 
 in the said town on the last of August, in the passing of the Irs. patent 
 it was by some contrivance stopt at the Great Seale by the Earle of 
 Shaftesbury when Ld. Chancellor, and whereas some of the immunities 
 and the privileges graunted to the Corporacon are incortaine for ^^ the 
 better ascerteyning and noting whereof, It is this day ordered that a
 
 127 
 
 siuTender be made of the present Charter of the Corporacon, aud that 
 a new Cliarter be xirocured and obteyued from His Matie. with this 
 faire and markett, and such other new priviledges and advantagfes as 
 may prove advantagious to tlie Corporacon. all which to be done at the 
 charge of the Corporacon. 
 
 Liber C, page 79. 
 
 30 August, 1682. It is this day ordered by and with the consent of 
 all aud every of the aforesaid approved men and burgesses that for the 
 reasons menconed in the order of the last comon Council, a surrender 
 be made of the j)resent Charter of the Corporacon, and that a new 
 Charter be procured from his Matie. with the new faire aud markett 
 and such other priviledges aud advantages as may be aud prove advan- 
 tagious to this Corporacon, and the same to be done at the charge of 
 the Corporacon. 
 
 Protested against per one Peter Blake. 
 
 The next evidence we have is on page 83 {Liber C.) 
 
 1682. "Whereas his now Matie. was lately pleased to renew the 
 Charter of the Corporacou, and thereby to contirme and graimte vinto 
 the Bayliife, approved men, and Biu'gesses of this Corporacon there 
 antieut aud several other new priviledges. By reason whereof the said 
 approved men and Burgesses are still obliged to give their attendance 
 on the Bayliif for the tyme being in order to consult and advise 
 touching the peace and welfare of the borough or towue of Audevre 
 aforesaid in making such by-lawes as may conduce to the well 
 governing and maynteyuing thereof, which take vp a considerable part 
 of the tyme of the said Bayliff, approved men aud Burgess, yet there 
 are diverse persons within this said towne that conspire together the 
 imposing of inferior offices vpon many of the said approved men and 
 Burgesses within the said towne and pari.sh to them to obstruct and 
 hinder there giving attendance on Mr. Bayliff for the purpose afore- 
 said. Its therefore this day ordered that noe approved men or burgess 
 whatsoever belonging to this Corporation shall have any office imposed 
 on him unless it be the office of a churchwarden within this parish, but 
 shall from henceforth be freed and discharged from l^earing any inferior 
 office within the said town (excej)t as aforesaid), any order heretofore 
 made or usage to the contrary uotwithstauding. 
 
 1682, 10 Nov. {Liber C, page 84). 
 
 Whereas the Corporacon of Andevor hath of late been exposed to 
 great expense aud charge in renewing the Charter, and in defending of 
 severall hearings before his Maties.' Councell touching the right of 
 Wcyhill faire and mayntejTiing tlie new priviledges graunted in aud by 
 the said Charter, aud Avhereas the Corporacon hath already taken up at 
 interest the some of one lumdred and fifty pounds towards affraying 
 thereof, which is not sufficient to discharge the same, as appears by 
 severall accounts this day produced, and whereas divers suits arc already 
 commenced and more likely to arise touching tryiuge the i-ight of the 
 said faire l)y reason whereof considerable somes of money wilbe 
 expended, and whereas several of tlie a[)provid men of the Corporacou 
 have already deposited and lent several somes of money, and others are 
 likewise desired and have jiromised to lend more towards carrying on
 
 128 
 
 and defending of the said suits, whereupon it is this day ordered that 
 all and every some and somes of money ah-eady deposited and lent or 
 hereafter shalbe by any of the said ai^proved men towards defending 
 and trying the right of the faire shalhe reimbursed and paid them 
 respectively in trust out of the profitts of the said faire in case the 
 same be recouered or otherwise satisfycd out of the yearly rents 
 belonging to the Oorporacon, as the same shall accrew and become 
 payable, any order to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 Next in order we come upon a series of petitions and 
 counter petitions, of which two samples will suffice. 
 
 F. 1. 1682. Petition to the King's most Excellent 
 
 Majestic from inhabitants of Rumsey and the parts 
 
 adjacent in the county of Southampton. 
 
 That there hath always been for time immemorial a very great fayre 
 
 yearly held and kept on the 28th, 29th, 30th dayes of Sept. at or upon 
 
 "Weyhill on ye lands belonging to the Hospitall of Ewelme and Rector 
 
 of the parish of Weyhill aforesaid, which fayre the Corporation of 
 
 Andover pretend they liave power to remove by vertue of a Charter 
 
 lately obteyned from your Matie., which if they should proceed to doe 
 
 it would be a very great losse and damage to your petitioners and many 
 
 others your Ma ties' loyall subjects, and alsoe may occasion the 
 
 disturbance of the publicke peace, there being no place near so 
 
 commodious and capable of receiving so great numbers of people as 
 
 resort and cattle as are usually brought thither. 
 
 "Wherefore may it please your Matie in consideration of the 
 premises graciously to order that the Clause in Andover 
 Charter relating to the said fayre to be repealed and your 
 Petitioners shall ever pray, &c. 
 
 75 signatures. 
 
 Other petitions are from 
 
 Fordingbi-idge (F. 2) 
 
 Winchester (F. 3) 
 
 Blaudford, Dorset (E. 5) 
 
 Ductor Luff your 
 
 Majesties profEesor in 
 
 the University of Oxford 
 
 Master of the Hospital 
 
 of Ewelm (F. 4.) 
 
 The counter petitions were mostly worded in this way — 
 
 1682 (F. 6) — from Inhabitants of Towne and Burrough of Mai-leborough 
 in the County of Wiltes Ijeing within twelve miles (or thereabouts) 
 of Waybill having been informed that severall remote townes and 
 places have preferred vuto his Matie and his houbl. Privy Councell 
 severall false and clamourous petitions v^pou the importunitie and 
 instigation of Mr. Drake and some other of his adherents 
 concerning a fayre yearly kept on Waybill and other priveleges 
 and immunities lately granted by his Matie to the Towne and 
 Corporation of Andover in the County of South 'ton, and that the
 
 129 
 
 said towno had iuteiitious to remove the said faire some distance 
 from the said liill wee doe dislike such theyre vexations proceedings 
 tliei-eon and doe lielieve tliat in case tlie faive ])e kept on any part 
 of the ground called Wayhill yt can he noe damage or prejudice 
 to them or us or any otlier persons wliatsoever that liave any trade 
 or comerce att tlie saide faire. In witness wlun-eof we have 
 hereunto set our hands tlie tentli day of November Anno Dom 
 1682. 
 
 54 signatures. 
 Other counter petitions were from 
 
 Ramsl)urv. Wilts (F. 7) 
 
 Ludgersliall, Wilts (F. 8) 
 
 Great Bedwynne. Wilts (F. 9) 
 
 Rum.sey (F."10) 
 
 Mayor and Aldermen of Rnnisey (F. 11) 
 
 Meanwhile the following letter had been received : 
 
 " 1682, Sep. 30. Sr. The Corpion of Andever hath lately renewed 
 their charter and liave gotten these additional priveleges — vizt., to keep 
 Wayhill apud Wayhill or in tali convenienti loco whore the bayliffe 
 steward and 2 or 3 justices of tliem shall tlunk fitt. 2. A fortnightly 
 markett for cattel to he kept in Andever. 3. A new faire for tlie last 
 dayes in August. 4. To issue out and serve writts under 100 li in the 
 out hundred." Some of these grants I understand to be p' judicial to yr 
 toAvne you have formerly sonu' 8 or 9 years since appeared against them 
 for a new^ writt of ad quo J dam n um because the writt was then executed 
 at Petersficld unknown to anyone concerned and a new one ordered to 
 be executed at Whitclmrch by ye then Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury 
 wh was never executed ncithor have executed any other since. Here- 
 with I send tlie Kings order by the Vice Chancellor and University of 
 Oxford upon tlieir petition to his Matye. Tliis is all at present from 
 
 " Yor formerly obleiged sevt 
 
 '• William Drake. 
 
 " Wayhill 82 Sep. 30." 
 
 The L. Delaware Wiuton Sands Basingstoke and several others will 
 concur with us 
 
 The K's Order at ye Court at Wliitehall. 
 
 His Matye taking tliis petition into liis princely consideracon is pleased 
 to order" yt tlu' parties lierein respectively concei-ned do by their 
 counsell learned attend tlie Council Chamber on ye first Fryday in 
 Novr. next ensuing to make appear the justice of tlu'ir pretensions for 
 tlie continuance or removal of ye faire at Wayliill wlieivof they are 
 hereby required to take notice and to give tlieir attendmice accordingly. 
 
 C. Rex, 
 Tliese To the Right Worf uU the Mayor Newbury. 
 A true copy of ye Ire sent by Mr. Di-ake to Newlniry 
 examined at Newbury by us — 
 
 W. Dowling 
 Jos. Gerrarde 
 
 C. Burgi de Newburg 
 
 K
 
 130 
 
 After this the lawsuits begin in earnest, but I think the 
 transcript of two papers will enable us to get through the 
 history of nine years of it. The Corporation have two copies 
 of it— F. 32 and F. 33. 
 
 1. Ti-jall. Wliereas a cause between Joliu Luffe Dr. of Pliysick 
 aud Tlioinas Dixon iilt. and Walter Robinson Bayliffe of Andovev 
 Deft, on a feigned issue settled by my Lord Keeper of the Greate Seale 
 of England was tryed before me at the Castle of Wiuton the last 
 Summer Assizes and upon a long and full evidence then giA'cu. It 
 appeared to the Court that the Bayliif e and Corporacon of Andover by 
 their antient charters and usag'e had a right to kcepe Wayhill faire 
 (the thing then in question) on any place on Wayhill and tliat the 
 plaintiff had noe right to a faire or any good prescription to liar the 
 Defts. right iu keeping the sayd faire on any place on Wayhill. Yett 
 the Jury contrary to tlic evidence and contrary to the directions of the 
 Court gave their verdict for the plaintiffs. 
 . All which I humbly certifye, 
 
 J. Charlton. 
 
 17th June 1684. 
 
 2nd Tryall. Wliereas a cause between John Luffe Dr. in Physick 
 and Thomas Dixon pits, and Walter Robinson Bayliffe of Andover 
 Deft, was by direction of tlie High Court of Chancery tryed at the 
 Barr of the Exchequer the first Wednesday of this terme. It did 
 appeare upon the evidence that the faire had been removed from the 
 place whei-e it was antiently kept and that the plaintiff had not any 
 tytle to a faire nor any good prescription to barr the Defendants right 
 of keeping it upon any pl#ce on Weyhiil yet tlie Jewry contrary to the 
 direcon given by the Court concerning the evidence given and i-epeated 
 by the Court gave their verdict for the plaintiff. All which we humbly 
 certifie. 
 
 16th June 1684. 
 
 W. Montagu. W. Gregory. 
 
 Edw. Atkyns. F. Street. 
 
 3rd Tryall. The third tryall was by a Jury of gent, of Middx — 
 vizt., Sir Richard Fisher, Sir Wm. Hill, Sir Thomas Clerges, &c., who 
 gave their verdict for the Towne which verdict is exemplyfied and 
 nothing said against it. 
 
 4th Tryall. The 4th tryall is the speciall verdict sett forth verliatim 
 on the other side of this paper, which says Andover hath the right of 
 the said faire. 
 
 And the same twice Decreed in Chancery and more fully 
 explained by the order against which order the appellants now 
 petition the House of Lords. 
 
 The verdict upon the fourth tryall 
 
 (Ti'anslatcd from the Latin) — 
 The jury say upon their oath that the af(U-esaid Bailiff, Approved 
 men and Burgesses of Andover aforesaid hold and have by right and 
 are accustomed to hold the aforesaid fair on the lands of the aforesaid
 
 131 
 
 Manor of Ranividge. and upon tlie glebe lauds of tlio Roetovy of 
 Weyliill in tlio case above mentioned, and also on the land called 
 Blissomore Hall acre. But that the aforesaid Bailiff, Approved men 
 and Burgesses of Andover aforesaid have not the right and power of 
 holding and keeping tlie fair aforesaid in any other convenient place at 
 Weyhill aforesaid whicli they, tlie Bailitf and A]jproved men of 
 Audever, may procure at their pleasure, as John Luffe alledgcd in the 
 ease above. 
 
 The last decree in Cliaucery. 
 The Court on hearing tlu^ wliole matter and what could l)e aleadged 
 on either side and reading the last verdict, doth declare tliat they are 
 fully satisfied with the last verdict for keeping the said faire on the 
 tliree^parcells of ground, viz., on the lauds belonging to the Manor of 
 Ramridge, Blissomer Hall acre and tlie Glebe lauds. And tlierofore 
 doe thiuke fitt and so order and decree that the said faire be for the 
 future kept by the Baililfe, Approved men and Burgesses of Andover 
 on the said 3 places according to the said verdict. And that Andevor 
 be enjoined from keeping the said faire from off the lauds mentiimed 
 in tlie said verdict for the future. 
 
 The description of some of the papers coming next in order 
 as taken from the catalogue now in progress will tell us 
 enough without opening the papers themselves. 
 
 lG8i, 3 April. Recognizance and bond given by Thomas Dixon of 
 Weyliill, clerk, William Drake of Weyliill, Es(|., Nicli Norlwue of 
 Chute, to give security to abide the oi-der of the Court of Chancery 
 l)earing date 21 Feb., 1(383. Paper 5 fos. F. 18. 
 
 1085, lo June. Master of Ewelm Hospital versus Baliff of Audever, 
 order for new trial at Exchequer on the ground that on a former occa- 
 sion the jury was prejudiced, some of tliein ln*ed upp in Queen's 
 College in Oxford and soe preiugaged or interested pei-sons and the 
 said coUedge att the charge of the suit. F. 19. 
 
 1680, 11 June. Ewelm Hospital v. Bailiff of Andover. Defendants 
 having gained tlie verdict at the King's Bencli b^- a sulistantial jury of 
 gentlemen of Middlesex, plaintiffs are to render account of the last 3 
 fairs according to the recognizances, or in defaidt to putt the i*ecogni- 
 zanco in suit. Former injunction discliarged. F. 26. 
 
 1686, 16 July. Tlie plaintiffs had lodged a petition on 23 June last 
 complayning of the last order. It is ordered hj the Lord Chancellor 
 that the Master state the case specially of the last 3 fairs. Mr. 
 Attorney General to hear lioth parties, who are to attend him at liis 
 liouse in Hampshire, and he is desired to mediate. F. 27. 
 
 Inter Ma (j rum Dldasccis et IS pauper es holes Hotipital ile Eicehiie 
 et aV Quer, et Bullivuim prohos hoies et Burgenses cle Andever Deftn. 
 
 Whereas by an order out of the High Court of Chancery. Jiearing 
 date the 16th day of July last past, made in this cause the matters in 
 difference was by the said order recommended to mee to hear both 
 ])ai-lies, and end the same in an amicable way. In ])ersuancc thereof T 
 doe hereby a])]>oi)it Teusday the LOth day of this instant August at lO 
 (if tlie cluck ill the morning, for all [larlies to attend me a1 iiiv liuiise 
 at Highclerc. 
 
 Given under my hand the 6th day of August, 1686, 
 
 R. Sawver. 
 
 k2
 
 ri 
 
 132 
 
 Wee, whose names jire hevcuiidei" writteu, the Bnylilfe aud Approved 
 men of Andevei', doe hereliy viiauiiiinnsly sulmiit all differences and 
 matters in controversy relating to Wayhill faire vuto Mr. Attorney 
 General, and whatsoever determination Mr. Attorney shall make 
 therein wee do hereby promise and agree to stand concluded by. 
 Witness our hands this Nyutli day of August, 1686, 
 
 Tho Westcoml)e, Bayliffe Will Bowling 
 
 John Staniford Will Cooper 
 
 Will Gamon John Bray 
 
 Na Robinson Rob Noyes 
 Will Barwick 
 Ja Grove 
 
 Note yt on tewsday 10 Aug., 86, Mr. Attorney Geuei-all, in ye 
 presence of severall nu'nil)ers of Andever Corporacon. and of Dr. 
 Dixon Rector of Wayhill, proposed an accommodaeon an yt Andever 
 slionld be Kynde to ye Church, and should give hhn for ye use of liis 
 gle))e 201i per ann. duringe faire at Wayhill, and remitt ye 3 last years 
 profitts and his part of ye costs, ye Dr. craved tyme to consider of it 
 till tewsday tlien next following, at Avch tyme he declared yt he would 
 not assent thereto viJesse Andever would give him lOli per ann. more. 
 F. 27 b. 
 
 Report of Sir S. Gierke. 
 
 21 die February, 1686. 
 
 Between Master, <fec., of Ewelme and Baliff, &c., of Andover. 
 In pursuance of an order of tlie lltli day of June and a subsequent 
 order of the 16tli of July last, I liave in ye presence of Counsell and 
 Clerks in Court on both sides considered of ye mrcs thereby to me 
 referred, And the last mencioned order directing me to state ye mre as 
 to the profitts specially of the three last faires of Wcyliill in the 
 County of Southampton. I find by ye proofes in ye caiise that tlie pit. 
 Drake did in the yeares 1683, 1684, 1685 I'eeeuive for tlie profitts of 
 the said faire in the said yeares as follows, vizt. : — • 
 
 Bythesheepe 150 00 00 
 
 By the leather aud hopps 010 00 00 
 
 By booths 021 00 00 
 
 By stalles, cheese and other small profitts . . . 045 00 00 
 
 makeing in all 226 00 00 
 
 Out of which is to be discompted 
 
 For repairing of the hurdles yearcly lO'l., out of 
 which must l)e deducted yearly 2'1. as money 
 made out of the old hurdles, soc tliat tliere 
 remains ... ... ... ... ... ... 081i. 
 
 per anu clere, whicli for the said three yeares 
 
 come to 021 00 00 
 
 For carriage of the hurdles to and fro yearely 
 21. F(n- thatching them yearely 01 10 00. 
 Far watliug the hurdles yearley Olli., and for 
 Mr. Drake's interest for the stockc of Jiurdles
 
 138 
 
 proved to be wovth about 701i. tlio veavloy sume 
 of 41i. All wliicli paymout.s make 08 lU 00 
 yeavely, aud for tlie said three veares the whole 
 come to ' 25 10 00 
 
 Both which siimes discompted as aforesaid 
 
 come to 049 10 00 
 
 Which being' taken out of the 226 10 00 aforesaid 
 
 there doth remaine 177 00 00 
 
 Which 17711. is clere money reed by the said Compt Mr. Drake over 
 and aboixe all reprizes for the profitts of the said faire for the said 
 three years. 
 
 But the plte doth insist that the saide faire for the said three yeares 
 was held upon Mr. Drake's owne land, and that Mr. Drake reed the 
 .saitl profitts for pickage and stallage aud the use of his hurdles onely, 
 which materialls were provided by him at his owue charge. Aud that 
 the Bayliffe of Audever did in all the three years aforesaid receiue 
 the profitts of tolles, weights, scales, shoo pence aud ta])p mouey, as 
 Lords of the faire. All which I humbly certify aud subscribe to the 
 jiulgemeut of tins lionble Court. 
 
 S. Gierke. F. 29. 
 
 1687, 20 April. The special report of Sir S. Gierke Kut. coming 
 before the Lord Ghancellor and argued it is ordered that the report do 
 stand and that the pits do pay the £177 to the defts. 
 
 1687, 3 June. Same cause before the Masters of the Rolls the £177 
 has been paid to the defts. it is ordered that the bill be absolutely 
 dismissed. 
 
 Actions were now commenced. William Drake Esqre, versus 
 Thomas Wale seur, William Browne jun. aud William Thomas. In 
 trcspasse 
 
 Plaintiff by his declaracou setts forth that the defts 27 Sept., 1690, 
 vi et armis . . did breake and enter and the plaintiffs grasse to 
 the value of lOli then and there growing pedihus amhulands did 
 tread dowue and consume and 20 boothes 20 stalls and 20 structure 
 of buildings .... tlien and there did disturbe . . . by 
 which the pit lost the profit of the said booths to the value of £200 
 and other cnorniitics to him did doe contra pacem, Sec, wliicli the pit 
 layes to his damage £500. 
 
 The defts ]>lead not guilty. 
 
 The case was down for trial at Winchester Marcli, 1690-91. F. 36. 
 
 But so far as the papers are concerned that is obscured by 
 the case of Kuff versus Barwick, which was for trial at the 
 King's Bench 4th Feb., 1G90-91, in which the counccll for 
 Andover were Sir Robert Sawyer, Sir Francis Pemberton, Sir 
 J. Tomson, Mr. Holt, Mr. Eyres, and Mr. Guydott. The 
 questions at issue are the same, but the brief is more than 
 commonly interesting. 
 
 The Defendants case was 1st to prove the title of the 
 Corporation to the fair, and they are to produce in evidence 
 Charter llo Elizabeth, K. John's Charter, other coniirmacons.
 
 134 
 
 The plaintilYs " will force Anclever to keep it (the fair) on 
 their ground, and 
 
 lirodiico .sovcviill old piHllars wlio speak to a Icnowledgc of tlie fail- 
 itcfore 4'1 Eliz., and say that the fair stood then ou the pita gvoiiud, and 
 that the pit. received money for setting l)ooths, &c., on tlicir ground 
 and liccanse tlicy can prove that time out of mind some part of or fair 
 liranclied itself cnit into their gronnd. they would confine Andovev to 
 placing the fair on their gronnd. Wee having proved Andovcr to lie 
 Lords of the wlioll Hundred and owners of the fair now prove the 
 enjoyment of both to this day. Wee make out that Andever keeps a 
 Leet on this Hill receives all waifs strays quit rents itc. and that Mr. 
 Drake pays Andever a quilt rent for his farm. 
 
 Witnesses John Read, Roht. Noyes, Robt. Leywood, Richd. Wale, 
 and all pits, witnesses. 
 
 Then we prove that Andever have always kept a Toll BootJi and a 
 Court of PypoAvder hove always (at great charge) provided Watchmen 
 to pi'eserve the peace and men's goods during the faire have always 
 rents all tolls weights and scales show pence and all other profitts 
 Avliich arc the }iroper earmarks lielonging toa fair. That the toll booth 
 and tent of the fair never stood on their doAvns but still on Blissmoro 
 Hall acre and was so before 41 Eliz. 
 
 Witness (additional) ye psli rates Thos. Wale, Richd. Wale, Jo. 
 Smith, Richd. Tarrant. 
 
 We have a cloud of witnesses to prove the removal of the fair from 
 place to place. 
 
 To prove the Horse fair removed about 15 years since from Sir John 
 Collins his ground (in Monxton psli) to the do^nis claimed by pits. 
 
 Witnesses Tho. Crouch, Jo. Crouch, Peter Wale. 
 
 The fatt sheep removed about 12 years since from ye great Road to 
 a piece of Glebe next the gore hedge. 
 
 The ffore show formerly stood on Blissmore Hall gronnd, and the 
 boothes and standings stood there long since memory and now there. 
 
 Pedlars removed from Blissmore Hall laud and churchrayles unto 
 the land or ground claymed by Mr. Drake. 
 
 Tiiat the Boothes are removed from Blissmore Hall land westwai'd 
 on the sayd downe claymed by Mr. Drake, and this long since memory, 
 and the very marks in the ground shew it playnly. 
 
 And on a vicAv there appears the signcs of 23 booths cm Blissmore 
 Hall land, and there are not usually above 30 booths in all, and on 
 measuring the lengtli of the former place where the fair stood (as by 
 the signs appears) on Blissmore Hall land Avas 35 lugg, and noAv on 
 the downs its but 30 lugg. 
 
 Tiio cheese, leather, hopps and joynters removed since memory much 
 more westward by Mr. Drake by his ploughing up a furrow beyond 
 which they must not pitch. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Note ye down on wh Mr. Drake pretends to keep the faire he has 
 noe more right to then any man in the parish. It is a common down 
 to all freeholders as well as to ye tenants of yt manor. Then the 
 beginning of Mr. Drake's pi-etentions to our fair or to the piccage and 
 stallage on this down was al)out 1651, before Avhicli tyme the booths 
 and coops were piclit by eny one who could bring and pitch hurdles
 
 135 
 
 caiul other materials tliere. All tlie tenants of tlioir manor as well as 
 Mr. Drake, all the parisli as well as those of that manor, and all 
 forojo^ners as well as parishioners, and its likely l^efore that time Mr. 
 Drake did with tlic rest sett up some eoops and booths and miglit take 
 money for the nse of his stnff, and all this was winkt at by Andever 
 becanse they had not then a pnrse snffieient to provide all materialls 
 for so great a faire. , . . . 
 
 In tlie year 1651 Mr. Drake by Artieles shutt the other Comoners 
 ont from setting- np pens in ye fair by granting them in lieu thereof 
 leave to break up Clanfield Dowue and Clialkeroft. 
 
 Then att or late tryall they cpiarrell with Andever for getting the 
 fair on Cholderton field, whieli they say is noc part of Wayhill wee in 
 answer to it prove yt tyme out of mynde some parte of the fair has 
 beea always kept on this ground, and yt Mr. Drake himself hath by 
 his servants pitelied sheep eoops for the fair on this Cholderton field. 
 
 _ Then they make a great Noyes of ye Hospitall right when the Hos- 
 pital never had 2d. profitt by it either directly or indirectly since its 
 foundation, nor ever paid taxes for it, though rated at near lOOli. per 
 annum 
 
 In Stockbridge Southw'ark St. Gylles Reeding Uphaveu and Horwell 
 fairs the owners have not ye ground. Yett the owners appoynt tlieso 
 fairs ad libitum, and the owners of the land receive satisfaction for the 
 trespass only 
 
 Note jt. notwithstanding the noyes they make of keeping the fair in 
 ye tything of Wey and uoe where else, Avee prove yt 3 other tythings, 
 viz., Cholderton Munxton (?j Pentou have all land on this hill, and 
 have tyme out of myude parte of ye fair yearly kept on their land 
 there 
 
 Among the witnesses whose names have not been ah-eady 
 given are Joan Limpas, Kobt. Tarrant, Tho. Cole, Thos. 
 Figgis, Hugh Gale, Robt. Batt, Peter Wale, Thos. Barrett. 
 
 It is very remarkable how these families are still repre- 
 sented in the neighbourhood. 
 
 There is one more paper we must put before our readers, 
 4th Feb., 1691. F. 47. 
 
 Ul)on hearing Councell this Day att the barr upon the petetiou and 
 appeal of the Schoolmaster and thirteen Foremen of Ewelme Hospitall 
 in Coniitat' Oxon' William Drake Esqr. and Constance his Avife and 
 William Goddard of Woodhay in Comitat South'ton from an order 
 made the two and twentieth Day of September last on the behalf of 
 the Bayliffe of the Towne of Andover the Approved or honest men 
 and Burgesses of the said Towne James Groves, William Gammon, 
 William Berwicke, William Cooper, Thonuis Westcombe, William 
 Dowling, Edward Noyes, and Robert Noyes, members of tlie Corpora- 
 tion of Andever, as alsoe upon heareing Counscll upon the Answero of 
 the Bayliffe Approved men and Burgesses of the Towne of Andover 
 and of James Gi'oves, William Gammon William Barwicke William 
 Cooper Thomas Westcombe William Dowling and Edward Noyes put 
 in thereunto after due consideration had of what was offered by 
 Councell upon the said petition and answer. It is ordered and adjudged
 
 136 
 
 by tlie Lords Spivitvuil and TcniporiiU in Pavliiunont assembled that the 
 said order made by the Court of Chancery the two and twentieth day 
 of September hist complayued of l)y the Petitioners shall be, and is 
 lierel)y sett aside and Reversed. 
 
 Math. Johnson, Rer., 
 
 parliameutor. 
 
 I freely confess that to an unle^-al mind all this is tedious 
 and not a little confusing ; but I hope that in printing so 
 much we have done something to make the contents of the 
 town muniment chest intelligible, and a great many facts are 
 brought out which will tend to elucidate obscure points in 
 the history of the town. 
 
 The proceedings now take another form, and the best way 
 will be to print this long document dated 19th January, 1694, 
 because it recites the whole history of the trials, which have 
 been exceedingly difficult to follow in detail from the separate 
 papers, many of which are undated. The questions will be 
 found at the end of the document, the answers coming first. 
 Judging from experience it would be possibly a trifle less 
 pu/zling to read the " Interrogatories" first. 
 
 The ausAver and examiuacou of Nicholas Flower to the interrogatorio 
 exhibited against him touching a contempt supposed to be committed 
 by him in breach of a p'petuall injunc in a cause wherein the Mr. 
 Schoolmaster and thirteen poor men of the hospitall of Ewelme in the 
 county of Oxon, William Drake, Esq,, and others arc pits., and the 
 Bailiffe, a])proved men and burgesses of Andever, in the County of 
 Sontirton, and others are defts. 
 
 To tlie first interrogatory this respondent saith that he doth confesse 
 and admitt that on the twelfth day of Sexjt ember last which was before 
 the last Weyhill faire, hee was Bailiffe elect of the said Corporacon of 
 Andever, and that one Mr. Francis Norbone did then deliver unto this 
 respondent a coppy of an injunction of such purporte and effect as in 
 and by the saide interrogatory is sett forth, and that the injuncion 
 itselfe under the scale of this Houoble Court w^as then shoAved him by 
 the said Francis Norborne, and was by him then made acquainted Avith 
 the effect of the said injuncon, and this respondent hatli the said copy 
 noAV at the time of his examinacou, and can produce the same, and 
 believes that the parchment Avriting uoav produced to him to bee the 
 same original injuncon that Avas then showed, and believes that severall 
 other like coppycs of the said injuncon Averc on the said twelfth day of 
 September delivered to and serA'ed upon Mr. Edward Watham, Mr. 
 Gabriel Goldney, Mr. Joseph Wimbleton, and others, members of the 
 said Corporacon. 
 
 To the second Interrogatory this I'espondent saith that he admits 
 that the plaintiff William Drake did order Thomas Powell and Hunt, 
 in this Interrogatory named as his Avorkmen, to build stalls, booths 
 and standings on the manner lands of Ramrage, Avhereof some parts of 
 Weyliill fair hath Ijecn formally placed, and tliat they Avere actually att 
 ■worke thereou the thirteenth day of September last, and saith that on
 
 137 
 
 Monday tlie eis'lif mid tweutii'th day of Aug'ust last lliis respondent 
 did, with Mr. Jolm Bray, then bailiffe of Audover, and otlier members 
 of the said Corporaeou of Andover. repaired to Wayhill and tlieii and 
 tlicre procdaimcd the said fairc (as the former ))ailiii'es and Corpoi'acon 
 of Andever iised to doe) to bee kept ou the usuall time there, and 
 appointed tlie said three plaees (videt) the manner binds of Ramrage, 
 Blissmoro Hall Acre, and Glel}e Lands aforesaid for tlie same, ac- 
 cording to the verdict and decree in the Interrogatory named : and 
 aftei'wards on the said thirteenth day of September this respondent 
 being imployed by the Corporaeou did come with Willm Styles, in this 
 Interrogatory named, and with one John Hammon and some other 
 workmen on Weyhill. and employed tliom to sett upp stalls, pcnns and 
 booths for the said faire on Blissniore Hall Acre, and as they were 
 setthigthem upp at one end of the said Blissamore Hall Acre (vidct) 
 abont or towards the west end of the said Acre — which this respondent 
 takes to bee and hath been alwayies reputed (as he hatlibeen infcn-raed) 
 part of Blissamore Hall Acre aforesaid — the said Hunt and PoavcII 
 came thither and sett their forks not for the use of the fairc but on 
 purpose, as he believes, to disturbe and hinder the said workmen for 
 the Corporaeou to set upp stalls, booths or penns tliere. pretending that 
 it was not j)art of Blissamore Hall Acre but part of the said manor 
 lauds, whereas the same was never part of the said manor that this 
 respondent knowcs or has any reason to believe. And this respondent 
 believes and admitts that he ordered the said Styles to sett upp boothes 
 and stalls on that pari and all other parts of Blissamore Hall Acre, and 
 that hee would leave him harmlesse herein ; and the said Powell and 
 Hunt soe distui-bing the workmen for the said Corporaeou as aforesaid, 
 this respondent did tell the said Hunt and Powell that these actings 
 of theirs would be a certain Avay to spoyle the faii'e, and if soe 
 the town of Andever could live without itt ; and this respondent 
 saith that hee did not order Styles, Hammon or any other workmen 
 to sett upp any forke, stalls, boothes, or penns on the said mannor 
 lands at Ramrage, or that they should pitch, stake for stake with them, 
 the said Hinit and Powell there, and this respondent dotli confesse and 
 admitts tliat hee did i-ide on the said mannor lands and ueare to the 
 said Hunt and Powell, but this respondent denies that hee or any other 
 officer or mendier of the said Corporaeou, to his knowledge, did on the 
 said thirteenth day of September, or att any other time since the 
 service of the said Injunction as afoi'csaid, Avitli any workman or 
 servant, or by rideing crosse or otherwise interrupt or distur))e tlie said 
 Hunt or Powell, or any otlier workman, agent or servant of the com- 
 plainants, or of any of them in canying of any stake, forke, or other 
 materiall for 1)uilding or setting up of boothes, stalls, penns or hurdles 
 fm any place whatsoever, or when they or any of them was or were 
 carrying of any forke or stake to build any ])ootli or standing, or 
 imployed or ordered any workman whatsoever to interrupt or molest 
 the said Hunt or Powell (U* any other in the setting upp any booth, 
 .stall or stake to buihl any l)Ooths or standing; or imployed or ordered 
 any workman whatsoever to interrupt or molest the said Hunt or 
 Powell or any other in the setting up any l)oothe, stall or standing, or 
 did employ or order the said William Styles to pitch any forke or 
 stake for the uses of the said Corporaeou on any the said maunor lands, 
 or did say or tell the said Styles that hee, this respondent, would beare
 
 13B 
 
 liiin huvmlosse tlicrciii, and alyo denies tliat the said Styles or auy other, 
 by this vespoiidcnt's order, or wliilc he was by or present, to his know- 
 ledge did pitch any forke or stake intermixt with the plaintilf's 
 servants or any of them save wliat was sett on Blissamore Hall Acre, 
 and save whot this respondent hath herefore confessed and admitted, or 
 did use auy words conserning to tlie said Styles pitcliing stake for 
 stake with the said Hunt and Powell, or saving him, tlie said Styles, 
 harmlesse other then as aforesaid, or did say there should be noe fair or 
 to that effect other then wliat is before sett forth. 
 
 Tliis respondent did further insist and say that as to soe much of the 
 said perpetual injunction sett forth in the first Interrogatory, whereby 
 the said Corporacou, tlicir officers, agents, ministers, and servants are 
 cnjoyned and commanded not to disturlie or molest, nor to permitt, 
 suffer, or procure the said Mr. Drake, aud his then wife, their servants, 
 Avorkinen. agents, or assignees, or any person under them, in right of the 
 manor of Ramrage, to bee molested or disturbed in buikliug or setting 
 upp of standings, booths, stalls, penus, and hurdles in and upon the lands 
 belonging to the said manor of Ramrage in the ancient and usual 
 manner ; and the profitts to the said William Drake and his then wife 
 and other, the plaintiffs, by reason of the premises belonging and 
 appcrteyning, to have, receive, gather, and enjoy by themselves, their 
 agents, and servants, peaceably and quietly for ever, without auy 
 molestation or interruption whatsoever, according to the tenor and true 
 intention of the severall orders, verdict, and decree in the said injunction 
 specified, the same is irregulai-ly inserted in the plaintiffs' injunction 
 and not warranted by the said verdict or decree, or any order now iu 
 force, as he is advised, and humbly conceives, and is likeAvise advised, 
 and doth insist that as well by tlie proofes in the said cause, as by the 
 said verdict and decree, it plainly and manifestly appears that the 
 complainants or auy of them neither liave nor hatli any riglit in the 
 setting upp of any boothes, penns, stalls, standings, or other conve- 
 niences for the use of the said faire upon the three parcells of land or 
 auy part thereof, but that the same did alwaies, wholly and soly, belong 
 to "the said Baliffe, approved men, and burgesses of Andever, for that 
 itt did appeare to this court, as tlie truth was and is, as this respondent 
 is advised and informed, tliat Elizalieth, late Queen of England, Avas 
 seized in fee in right of lier crowne of and in the said manor of 
 Ramrage aud particularly of the place where the faire hath been usually 
 kei)t, and the said Queen, being so seized, did by her letters patteuts 
 under the Great Scale of England, bearing date the one and twentyeth 
 day of May, iu the one and fortyeth yeare of her reigno, grant to the 
 baliffe, approved men, and burgesses of Andever the said faire, with the 
 piccage and stallage and all other profitts, eomodities, and appurten- 
 ences whatsoever to the same faire beloiiginge, and that the said manor 
 and lauds did remayne in the CroAvue till on or about the fifteenth yeare 
 of the late King James tlic First, when the same were granted to the 
 Regius Professor of Physicke iu the University of Oxford, aud that 
 in or about the mouth of December one tliousand six hundred 
 seventy and three the complainants first exhibited their bill iu 
 this honourable Court touching the matter iu question, and did 
 thereby only pray that they may, by Commission, examine such 
 Avitucsses as they had, for the iireserA-ation of their testimony, to 
 bee used att auy tryall att lawe as there may be cause, and an
 
 1B9 
 
 injuiictiou to ([uirtt tlieir possession till offccteil, or the profitts 
 shall he recovered from them by due course of lawe ; and afterwards, 
 the twenty-sixth day of July, six aud twentieth ycare of the reis'ue of 
 the late King- Charles the* Second, did pray that this Court, for the 
 preservacon of the publiek peace aud to prevent such disturbance as 
 might happen att soe great a meeting, would grant an injunction for 
 tlie quieting of tlu^ plaintiff Drake, iu the possession of the downes and 
 fields at or near Waybill belonging to the said manor and in such parte 
 of the said faire as had been formerly held aud kept or should bee 
 hereafter held or kept thereupon, and in receiving of such dutys that had 
 been formerly to the farmers or lessees of the said farme and demesnes 
 of Ramrage, or their servants or agents, without any disturbance 
 Avliatsoever by the defendants, or any of their agents, or servants or any 
 claiming for, from, l)y. or under them, or any other person whatsoever, 
 and the said Court did then order the same and that the defendants and 
 all other persons whatsoever bee enjoyned accordingly, the plaintiffs' 
 couusell further offering to admit of any entry and trespasse as if made 
 by the defendants in the premises in order to bring their title, if they 
 have any, unto a legalldeterminacouby any tryall att the Common Law 
 without delay; and that afterwards, on or about the twelfth day of 
 Jmie, one thousand six hundred eighty and three, the said complainantes, 
 together with the Rector of Weyhill, did preferre their bill in this 
 honourable Court, and thereby praied that the defendants may be 
 forced to try the issue in that bill mencioned, and did pray an injunc- 
 tion to continue till the issue should bee trycd, and a Commission for 
 examining of witnesses to perpetuate their testimony to bee used att 
 any tryall att lawe. and that afterwards, on or about the seventh of 
 July iu the tliirty-fourth yeare of the reigne of King Charles the 
 Second, the plaintiffs in the said cause did obteyne an order that the 
 said faire should be kept on the downes, glebe lands, feilds, 
 gi'ounds, att Weyhill belonging to the manor farme and demesnes, 
 and Rector of Wayhill. in the said order mentioned, where the 
 same had been anciently kept, and for that purpose an injunc- 
 tion was thereby granted ; but the said plaintiffs were forced to 
 give security, such as the manor therein mencioned should approve of, 
 to bee answeraljle for the profitts of the said faire if the right on the 
 .said tryall should be adjudged against tliem ; and that the issue that 
 was settled between them was to this effect whether the said corpoi'acon 
 of Andevcr had right and power to appoint the said faire in any con- 
 venient place att Weyhill where they should procure at their pleasure, 
 and that the said issue was tryed at the Somer Assizes in the yeare one 
 thousand six hundred eighty and three at Winchester, wherein John 
 Luffe. Doctor of Physick. and the said Thomas Dixon were plaintiffs, 
 aud Walter Robinson, Bailift'e of Andever was defendant, after which 
 tryall St. John Charlcton, who was the judge that tryed tlu' cause, did 
 the seventeenth of June, one thousand six hundred eighty foure, cer- 
 tifye that upon a long and full evidence then given it appeared to the 
 Court that the Bayliii'e and Corporacion of Andover, l)y their antient 
 Charters and usage, had a riglit to keepe Wayhill iiuvc (the tiling then 
 in question), on any place on Weyhill. and that the ])l;iiniiffs had noe 
 riglit to a faire nor any good prescription to l)arr the defendants' right 
 in keeping the said faire on any place on Weyhill ; yctt the jury con- 
 trary to tlio evidence, aud contrary to the directions of the Court, gave
 
 140 
 
 tlunr A'evdict ft)i' the plaiutifE, and that the defeudaiits having obteyucd 
 a new tryall upon tlie saino issue att the Exchequer barr, by a Hamp- 
 shire jiiry, tlie whole Court did uiiauiiuously, the sixteenth day of 
 Jnne, one tliousand six luindrcd eighty foure, certifye that it did 
 appeare upon the evidence tliat tlie faire had l^een removed from the 
 place where itt had been antiently kept, and that tlie plaintiffs had not 
 ;iny title to a faire nor any good pi'escription to barr the defendants 
 right of keeping itt on any place on Weyhill ; yett the jury, contrary 
 to the direction given by the Court concerning the evidence given and 
 repeated by the Court, gave their verdict for the plaintiffs. That 
 aftei'wards the defendants obteyned another tryall, upon the same issue, 
 by a substantiall Middlesex jury, wliereupon a full and faire tryall the 
 defendants obteyned a verdict against the plaintiff's, and there being 
 another tryall. had att the King's Bench barr in Hillary terme, in the 
 year one thousand six hundred and ninety, by a Hampshire jury, the 
 said jury did give their verdict to tliis effect, that the Bailiffs, 
 approved men, and Burgesses of Andever have held and have right and 
 have accustomed to hold the said faire iipon the lands of tlie manor of 
 Ramrage and upon the glebe lands of the Rectory of Weyhill and 
 also upon the lauds called Blissomer Hall Acre, and that the aforesaid 
 Bailiffe. approved men, and Burgesses of Audover have not right and 
 power of having and keeping the said faire in any otlior convenient 
 place att Weyhill aforesaid which the said Bailiffe, approved men, and 
 Burgesses of Audover aforesaid sliould procure at their pleasure ; and 
 tlie cause coming afterwards to lie heard upon the Equity reserved in 
 this Court (vidct) in Easter Terme, in the year one thousand six 
 hundred ninety one, this Court, on the hearing of the whole matter and 
 what could be alleadged on either side and reading the last verdict, did 
 declare that they were fully satisfied with the last verdict for keeping the 
 said faire on the three parcells of ground (vidct) on tlie lauds belonging 
 to the manor of Ramridge, Blissaniore Hall Acre, and the gle))e lands, 
 and ordered, adjiidged and declared tliat the saide faire bee for the 
 future kept by the said Bailiffe, approved men, and burgesses of 
 Andever on the aforesaid places according to the said last verdict, and 
 that the injunction in this cause awarded sliould bee continued and 
 niatle perpetual for tlie iirohibiting the said Corporation and Towne of 
 Andever from the keeping and removing of the said fair from the 
 said lands and places menci(nied in the said last verdict for the future, 
 which said last verdict and decree hereupon are the same verdict and 
 deci'ce specified in tlie injunction mentioned in the said interrogatories 
 as this respondent humbly conceives ; and this respondent is advised 
 and humbly insists as aforesaid that soe much of the said injunction as 
 is before specifyed is not ])ursueant to the said verdict or decree, nor is 
 Avarranted by either of them, nor ouglit the said injunction, by the 
 constant rules of this Honoia^ible Court, bee awarded in that manner, 
 but the said injunction, att least for soe much thereof as is before 
 specifyed, ought to bee sett aside as irregular, and not any wais to liee 
 made use of to bring this respondent into contempt of this said Court, 
 and therefore tliis respondent humbly praies hce may have his costes in 
 this behalfe most wrongfully susteyned. 
 
 John Squibb. 
 Capt. apud Andever in Com South'ton decimo nono 
 
 die Juuuar. Ano Rni uri Dui & Dne Willi & Maria; 
 
 Rx et Rue nunc Augl &c. quiuto coram nob'
 
 Ill 
 
 Will Horbouvne Epyke 
 Interrogatory to bee administered to Nicholas Flower to bee 
 examined toucliing a contemiit supposed to bee by liim com- 
 mitted in l)reacli of a perpetual injunction in a cause wherein 
 ye master schoolmaster and thirteen poor men of the hospitall 
 of Ewelme in the Comity of Oxford, Wm. Drake Esqre and 
 others are plaintiffs and the Bailiff'e, a))proved men and 
 burgesses of Andovc-r in the Coimty of South'ton and others 
 are defendants. 
 In primis are or were yon on or before the twelfth day of September 
 last tlie Baliffe elect of the Corporacion of Andever or one of the 
 Approved men or one of the Burgesses of the Corporacion of Andever, 
 were you served Avith or was there delivered to you and to whom else 
 besid(*S on the said twelfth day of September last or at some other time 
 and att which time and was and Ijy whom before the last Weyhill faire 
 a parchment Avritiug perporting to bee a copy of a perpetual injunction 
 made in the said cause mencioned in ye title of these interrogatories 
 bear date the fourth day of September last or of some other and what 
 date whereby the said" Bailiffe approved men and Burgesses of ye 
 said Corporacion of Andever and the officers agents ministers and 
 servants were enjoyued and commanded from time to time for the 
 future for ever not to remove the old Weyhill faire from off the three 
 places in the said inj'on mentioned (vidlt) from off Ramrage downe 
 lauds belongiuge to the said pits, from Blissomer Hall Acre and from 
 off the glebe lands of the Rectory of the Church of Way appointed by 
 ye verdict and decree mencioned in ye sd in'cou and alsoe enjoyned and 
 comanded not to disturb or molest nor to permit suffer or procure ye 
 said Wm. Drake and his then wife their servants workmen agents or 
 assigns or any person under you in right of ye mannor of Ramrage to 
 bee molested or disturbed in building or setting upp of .standings booths 
 stalls, penns and hnrcUes in and upon ye lands belonging to ye said 
 manor of Ramrage in ye ancient and usuall manner and the proffitts to ye 
 said Wm. Drake and Ins then wife and other the plaintiffs by reason of 
 tlie premises belonging or apperteyning to have receive gather and enjoy 
 by themselves their agents and servants peaceably and quietly for ever 
 without any molestation or interruption wtsoever acc(n-ding to the 
 tenure and true intention of the severall orders verdicts and decrees in 
 the .said injunction specified or to ye effect or to any otlier and what 
 effect and was tliere att ye same time when such coppy or paper 
 writeing purporting to bee sucli coppy of ye sd pcrpctuall injunction 
 was soe delivered to you the said injunction itselfe under scale of this 
 Honble Court or a parchment writing with a yellow wax fixed to the 
 .same pui7)orting to bee such injunction under scale of ye said Court 
 shewed to you, and by wliom and was you tlieu or att any otlier tiuu; 
 and when made acquainted or told by ye person who served you witli 
 the said coppy or by any otluT and whom that the said parehmeut 
 writing or cojjy of ])archnu'nt writing did import to bee or was ye 
 injimction of this Honourable Court or tu any otlu-r and have you in 
 your custody or can you produce such parchment writing or coppy wliat 
 is become of the same and is the parchment writing now produced to 
 )'0u the same originall injunction it.selfe tliat was then shewed to you as 
 you know or l)elieve deecl the tndy to every article of tliat interrogatory 
 upon your oath fully.
 
 142 
 
 Ifoiu. Did tlic said plaintiff William Drake and his then wife or 
 oitlier of them or any dther of the plaintiffs as yon knowe or believe 
 order or appoint Thomas Powell at Appleshaw Nichs Himte of Shodde 
 Hunt in the Comity of Sontliton or any other person or persons and who 
 by name as the agents servants lal)onrers or workmen to bnild stalls 
 boothes and standings on ye mannor lands of Ramrage in the usimll and 
 convenient plaees where the said Powell and Hunt or any other person 
 or persons and who liy name on the thirteenth day of Sepr. last aetually 
 att work in the usuall and eouvenient plaees did yon as Bailiii'e eleet 
 for the said Corporaeion, or as any other offieer or member ami what 
 officer or member of the said Corporaeion or otherwise on the said 
 thirteenth day of September or at any other time or times, and Avhen 
 eonie on the said manor lands with severall workmen and servants and 
 with wh(nn by name and interrnp or disturb the said plaintiff or the 
 said Hunt and Powell or either of them or any other of the said woi-k- 
 inen agents or servants in the carrying of stakes forks and other 
 materialls for Iniilding and setting iipp of Ijoothes stalls penns or 
 hurdles on the said manor lauds on ye usuall and antient plaees and 
 did you ride crosse or against the said Powell and Hunt or either of 
 them or any others of ye said workmen seruants or agents or by any 
 otlier meanes interrupt or disturbe them when they or eitlu'r of them 
 was or were carrying forkes and stakes to build bootlies and standings 
 on the said manor lands, did you imploy or order, or who else imploycd 
 or ordered Wm. Styles or any other workmen or servants and who by 
 name on the Corporaeion of Andever's behalfe or on your owne account 
 andbehalfe or cause to interrupt or niolest the said plaintiffs" workmen 
 Powell and Hunt or either of them or any other in setting upp boothes 
 stalls or standings on the aforesaid manor lands and did you imploy or 
 oi'der or wlio else did imploy or order ye said Wm. Styles to pitch 
 forkes and stakes on ye plaintiff's said mannor lands for ye use of ye 
 said Corporaeion of Audever did you say to or tell the said Styles that 
 you would beare him harmlesse and did the said Styles or any others 
 and wlio by your order and while you were so by and present on the 
 said mannor lands pitch severall or any foi-kes and stakes interrupt the 
 the said plaintiff's servants on the said maimor lands did you declare 
 and say to Tho. Powell and Nich Hunt or to any others then present 
 that the said Styles should pitch stake for stake with the said Powell 
 and Hunt lett them or either of them pitch as far as tliey or either of 
 them would on the said mannor lands, did you soon afterwards say 
 or declare or tell ye said Powell and Hunt or either and which of them 
 that ye Corporaeion could bee without a faire and that there should 
 bee noe fair or used words to that or to any other such like jMirpose. 
 
 Will Narboroughe 
 E. Pyke 
 
 Before the lawsuits we have ah-eady described had come to 
 a conclusion another action was commenced, which is de- 
 scribed as 
 
 The Towne of Andever v. Dr. Thom. Dixon. 
 Dr. Dixon was the Rector of Wcyhill from 2G June, 1682, till 
 his death, 1722, and the dispute was about the rights in his
 
 143 
 
 glebe. He had been one of the plaintiffs in the action against 
 the Corporation, joining with the Master of Ewelme College. 
 Now the town are suing him. The papers are Tery volumi- 
 nous, and, it must be confessed, not a little wearisome. Most 
 of them are not very difficult to read, so perhaps it will suffice 
 if we give little more than the result of the action, which is 
 contained in the decree of the court, F. 63, which will also 
 show the " cross action." 
 
 ' Mercurii undecimo die Jiilii Anno mi Regis S: Begince Gulichni 
 and Marice Sexto inter Ballivnm frohos homines & Burgenses 
 Bitrgi de Andover in Com Sut]iton Quertes Tlioma Dixon Sacrce 
 Thol }ffessor Ecclesia de Weyhill in Eodem Com Rector Deftem 
 Et inter pr. diet Thoma Dixon Q.ner. pr. diet Ballivnm prohos 
 homines & Burgenses Defies. 
 
 '■• Tliese causes comiuo' to he heard this day hefore the Rt. Honble. 
 tlic Lord Keeper of the Great Seale of England in tlie p'sence of 
 Councell learned on both sides, the said Corporacon of Andover by their 
 bill alleadgino- that they, the Bayliffe, approved men and Burgesses of 
 the town of Andover, were seized in fee in right of theire said Incor- 
 poraeon of and iu a fayre called Weyhill fayre with a py powder court 
 toll and otlier p'titts tliereto belonging, and that divers controversies 
 liad arisen between them and the said Dr. Dixon and others touchinge 
 the placing of tlie said fayre on their several lands on Weyhill, and that 
 after several tryalls att law and hearings in tliis Court itt was at last 
 decreed by this Court in favour of the said Corporacon, which decree 
 Avas founded on a verdict obteyued att the King's Bench barr, and that 
 it was tliereupon recomeudcd to Sir Robert Sawyer, Knight, then 
 Attorney Generall, to make an end of all dilferences between the said 
 Corporacon and Dr. Dixon, and thereupon tlie said Corporacon and 
 Dr. Dixon, about the twentyethe day of August, 1686, did enter into 
 articles of agreem't, reduced into writing under hand and seale and 
 duly executed thereby, reciting that a decree had then lately been made, 
 asserting that the placinge and oi-dering the sayd fayre doth lieloug to 
 the said Corporacon, and that the said Dr. Dixon and otliers then con- 
 cerned sliould he accomptalde to tlie said Corporation for tlie profitts 
 of tlie tliree last fayres by him and tliein received, and that liy an 
 order of this court made the sixteenth of July then last past itt was 
 reconmiended to Mr. Attorney Generall to end all matters in dif- 
 ference between tlie said partyes, and that tlie said Corporacon and 
 Dr. Dixon attending tlie said Attorney Generall he Avas pleased to 
 direct as followetli (vizt.) that the said Corporacon should relinquisli 
 to the said Dr. Dixon the three yeares p'fitts of the said fayre by 
 tliem received, and also his part of tlie costs of suite decreed to the 
 said Cor])oracon of Andover should liave tin; free use of all tlie gleai) 
 lands on Weyliill for keeping tlie fayre thereon, and slioiild have the 
 sole use of such parts of the said gleab, lodging theave hurdles and 
 other materialls used about the fayre in the same manner as tlie said 
 Dr. Dixon hath formerly done, for all which pr'niisses the said Ct)ri)or- 
 acon of Andover should pay to the said Dr. Dixon on Michaelmas day 
 yearly, at the Parsonage house in Weyhill the siime of twenty ]ioniids
 
 144 
 
 for so long- tyine <as he should oontiune Rector of Weyliill, to all which 
 desires and directions of Mr. Attorney Geuerall the said Corporacon 
 and Dr. Dixon tlien subinittin^" did mutually covenant witli each other 
 to .stand to a)id l)e concluded hy. but the said Dr. Dixon of late refused 
 to stand t<i llie said articdes or to make the Corporacon any lease of his 
 said <»'leab land, l)ut ))rought an accon att law ag't tliem touching the 
 p'mises. and tliercfdre tlie said Corporacon of Andever prayed that the 
 said accon att law miglit be stayed and that the said Dr. Dixon might 
 be decreed to p'form the said articles and make them a lease of the said 
 gleal) land, whereto the councell for the said Dr. Dixon insisted that he 
 by his answer had sett forth that the said articles of agreement were 
 grounded upon tlie decree of tliis Coui-t made the eleaventli day of June, 
 1686, above menconed, and on the aforesaid order of this Court made 
 the sixteenth day of July, and that tlie said order and decree are since 
 sett a.side and reversed by the decree of this Court made the twenty- 
 second day of May in the third year of theire pr'sent Maj'ties' reign 
 upon a bill of review brought for that purpose by the hos])itall of 
 Ewelme ag't the said Corporacon of Andover and the right of the said 
 Clinrch and hospitall of having the said fayre held on their lands and 
 on a idace called Blissomer hall are thereby and by a verdict had att 
 the King's Bencli })arr by a jury of Hamshire, in Hillary term, in the 
 second year of their p'seut Majesties' reigne, whicli was settled and 
 asserted, notwithstanding which last verdict and decree the Corpoi'acon 
 of Andover had removed the Wiltshire and Hsimpshire sheepe coops 
 from a certayne parcell of gleab land conteyning five acres, called fair 
 lands, to other places where no part of the faire was over kept before, 
 and had inverted the said faire in the manner of placing and keeping 
 thereof, and tliat the said Dr. Dixon att the tyme when he submitted 
 and executed the said articles was forced and terrifyed into a complianco 
 to avoyd accompting for tlu^ profitts of the tliree former faires and 
 payment of the costs of tlie former suite, and tliereof he ought not to 
 be decreed to a specific execucon of tlie said articles which were founded 
 on an erronious verdict and decree which have been since sett aside and 
 reversed, Imt that he might be p'mitted to proceed on his accon at law 
 ag't the said Corporacon he had set forth that part of the said faire had 
 tyme out of mind been kept on certain p'cell of gleab land belonging to 
 the said Rectory (^vizt.) on a certayn parcell of the said gleab land called 
 fayre lands aforesayd, conteyning about five acres, and on one otiier 
 acre of the said gleab land bounded southward witli the gore hedg and 
 on one otlier acre lying next the highway on the south side of the church 
 of Way, and on half an acre lying on the comon down called Weyliill 
 down, and that the said Corporation of Andover had liy colour of the 
 said articles removed the said faire from the said p'cell of land, and liad 
 inverted the same in the manner of keeping and holding thereof, and 
 that the said Dr. Dixon had been as aforesaid forced and terrified into 
 tlie said articles, and therefore and for the reasons aforesaid prayed that 
 the said articles might be set aside and discharged and that tlie said 
 faire might be kept on the same place and in the same manner as 
 formerly, whereunto the counsel for the said Corporacon insisted that 
 by their answer they liad sett fortli that the said articles were fayrely 
 oliteyned and tliat the siiid Dr. Dixon entei*ed into tlie same freely and 
 voluntarily without any compulsion whatsoever, and tlio the former 
 (h'creo was reversed by other persons yett the same .stood in force ag't
 
 145 
 
 tlie said Dv. Dixon and lie could have no advantage thereof, and insisted 
 that the said articles nug-lit not to be sett aside, but that the said Dr. 
 Dixon ought to perform, whereupon and upon long debate of the whole 
 matter and upon reading the said articles of agreement and the proofs 
 so taken in both the said causes this Court doth by and with the consent 
 of the couucell of the said Corporacon of Andover and Dr. Dixon (Mr. 
 Nicholas Flower and Mr. William Dowling, the j)resent Bailiff and 
 Town Clei-k of Andover, aiul tlie said Dr. Dixon being all i)i-esent in 
 court and consenting thereto) order and decree that such part of the 
 said faire as hath Ijeen antieutly been kept on the afore-menconed p'eells 
 of gleab laud belonging to the said Rectory shall for the future be kept 
 on the same p'cell of gleab land and in the same manner as the same 
 was anciently kept, and the said Corporacon of Andover shall liave the 
 sole use of such parts of tlie said gleab land during the tynie of the faire 
 and §uch tymes before and after, as usuall for keeping and holding the 
 faire thereon, and setting up and taking down thereof yearly for so long 
 tyme as the said Dr. Dixon shall continue Rector of Weyhill, and shall 
 receive the profitts arising on the aforesaid p'eells of gleab land to their 
 own use without his interruption or molestation, and it is further 
 ordered and decreed by consent as aforesaid that the Bayliffs approved 
 men and Burges.ses of the said town of Andover shall upon Michaelmas 
 Day yearly during so long as the said Dr. Dixon shall continue Rector 
 of Wej^hill for the future pay to the said Dr. Dixon att his Parsonage 
 house upon Weyhill till the sum of thirty and five pounds of lawful 
 English money and shall make the first payment thereof on Michaelmas 
 Day next, and shall also att the same tyme and place pay to the said 
 Dr. Dixon what remains due of the sum of twenty pounds being due and 
 owing to the said Dr. Dixon for the last yeares p'fitts of the said fayre 
 reserved to him in and by the said articles, and it is fui'ther ordered 
 and decreed by this Court* that the Bayliffs and Town Clerk of Andover 
 of the one part and the said Dr. Dixon of the other part, being all p'sent 
 in Coiirt and consenting thereto, shall subscribe their names to the 
 Registrar's book as an evidence of their consent to this order and deci'ee, 
 and that the thirty-five pounds per ann. now decreed to the said Dr. 
 Dixon shall be subject and lyable to taxes in case the said twenty pounds 
 per ann. aforesaid by the said articles were and are subject and lyable to 
 the same and that the articles and agreement aforesaid shall upon signing 
 the R(!gistrar"s book and passing of this order as aforesaid be delivered 
 up on either side to ]je cancelled, and it is further ordered and decreed 
 that tlie said Bajdiff approved men and Burgesses of the Town of 
 Andover shall for the future have free liberty and leave to place and 
 lodg their stack or pile of hurdles and all other materials which they 
 shall use for penning of slu^ep and liuildiiig of boothes, stalls, and 
 standings upon the before- menconed p'eells of the gleab land in such 
 
 i)lace or places onely as the said Dr. Dixon hath formerly made use of 
 :or that pm-pose. 
 
 •L. CARN GUIDOTT. 
 
 •• Deput. Reg." 
 
 We may well pause at the end of this long document, and ask 
 hopefully whether it is not the end of the chapter ; such hopes 
 cannot be encouraged, law-suit has succeeded law-suit, and
 
 146 
 
 perhaps judging from our feelings as we read about it, we 
 might be tempted to think the Andover folks had had enough 
 of it. But the Andover folks of the close of the seventeenth 
 century, like their descendants of the present day, were 
 crammed full of British pluck, and were as far off as ever 
 from knowing when they were beaten, and all I can allow my 
 readers in the way of respite is to turn for a moment to 
 another series of records. 
 
 In " Liber C" the Maneloquium or Town Council Minute 
 book we read under 1692 : 
 
 " Ordered tliat a lease be taken of Mr. Richard Kent, of Blissmore 
 Acre att Weyhill, for seaven years from ye date att tenn guineas per 
 ann. rent."' 
 
 There is no entry of the formal appointment of Trustees, 
 l)ut that was apparently one of the next steps, for we find one 
 of Leases (numbered L. 12. 1.) is an 
 
 " Indenture between the Bailiff and Corpoi-ation of Andover and 
 Joseph Wimbleton of Andover, gent., Edward Warham of Andover, 
 Nicholas Flower of Andover and Robert Hillman of Andover, Trustees 
 of Fairs and Markets to receive all Tolls, &c., and to pay over to the 
 use of the Corporation and to hold in trust the Lease of the Glebe Land 
 called Whitecroft at Weyhill, from Dr. Dixon Rector of Weyhill, for 
 5U years from the 15th September to the IStli October in each year with 
 liberty to keep a stack or pile of hurdles there at the rent of £5 for the 
 first two years and afterwards at £9, w^hich lease is dated 2 June 17tJ0." 
 
 The counter-part Indenture is L. 12. 2. 
 
 "In 1729 Articles of Agreement (L. 12. 3.) were signed between the 
 Rev. Joseph Todhunter Rector of Weyhill and the Bailiff and Corpo- 
 ration of Andover, to let for 21 years the glelie at Weyhill for a sheep 
 fair at the yearly rent of £46 less rates &e., and to sell the hurdles at a 
 valuation." 
 
 And among the papers there is the following receipt : 
 
 Weyhill, Sep. 27 1729. 
 
 " Received then of Mr. Thomas Woodman Bailiffe of Andover the 
 sum of fourty six pounds by John Hacker being in full for ye rent dne 
 on account of ye sheep fair holden on the glebe this year. 
 
 " Received 1 say by me, 
 
 "JOSEPH TODHUNTER, 
 
 •• Rector (^f Weyhill." 
 
 This looks as if things had gone on fairly smoothly, more 
 so than one would have expected from the rather truculent 
 resolution passed by the Council in 1692. 
 
 " To be payd by Mr. Bayliffs order w'ch funds are out of the moneys 
 late received from Mrs. Hawker which said sumes are accordingly paid 
 and now remains of the three hundi-ed pounds taken up of Mrs.
 
 147 
 
 Hawkins the sum of eighty pounds as a fund for ye use of the Corpora- 
 tion to carry on any contest y't shall or may happen about Wej'hill 
 fayre or otherwise which sayd fourscore pounds is in Mr. Rawlyes 
 hands answerable ))y Mr. Bayliffe."" 
 
 This is not the place to go into the financial matters of the 
 town, but there is a document which, though it is 200 years 
 old, yet makes one conscious of a cold creeping sensation 
 when you look at it, but yet gives a nearly complete record 
 of the doings during these years. It is Mr. Bowling's bill. 
 
 You don't, as a rule, look to law^-er's bills as likely to 
 aftbrd light and amusing reading ; but seeing that I think 
 we have followed events with some closeness and quoted so 
 much from gentlemen of the long robe to prove the steps we 
 have traced ; and seeing, moreover, that the statute of limita- 
 tions removes all the terrors of this bill, we may jnst dip intu 
 it for a few items which shew the manners and customs of 
 travel and such like. It begins 1690. 
 
 1 Sep. My expenses up to L'don & down and on the Clark.s 
 
 1 690. ■& Officers of ve Cort 
 
 To Sr. Charles Porter 
 
 his clerk 
 
 to Sejt. Killingworth , , . 
 
 his man 
 
 Mr. Squibb 
 
 Affidt filing and copy 
 
 Coach to Ham.steed and expenses there 
 
 pd. Mr. Stone to coj)y Brevatts 
 
 The Lords Comrs. officers had in all 
 
 Ire 
 
 Rec. 
 payd them more than ivcd 
 besydes horse hvre 
 
 1 lu 
 
 6 
 
 2 3 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 2 3 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 ■) 
 
 8 4 
 
 
 
 6 10 
 
 
 
 1 14 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 1) 
 
 2 4 
 1690. I payd Nat Webli for liorse hyro for 17 dayes for 
 Weyhill his horse to Weyhill. Winton, Combe. Tedworth. 
 faire. Chute and to Weyhill many dayes before and 
 
 after the faire " . ] 7 U 
 
 Besydes the moneys pd by Mr. Bayliffe Barwicki' 
 
 to Council and in Court, I disbursed ... ., U ]() u 
 
 My coach hyre and expenses up purposely to the 
 hearing the beginning of the terme and stay 10 
 dayes on it . . . . . ... . . . . . " . 
 
 ToMr. Guydott 
 
 To Moring to warne some men 
 
 m2 
 
 1 15 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6
 
 148 
 
 Spt att Anofell on some witnesses ... 
 
 on others at Wint on ... 
 
 The expenses of my horse, &e., in ye Inne ... 
 
 Pd the officers for placing- wittnesses at tryall 
 
 Horse hyre and expenses up and sendina' downc . . . 
 
 My expenses the first 5 dayes 
 
 To Mr. Squiljl) for his advice and dr. pleas 
 
 To Sejt. Pemborton yo like ... 
 
 Irs to and from abt yt affair of the plea's ... 
 
 Drawing' Breviatts in 2 causes, 3 copies each, and 
 
 attendance ... 
 I pd halfe a crown to g-ott off W. Thomas ... 
 1691. My expenses up to tlie liearing on the Equity 
 
 reserved and 8 daye attend thereon 
 Copyes of declar and close copv Ires 
 
 Reteyucd Mr. Holt ' 
 
 I pd the Register for his hand to the order 
 
 Spt on him then 
 
 My journey up and stay a wecke in Andever's 
 
 buisinessc 
 
 1G91. My coach liyre. liorse hyre and expenses iip and 
 11 Sep. downe to and from London and stay there 3 days, 
 and spent on the messenger in all 
 20 Sejj. Oath and expenses up to London 
 
 1691. Sjt. Thomas Powis 
 
 Sr. Ambrose Phillips .. , ... ... ... ... 
 
 Their Clarices 
 
 To Mr. Bratherton 
 
 To Mr. Squibb 
 
 To Mr. English to gett the private scale ... 
 
 Spt att the S Johns head tavern on the Register, 
 
 Mr. Guydott, Clarices in Court and officers 
 Pd fees for the private scale 
 Spt the first night at a meetin of or Couneell, Mr. 
 
 Bramston at Ks head tavern 
 My other expenses whilst in towne 
 Coach and expenses downe 
 169i. To Mr. Guydott 2 guineas, Mr. Squibb 2 G, his 
 drawing 5 case in p'liarat for ye presse ... 
 
 Coach wth Mr. East and Mr. Cooper 
 
 Mr. Peasley had of me to attend some Lords 
 Ires and parcels and porter ... 
 My expenses and coach up and downe and in London 
 17 Mar. My journey to London to remove the shouldiers, pd 
 9:2 and expended in searches and fees at Whitehall, 
 
 and expenses in my journey up to London, downe 
 & in towne ... 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 r, 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 8 
 
 (1 1 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 (1 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 1 15 
 
 
 
 (» 
 
 10 
 
 1 I 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 1 18 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 .") 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 2 16 4 
 
 It is true this is just over two centuries ago. It is also true 
 that money was worth more then than now, but — ! ! ! tem- 
 pora mutantur. If we had not the actual bill itself it would 
 be difficult to think these figures could be accurate. But they
 
 149 
 
 are simply incontestable ; other things beside horse byre have 
 gone " u^y since the worthy Will Dowling, town clerk of 
 Andover, made his journeys. 
 
 There are some more of his bills and accounts which do 
 not bear so directly on our present subject ; from one dated 
 1694 I cull the following : — 
 
 Sept. 1. Expeuses iu my lotlging and for ludgiug, i.tc. ... 6 4 
 
 Horse meat and Ostler 1 day aud uight after Mr. 
 
 Warham went . . . . ... ... ... 1 1 ' 
 
 My charges in goiug up aud dowuc to aud from 
 
 Loudou ou purpose, aud uiy i)ayues iu 12 dayes' 
 
 .stay there iu atteudiug ye Courts for heariug .. 2 17 
 1692. Expended ou ye ToUgate man when I took iustruc- 
 
 cou of them ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 2 
 
 Gave Sejt. Gold a guinea forad^^ee about ye declar- 
 
 acon for the toll ... ... ... ... . 1 1 8 
 
 I paid Mr. Tanner as foUoweth for h-e.s sent to him 
 
 for tlie Corporacon about ye souldiei'S and attend 
 
 Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Thiuu ... <» 1 <• 
 
 For wateridge and expenses to Whitehall twice to 
 
 Mr. Elaine _ _ ... <> 2 lo 
 
 For my owue payucs and troubh' iu all tlicsr things 
 
 this'teruie .." lo 1 
 
 Wateridge I have little doubt means boat hire. Sir Robert 
 Sawyer's fee for his arbitration was 4 guineas ; "his man," 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 A printed form, filled in, but neither signed nor sealed, 
 sells on the part of the Corporation " all that our pyle and 
 parcell stock and store of hurdles which are now lying and 
 being att, upon or neare Weyhill, together with all our luggs, 
 stakes and shackles therewith and thereto belonging, for the 
 sum of i'130 ; but with power reserved of repurchase for 
 Midi on or before 21 Sep. 1092." This deed is dated 1691 
 (F. 39). 
 
 I transcribe the following letter from the Rev. J. Todhunter 
 
 because it seems such a delightful sample of stately, old 
 
 fashioned courtesy. The handwriting is precise neatness 
 
 itself. 
 
 Weybill, Sep. 16 1729. 
 
 Sir, — The siicep-eoops ou llie Ck'be. tlie 2 last years were let at 18d. a 
 tliorough, aud 1 Ijclieve at no more the 5 years preceding. Edward 
 Barnes aud Robert Sugates have their own books. I liave a book of 
 Mr. Drak(!'s, which gives a general account of ye state of the fair foi- 
 ye last 7 years, which you or any Gentk'Uian or Agent of ye (Corporation 
 18 Wellcome to a sight or a transcript of. But ye riglit to tlie original 
 T apprehend is not in me. If you liave ye perusal of it I must expect it
 
 150 
 
 agaiu io rotiini it to ye propriLtov ^^■\\^•n called upon. The 2 books 1 
 send hclimfr to G. Gimte of Fyficld and Thomas Millet t ol' Kympton. 
 I sliould he aflad to do the Corporation any g-ood office in the poAvor of 
 
 Sir. 
 Your very humble servant, 
 
 Joseph Todhuntee. 
 To Mr. Noyes, 
 
 Town Clerk of Audover. 
 
 I think, too, this vahiation is interesting : 
 
 Sep. ye 28, 1729. 
 
 The number of the Hurdles at Weyhiil lu'loug-ing to 
 Andover is one Hundred and Seventy-five duzeu, vallued 
 at two shillings a dnzen comes to seventin pounds and 
 eleven shillings ... ■ ■ ■ 1 ' i 1 '*') 
 
 The pelts are sixty-niue duzen. at one shilling a dnzen 
 
 comes to 03 09 UU 
 
 21 00 00 
 
 VaUiued by 
 Chas Guyett and Thomas Percy. 
 
 Trouble does not seem to have been ought of sight even 
 
 when business was going on smoothl}'. The following printed 
 
 notice has been used for some memoranda, and has thus been 
 
 l)reserved (F) : 
 
 Audovor, Sep. 25, 1732. 
 
 Whereas the nunnbers of this Corporation and others inhabitants of 
 Andevor, Received last night by the Post, and many Farmers have also 
 received, a printed Advertisement without any name to it dated London , 
 August 24. 1732. tending to discourage Persons from Penning their 
 sheep on the Corporation Land next Weyhiil Fair. Whoever will give 
 information of the Author, Printer, or Pulili.sher of tlio said Advertise- 
 )neut, or of any Person who shall disperse or Publish the same shall 
 receive on Conviction of such Pei'son Five Guineas Reward of the 
 Bayliff of the said Corporation. 
 
 The facts mentioned in the advertisement are fallacious and I'equire 
 no other answer than to put the county in mind of the attempts made 
 some years ago publickly to frighten people from penning upon the 
 Corporation Land and the detei-mination of the High Court of Chancery 
 soon after in favour of the Corporation, notwithstanding tlie perpetual 
 injunction mentioned in the advertisement these attempts having been 
 lately in jiart i-epeated induced the Corporation (to prevent peoples 
 being imposed upon and fi'ighteued by false insinuations) to promise an 
 indemnity which they are ready to give hi the most authentick manner 
 to any person desiring it, lieing determined to support tlieir right as by 
 Law they may. 
 
 The lands and premises upon which the Fairs at Weyhiil 
 are held were with other lands leased in 1816 by the two 
 chaplains and thirteen poor men of Ewelm Almshouses to
 
 151 
 
 the late Mr. F. Tabor, wliu at his death bcqiieatlied the same 
 in shares to his children. One of these shares purchased in 
 1883 by the late Mr. G. Breadmore was offered for sale by 
 auction by Messrs. Ellen on the 10th Xoveraber, 1893. It 
 was described as " A one-ninth share of the profits arising 
 from the Rents, Tolls, Dues, &c., receivable in respect of the 
 Noted Weyhill Fair." 
 
 A disaster which happened in 1764 is thus described in a 
 brief in the British Museum (B. xxv. 1). The mere formal 
 matter is omitted. 
 
 " George the third, &e. To all, etc. Wl wwns it hath beeu rt'jn-esented 
 uuto"us as well upon the liumble petition of Thomas Pattard of Sher- 
 boiirue iu the county of Dorset carrier. William Kois u£ Andover in the 
 county of Southampton victualler, and Sarah Simnis of Fullerton iu the 
 said county of Southampton, sufferers l)y fire as by certificate under the 
 hands of our trusty and well l)eloved justices of the peace for the said 
 county of Southampton assembled at their General Quater Sessions of 
 the peace held at Winchester in and for our said county on Tuesday the 
 tenth day of January iu the 26th year of our reign — That on the 
 fifteenth day of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty four, a 
 sudden and terril)le fire broke out at Weyhill Fair in the parish of 
 Pcnton Grafton iu the said county of So\ithanipton in a bootli there 
 called the White Hart bootli kept by the said James Barham, which fire 
 instantly spreading in a short time consumed the same booth called the 
 White Hart booth and several other l)ootlis and standings and large 
 (piantities of hops with sundry goods, wares and merchandise. 
 That the truth of the premises was made appear to our justices 
 of the peace assembled at the Genei'al Quarter Sessions aforesaid 
 as well as on the petition of the said poor sufferers as by the 
 oaths of several credible persons who were well acquainted with the 
 premises Ijcfore the sad accident happened, and who have made an 
 estimate of the loss sustained by the said poor sufferers, which upon a 
 reasonable computaticm amounts to the sum of eight hundred and eighty 
 eight pounds thirteen shillings and niuepence, whereby the poor sufferers 
 are reduced to very low and necessitous circumstances and rendered 
 unable to support themselves without the charitable contributions of 
 well disposed Christians. Wherefore the said poor sufferers liave 
 joined together and hum))Iy besought us to grant unto them our gracious 
 letters patent ttc. to emijower tliem to collect and receive the alms 
 benevolent and charitaldc contril)utions of our loving subjects throughout 
 England &c., and from house to house tliroughout our Counties of 
 Southampton Wilts Dorset Somerset Berks and Surrey &c. Thomas 
 GoUop Esq . the Rev. Natlianiel Bristoo vicar, Simon Proctor, John 
 Chafie. John Duning. Peter Braham. Thomas Stevenson and Wilditcli, 
 gentlemen trustees and receivers." 
 
 I do not recognise any of the names except Mr. Gollop, who 
 the Rev. Nathaniel Bristoo may have been I cannot tell. 
 There is no Vicar. The Rector of Wevhill from 1756 to 
 1797 was Joseph Stephens, D.D.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE STORY OF WllEKWELL ABBEY. 
 
 iu every land 
 
 I saw, wherever lig-lit illnniineth, 
 Beauty and auguisli walking' hand-iu-liand, 
 The downward sU)pe to death." 
 
 Tennyson — "A dream affair wumcn."' 
 
 Wherwoll, a parish of 541 inhabitants, stretching along the 
 western bank of that " troutful stream" the Test: although 
 presenting an almost perfect example of quiet rural scenery, 
 has yet nothing to indicate the very great historical interest 
 which attaches to it. The home, or the quiet resting place, 
 of at least three, and possibly four English Queens, who were 
 renowned for their extraordinary beauty ; this retired Hamp- 
 shire monastery might, one would have thought, have been a 
 spot famous and familiar to relic loving people, but it does 
 not seem to be so, and the troubles and sorrows which tracked 
 the footsteps of those who were the most conspicuous 
 characters connected with it make the story of Wherwell "a 
 dream of fair women" for which the saddened words of the 
 Laureate form a natural and appropriate motto. 
 
 Of Wherwell Abbey itself there are no remains whatever, 
 and beyond the account given by Dugdale there is very little 
 written about it; while the fact that several of the documents 
 he prints are in somewhat obscure mediii'val Latin, makes 
 even that unattractive to the general reader. 
 
 Bishop Tanner, mentioning it in his " Notitia Monastica," 
 gives a large number of references to public records, which it 
 has been the object of the writer to work up. But space has 
 necessarily confined the scope of this paper, which is, con- 
 fessedly, but a slight sketch and is not to be regarded as 
 exhaustive. 
 
 The history of the Abbey of Holy Cross and St. Peter, at 
 Wherwell, includes the history of the parish in which it is 
 situate down to the year 1540, because the parish, as such, 
 hardly had any separate existence, so long as the Superior of 
 the Monastery was Lady of the Manor, and owned the whole
 
 Wherwexl 
 
 Shewing Si te of 
 
 ^■^ f J&ter. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ Averuijeexlstfd h 
 in 17-1 4-. 
 
 T>fifNHWATF.R Butt. Del . ^zj; 
 
 1889. 
 
 ■^^ / jC'-RiifficteclSiteor 
 
 ClosG 
 
 (lestr-oyedI874-
 
 153 
 
 village and a large part oi' the ueighbourlioocl, the social life of 
 Avhich centred round and largely depended upon the convent. 
 But although the Abhey of Wherwell owned so much of the 
 surrounding land, there was a ]\Ianor in the parish of 
 Wherwell, which did not belong to them, but which it is 
 necessary to mention because it gives a clue to what deter- 
 mined the choice of the site. The earliest mention of the 
 place appears to be in the will of King Edred, A.D. 946-955, 
 which begins thus : — 
 
 " In the uamc of the Lord, this is the will of King Eadred. That is 
 then first tliat he gives to the place where he Avills that his body shall 
 rest "two golden roods, and two golden handled swords, and four hundred 
 pounds. Tlien he gives to Winchester, to the Old Monastery three 
 towns, that is, then Downton, and Daniei-ham and Calne. Then he 
 gives to the New Monastery three towns, that is then Whorwell and 
 Andcver and Clere."' — Liber de Hyde, j). 346. 
 
 Referring to Domesday we are able to assert that this 
 bequest was the Manor oi Fugelerestiinc now called Fullerton, 
 which is the South West part of the Parish of Wherwell. It 
 is thus described : — 
 
 '■ The Abbey of St. Peter holds Fullerton, and it was always Abbey 
 land. It was assessed in the time of King Edward at 5 hides, and now 
 at 1 hide. Here are 3 ploughlands, 2 in demesne, and 5 villeins and 4 
 borderers with 1 ploughland, also 4 servants, a mill worth 10s., and 4 
 acres of meadow. Its value was 50s., now 60s." 
 
 The monks of St. Peter's, the "New Monastery," subse- 
 quently called Hyde Abbey, were vigorous opponents of 
 William the Conqueror, who took this Manor from them, says 
 'J'homas Piudborne, " and gave it to his knights." 
 
 But while King Edred bequeathed this Manor of Fullerton, 
 said in Domesday to have been "always Abbey land," to the 
 " Xew Minister," we can trace the other Manor of Wherwell 
 almost as clearly through his nephew King Edgar, from his 
 aunt Wenfieda, presumably Edred's widow. 
 
 One of the most interesting documents printed in Dugdalo 
 is a passage from the MS. of John of Tinmouth in the 
 JJodleiau Library, which is here condensed. 
 
 After the very remarkable story of her anccster being found 
 
 in a bird's nest by King Alfred, this chronicle goes on to 
 
 say : — 
 
 An infant was l)(»rn to tiiem, and was called Wlfhilda, who, from her 
 very weaning was pUiced at Wilton to be educated with tlie nuns there. 
 In time, King Edgar, as Ik; could not fetch her to hiuiself, nor dared 
 lo take her from tlic churdi, tries through his aimt, whose name was 
 Wenflcda, to entrap licr. Whereupon feigning feebleness, she invited
 
 164 
 
 the girl to lier house at Warewell, as tliat she might make her the 
 heiress of her pi'operty, at lier death, as if she were her own uiece. 
 When she had arrived, beliokl, King Edgar sitting at a feast, Weufleda 
 witli him, not feel)le, but merry with royal clieer. The girl is ordered 
 to her chamber to prepare herself royally, and to be brouglit to the 
 King. The King made her sit down by liis side, and promised her 
 I'iches, a kingdom, and to become Queen and Lady of Britain if she 
 Avoiild be united to him in marriage. But the maiden, with silent 
 tongue, yet beating heart, offered supplication to Christ, and silently 
 prayed to be delivered. Feigning sickness, she leaves the feast for a 
 while to rest in her chamber, as if she were weary. But the King, 
 that she might not in any way escape, places a guard of soldiers at the 
 door of her chamber. The maiden, tlierefore, as if for private necessity 
 goes whither it were disgraceful for men to follow, and having taken 
 off her stately garments, led by an angel, escajjes in flight through the 
 passage of the drain, and in the vill of Wherwell, she was entertained 
 as a beggar in the hovel of a certain very poor woman, and in the 
 moi'ning slie comes witli liaste to Wilton. 
 
 It will be well to notice here that the anecdotes related by 
 William of Malmesbury and others make it very plain that 
 Edgar himself spent much time in the neighbourhood of 
 Andover, which is but three and a half miles from Wherwell, 
 and to tell our story we must give one of these anecdotes 
 (which is corroborated by other chroniclers) in his own words : 
 
 There was in liis (Edgar's) tinu^ one ^thelwold, a nobleman of 
 celebrity and one of his contidants, him the King commissioned to 
 visit Elfrida. daugliter of Orgar, Duke of Devonshire (Avhose charms 
 had so fascinated tlie eyes of some persons that they commended her 
 to the King) and to offer her marriage if her beauty were really equal 
 to report. Hastening on liis embassy and finding everything consonant 
 to general estimation he concealed his mission from her parents and 
 procured the damsel for himself. Returning to the King he told a 
 talc which made for his oAvn purpose, that she was a girl of vulgar and 
 common-place appearance, and by no means worthy of such transcen- 
 dant dignity. When Edgar's lieart was disengaged from tliis affair, 
 and employed on other amours some tatlers acquainted him how 
 completely ^tlielwold had duped him by his artifices. Driving out 
 one nail witli anotlier, that is returning him deceit for deceit, he showed 
 the earl a fair countenance, and, as in a sportive manner appointed a 
 day when he Avould visit this far-famed lady. Terrified almost to 
 death with this dreadful pleasantry, he hastened before to liis wife 
 entreating that she would administer to his safety by attiring hei'self 
 as unbecomingly as possible, then first disclosing the intention of such 
 a proceeding. But what did not this Avoman dare ? She was hardy 
 enough to deceive the confidence of her miserable lover, her first 
 husband, to adorn herself at the mirror, and to omit nothing which 
 could stimulate the desire of a young and powerful man. Nor did 
 events happen contrary to her design for he fell so desperately in love 
 with her the moment he saw lier that dissembling his indignation he 
 sent for the Earl into a wood at Warewelle under the pretence of
 
 155 
 
 hunting and ran liini tlirougli with a javelin. When tlie illcgitiniato 
 son of the murdered nobleman approached with his accustomed 
 familiarity and was asked by the King how he liked that kind of 
 sport, he is re^jorted to have said, '' Well my sovereign liege. I ought 
 not to be displeased with that which gives you pleasure," with which 
 answer he so assuaged the mind of the monarch, that for tlic remainder 
 of his life he held no one in greater estimation than this young man, 
 mitigating the offence of his tyrannical deed against tlie father by 
 royal solicitude for the son. 
 
 Colonel Ii-emonger in 1835 erected in Harewood forest, part 
 of which is in the parish of Wherwell, a cross commonly- 
 known as "' The monument," with this inscription : 
 
 About the year of our Lord DCCCCLXni. upon this spot beyond time 
 of memory called Deadmau's Plack, tradition reports that Edgar, 
 suruamed the peaceable. King of England, in the ardour of youth, 
 love, and indignation, slew with his own hand his treacherous and 
 ungrateful favourite Earl Athelwold, owner of this forest of Harewood, 
 in resentment of the Earl's liaving basely betrayed and perfidiousW 
 married his intended bride the beauteous Elfrida, daughter of Ordgar, 
 Earl of Devonshire, afterwards wife of King Edgar, and by him 
 mother of King Etheldred the II. which Queen Elfrida, after Edgar's 
 death, murdered his eldest son King Edward the Martyr, and founded 
 tlie Nunnei'y of Whorwell. 
 
 It has heen pointed out that "we can see in the conflicting 
 narratives of Edgar's reign the traces of the feud hetween the 
 regular clergy who speak in his praise, and the stories so 
 inconsistent with morality, much less with religion which are 
 current concerning his reign, and which, it may be, the 
 Secular clergy, who were ousted to make room for monks, 
 preserved or even invented concerning the King who Avas so 
 hard on their order." But although the wording of the 
 inscription seems to indicate a more favourable view of Edgar's 
 character than perhaps history warrants, it is not probable 
 that this controversy had anything to do with it. And the 
 statement that EarKEthelwold was owner of Harewood forest, 
 needs confirmation. 
 
 But the fact of Edgar's marriage with .Elfrida and of their 
 son being afterwards King Ethelred II, are beyond all dispute. 
 The murder also of Edward the Martyr at Corfe Castle — 
 which treacherous deed is said to be the origin of the 
 ceremonial of the loving cup — is a matter of history. A 
 further incident mentioned by the chroniclers which has some 
 bearing on the characters of the persons we are speaking of is 
 that when lElfrida's son Ethelred was ten years old, a report 
 reached him that his half brother Edward had been killed, at 
 which he wept, which so irritated his furious mother, that
 
 156 
 
 not haviug a whip at hand, she snatched up some candles and 
 nearly beat his life out so that he dreaded candles all the rest 
 of his days. Bishop Tanner says Elfrida was the lady that 
 caused Brithwide the first Abbot of Ely to be murdered. 
 
 It was as a proof of penitence for the bloodshed in which 
 she had been concerned, that in A.D. 986, ^Elfrida founded 
 Wherwell Abbey for Benedictine nuns. 
 
 Capgrave says, "After him (Edgar) Avas his son Kyng, 
 which is a martir killed by the fraud of Alfrick, his stepmodir, 
 but after that sche ded penans sche translat him onto 
 Shaftisbyry, and too monasteries of women did sche make on 
 at AVherwell, where sche lith, and other at Amesbury hard by 
 Salisbury." 
 
 William of Malmesbury says, " In expiation of this crime 
 a monastery, which was built on the spot {i.e. of the murder 
 of Earl iEthelwold) by /Elfrida, is inhabited by a large con- 
 gregation of nuns." 
 
 In the Chartulary of Wherwell Abbey, presumably the book 
 Tanner notices as in possession of Joshua Iremonger, Esqre., 
 and which Dugdale saw in 1669 in the hands of Charles Lord 
 de la Warr, it is thus touchingly put, "And in the place, 
 which by the inhabitants is called Wherwell, founded the 
 Church of the Holy Cross, beseeching Christ, that He who, 
 wounded on the (ever) memorable Cross, shed His blood for 
 the redemption of the human race, might deign to grant her 
 the pardon (purchased) by His death. His wounds, and by the 
 shedding of His blood rich (in graces)." 
 
 Although in more than one passage of the chroniclers, 
 Harewood, the forest in which Earl .Ethelwold was murdered 
 seems to be confused with Warewell, we may with confidence 
 dismiss any doubt as to the site of u:Elfrida's foundation, as it 
 is with very remarkable repetition always described as the 
 " place" called by the inhabitants Wharwell. Canon Isaac 
 Taylor considers that the name probably means a well with a 
 ewer or pitcher for drinking, akin to Kettlewell, and there is 
 a spring near Dublin farm, which, it is supposed, may have 
 been this drinking fountain of early days. 
 
 " In the year of our Lord 1002, the 15th of the Kalends of 
 December, died the Lady Elfrida of pious memory. Queen of 
 Edgar, the peaceable, formerly King of England," says the 
 Chronicle in the Chartulary; and subsequently states : "The 
 aforesaid King Ethelred, son of the said queen, endowed the 
 same church, and augmented it with various possessions, and
 
 157 
 
 with the agreement of blessed Dunstan, then Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and of St. Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, 
 instituted nuns in the aforenamed place of Wherwell that 
 they might serve God there." The charter of King 
 Ethelred II., here alluded to, is dated the year of his 
 mother's death, and readily lends itself to the suggestion 
 that it is dealing with property to which he would have had 
 the reversion had it not been granted to the Church. 
 
 This document Dugdalo prints from the Charter Roll 44, 
 Henry III., n. 6, which monarch in his Inspeximus recites 
 that the original document had become worn with age. 
 Passing over a great deal of introductory matter, the part in 
 which we are most interested begins, 
 
 I, -Ethelred, governor of the Euglisli people, and coregnlns of the 
 whole Britisli island, and of the otlier islands in the adjacent parts, 
 offer witli most Immble devotion to Christ and All Saints a certain 
 noble convent with the vill ronnd about coimeeted with it, which the 
 common people from tlie vicinity of a spring" are aptly accustomed to 
 call a3t Werewell, with the little houses which arc adjacent round about 
 the before written place or vill, as we liave said. The whole portion of 
 ))otli which collected equally into one quantity contains seventy manors. 
 . . . And tliis I devoutly offer to tlie giver of all good gifts for a 
 remedy of the souls of my father Eadgar, and my mother called Elfdryd, 
 because slie, while she lived, possessed it. and applied herself diligently 
 to build it up. . . . And further ... I add the gift of most 
 pure devotion, assigning for the support of food and clothing of the 
 lioly uuns earnestly serving Christ — in the aforenamed monastery a 
 certain otlier village situate in tlie province of the West Saxons, which 
 the dwellers of the ])lace call Edelingedeeu of sixty cotlands, which the 
 afoi'esaid queen, as long as she possessed a spark of life, kept for her 
 own proper use. . . I commend the care of the directing of this to 
 the Venerable Abbess Heanfled. 
 
 And after the names of the witnesses it is added — 
 
 Twenty-nine messuages ai"e in the city of Winchester laying apart 
 in different places which jirofits by the aforesaid service belong to the 
 inonasteiy, and all outside remain without the demesne. ... In 
 the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 1008, and the thirty-fourth of 
 my reign, I have added ten homesteads to wit, situate in the place 
 usually called Bulanduii, Avith all lielongings, &c. 
 
 It is these endowments which afford the connecting interest 
 of the story of Wherwell Abbey, for they are traceable during 
 the whole of the existence of the monastery, and were in its 
 possession when it was dissolved. 
 
 Domesday Book says, "The Abbey of Wherwell holds the 
 whole village in which stands the Church, and always held 
 it. . . The same Abbey hobls Tockington (Tufton) and
 
 158 
 
 always held it. . . The same Abbey holds Goodworth 
 (Clatford) and always held it. . . The same Abbey holds 
 Anne (Little) and always held it. . . The same Abbey 
 holds Middleton (Longparish) and always held it. . . The 
 same Abbe^^ holds Bullandun (Bulliugton) and always 
 held it. 
 
 " The same Abbey holds in the city of Winchester 31 mes- 
 suages which are free from all customary charges, except the 
 King's geld, of which the Abbess' own house is free. The 
 value in the time of King Edward was 50s., and now 30s. 
 In ^yinchester the Abbey had also a mill which pays 48s.''' 
 
 The Liber Winton enumerates the Winchester houses with 
 their tenants and rents. They were situate in Flesmanger- 
 stret, Scowitenstret, and Alwarnestret. These are now 
 known, respectively, as St. Peter-street, Jewry-street, and 
 Parchment-street. 
 
 Picckoning up the various classes on these six manors we 
 find a total of 36 villeins, 48 borderers, 25 freemen (who were 
 all in Wherwell), and 30 servants. The religious, of course, 
 were not reckoned. In Wherwell there was wood for 25 hogs, 
 and in Tufton and Ann there were copses for fences, while at 
 Middleton there was a fishery for the use of the hall. The 
 three mills still remain in existence. 
 
 It is surely not too bold a conjecture to suppose that this 
 property which Ethelred II. confirmed to the monastery, and 
 which certainly came to them from his mother ^Ifrida, had 
 come to her from her husband. King Edgar, whom, it is 
 reasonable to infer, may have had it from his aunt Wenfleda, 
 for according to John of Tinmouth she possessed a house at 
 Wherwell, in which she entertained the King, and where her 
 guests were ''royally'' attired at the feast. The statement 
 that Earl Athelwold was owner of the forest is not reliable, 
 and it is improbable that ^Elfrida brought this land to her 
 husband as dower. If Edgar's uncle, King Edred, who left 
 the manor of Fugelerstune to St. Peter's, Winchester, should 
 have been the husband of his aunt Wenfleda, it makes the 
 disposal of the estate at once natural and complete. And 
 then it is almost certain that the site of the monastery was 
 originally that of (?) Queen Wenfleda's house, and if so, the 
 stream which now runs murmuring through the beautiful 
 grounds of the mansion so inappropriately called the 
 " Priory," and indeed under part of the house itself (see plan), 
 
 •' With here aucl there a lusty trout,"
 
 159 
 
 may claim the additional interest of having afforded Wlfhilda 
 the means of escape from Edgar's too importunate suit. 
 
 The fact of the Abbess being Lady of the Manor over so 
 large an estate, must necessarily have involved an amount of 
 business consideration, and brought with it responsibilities 
 which submitted her capacity for administration to a great 
 and continuous strain. We are, perhaps, too much accus- 
 tomed to think of the "Religious houses" as onli) the peaceful 
 abodes of contemplation and retirement, and forget the 
 immense amount of business that of necessity devolved on 
 them. We have in the case of Wherwell Abbey abundant 
 illustration of the multitudinous engagements which must 
 have fallen more or less directly to the share of the head of the 
 house. We shall have to see her the guardian and shelterer 
 of those in trouble and distress. There were the many 
 " liberties" and privileges to preserve, in some cases, long and 
 expensive law suits to carry on. There was the obligation of 
 keeping abreast of the times v>'ith the renewals and confirma- 
 tions of charters and grants, which the need and greed of 
 successive Kings made a constantly recurring anxiety and 
 expense. There were the markets, the fairs, and other 
 "rights'" to be maintained. There was the changing insepar- 
 able from a large number of tenants. There was the ever- 
 ready hospitality to. maintain for the travellers, through a 
 sparsely populated and almost roadless country. All these, 
 besides what we should call the ordinary duties of a land- 
 owner, are experiences which are more and more diflficult to 
 realize as manorial rights and services fall into desuetude, 
 and pass out of memory. 
 
 A very slight study of the compotus rolls of any consider- 
 able monastery will shew what was the position occupied by 
 the religious houses as centres of life and activity. 
 
 The story of Wherwell Abbey brings in at least two remark- 
 able instances of " Beauty and anguish walking hand-in-hand," 
 for the convent had to provide refuge for two other (|ueens 
 renowned for their loveliness. The " Pearl of Normandy" as 
 Duke Richard's daughter was called (known afterwards when 
 the widow of two kings, Ethelrcd II. and Cnut, as Lady 
 .(Elfgivu Emma), sojourned involuntarily in the "custody" of 
 the Abbess of Wherwell, when in A.D. 1043, the King 
 Edward, her son, and his three great Earls* " came unawares 
 
 * Auglo-Saxon Clu'onicle. AnualesEccl.. Wintoii. Angl. Sac, vol. 1, 
 pp. 291,292.
 
 160 
 
 npon the Lady Emma and they beveaved her of all the 
 treasures she possessed, and they were not to he told, because 
 before she had been very hard with the King her son, inas- 
 much as she had done less for him than he would before he 
 was King, and also since." Edward the Confessor also subse- 
 quently sent his own wife, the lovely and gentle Edith,* 
 daughter of Earl Godwin, to Wherwell, where it would seem 
 his sister was then abbess. Over the saintly lady Edith the 
 chroniclers exhaust the language of commendation. Not only 
 docs Ingulph i enlarge on his personal memories of her sweet- 
 ness of disposition and great learning, but whenever she is 
 mentioned by any of them, it is always in the same strain. 
 There seem to have been two common sayings about her : — 
 
 As comes the rose from the thorn 
 
 Came Edith from Glodwin, 
 
 Thus out of it was made a coui'teous verse 
 
 Of wliieh Olei'ks knew well the French. 
 
 That is : Sicut spina rosam 
 
 Genuit Godwinus Editliam. 
 
 and the other : 
 
 In rich and noble work 
 
 Had no peer as far as Constantinople. 
 
 Edward's treatment of his gentle and beautiful queen seems 
 to have been harsh, to say the least of it.+ " Then put away 
 the King, the lady who had been consecrated his queen, and 
 caused to be taken from her all which she possessed in land 
 and in gold, and in silver, and in all things and delivered her 
 to his sister at Wherwell ;" another passage says, " And she 
 was brought to Wherwell and they delivered her to the 
 Abbess." Florence of Worcester adds that " The King sent 
 her with one waiting-maid to Wherwell without honour, and 
 committed her to the keeping of the Abbess." She could not 
 however have remained very long, as her father, Earl Godwin, 
 came back in 1052, and the Lady Edith returned to the 
 palace which she adorned as much as she had done the 
 cloister. 
 
 What may probably be a similar instance occurs in 1244, 
 when§ " The Abbess of Wherwell is commanded to deliver 
 Isabella the daughter of Koger de Akeni who is detained by 
 the King in the same abbey to Mazzio de la Marr to be con- 
 ducted where the King has ordered him." 
 
 * William of Malmesbury p. 185. f Ingidph Chronicle. 
 X Ano-lo-Saxon Chronicle. § Close Roll, 29 Henry III., m. 8.
 
 161 
 
 King John in 1215 granted* " To the Abbess ciud nuns of 
 Hwerewell tliat they may have a fair every year at Wherwell 
 of four days' duration on the dedication of their church at 
 Hwerewell." The church of the monastery was, as we have 
 already seen, dedicated to the Holy Cross. The festival of 
 the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Anglo-Saxon Roodmas 
 Day, the 14th of September, is kept in honour of the expo- 
 sition of a portion of the Cross in the Basilica, erected at 
 Jerusalem by the Empress Helena. The fair maintains its 
 importance in the county, and is held on the !2-4th of Sep- 
 tember, which, as the old style is locally retained for all such 
 reckonings, is the historic date. 
 
 Some indication of the need of a firm front in days of 
 which it was true 
 
 The o-oocl old rule 
 
 Suffieetli tlieiii ; the simple plau 
 
 That they should take who have the power 
 
 Aud they should keep wlio eau, 
 
 is afforded by entries on the Close Rolls of the Gth, 7th, and 
 12th of Henry III. One of these, 1222-3, may be taken as 
 a specimen : — 
 
 The King to Michael de Columbai- greetino-. We eoumiaud you that 
 you allow the Abbess of Werewell to have lier reasonable estovers in 
 her wood of Harewood to wit, her bush and fire wood and house bot aud 
 hay bot as she has been accustomed to have in the time of King Richard 
 our uncle aud Jolm our predecessor, nor are you to do or allow in tliis 
 res]jeet any luolestatiou or grievance. Witness at Oxford by Bishop 
 of Winchester. 
 
 The Abbess of course would have among her servants her 
 dapifer or steward, aud in a grant of William I. William the 
 dapifer of the Abbess of Wherwell and Robert his brother 
 occur as witnesses. 
 
 Henry III. in 12G6 granted to the Abbess and her suc- 
 cessors a weekly market to be held on Wednesdays. There 
 is no trace of this now, nor indeed with our modern methods 
 would there be any reason in retaining it. But remembering 
 the stretch of country which was included iu the manors of 
 the Abbess, and the monopoly the Lord of the Manor 
 possessed, this was doubtless for a long time a source of con- 
 siderable profit. 
 
 The Patent Roll of 8 Richard II., A.D. 1384, preserves the 
 
 * Close Roll, 16 Jolui. 
 M
 
 162 
 
 memory of a remarkable right exercised by the Abbess. It 
 appears that the King was petitioned to reverse the judgment 
 of the Court of King's Bench against the Convent, under the 
 following circumstances. The Abbey claimed that from time 
 immemorial they had had the right to the goods of fugitives 
 in their hundred of Mestowe. A certain Henry Harold of 
 Wherwell killed Isabella, his wife, at Wherwell within the 
 same hundred, by reason of which felony he fled to the 
 Church of Wherwell, and the goods of the said Henry to the 
 value of thirty-five pounds four shillings and eight pence 
 were seized for the Abbess by Gilbert Joseph, then the reeve 
 of the said Abbey, although at the time the Abbe}^ was vacant 
 (that is, there was no Abbess). The Court seemed to have 
 held the proceeding illegal, but the King reversed their 
 decision and confirmed the privilege. 
 
 The Chartulary, to which reference has been made, contains 
 a very large number of documents relating to the property 
 held and acquired by the Abbey. It is however thought 
 better for considerations of space to pass by the whole subject 
 of the possessions of the Monastery. It is interesting to 
 notice that this MS. has on its first page the words and music 
 of part of a hymn to the Virgin Mary which probably had 
 formerly been used in the choir by the nuns themselves. 
 
 There are few incidents in the story of Wherwell Abbey, 
 that find a place in history after the Norman Conquest. The 
 holy quiet work of unostentatious love and duty went on 
 through centuries with untold benefits to those living in the 
 parts around, but making little mark on the wider world 
 beyond. With the Conquest the Eoyal line ceased to have 
 any personal associations with the neighbourhood, and ladies 
 of local or other families occupied the position of Superior, 
 which had once, at any rate, been held by the King's sister. 
 The troubles of the Idngdom however did not pass over 
 without bringing their share to the usually peaceful dwellers 
 in the valley of the Test. William of Malmsbury tells us 
 during the contest between King Stephen and the Empress 
 Maud :— 
 
 The voads ou every side of "Winchester were watched by tlie Queen 
 and the Earls who had eome with her, lest the supplies sliould be 
 brought in to those who had sworn fidelity to the Empress. The town 
 of Andever also was burnt. . . . The abbey of nuns at Warewel 
 was also burnt by one William de Ipres, an abandoned character Avho 
 feared neither God nor man, because some of the partisans of the 
 Empress had secured themselves within it.
 
 163 
 
 Tu Mr. W. Money's History of Newbury, page 84, is the 
 followiug uote : — 
 
 In the course of coustructiug a uew line from Hurstbourue Siding to 
 FuUevtou Junction by the South-Western Railway Company in the 
 Autumn of 1883, eight human skeletons Avere unearthed at Wherwell. 
 They were found very close together — about two feet below the surface 
 — and they wei-e probably the remains of soldiers who fell in this 
 encounter between the troops of Stephen and Matilda. 
 
 A list of the Abbesses of Wherwell is given in Diigdale, to 
 which some additions are here made : — 
 
 Heaufled was abbess in 1002. 
 
 Hedda. 
 
 Hceddi. 
 
 The Kiug"s Sister 
 
 was 
 
 abbess 
 
 in 1U51. 
 
 Matilda 
 
 >> 
 
 
 
 1207. 
 
 Euphemia 
 
 JJ 
 
 
 
 122t). 
 
 Elene de Percy 
 
 )> 
 
 
 
 1282. 
 
 Isabella 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 1300. 
 
 Maud Littleton 
 
 J) 
 
 
 
 1335. 
 
 Amitia Ladde 
 
 ») 
 
 
 
 1340. 
 
 Constantia de Wiutreshall 
 
 
 1361. 
 
 Joan Cotterell 
 
 
 
 
 1361. 
 
 Cecilia Lavington 
 
 
 
 
 1375. 
 
 Alice Parys 
 
 
 
 
 1412. 
 
 Anne Quarley 
 
 
 
 
 1451. 
 
 Alice Serle 
 
 
 
 
 1452. 
 
 Juliauna Overy 
 
 
 
 
 1453. 
 
 Matilda Rowse 
 
 
 
 
 1494. 
 
 Avelina or Aveton 
 
 Cow 
 
 drey 
 
 
 1518. 
 
 Anne Colta or Coll 
 
 :e 
 
 
 )? 
 
 1529. 
 
 TJj)on whose resignation 
 Morphuet or Morphet Kingsmill was elected 1536. 
 
 This lady was cousin to the last Prior of St. Swithun's 
 and first Dean of the Cathedral, and sister of Sir John 
 Kingsmill, one of the Commissioners for the Dissolution. 
 
 The surrender was on the 21st November, 1540. *The 
 Abbess had a pension assigned to her of £40 a year. Alice 
 Giflford, the Prioress, had Jl.Q, Margery Wright, the sub- 
 Prioress, £5, Elizabeth Clerk, the " sexten," £4, Joan 
 Mitchell £5, *Elizabeth Pickering £4, Agnes Sybell, Joan 
 Emiey, Joan Lucas, 'Mary Inkpen, Joice Harte, Alice 
 Harward, ^Elizabeth Perchar, Mary Erncloy, *Agnes 
 Hardinge, Mary Willoughby, 'Agnes Holte, ^Margaret 
 Asshe, and Elizabeth Tomlyn had each a pension assigned 
 them of £3 6s. 8d. ; while *Murphct Vine, *Joan Mate, 
 *Joan Woodlock, *Elizabeth Foster, * Elizabeth Hacker, and 
 
 M 2
 
 164 
 
 *Joan Dolling had £"2 13s. 4cl. per annum. These pensions 
 ahsoi'becl ^6123 6s. 8cl., and the account is closed with the 
 statement " an soo remayneth clere ^^229 12s. Ojd." Those 
 pensioners marked * were still in receipt of their pensions 
 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, 1555 — 6. The account says there 
 were no jewels, and no ornaments " reserved to the use of the 
 King's M'gestie," but of plate "reserved to the same use" 
 there was "silver gilt 2025^ oz., silver parcel gilt 87 oz., 
 silver white 623 oz., a total of 9122- oz." 
 
 The sum of all the oruameuts, goods, and cattales there fouudeu 
 belougiuo- to the said moiiasteiy sold 1\y the said comyssiouers as 
 publicly appei'ith iu the l)ooks of the sale thereof made and redy to be 
 showed iiij^'' xv" xxiii'' whereof in payments to the late religious and 
 servents despatched To vij of the late said religious of the saide late 
 monastery of the King's ma''""' reward viz. to iiij every of them and xl" 
 to iiij every of them xx^ x'. 
 
 To xlviij parsons being chapleynes, officers, and s'v'* of the said late 
 monastery for their wages and liueries xxv" iii. Of dettes owing by 
 the seyd late m'stei-y to di'use p'sons as well of the citie of Winchester, 
 as of the same town of Wherwell for money owing to them for victualles 
 and other necessaries bought and hadd to the use of the said late house 
 xvi^' xviii^ ij**, and soo x-emayneth clere xliij^ ix"". Debtes owing to the 
 seid late mo'stery — none. To the same by S'' John Burley Clerk p'son 
 of Mildeston for the costs expensis and chai'ges by the late Abbes and 
 convent susteyned in the s'puall laws by the wrongful vexation of the 
 said p'son as by decree made by Docter Cockes therein judge under the 
 bissops of Canterbury now pleynlie may appear xj". 
 
 Speed gives the value of the endowments at the time of 
 the suppression as £403 12s. lOd., Dugdale as ±'339 8s. 7d. 
 Of the annuities and pensions mentioned above to others 
 than nuns, William, Marquis of Winchester, High Steward, 
 had £Q per annum, Richard Taylor, clerk, £4, John Cooke 
 £1 6s. 8d., and Christouher Browne £'2. The Commissioners 
 were Robert Southwell, John London, John Kyngesmill, 
 Richard Powlett, and William Berners. 
 
 The mention of the " religious and servants dispatched" 
 suggests some sad reflections, but the accounts we have of 
 the buildings are especially valuable iu enabling us to form 
 some conjecture as to their situation, because no plans or 
 views have been yet found, and there is therefore very little 
 to show what the Abbey looked like. 
 
 It must be noticed lirst that the Parish Church of Holy 
 Cross and S. Peter was pulled down and rebuilt in 1858. 
 The old building is stated to have been repaired after the 
 Reformation with the best portions of the Abbey ruins. " It
 
 I 
 
 165 
 
 had a chapel which was appropriated to the ' Priory' as a 
 pew, and which had a separate special entrance." There is 
 no tradition of any other church, and it is conjectured that 
 the same " church" (the term, it will be observed, used of the 
 whole monastery in Domesday) served both for the monastery 
 and the parish, with presumably a chapel for parochial 
 services as at Romsey. In the inventory wo have the 
 following account : — 
 
 Houses and Building's assigned to re may u. The late Abbess 
 lodging w' the houses w' in tlu^ Qiiadraunte, as the water leadeth from 
 tlie cast side of the Cloister to tlie gate. The ffarmcry, the mylle, and 
 Millhous w'' the skughter house adjoining, the bruinge and baking 
 houses w' the granaries, to the same, the barne and stabulles in the 
 utter courte. Possess" thereof dclyured to the Lord de la Warr, by 
 force of Mr. Chauncellors If". 
 
 Deemed to be superfluous : — The church quyer and steple couered w'' 
 leade, the cloister couered w'' tyles, and centre gutters of leade, the 
 chapiter house, ffrayter dormitory conuent kitchen, and all the olde 
 lodgings between the granarie and the hall dore, couered with tyles. 
 Commyted to the custodye of tlie Lord de la Warr to the use of the 
 King's ma"^. 
 
 Lead remayning upon the houses aforesaid x fodders. Bells 
 rcmayning in the stepel there v. poiz by estiac v'" vij' weight. 
 
 The number of bells is the same as at present. 
 
 Nothing more can be said about the old church, for with 
 the exception of some fragments of mouldings and one monu- 
 mental effigy, and parts of two monuments, there are 
 absolutely no traces of it. The present house (the Priory) 
 was built about the time of Charles I., and, as has been 
 mentioned, stands partly over a stream, which runs beneath 
 the drawing room and issues at the back of the house under 
 an archway of older workmanship than the rest of the wall. 
 The stream is conjectured to be the moat round (?) Queen 
 Wenfleda's house. It derives its supply of water through a 
 double cutting made in a south-easterly direction to a higher 
 reach of the Test. The burial ground was certainly north of 
 the present house, and nearer the church, and it is probable 
 the " Abbess's lodging" was much more in the centre of the 
 Quadrangle, which is still nearly completely surrounded by 
 the moat except on the side towards the church ; and it is 
 very easy to see how the cloister might connect the con- 
 ventual buildings with the church, having " the water leading 
 from its east side to the gate," supposing the gate to be 
 where the road formerly ran to join the Winchester 'turnpike.' 
 The site of the slaughter house which was pulled down about
 
 166 
 
 15 years ago is close to the stables, which have some very 
 massive old timbers in them, and are, in all probability, on 
 the old site in what still forms an "outer court." The mill 
 and mill house are probably where they always were. The 
 monument, erroneously stated in White's " Hampshire" to 
 be in the Winchester museum, was dug up in the church- 
 yard ; it is in a mutilated condition, and now placed in the 
 churchyard wall grouped with other fragments w^hich have 
 nothing whatever to do with it. It represents an abbess, 
 possibly about the time of Joan Cotterill or Cecilia Lavington. 
 A rude, and probably early, stone coffin is in the churchyard, 
 and two coffin lids in the Priory grounds. 
 
 The "prebend" or vicarage of Wlierwell appears always to 
 have been in the hands of the monastery. The site of the 
 Abbey was granted 31 Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas West, 
 Lord de la Warr, who exchanged it for an estate called 
 Halfnaked Park in Sussex, and the property has come down 
 through the families of Cutler, Cutler Boulter, and Fryer, to 
 that of Iremonger in whom it is now vested. 
 
 This confessedly very imperfect notice may conclude with 
 the transcript of an inscription placed in the " Priory" wall, 
 the actual date of which, however, like its statements, is 
 questionable. 
 
 Anuo Dom 1649 
 
 Here was the Monastery of "Wherwell. Erected by Queene 
 Etlielrorl. Demolished by the overactod zeale or avarice of Kinj^ 
 Henry, and of its last mines here buried there yet remains this his 
 monument.
 
 107 
 
 Part II. 
 
 The old order changeth, yielding place to new. 
 
 The Passing of Arthur. 
 
 The actual day on which the old order at Wherwell yielded 
 place to new was the 21st November, 1540. But this chanp;e 
 did-not all at once work smoothly here any more than it did 
 elsewhere. It must be remembered that the village and 
 m-anor of Wherwell as well as a considerable tract of the sur- 
 rounding country, stood in much closer relationship to the 
 Lady Abbess than merely that of neighbours. She was 
 their head as Lady of the Manor, and in her, as such, centred 
 most of the business concerns of the everyday life of the 
 inhabitants, and for nearly six centuries she had been the 
 owner of the soil and the chief emploj^er of labour, whilst 
 that benevolent aid and hospitality which was an essential of 
 the life of the community in which she ruled, reached her 
 dependants and neighbours first, and benefited them un- 
 ceasingly. 
 
 How terribly the change involved in the suppression of the 
 monasteries was felt throughout the country is shown by a 
 petition presented at the time to the King. 
 
 Great hurt and decay is thereby come, and hereafter shall come to 
 this your i-ealm, and great impoverishment of many your poor obedient 
 subjects, for lack of hospitality and good liouseliolding which was in 
 them to bo kept, to the great relief of tlie poor people of all the country 
 adjoining to the said monasteries, l^esides the maintenance of many 
 servants, husbandmen, and labourers that daily were kept in the said reli- 
 gious houses. — [Gasquet's Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries.] 
 
 Nor, indeed, was even the transfer of the property itself 
 completed, without much bickering and consequent delay and 
 irritation, which were injurious to the last degree, affecting 
 not only the tenants on the manors, but also all that numerous 
 class who in one way or another derived their employment and 
 support from the Convent. 
 
 The reader is referred to Canon Gasquet's exhaustive book 
 for a full and perfectly fair and accurate account of this 
 violent confiscation and its attendant results. Speaking in 
 general terms Wherwell Abbey seems to have been a typical
 
 168 
 
 case, but with this much in its favour, that it had all the pro- 
 tection the honourable and influential family of Kyngesmill 
 could secure for it. The last Abbess was Morphuet Kynges- 
 mill, whose cousin was the last Prior and first Dean of St. 
 Swithun, Winchester. Her father was Sir John Kyngesmill, 
 of Basingstoke, Justice of Common Pleas, who died 1509. 
 And her brother was Sir John Kyngesmill of Sydmonton,who 
 died 1556, and is buried at Kingsclere. He was one of the 
 Commissioners for the Dissolution. It is but fair to assume 
 that he did his best for his sister and the nuns in her charge. 
 And there does not seem to be any indication of the harsh 
 treatment and vindictive cruelty which in far too many cases 
 accompanied the confiscation. 
 
 That the family of the Kyngesmills had foreseen the 
 bursting of the storm is evident ; and they had doubtless laid 
 their plans accordingly, but there is much to show that this 
 convent found consideration in the hour when it was most 
 needed, and that, as far as it was possible, they befriended 
 the religious. 
 
 While the estates of the Monasteries were being " caught 
 up in the market" and their purchase prospectively arranged 
 for, Commissioner Kyngesmill kept his eye on Wherwell, as 
 is shown by a passage in Thomas Cromwell's note book. 
 
 Item to remember Warren for a monastery, Mf. Gostyke for a 
 monastery. .John Freeman for Spaldinq-, Mr. Kinsfsmill for Wherwell. 
 myself for Lannd. Item to remember to know the true value of the 
 goods of Castle Acre for my part thereof. 
 
 Mr. Kyngesmill, however, did not get Wherwell Abbey, nor 
 any of its property, for which more than one had been on the 
 look out. 
 
 It was sold to Sir Thomas West, Lord de la Warr, and the 
 deed by which it passed to him will be found on the Patent 
 Ptoll 31, Henry VIII. (1540). It recites that by a " certain 
 indenture bearing date 3 March, 31 of our reign, between us 
 of the first part and the aforesaid Lord la Warr and Lady 
 Elizabeth his wife on the other part, they had bargained and 
 sold to us and our heirs the Manor or Lordship of Halfnaked 
 and Watterton in the county of Sussex with Halfnaked Park, 
 Goodwood Park, &c.," and proceeds, 
 
 Know ye that Ave in consideration * * * have given and granted 
 * * * to Sir Thomas West Lord la Warr and Lady Elizabeth his 
 wife the site and precincts of the late monastery of Wherewell other- 
 wise called Wherwell in our county of Southampton lately dissolved,
 
 169 
 
 too^ether with all aud siug-ular houses, stables, structures, dovecotes, 
 &c., &c., Avithin the site and precincts of the late Monastery. And all 
 that water mill and thirtj' acres of laud and several water in Wherewell 
 formerly parcell of the possessions of the late monastery, and formerly 
 being in the hands of the last Abbess for the use of the said late 
 monastery. And also the manors or Lordships of Wherewell, West- 
 over, Middleton, Totyngton (Tufton), Bolynton Good, otherwise Good- 
 worth Clatford and Little Ann, with the appurtenances, parcell of the 
 possessions, profits or hereditaments of the said late monastery, and all 
 that prebend of Good otherwise Goodwoi'th, &c. And the advowson 
 of the parish church of Wherewell formerly belonging to the late 
 monastery. And all woods, &c. And all that wood called Harewood, 
 containing by estimation 660 aci-es * * * And all that messuage, 
 <tc., "called Jayes, formerly in the occupation of a certain Richard 
 Burley with all, &c., &c., in as ample manner and form as the last 
 Abbess * * * To be held of us and our successors in capite for a 
 fifth part of a Knight's service, yielding and paying to the Augmenta- 
 tion Office £137 3s. 8d. a year. 
 
 Sir Thomas West would seem then to have paid a con- 
 siderable sum for the site of Wherwell and its manors and 
 advowsons. But curiously enough some of the property thus 
 conveyed to him was sokl over again to someone else. The 
 calm serenity with which the mistake is rectified will be best 
 seen from another document. 
 
 Memorandum. Whereas the King's highness by his graces patent 
 under his great seal of England for the sum of forty pounds and eleven 
 shillings amongst other things bargained, sold and granted unto John 
 Gyers, Esquire, to his heirs and assigns, the advowson gift and 
 patronage of tlie prebend and parsonage of Whorwell, in the county of 
 Southampton, And whereas also a long time before the bargaine sale 
 and grant of the said advowson to the said John Gyers in form afore- 
 said, our said Sovereign Lord the King gave and granted the same 
 advowson to the Lord De La Warr to his heirs and assigns for ever, 
 by irason whereof the said bargain sale and grant of the said advowson 
 and patronage of the said prebend and patronage made to the said 
 John Gj'crs in form aforesaid is void and of none cfi'oet, by reason 
 whereof the .said John Gyers in reason and conscience ouglit to be 
 recompensed hj the King's highness of the .said fourty ])Ounds and 
 eleven shillings wliich the .said John hath paid to the King's highness 
 for the purchase of the said advowson in foruie aforesaid. In con- 
 sequence whereof it is ordered and decreed by the Chancellor and 
 Counsell of the Court of Augmentations of the revenues of our Sovereign 
 Lord the King on tlu' xxth daye of August in the xxxvjth year of the 
 reign of oixr Sovereign Lord Henry the eighth l)y the grace of God 
 Kyng of England, France and Ireland, defender of the faithe, &c., that 
 the said John Gyers in recompense of the said money paid by him for 
 the purchase of the said advowson in forme aforesaid shall have of the 
 King's highness the sum of fourty fonre pounds and eleven shillings 
 to be paid to him immediately upon the makyng of the decree by those 
 of the treasury of the said courte of the Augmentations of the revenues
 
 170 
 
 of our Sovcraigno Lord the Kynge's Crown of such his Grace's trea- 
 sury of the same i-evenuos as romaj^noth in tlie hand of the said 
 treasurer, and this decree shall be to the said treasurer a sufficient 
 warrant and discharge in that behaulf. — [Augmentation Office Decrees 
 and Orders.] 
 
 In order to make our story plain we must refer to an 
 abridged pedigree of West, Lord la Warr. — ^^'^^ Appendix. 
 
 It is almost certain that the Lord la Warr who purchased 
 it did not himself reside at Wherwell, and his half-brother, 
 Sir George West, was dead before the suppression of the 
 house, but another half-brother, Sir Owen West, who married 
 Mary, daughter of Sir George Guildford, of Hempstead Place, 
 Kent, in all probability lived there and was buried in the 
 church. 
 
 On the remains of an altar tomb or tombs now built in 
 the wall dividing the churchyard and the vicarage are the 
 inscriptions — 
 
 " Of your eharite pray for the sooles of Sir Owen Weste, 
 Knight, and Mary his wyjfc who died.^' 
 
 " The wJiichc died the 18 day of itdy, anno domino 1551." 
 
 This last unquestionably refers to Sir Owen West, whose 
 will is given in the appendix. 
 
 There is a strong probability that Wherwell may have 
 been made the jointure house. There are inscriptions in the 
 present church, removed from the old building, to John, son 
 of Henry, Lord la Warr, 1656, and Mary, first wife of Charles, 
 son of Charles, 5th Lord la Warr. 
 
 At west end of nave of present church : — 
 
 This stone is trusted Avith ye precious aslies and memory of ye 
 
 honourable Mrs. Mary West, 
 
 sole daiighter of Ferdinando Huddlcston, Esq.. of Milton Castle, in 
 
 Cumberland, 
 
 and married unto Charles West. 
 
 Her Rare piety made her life innocent and taught her to be a 
 
 good daughter and an excellent wife 
 
 till she dyed in ye Flourish of her youth and Virtues. 
 
 "Vita nostra est Instar fluminis quod currit ad mare Mortis. 
 
 East end. 
 
 Here lyeth the Body of the Hon. John West, 3rd Son of 
 The Lord La Warr, who died a childe ye 5th yeare of his age. 
 
 1656. 
 Reader shed a teare for ye losse of soe much innocency. 
 
 For the sake of continuity we have followed up the " new 
 order" of things at Wherwell first. But there are some
 
 171 
 
 further particulars to be considered of that '' old order" 
 which had to give place. The will of the last Abbess of 
 Wherwell preserved in the Consistorial Court at Winchester 
 aftbrds a touching insight into the life of the scattered 
 members of the community, and a valuable link with the 
 past. It is here given in full. 
 
 Jhesus. 
 
 The last daye of March, auo. xij., Elizabeth Regine. 
 
 In ye name of God amen, I Morvetlie Kynesmell, late Abbese of ye 
 Monastery of Wherwell, doe make thes my last will and testament in 
 this-man'r and forme followiuge. First I bequethe my sole to 
 Almiglitye God, my onely maker and Redemcr, and my body to be 
 bnried witliin ye chnrche at what plase my f rends shall thynk 'good. 
 Item, I geve to ye mother churche in Winchester vijs. Item, to 
 Wherwell goodworthe Longparysh, bolingdon and to lynton to yevery 
 of them ijs. Item, I geve to my Lady Kyngesmell my sister a 
 coiinter table. Item, I geve to Mrs. pekeryng a fetlicrbedde, a fether- 
 bolster, a pelow, a payer of fnsten blankets, a fyne payer of schetes, a 
 pelowber, a coverlet of daruex. a carpet cusshen. Item, I geve to Jane 
 Woodloke a fether-bedd, a fether bolster, a pelow, a payer of woUen 
 blankets, a payer of schets, a cove'let, a twinye casset, and a petycotte. 
 Item, I gave to Morvetlie Vyne a flockebedde, a fetherbolster, a payer 
 of blankets, a payer of schets. Item, I geve to Jone mate a carpet 
 cusshen Avith a payer of schets. Item, I geve to Elysabeth hacker, 
 now Edmond Bathe's wife, my best worsted casset and a carpet 
 cusshen. Item, I geve to Jone Dolingc a payer of schets, a smoke, a 
 fyne vayle. Item, I geve to Jane pink a payer of schets. Item, I 
 gave to Goodwyf Skeyle my second casset, a payer of schets, a payer 
 of blankets and a pelow. Item, I geve to AUys Skeyle, my mayd, a 
 pott, a ketell, a table cloth, ij platters, ij potengers, a pctycote, a 
 canstyke, a coffer. Item, I geve to Morveth Skeyle a skyllet, a platter, 
 a potenger, a canstyke. a pott, a ketell, a coffer, all ye rosydue of my 
 goods not gevcn ue bequetlied I geve and Ijeqtictli to Elysabethe foster 
 whoe I make my sole executrix to dysspose for my soles helth as she 
 thynke good thes being wytnesscs John Hents, Edmond Bathe, George 
 Strouge, Jlioiie Woodeforde with other as Nicholas Wythers. 
 
 by me MORVETHE 
 
 Kyngesmell. 
 
 Proved at Winchester 1570 in the Consistory Court. 
 
 The inventory of all suche goods as mrs. morveth Kyngesmell late 
 religius at Wherwell praysed by Jhon woodfcnxl, Edmond bathe, and 
 George stronge. 
 
 Imp'mis in ye hall a square table, ij gyned stoles, ij 
 andreas, one chaycr ... ... ... ... ... iiijs. 
 
 in yo parler. 
 
 It., a foldinge table, a forme, a cobcrd, a payer of andears, 
 a fier peke xlis.
 
 172 
 
 In ye bntti'e. 
 It., iiij vyvkens, seavou caustykos, ij saltcs of pewter, ij 
 
 ch-ynkyng- ciippcs, ij dosen trenchers . . .. ... vijs. 
 
 in ye chamber. 
 
 It. iiij f etherbedcls, one flockbcdde ... ... ... iii]7. 
 
 It., a payer of fnsteu blankets, iij payer of wollen blankets, 
 
 iiij fether bolsters, one flockbo.ster . . ... ... xxs. 
 
 It., iiij pelows of fethers, viij payer of schets ... ... iiil. 
 
 It., vj coverlets, iiij pelowbers ... ... ... ... x/. vj.s. viijr?. 
 
 It., vj cofers, one joined bedsted and a truclcbedd, and a 
 
 playne bedsted, and one forme ... ... ... . . . xxxiij.s-. iiijt?. 
 
 It., a tester of dernex Avith curtens to ye same ... ... vjs. viij(7. 
 
 It., ye hanyng- of ye cliamber of red and grene ... ... vj-^^. viiij(?. 
 
 It., ij cliayers being tnrned. ij close stoles ... ... ij.s. 
 
 It., vj carpet cus.shens and iiij other cushens ... ... xiiijs. 
 
 It., ij carpets of dernex for a table ... ... ... viijs. 
 
 It., iiij bankers of rede, a payer of dogges for ye chemney, 
 
 a payer of tonges, a fyer pan ... ... ... ... vjs. 
 
 It., a lytcU cassett ... .. ... ... ... ... ijs. 
 
 It., a worsted casset, iij other cassets of clothe, ij petycots, 
 
 ij fore partes of worsted ... ... ... ... vl. 
 
 It., a liode, ij lettes capites, v smokes, one vayle of holonde, 
 
 another of sorrane, ij benegrases of velvet ... ... xvijs. 
 
 It., v table clothes, xviij table napkens ... ... ... xiiij.s. 
 
 It., iiij hand-towells, one tester of grene saye and curtens 
 
 of ye same ... . ... ... ... ... iiijs. 
 
 It., smale leuyn as parkelets and voresleves of every sort xijs. 
 
 Other smale thynges ... ... ... ... ... xxs. 
 
 It., iij fyne napkens, a smale verbose ... .. viijs. 
 
 in ye kcchyn. 
 
 It., iiij brasse potts, iij skylets, a chaser, iiij ketelse, ij 
 drepingpanse, a fryingepan. a chafyndyse. a gryddier, 
 ij pothokes, a pappa and a skymmer, ij clicnerse, a 
 chopping knyf e, ij ladelse, i j chamber potts ... ... xls. 
 
 It., xiij platers, xij potengers, ix sawsers, vj savoyn 
 dysshes, v plats, ij basons a pcnter boll, a dosen of 
 alkems sponys ... ... . ... . . ... xxxs. 
 
 It., iij brocliys. ij verkys, a bruyng vatte, a yonting vatt, 
 
 ij trens with v lytell treus, ij bokyng tobbes a trevet... xiijs. iujd. 
 
 It., ij lode of wood ... ... ... ... ... ... iiiis. 
 
 It., ij lytell ban-on pyggs ... ... ... ... ... vj.?. viijf?. 
 
 It., a sylt, ij kncding kewers, a boidtinge wyche, ij 
 
 meletobbes, ij keyves, a clauseve, iiij sakes ... viijs. 
 
 It., a stone 7norter, a pondcying tobb and other irene 
 
 things ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ijs. 
 
 It., a .save xij(?. 
 
 It., old yron ... ... ... ... ... ... ... xxrZ. 
 
 It., a hogg of bacon, one salt syshe ... ... ... vjs. vxiid. 
 
 It., ij bulters, a .syre ,. ... ... ... ... xvjrf. 
 
 It., a pencon due to her from the prince at or lady day 
 
 Ano. R. 7" xxli. 
 
 Suma totalis ... ... ... ... ... lli. xijs.
 
 173 
 
 Morphuet Kyugesmill's place in the family of that name 
 will be seen from the abvidgecl pedigree given in the appendix. 
 
 Of the legatees in her will Mistress Pickering, Joan 
 Woodlock, and Morveth Vyne had been nuns at Wherwell, 
 and of that community only one, Elizabeth Hacker, who was 
 probably not professed at the time of the dissolution, had 
 married. In the twenty- seven years that had elapsed since 
 they were ejected from their common home, it is very 
 probable that several of the older sisters had entered into 
 their rest. We miss the names of Alice Giftord, the Prioress, 
 Margery Wright, the sub-prioress, Elizabeth Clerk, " the 
 sesfen," Joan Mitchell, Agnes Sybell, Joan Lucas, Joan 
 Emly, Joice Hart, Elizabeth Tomlyn and Alice Haward, 
 and, as in 1555, these were not drawing their pensions as 
 the others were, there is a strong presumption that they 
 were not alive. Of those nuns who were then living. Abbess 
 Kyngesmill does not mention Joan Dolling, Joan Mate, 
 Margaret Asshe, Mary Willoughby, Agnes Harding and 
 Mary Inkpen. 
 
 It may be that the names of some others will be traced 
 in some like incidental way, but in general terms we may 
 conclude that we thus see the final " changing" of the old 
 order, and the passing away of those who had taken their 
 part in its tranquil past. 
 
 But the name of Nicholas Withers introduces another 
 change of order. Sad and mournful like the last, and like 
 that too, shewing the traces of stern tyranny and consequent 
 suffering. 
 
 Nicholas Withers was the occupant of the manor of 
 Middleton, in the parish which now goes by the descriptive 
 name of " Lougparish." He held the manor under the 
 Abbess and Convent of Wherwell, and died, I think, a very 
 old man in 1664. Sir Thomas West who died in 1628 
 granted to him a lease for his own life, the life of his wife 
 Jane, and that of their eldest son Nicholas, at a rental of 
 £15, of "all that capital messuage and far me of the manor 
 of Middleton:'— ii^y^ll^l Composition Papers. 
 
 In the Royalist Composition Papers we find the significant 
 entry " Nicholas Withers of Longparish, Gent., sequestered 
 at Mich'as, 1645 for delinquency, his estate lying there." 
 It does not state what his fine was, nor have we very much 
 more information as to the family to which they belonged. 
 1 am indebted to the Rev. R. P. Wilkinson, Vicar of Long-
 
 174 
 
 parish, for the extracts from the Longparish Register which 
 are given in the appendix. Whether this family were con- 
 nected with the family of Wither, of Manydown, is not 
 shewn hy any evidences I have met with. 
 
 Another painful evidence of the hardness which accom- 
 panied the change from the old order to the new during the 
 great rehelliou is founded in the sequestration of Sir Edward 
 Nicholas, who apparently held the great tithes and other 
 emoluments of the Prehend of Wherwell which for centuries 
 had belonged to the Abbey, but as we have seen had been 
 sold to John Gyers after having been previouslv sold to Sir 
 Thos. West. 
 
 In the same list of the sequestered, the entry runs. 
 
 Sir Edw. Nicliolas, Kut., secretary to the late Kiuge, sequestered ye 
 same time for delinquency, liis estate being ye Rectory of Wlierwell. 
 
 The Local Commissioners having as we should describe 
 it advertised the " farm" of, I presume, the tithes and glebe, 
 including apparently the water mill, 30 acres of land and 
 annual rental, which in 1544-1545 brought to the crown 
 which had confiscated them a total sum of £137 3s. 8d., 
 found themselves in a difficulty in accepting the highest 
 tender, which exceeded that of the occupying tenants by 
 only fifteen shillings. — [Aug. Office Misc. Books, 446.] 
 
 They thereupon sent a statement of the case to the General 
 Commissioners then sitting at Haberdashers Hall, with the 
 result that the then tenant Avas confirmed in his holding, a 
 profit of twelve shillings a year, however, being made of his 
 misfortune. The paper is interesting enough to be given 
 
 entire. Boyalist Composition Papers, vol. cvii., 593. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 Haveinge duly posted the farme of Longparish, tlie estate of Sr 
 Edward Nicholas, Knight and under sequestracon for his delinquency 
 where iiuto Leonard Greene and William Tliornborough, gent., are 
 p'sent tenants. And this day breakings upp tlie proposals of such as 
 desired to be tenants to the same farme the bearer hereof, Mr. Green, 
 bids for the same one hundred and thirtie pounds five shillings per 
 ann. clecre of all taxes. And one Thomas Webb, of Porton, in the 
 countie of Wilts, bide for the same farme one hundred thirtio 
 and one pounds per ann. clere of all taxes for seaven years. Soe that 
 wee accordinge to our iustruc'cons have agreed to^ take for tento 
 the said Thomas Webb as biddinge the greater reut.^ But att 
 tlie importunity of Mr. Greene beinge tennant in possession and 
 haveinge been in actual arms for tlie Parliament wee tliought 
 fitt to state and p'sent the case unto yr hours it being some
 
 175 
 
 wliart hard for him to be putt to such a losse aud expense iu 
 remove of his stoke if uot altogether unprovided for the dispose 
 thereof when the advauee to the publicke interest is uoe more than 
 fifteen shillings per anu. Aud tlic which he is likewise reddy to 
 make good in case he may be admitted thereto, but finding no lil)ertie 
 or power left in us otherwise than to persue or instruccons wee must 
 leave him vnto yor honors wliich being all at present wee take or leaves 
 and i"est. 
 
 Yor Servants, 
 Winton, the 5th of Tho. Musj)ratt, 
 
 JuUi, 1651. - Jo. Champion, 
 
 Edward Hooker. 
 
 Written in another hand, 
 8" July, 1651. 
 The souldr to liave it paying 12s. a year 
 more than the other hav bid in respect of his 
 services for the P. & tliis not to be a precedent for the 
 future. 
 
 Endorsed. 
 
 South'ton Hamp. 
 
 Nicholas, Sr Edward, farme of Longp'sh 
 
 Greene, Leonard, to Mr. Greene, 
 
 Thornborongh. Wm., 5" July, 1651. 
 
 answd. 
 
 To the honble tlie Commissioners for 
 
 Sequestracons sitting att 
 
 Haberdashers Hall 
 
 these present. 
 
 Once more we have au instance of bow it was when the 
 " old order changeth giving place to new," and the clergy 
 were turned out of their churches and their benefices and the 
 Puritan preachers intruded. 
 
 It has been already told that the parish church was almost 
 certainly a part of the church of the monastery. The 
 " quire" had been " deemed superfluous" and destroyed, but 
 the nave, or part of it, had been left to meet the wants of 
 the parish. The history of the whole parish is in fact 
 comprised in that of the Abbey, and the " Prebend" seems 
 to have been almost as one of the staff of the convent. I am 
 not aware that anything like a complete list of the incumbents 
 has been compiled nor can I contribute much toward it. The 
 chartulary enables us to say that iu the time of Abbess 
 Euphcmia (122G) an agreement was concluded between the 
 Abbess and Master Alberic, canon of the church, concerning 
 taking estovers in Harewood, and three agreements were 
 irrived at subsequently with the prebendary of Wherwell as
 
 176 
 
 to what be should receive a j^ear. But when the old order 
 yielded place to the new this is the way the matter was 
 coucluaed. Boxjalist Composition Papers Series. 
 
 To such person or ])ersoiis as are antliovised to pay any angraeutation 
 formerly settled upon any preacliing minister. 
 
 The Commissionevs appointed by an ordinance of liis highness the 
 Lord Protector with the advice of his conncell for the approbation of 
 publique preachers, doe in pursuance of the said ordinance approve of 
 Mr. Edw. Beutall, of Tuckington Chappie, to Wherwell, in the county 
 of Soutli'ton, to be a person qualified to preach the Gospell as in and 
 by the said ordinance is required and therefore fitt to receive such 
 augmentation as hath been formerly settled upon him or ye place where 
 he preaclieth. These are therefore to signify unto you that you are 
 thereby required and aiithorised to pay to the said Edwai'd Benthall 
 whatsoever by vertue of any order, ordinance, or Act of Parliament, or 
 authority dei-ived, tliere is or shall be due upon that accompt. And his 
 acquittance l^eing taken for ye same shall be your sufficient discharge. 
 In testimony whereof they have caused this approbation to be entered 
 and signed by the register there unto appointed. 
 
 Dated at Whiteliall the 3d day of Novemr, Ann 1654. 
 
 Jo. Nye, Regr. 
 Edw. Bentall, gent., maketh oath yt 
 he reed the above written certificate 
 from the hands of Mr. Nye, Rgr., to the 
 above said Com. 
 
 Sworn before the Com. Edward Beutall. 
 
 3 Nov., 1654, 
 B,W. 
 
 And so, for the present we must leave the story, thankfully 
 mindful of how it has yet again come to pass, that those evil 
 days of trouble and disturbance have given way to times of 
 tranquility and active and benevolent progress, and the new 
 order with the parochial system of the Church in full swing, 
 and the beneficent influence of keen interest and kindly 
 solicitude springing from the sense of responsibility on the part 
 of the "great house" is productive of greater happiness and 
 more complete freedom than when the Lady AlDbess was 
 pai'amount over all. 
 
 There is yet very much more to be told, which if opportunity 
 should ever serve will best be treated of in a separate chapter. 
 The chartulary alone would supply ample materials for 
 another part, and if, with that for a basis, the descent of the 
 lands formerly held by the Abbess were traced, something 
 would be accomplished towards the history of a large tract of 
 the county of which so very little has been written. Mean-
 
 177 
 
 time it is but just to acknowledge the obligation of all who 
 value historical enquiry whether in topographical or other 
 branches of the study, to " Hampshire Notes and Queries," 
 for without some such medium by which information could 
 be gathered and imparted line upon line, here a little and 
 there a little, it would be almost impossible to publish the 
 histories of our rural parishes with that fullness of detail 
 which modern science requires. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following original papers and extracts go to shew the 
 effect of the suppression of the Abbey on the tenants and 
 unemployed. 
 
 Augmentation office. Decrees and orders, vol. iv., fo. 61 h. 
 
 Be it remembered that iu Hilary term, to wit on the eleventli day of 
 
 February iu the thirty-first year of tlie reign of King Henry tlie eighth, 
 
 Richard Burleghe came into tlie court of tlie said Lord King of the 
 
 Augmentation of the revenues of his crown and brought there a certain 
 
 writing made and sealed under the conventual seal of the late monastery 
 
 of Wherwell iu the county of Southamxjton lately dissolved, and prayed 
 
 that it might be allowed, the tenor of which writing follows in these 
 
 words : — To all christen i^eoijle to whome this ij'sent writing shall come, 
 
 Morwythe Kyugesmyll Abbes of the house and churche of the holy 
 
 rode of Wherwell iu the county of South' and the conuent of the same 
 
 place, send greeting in oure lorde god eu'lastiug. Kuow ye us the 
 
 said Abbes and conuent for the good and faithful s'uice that Richard 
 
 Burleigh of Mydleton, in the saide countie, hath done and dayle 
 
 contondithe to doo to us and to our mouasterye of Wherwell, aforcsayde, 
 
 by our hole assent and consent have geucu and grantid and by thes 
 
 p'sents do geuc and gi'aunte to the saide Richarde Burleigh tlie office of 
 
 the clerkshipe of all the lordshippes, manours, landes, and ten'tis to our 
 
 saide Monastery of Wherwell, apperteynynge and belouginge to holde 
 
 and kepe all and singuler our lawdays and courtes of all our mannors, 
 
 lands, and ten'tis aforesaidc as ofte as need shall require. To haue 
 
 occupie and exercise tlic said office of the clcrkshype unto the saide 
 
 Richard Ijurleghe by him or by his sufficient deputye for the time of 
 
 the lyffe of the said Richard takyiuge and per ceynynge for the office 
 
 aforesaide in forme aforesaid occupynge exercysynge of us and our 
 
 successors yereley foure pounds sixteen sliillings and eightpence sterling, 
 
 to be paid to the saide Richard at too feastis in the year, that is to saye 
 
 at the ffeasto of thannunciacon of our blessyd laydie the virgin and 
 
 Saint Michell the archangoll, by equal porcons wt all other profittes, 
 
 comodyties, and emoluments belongynge to the saide office or anny 
 
 other, the same office hauinge or exccysingo before this tynic haue hadd 
 
 or accustomed to haue by thandea of us our receyours fermers reves or 
 
 N
 
 178 
 
 collectors and of our successors for tlie tyme beynge. And yf it happen 
 the saide foure pounds sixteen shillings and eightpence or eny pte 
 thereof to be behynde and not payed in manner and forme aforesaide 
 by the space of one moneth after any of the feastss, of payment 
 aforesaide, that then it shall be leyfuU to the saide Richard burlegh 
 by v'tue of this our wrytynge into our maner of goodworth in the 
 county aforesaide to enter and distrene, and the' destresses so ther 
 takyn to dryve, leade, and carry away, and the same to witholde vnto 
 suche tyme as the saide foure poundes syxteen shillings and eightpence, 
 and the arrearages yf any be to the saide Richard burleghe be fully 
 satisffied, contented and payed, wherefore we command and shaytleye 
 charge as well the auditors of our aceompts for the tyme beynge that 
 the payment of the saide foure poundes syxteene shillings andeightpens 
 to the saide Richarde for the occupynge and exercysynge of the office 
 aforesaid in form aforesaide graunted in the accompt of our receyuor 
 or in the accompt of oiir farmer and collector of our manor of Good- 
 worth aforesaide for the tyme beynge from tyme to tyme yerely to 
 theyme due allowances and discharge, make as to all and singler bayls, 
 fermers and all other our tenants and inhabitants within ovir lordships 
 and manners aforesaid, that vnto the said Richarde in execution and 
 exercisinge of his saide office be helping and assistynge in all things 
 as it shalbe lawful. In witness whereof to this present our wrytynge 
 we the said Abesse and convent haue putt our convent seale. Datt in 
 oure chapiter house at Wlierwell aforesaid the tweluet day of January 
 the twenty and eight yere of the reigne of our Sovi'aigne lord Kynge 
 Henry the eight. Aiid because on exmnination it seems to the afo^'e- 
 said court that the writing and seal are bonafide, it is by the Chancellor 
 and Council allowed, and they decree that Richard Burlegh in full 
 recompense and satisfaction haoefor the term of his life an annuity 
 of six pounds thirteen and fourpence and arrears. 
 
 Augumentation Office, Henry YIII., Decrees and Orders, vol. 14, 
 fo. 55. 
 
 Extract. 10 June 36, Henry VIII. Christofer Brown comes into 
 the court and brings a certain Avriting under the conventual seal of the 
 manastery of Wlierwell lately dissolved . . and prays that it may 
 be dissolved. . . . Morpliet Kyugesmyll Abbess, &c., know ye 
 that we, &c., have granted to our servant Christofer Brown an annuity 
 or annual rent of forty shillings issuing out of all our lands and tene- 
 ments in Wherwcll for the term of his life recoveral)le by distraint 
 on all our lands. Griven in our chapter house 2 Oct., 30 Henry YIII. 
 
 Allowed by Chancellor and Coxmcil, 40 shillings a year decreed to 
 Christofer Brown. 
 
 Abridged Pedigree of West Lord De La Warr. 
 
 Arms : Arpent a/ess Daneette sable. 
 
 Sir Reginald West Lord La Warr in right of his mother 
 who was sister and heir to Thomas Lord La Warr, married 
 Eleanor, 2nd daughter of Henry, Earl of Northumberland. 
 He died 27 August 1451, leaving
 
 179 
 
 Sir Richard West Lord La Wavr, his son and heir (19 
 years old at his father's death) who married Catherine, 
 daughter of Robert Lord Hungerford and died 10 March, 
 1475, leaving 
 
 Sir Thomas West Lord La Warr, made Knight Banneret 
 at the battle of the Spurs. He died 12 Feb., 1525, and is 
 buried at Broadwater, Sussex. This Lord was twice married. 
 His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Hugh Morti- 
 more, by whom he had two sons (Sir) Thomas (his heir and 
 successor) a:Qd William. By his second wife Eleanor, 
 daughter of Sir Roger Copley, of Gatton co. Sussex, he had 
 (Sir) George and (Sir) Owen (*) 
 
 Sir Thomas West, Knt. and Banneret, Lord La Warr, 
 K.G., son of the last Lord by his first wife. He signed the 
 letter to Pope Clement VII. about the divorce of Queen 
 Catherine. He obtained the Grant to Wherwell Abbey. 
 
 Having no issue of his own body and his own brother 
 William predeceasing him without issue, he took William, 
 son of his half brother Sir George West (who died in 1538) 
 his next heir " and bred him up in his own house. But he, 
 not content to stay till his uncle's death, prepared poison to 
 despatch him, which being discovered, upon complaint 
 thereof in Parliament, he procured a special act to attaint 
 him so that he might not be capable to inherit." He died 
 1554. His will proved P.C.C. 1554 (see Appendix III.) and 
 notwithstanding the Act of Parliament was succeeded by his 
 nephew by the half-blood. 
 
 Sir William West, dubbed Knight at Hampton Court, 
 1569. He obtained a new creation to the title. Was at the 
 siege of St. Quentins in Picardy. He married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Thomas Strange, of Chesterton, and died in 
 
 •fci' 
 
 1595. He had issue five sons, Walsingham, Robert, John 
 and Nathaniel, who died before him and was succeeded by 
 
 his son 
 
 Sir Thomas West Lord La Warr, dubbed Knight, 1587, 
 who married Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Knolles, K.G., 
 by whom he had two sons Robert, who married the daughter 
 of Sir Henry Cook and 
 
 Sir Thomas West Lord La Warr, who succeeded in 1G09, 
 made Captain General of all the Colonies in Virginia, but 
 died on his voyage. He married Cecilie (*) daughter of Sir 
 Thomas Shirley, Kt., who was buried at Wherwell 31 July, 
 1GG2. Ho was succeeded by his son 
 
 n2
 
 180 
 
 Henry West Lord La Warr, who married Isabel, daughter 
 of Sh- Thomas Edmonds, Knight, Treasurer of the House- 
 hold to King Charles I., and by her had issue 
 
 Charles (*) West Lord La Warr, who married Anne, 
 daughter of John Wild, of Droitwich, Esq., and was buried 
 at Wherwell 27 December, 1687. He had issue, John (*) 
 who was buried at Wherwell 1656, in his 5th year, Henry 
 (*) baptized 28 March and buried at Wherwell 25 April, 
 1657. John, who became Lord La Warr, and Charles who 
 married first, Mary (*) only daughter of Ferdinando Huddle- 
 ston, of Milton Castle, Cumberland, Esqre, and secondly a 
 daughter of Sir Edmund Pye, of Bradenham, Bucks. 
 
 The members of the family of West whom we know to 
 have been buried at Wherwell are distinguished by a *. The 
 extracts from the Wherwell Register which, by the kindness 
 of the Rev. W. Harison, I am enabled to give in this 
 appendix, make it clear that the house must have been 
 occupied by Sir Owen West and Mary his wife, who was 
 daughter of Sir George Guildford, of Hempstead Place, Kent, 
 both of whom were buried in the church. 
 
 Robert West, possibly the son of Thomas Lord La Warr 
 and brother of Sir Thomas who succeeded in 1609. 
 
 Charles, 5tli Lord La Warr, whose children John and 
 Henry were born here, and who was himself buried here in 
 1687. His grandmother 
 
 Cicely Lady La Warr, widow of Thomas, 3rd Lord, and 
 his son 
 
 Charles West, whose first wife Mary, daughter of Ferdin- 
 ando Huddleston was buried here. 
 
 Wherwell Registers. 
 
 By the kindness of the Rev. W. Harison I am enabled to 
 give the following extracts from the Register at Wherwell, 
 which commences 1634 : — 
 
 John, son of the Rghi. Honble Charles Lord Lawarr, was buried 
 August 1, 1656, 
 
 Mary "West, the daughter of Rob. West, was baptised the 22nd 
 March, 1656. 
 
 Heni-y West, Esqre., soune to the Right Honble Charles West Lord 
 Delawarr, Avas l)a|)tized the 28th March, 1657. 
 
 Henry West, Esqre., soun of the Right Honble. the Lord Lawarr, 
 was bur. 25 of April, 1657.
 
 181 
 
 Martha West, the daughter of Robert West, was baptized Sep. 17, 
 1658. ' 1 i- 
 
 The Right Hoiible Cicely Lady Delawai-re was burridd July 31, 
 The Right Houble Charles Lord Delawarr was buried Dec. 27, 1687 
 
 Will of Sir Owen West, 1551. 
 
 P.P.C. 30, Buck. — lu the uame of God amen, the xvij daye of July 
 the yere of or loi'de God a thousand fyvc huudreth fiftie aud one in the 
 fyrste yere of Kynge Edward the Syxte. I, Owen West, sicke of 
 bodye, nevertheless hole of myude and good remembrance, do make my 
 wiU and testament in manner and form as f olloweth. First, I bequeathe 
 my soule to Almyghitye God my redeemer and maker and my body to 
 be buried where it shall please God to be at my departing Also I will 
 to be bestowed at my buriall twenty shillings to the poore and twentie 
 shillings more at the mouthes mynde according to the discrecion of 
 myne execiitore Alsoe I bequeath to dame Mary, my wief, the lordship 
 of hynton Martyll after my decease during her life, and after her to 
 remayne betweue my two doughters, Marj^e aud Anne, indifferently 
 aud if thone departe then the hole land to remayn unte the other during 
 her lyfe. Aud I wille that my lorde shall have the goucrnance of my 
 daughter Marie iu whome ys my trust to see her bestowed and thother 
 to byde thorderiug of my wief. Also I bequeath unto Spomer and 
 Robert, my s'vauts, beside their dulie and unto Bartholemew, a quarters 
 wages. Also I bequeath Elizabeth Husse tweutie shillings. Also to 
 William Alyn two quarters of barley and one quarter of wheate. Tlie 
 rest of all my goodes with the lease and occupying of my farm I give 
 and bequeath unto Dame Mary my wife, whom I make my whole and 
 full executrix. And also I bequeath mito my lord my brother my best 
 gelding, and also I bequeath unto my brother gylforde a gelding, the 
 which two I ordayne to be the supervisors of this my last will aud 
 testament. Aud to the Vycar of Wherwell I Ijcqueathe a nagge, to 
 pray for me. Witness Richard Cobbe, the curate, aud Elizabeth 
 Husshe. 
 
 Proved P.C.C, 30 Oct., 1551. 
 
 Abstract of Wills of Sir Thomas West, K.G., 
 Lord La Warr. 
 
 Sir Thos. West Lord la Warr made tivo wills one concerninff his 
 personal the other his real estate. They are very long but of great 
 interest and importance and would he very valuable to the topo- 
 grapher. The register in P.C.C. is the same for both wills. 
 
 12 More. 5th Scpr., 1 and 2, Philip and Mary. I, Sir Thomas 
 West, Knight, of the noble order of the Garter aud Lord Lawarro — 
 body to be buried in the parish church of Broadwater iu a poor romem-
 
 182 
 
 brauce that I liave made there iu the south sitle of the said church, with 
 sucli fuucral charges bothe at my buryiug aud at my mouths mind aud 
 years mind as in the discretion of my executors sliall be moste meet. 
 I will that from my death to my buryall shall be given to certayuc 
 persons that do come to the said parishe church of Broadwater for to 
 praye to Almighty God to have mercy ux^ou me, aud for their paynes to 
 have money, meate, and dryuke as shalbe thought mete by my executors 
 aud overseers, and so in likewise from the time of my death, at my 
 burial and from my burial, at my months mind aud at the twelve months 
 miud at discretion of my executors as they sliall think best and pleasing 
 to God, aud as shall stand with the King and the Queen's majestys 
 laws — on the day of my buryall to be distributed and given amoug 
 indigent persons as inhabit and dwell within . . . Newton Yalence 
 aud Wherwell . . . such sums of money and almes as shall be 
 thought meet by me at my death, or as shall seem good to executors 
 more or less as the necessity as executors think requisite — at my burial 
 and months miud and years miud to such poore people at their own 
 ])arislie churches aforesaid so that iu no wise they can be compelled to 
 further havell or labor for the receipt of the same .... 
 
 Aud yf it be so that at the tyme of my decease there be not in my 
 coffers or elsewhere so nioche i-edy money as may suffice of and for the 
 disbursmeuts of the saide almes and also for the money given to the 
 priests, then my will is that such my plate either of golde and other 
 jewels aud goodes as I have not given or bequeathed shalbe sould to 
 make money for the payment of the said priests and almes of poor 
 people as is aforesaid, and also for the charges of my fimeral . . . 
 and yf not suffice to be levyed on lauds. 
 
 In the parish iu which my body shall be buried my will is that there 
 be provided aud chosen immediately after my death an sufficient and 
 hable preest to saye dailye masse and other dy^^ne service. And also 
 twenty persons of the poorest and most indigent abiders and dwellers 
 at Broadwater or elsewhere . . the saide priest aud twenty j^ersons 
 I will to be daily present at the masse and other divine service used in 
 the Church of England by the space of a month next after my decease 
 in the church where my body shall be buried, and there to i^ray to 
 Almighty God to be merciful to me and to forgive me my sinful life 
 aud offences that I have committed and done, and the priest to have 
 daily viijtZ. aud every of the said persons to receive daily for their pre- 
 sent being at the masse and other service every day for a month iiijcZ., 
 and for the ringing of the great bell at the same masse aud service and 
 at other tymes according to the common course and order vis. viiicZ., 
 and to the clerk of the same church where the said masse and service is 
 said every day for a mouth iiijcZ. After my said twelvemonths miud 
 is executed and done that then and from thenceforth there shall be 
 given iu alms vjs. viiicZ. yearly to parishes named including Newton 
 Valence and "Wherwell for so many years as the annuities granted by 
 my late well beloved wife to her friends by my consent out of the 
 manor of Chawkey of her charitable mind shall endure. Aud to every 
 the curat or parish preste within any of the said parishes viijfZ., and to 
 the clerk vjc?., and to evei'y of the churchwardens in taking paynes in 
 seeing the said money bestowed viijc?., to be paid on the anniversary of 
 my death. 
 
 I will that blacks be given vnto my syster West, late wief unto Sir
 
 183 
 
 Owen West, Kui^ht, and to my sister Barbara West and to any more 
 that be there, and all other iny gentlewomen maids and women that 
 shall be daily in my house at the time o£ my decease. And also to such 
 of my kyn and others as shall be thought necessary by my executors, 
 being at my burial or my months mind. And all that be my household 
 servants at the tyme of my death shall have every of them and all of 
 them alike lyevery in gowne or cote according to their degree where- 
 with they shall stand contente for their lyvery for tliat yeare. And 
 further my will is that every such household servant that hath wages 
 or fee as well men as women shall have one half years wages or fee to 
 be accompted from the day of my death over and above such part of 
 their wages and fees as at the time of my death shall be due imto any 
 of them of and for the rate of the tyme of their service due before my 
 death .... all my servants which hathe my wages and lyveiy 
 and be not daily attendant and lyvinge in my house shall have evciy of 
 them a cote or gowne of black lyke unto their degree with the which 
 they shall l)e content for their lyevery for the year. And beseyd that 
 shall have every of them one quarters wages — balywicks and bailey to 
 have no more than is due to them at the time of my death, and to con- 
 tinue according to their grant excejit such as be most part daily in my 
 house whiche my household servants shall have a quarters fee of my 
 gift over and above their due, and they to have mete and drynke suffi- 
 cient by the space of a month after my buryall. Every Baily, Reve, 
 or other fori-en officer shall have black wherewith they shall hold them- 
 selves content. Due and lawful debts to be fully paid. 
 
 I give and bequeath to Mary Warrale £40, to my ueice, Mary 
 Lewkuor, wief of Richard Lewknor, £20. To Mary West, daughter 
 of my brother Sir Owen West, deceased, £200, if she marry without 
 consent of her mother or executors to have no benefit from will. 
 
 To my neice Mary West, daughter of my brother Leonard West, 
 £100 ut supra. To Mary West, daughther of Sir Owen West, £10 a 
 year till marriage, if my nevye William West live so long provided as 
 soon as Mary West shall marry or die the annuity cease. 
 
 My niece Mary West, daughter of Leonard West, £5 a year as 
 above. My nei)hews, Thomas West, William West, and John West, 
 sons of my brother Leonard West, £6 8s. 4d. during the life of William 
 West, son and heir of my brother Sir George West. 
 
 Such fees and annuitys as were granted by my father, the late Lord 
 La Warr — except such as 1 have restrayned for not doing of their 
 duties according to the intent and meaning of their grants and patents, 
 shall be good. 
 
 As soon as conveniently may be after my decease my executors 
 make or cause to be made by the oversight of three or fouer know- 
 ledged and expert persons an inventory of all my corne, cattle, plates, 
 jewels, &c., and the appraisement made. The same to be sold and go 
 to the payment of my debts and performance of my will, my raymeut 
 and hamess and such things as I now lymit and appoint to be stan- 
 dards in my house only excepted, and except all such as by this my last 
 will and Testament are disposed. I will that all my harness and 
 artillery for the wares with all things thereunto belonging as salletts, 
 spents, seniles, gorgetts, bowcs, arrows, billes, gounes, axes and other 
 miinytious that are or shalbo myne at the tyme of my death shall 
 remayn to my next heir male, that shall have my manor of Offingham,
 
 184 
 
 which thiugs I give him for the dcfonee of this shore provided that he 
 sliall not alyeuate auy part of the same ... if he sell it shall be 
 lawfid for my executors to recover and to bestow for the wealth of my 
 soul. All such furuishiug as remayueth and doth belong to the great 
 chambers at Offingham shall wholly remayne to my next heir. I give 
 all mauncr of portallus, sollinges, locks, keys, tables, forms, joynt 
 stolleys that are not covered nor have auy silk, gold, or silver upon 
 them, glass as well iu the chambers and hall as in the kitchen and all 
 other houses of office iu both my houses in Offiugton, Southgate, Sul- 
 hurst, and iu my house iu London, shall wholly remain and be as 
 standards for the same houses as I have appointed about my harness 
 and artillery. To my said nephew, Willyam West, son of my brother 
 George West, certain bedding, hangings, and kitchen stuff, aud other 
 stuff, implements of houseliold necessary to be used, aud also certain 
 ornaments for the service of God within tlio Cliapell at Offiugton and 
 Ewhurst . . . the contents of all which be in an inv^entory aud 
 schedule to this will annexed. And yf I make no such schedule then 
 I will that myne executors shall do therein by their good discretion 
 . . . my well beloved brother-in-law Sir Jolm Guildford, Knight, 
 my cousin Edward Page, Esqro., Thomas Bishopp, and John Lloyde, 
 gentlemeu, my true aud faithful executors . . . my right worthy 
 and well beloved Jolm Gower, my nephew James Gage, my nephew 
 Thomas Guildford, aud Henry Shelley, Esqre., to take the place of 
 executors dying. 
 
 Witnesses, John Warmit, Thomas Owen, William Mody, Thomas 
 Browne, Thomas Rotfe, Willyam Lane. 
 
 Extracts from the Will of Sir Thomas West Lord 
 La Warr (real property). 
 
 More 13. 5 September, 1554. I, the said Lord La Warr, am now 
 seized in my demesne as of fee simple of my manor of Stratford Toney, 
 Wilts, Honyton, Wilts, Oke Hanger, co. Southampton, Blatchiugton, 
 Sussex, Sompting aud Cookham, Sussex, purchased of Sir Richard 
 Sheeley, Kt., Knapp, Sussex, water mill in the parish of Knapp, 
 Stockparte, Hooklands, Myddlebrook, Honeyport, in parishes of Shipley 
 and West Greensted. My park of Knapp, with messuages, woods, 
 uuderwoods, &c., iu parishes of Shipley, West Grensted, Thackenham, 
 Essliugton, Horsham, Ifeld, to the manor of Knapp belonging all and 
 ^lingular manor aud lands, &c., now of clear yearly value of £143 
 17s. lOd., over and above reprisals. My manor of Blackingtou with 
 advowson of the Church, co. Sussex, of the yearly value of £48. 
 Cobham, Sussex, worth £48 7s. All these to descend to my licirs for 
 ever, that is to say to the Right noble Ladye Jane Duchess of North- 
 umberland, widow, late vdei unto John late Duke of Noi-thumberlaud, 
 and daughter unto Eliuore late wief unto Sir Edward Guildford, 
 Knight, one of the sisters and lieirs of me, the saide Lord La Warr, 
 and to Thomas Dering. son and heir of Elizabeth, late wief of Nicholas 
 Dcring, Esqre, and to Mary Warnet, wief of Jolm Warnet, gentleman, 
 and to Ann Gage, wief of John Gage, Esqre., which Elizabeth Mary
 
 185 
 
 and Aim were claugliters iiiito Dorothy Owen, sometime wief to Sir 
 Henry Owen, Kt., lately deceased, sister mito the said Lord La Warr, 
 and are of my heirs according to the right course of inheritance of the 
 conntry and of the realm withont any declaration of any will to 
 inherit. 
 
 And whereas at tlie parliament holden at Westminster after dyverse 
 prorogations in the third year of our late Sovereigne Lord Edward the 
 Sixtli reign it was enacted uppon good and reasoua1)le causes that the 
 manors of ... . the site and precint of the late monastery of 
 Wherwell, otherwise called Warwell, in the county of Southampton, 
 with all manner of houses, &c., witliiu the said site convent and precint 
 of the said late Monastery of Wlierwell . . . Avitli one watermill 
 and thirty acres of land in several with the several water in Wlierwell 
 . . . should be adjudged to belong to me, the said Thomas West 
 now Lord Lawarr, &c., and to the heirs male of my body . . . and 
 in defaulte of such yssue remainder to Sir Owen West, Knight, now 
 deceased and to his heirs male . . . for default of such issue the 
 remainder to the executors of the said Lord La Warr and to the over 
 liver of them to and for the performance of the last will and testament 
 of me the said Lord La Warr. And whereas sithencc the making of 
 the .said acte the said Sir Owen West. Knight, is deceased without 
 issue male of his body, I, the saide Lord La Warr, according to 
 the lil^erty to me given by the said acte touching the ordering 
 of my said manors, lordships, lands, &c., in the same acte coii- 
 teyned and of all lands reputed or taken as members of them 
 
 which shall grow during the lief of the said William 
 
 West and whereof I have authority and power by the said act to declare 
 my will and to appoint what person or persons .shall take the same. 
 I therefore . . . will the same to be disposed of in manner and 
 form following. That is to say whereas upon many and notable actes 
 and considerations well known the said William West, sou and heir of 
 Sir George West, Knight, my late brother, is by the said act of . . . 
 Parliament disabled to inherit . , . any of the lordships, &c., and 
 any other possession of me, the said Lord La Warr, parte of which his 
 ungodly and unnatural presents and acts he rehearsed and truly de- 
 clared and set forth in tlie ])reainble of the said act, and otlier his 
 vicious and evel demeanours were for divers considerations, and for 
 that he is of my blude passed over in silence. I do now heartily desire 
 God to send him his grace to amend and become his servant, and do 
 clearly forgive him Ijefore God his offences to me committed as I would 
 be forgiven. And having trust that by the goodness and infinite mercy 
 and gi-ace of the Almighty God who calleth all synners and offenders 
 wlicn it pleaseth him to repentance, he will amend. Do by this my last 
 will and testament and of my cliarity lonely and nothing of his deserts 
 give and bequeath to him the .said William West during his life 
 natural towards the maintenance of his living and degree, all the rentes 
 issues, &.C., of all those manors hereinafter expressed, being parcel of 
 the land mentioned in tlie said act . . . the manor of Wlierwell 
 with remainder to his heirs male. 
 
 Provced P.C.C, 12 Nov., 1554.
 
 186 
 
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 187 
 
 Extracts from the Register of Longparish. 
 
 ISQi. — Nicliolas Withers, the elder, of Audovcr, was buried in Long- 
 parish Chancel March 29, 1664. 
 
 1668. — Christenings. — Elizabeth, the daughter of Mr. Nicholas Withers 
 and of Elizabeth his wife, Dec. 1. 
 
 1670.— Burials.— Richard, sou of Mr. Nickles Withers, Sept. 19. 
 
 1671. — Susauua, daughter do. do. Nov. 22. 
 
 1674. — Jaue do. do. christened 
 
 1676. — Nicholas, the sou of do. do. died 
 
 1678.— William, ., do. do. died 
 
 1682.— Burial.— Sept. 3, Mrs. Elizabeth Withers. 
 
 1687.— Burial.— Elizabeth Withers, April 18. 
 
 1687- — Marriage. — Mr. Nickolas Witliers and Frances Russell, Dec. 20. 
 
 1691.— Burial- Nickls Withers, Nov. 26. 
 
 1703.— Mary Withers, bapt. 
 
 1705. — Nicholas Withers, bapt. 
 
 1656. — Marriage.— Nicholas Greene and Jeane Blake, Feb. 16. . 
 1656. — Ruth, daughter of Mr. Nicholas Greene, baptized Dec. 13. 
 1662. — Nicholas Greene and Jeane Williams were married in the 
 
 Parish Church of Longparish, Dec. 23, 1662. 
 1663. — Thomas, the son of Mr. Nicholas Greene and of Jeane his wife, 
 
 was baptised Jan. 3, 1663. 
 1665. — Richard, the son of Nicholas Greene and of Jeane his wife, was 
 
 baptised September 3. 
 1667. — Marke, the son of Nicolas Grecue, July 12. 
 1669. — Burial. — January 21, Jane, the Avife of Nicholas Greene. 
 16G9. — Christning. — Jane, dau. of Nicholas Green and Jane his wife, 
 
 Jan. 21. 
 
 The following arc explanations of some of the obsolete 
 words used in the will of Morphet Kingsmill^: — 
 
 Darncx.— A coarse sort of Damask. It was composed of different 
 kinds of materials as worsted, silk, wool or thread. 
 
 Gyned Stoles. — Joint stools. 
 
 Audears. — Fire dogs. 
 
 Bankers. — A cloth or covering of tapestry for a seat. 
 
 Lettes.— Lettice. A kind of grey fur. 
 
 Sorrane. — ? Embroidery. 
 
 Saye. — Sei'gc or woollen cloth. 
 
 Partlett.-Aruff. 
 
 Potengor. — A little disli witli cars. 
 
 Alkems. — Aleamyne. A mixed metal. 
 
 Brochys. — Spits. 
 
 Tren. — ? A wooden vessel. A treu is also an instrument for killing 
 
 fisli at sea. 
 
 Bolt. -To sift. 
 Sakcs. — Sacks. 
 Syre. — ? A saw.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PENTON MEWSEY. 
 
 Domesday Book, the record of the survey of the Country 
 made in xl.D. 1085, mentions the Church at " Penitone." 
 It docs not indeed tell us very much about it, but it at least 
 supplies the interesting fact that before the Norman Conquest 
 a church was standing on the present site : — 
 
 " Here is a cliiircli and three servants, and five acres of meadow, 
 and a wood without pannage." 
 
 The Manor was held by Turald of the chief tenant or 
 " tenant in capite," " Roger the Earl," as he is called. We 
 may therefore, with almost absolute certainty, assume that 
 the relative positions of Church and Manor-house have been 
 the same during nine centuries and more. 
 
 Why this particular spot in the Manor should have been 
 chosen at the first for building the church and house is not 
 very difficult to conjecture when the contour lines of the map 
 are consulted. Penton Mewsey is built along the bottom of 
 a little tongue-shaped valley running nearly North and South, 
 the slopes of which are much sharper when facing to the 
 West than to the East. This valley is stopped at its southern 
 end by the line of hill which projects into the basin of the 
 Anton, which is best known from the fair held on its crest at 
 Weyhill. At the foot of this line of hills lies the course of 
 the little stream, a tributary of the Anton, which though 
 now generally dry at Penton makes itself conspicuous at 
 The " Perills"" at Charlton and joins the other branch of the 
 river in the water meadows at Enham Knights. A small 
 pond never known to be dry, but to which cling traditions of 
 occasional disagreeable behaviour marks the spring, and as a 
 general rule keeps to itself the representative character, as if 
 it personified the stream which doubtless attracted the Saxon 
 landholders to its banks. 
 
 The bridges in the Park make it easy to trace the sinuous 
 course of the bed of a stream considerable enough when the 
 hills were covered with frost to supply a means of communica-
 
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 189 
 
 tion with other settlements as well as other needs of the 
 dwellers on the Manor. And, looking from what is now the 
 road to Weyhill, one has but in imagination to set the stream 
 a-runniug and clothe the hills more thickly with trees, and 
 the type of the old "English" farmer commonwealth with 
 its " mark" around it, is before you. Developed indeed into 
 a model village, but still retaining the traces of its original 
 formation in the remote past, before even the over-lordships 
 of the kingdom of Wessex had been established. 
 
 Tacitus was struck with the hatred of the German race for 
 cities, and their love even within their little settlements of a 
 jealous independence. " They live apart," he says, " each 
 by himself as woodside, plain or fresh spring attracts him."" 
 And as each dweller within the settlement was jealous of his 
 own isolation and independence among his fellow-settlers, so 
 each settlement was jealous of its independence among its 
 fellow settlements. 
 
 Each little farmer commonwealth was girt by its own border 
 or " mark," a belt of forest, or waste, or fen, which parted it 
 from its fellow villages, a ring of common ground which none 
 of its settlers might take for his own, but which served as a 
 death ground where criminals met their doom, and was held 
 to be the special dwelling place of the nixie and the will-o'- 
 the-wisp. If a stranger came through this wood or over this 
 waste, custom bade him blow his horn as he came, for if he 
 stole through secretly he was taken for a foe, and any man 
 might lawfully slay him. — (Green, History of the English 
 People, p. 3.) 
 
 We may so easily realise, as we stand on the higher 
 ground of the western boundary of the churchyard, the self- 
 supporting and self-contained manor with its modern hall and 
 modern church. The hall of the lord occupying the centre of 
 the homestead near the stream with the huts of the ceorls 
 and serfs along the little tiny valley. The butter, the cheese, 
 the ])acon made at home, the corn ground in the quern, the 
 beer brewed, and the honey collected by the family. 
 
 The splendid chestnut trees in the grove and Rectory, 
 although they cannot be of anything like such antiquity, yet 
 not only adorn the spot but do much to suggest the idea of 
 the original settlement. 
 
 Of the church existing at the time of the Domesday survey 
 there are no traces whatever. (The conversion of Wessex did 
 not begin until A.D. G35.) It was most probably of wood
 
 190 
 
 and very small. It is not quite impossible that the plan of 
 the present church, or perhaps even the foundations may 
 be the same, but that is merely conjecture. 
 
 Indeed, so far as I have been able at present to ascertain, 
 we have no information whatever about the church, its 
 structure, and appearance until we come to the alterations and 
 renovations of the present century. 
 
 It happened most fortunately that Penton Mewsey Church 
 attracted the attention in 1843 of Mr. Owen B. Carter, an 
 architect, who published a short account of it, illustrated 
 with five engravings, in Weales' Quarterly papers on Archi- 
 tecture, Vol. II. From his description free quotation is here 
 made. 
 
 Mr. Carter assigns the building of Penton Mewsey Church 
 " to the middle of the 14th cent, or perhaps a little later." 
 The structure, he says, " is of stone and flint roughly headed, 
 the flintwork a very good example of its kind." 
 
 The style of architecture is that development of the 
 Geometric or Decorated, known as "flamboyant" (flame like) 
 or flowing. Mr. Carter observes, " The windows and door- 
 ways to the nave are good examples, the former displaying 
 some peculiar tracery, particularly those giving light to the 
 chancel," the singularly graceful beauty of which will hardly 
 escape notice. 
 
 The question naturally arises, what is there to account for 
 the marked difference in the building of Penton Church, 
 from the churches of the neighbouring district ; the majority 
 of them are of rough design and plain detail, while the 
 mouldings and tracery at Penton seem to show the work of a 
 hand that has not left its mark elsewhere in this part of 
 Hampshire. 
 
 At present we must be content to let this question remain 
 unanswered. But this much we are able to say. The Manor 
 of Penton Mewsey and the advowson of the church belonged 
 in A.D. 1381 to Edmond de Stonore (Inquis post mortem 
 5 Ptic. II.) — who died in that year — and to his son and heir 
 John Stonore in 1389 (Inquis post mortem 13 Ric. II.), the 
 church was then valued at £6 13s. 4d. (Woodward and Wilks, 
 Hist. Hants, vol. iii., p. 187.), and probably in the history 
 the family of Stonore we shall find whatever elucidation is to 
 be discovered. 
 
 Looking round the outside of the church, which we shall 
 probably approach from the east, the first thing that will
 
 191 
 
 attract notice is the gable wall of the chancel with its chequer 
 work of flint and stone. This wall has been almost rebuilt 
 in the restoration under Captain Sutton carried out by 
 Messrs. Bodley and Garner, the architects, in 1888, but as 
 the stones were numbered and replaced in their original 
 positions, the " restoration" is properly so called. The very 
 beautiful east window is entirely new, but is nevertheless a 
 reproduction of the original work as shown by fragments that 
 were found. 
 
 Until this last restoration the window now in the north 
 side of the chancel occupied the place of the east window, 
 being placed very low, the sill only seven feet from the floor. 
 The north window has now happily been replaced in its own 
 proper place. The bases of the gable crosses are in the 
 Rectory garden. 
 
 The priests'" door on the south side of the chancel is very 
 remarkable. It was for many years concealed by a rough 
 building originally intended for a coal cellar, but subsequently 
 used as a vestry. The peculiar stilted arch, composed of 
 irregular lengths of straight stones, will be noticed. Two 
 beautiful delicate shafts form the jambs of the opening. 
 
 Mr. Carter, however, thinks that the door is not original, 
 but "formed from stone fragments of the north window of 
 the nave." There are no corresponding mouldings in the 
 south window, but then, on the other hand, close inspection 
 will make it doubtful as to whether the present bases of the 
 little column were not originally meant for capitals, and are 
 now reversed. 
 
 The smallness of the flint squares in the wall should be 
 noticed. 
 
 The yew tree, standing at the south-west side of the 
 churchyard, is still of fine growth ; it measures 9ft. 9in. at 
 the base, but it was very much broken in the heavy snow- 
 storm of 1881. 
 
 The pretty porch, the gift of Captain Sutton, replaces a 
 very dilapidated and hideous structure. The hinges on the 
 door are especially worthy of notice. Mr. Carter cites them 
 as "a useful example;" they have been carefully repaired, 
 but are as they were turned out of the 14th century workshop. 
 
 The most interesting feature of the church is the bell 
 turret, which is almost, if not quite, unique. It is figured 
 as a particularly interesting example in the Archaeological 
 Journal, Vol. III., p. 210, and is the subject of a full-sized
 
 192 
 
 plate in Mr. Carter's paper. In 1843, Mr. Carter tells us the 
 Ijelfry " was covered with a boarded and tiled erection which 
 entirely concealed its best features. Upon close examination 
 I found it so worthy of restoration as to mention the subject 
 to the Rev. C. Dodson (the present incumbent), by whom it 
 was introduced to the Hon. — Pierrepoiut, and the result 
 has been its perfect restoration by direction of the latter 
 gentleman." 
 
 The bells are modern and one of them not without a 
 suspicion of a crack, by which its voice is rendered less 
 tuneful than it might be. While speaking of the bells, it 
 will be well to mention here that a small bell was discovered 
 in 1845. An account of it with drawings was read at the 
 meeting of the Archasological Association in 1846 by the 
 Rev. A. B. Hutchins (Proceedings of the Archaeological 
 Association, Vol. II. p. 184), who indulges in a most fanciful 
 interpretation of the arabesques upon it, which, as it has not 
 a shadow of probability, need not be quoted here. His 
 description of the bell is this : " The original bell, of which 
 the enclosed drawing is a faithful representation, was found 
 last July by a mason while repairing the back part of the 
 wall of the' old Rectory stable, at Penton Mewsey, Hants. 
 The same lay concealed within a yard of the floor. Doubtless 
 the former little sanctus bell had been removed in the reign 
 of Edward the Sixth, it was therefore necessary when the 
 Papist worship was restored, to provide a new bell, which 
 satisfactorily accounts for the date on it. It was then used 
 for the short period of Mary's reign, after which it was re- 
 moved, which accounts for the perfect state in which the 
 bell was found. The attention of the archaeologist is to be 
 particularly directed to the mode in which the clapper is 
 suspended. Instead of a ring being cast in the head on 
 which the clapper is suspended you find that the bell is cast 
 without any consideration of the clapper. That when so cast 
 a hole is drilled on either side of the head and a wire is fixed 
 on one side, the clapper being on it, and the wire left so 
 that it may draw in tighter, or be left at full ^play, that the 
 sound of the bell may be louder or lower as may be required 
 in service. The inscription is — 
 
 SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTVM. 
 
 A" X' 1555 
 (Blessed be the name of the Lord)" 
 
 Mr. Hutchins was probably misled as to the use of the
 
 193 
 
 bell, which was most likely for domestic purposes cither as a 
 clock or hand bell. Happily very careful drawings were made 
 of it by Miss Octavia Dodson. I do not know where the bell 
 is now. 
 
 On entering the Church one's first impression will be that of 
 the completeness and harmony of its proportions and outline. 
 The original plan has been departed from by the addition of 
 the transept on the north side. Originally the walls were plain 
 and unbroken by windows to within a few feet of the chancel 
 arch, but a window was inserted during the last restoration 
 at the N.W. end to give much needed light. Mr. Carter 
 says : — " The ancient north window had been destroyed and 
 a communication formed with a monstrous erection in the 
 shape of a gallery 'pue' furnished with carpets, chairs, 
 curtains, and open fireplace with all its noisy appurtenances. 
 This abomination has lately been removed and in its place 
 a sort of transept has been formed and furnished with seats 
 as above mentioned." 
 
 The window on the south side of the nave is not only 
 beautiful in itself but very interesting from the piscina with 
 a credence shelf constructed in the splay. This piscina of 
 course indicates that there was a side altar, about which we 
 may hope in the future to gather some information, but 
 nothing as yet is known. 
 
 Special notice should be taken of the beautiful eftect 
 produced by the hood moulding. 
 
 The only fragments of ancient stained glass that remain 
 are gathered into this window. They consist of the usual 
 outline ornament of natural foliage within a border, worked 
 out with a " scratcher," and coloured by the silver stain as 
 described by Mr. Winston to be characteristic of the Decorated 
 period. Mr. Sturgess, of this parish, remembers this glass 
 being taken from the west window. 
 
 The North door has been long blocked up. 
 
 In the recess formed by it there hangs at present a board 
 recording the following 
 
 BENEFACTIONS. 
 
 Aiiiio Doiii 16.">1. Mr. John Read of London left nine 
 Pounds per annum to be paid to the Cliurclnvardens 
 of Penton to b(^ difstrihutcd ns followetli iinnioly 
 Six pounds per annum for leacliing 
 file poor cliildren of tlie ])MrisIi of Penton 
 and of Ponton Grafton in tlie parish of Weyhill 
 to read write and cyj)her 
 
 O
 
 194 
 
 Also los. 4(1. yeai-ly to the Minister of 
 Tlie Parish of Ponton to preach a scr 
 inon there on the 5tli Day of Novemhcr 
 and 6s. Sd. to the Clerk for making clean 
 of the said Chnrch 
 also one Ponnd per annum to the 
 poor of the parish of Penton 
 and one pound to tlic poor ef the 
 parish of Weyhill. 
 
 The dimensions of the church within the walls are nave 
 40ft. by 20ft, chancel 25ft. by 16ft. The total length is fijft., 
 the height to the wall plate is 15ft. Sin. 
 
 The roof is of the form known as barrel or waggon shaped. 
 It was unfortunately partially burnt in December 1889, 
 but has been restored to its original design. Some new 
 timbers had to be inserted, but a large proportion, including 
 the tie beams, are the old wood, a battlemented beading has 
 however been introduced during the repairs. 
 
 The beautiful delicacy of the spring of the chancel arch 
 from its jambs, and the exquisite flowing lines of the chancel 
 windows and their mouldings should be especially noticed. 
 
 All the stone of the windows, chancel arch, and doorway 
 is a very fine grained oolite of the character of Bath stone. 
 
 " The Font," says Mr. Carter, " is also worthy of attention, 
 presenting considerable elegance and originality of contour." 
 The tracery on its panels preserves no doubt the outline of 
 the original carving, and so gives us the intention of the 14th 
 century artist. It is, however, really " made up" in plaster 
 or cement. The chippings and injuries it has sustained are 
 thus concealed, but it gives an uncomfortable fictitious 
 appearance. 
 
 The church had undergone a restoration, which probably 
 destroyed a great deal that was valuable and interesting. Mr. 
 Carter" describes it in 1844 thus : — " The church has lately 
 been repaired with deal, and adds another to the many 
 unhappy attempts of a similar description so common at the 
 present day." 
 
 But by the liberality of Captain Francis Sutton a complete 
 and thorough restoration, which at the same time rendered 
 the ancient church perfectly fit and convenient for its sacred 
 purpose was carried out in 1888. The floor was raised to its 
 proper level by a bed of concrete. The wretched dilapidated 
 transept almost entirely rebuilt. The seats and stalls of 
 pitch pine and the pulpit (a very fine example of carving) 
 introduced, and all the fittings made as complete as possible.
 
 105 
 
 The Altar frontal was the gift of the Lady Susan Sutton, 
 and the Bible was given by Captain Sutton. 
 
 A chair of the early part of the 18th century, a good example 
 of an ordinary type, stands in the sanctuary. 
 
 In the Inventory of Church Goods sold in 1550 we find 
 those taken from Penton mentioned : — 
 
 Laud Revcuue Cluurli Goods BuiuUe 445. No. 14 2 & 3 Pli. & Mary. 
 
 Tlio cei-tificat of S"' Henry Seymo'' S'^ John Kyngesmill 8' ffrances 
 fflemyng and S' William Koylivey, Kniglits, concernin.if tlie sale of alle 
 and sinoflev plati' Jewells lueneye and ornaments e(»lleeted of the 
 Churehes heremider written, by viitue of Coniyshan geven from Edward 
 the- vjth late King" of England, and .sithence I'estored paid and paiable 
 by virtue of certeyn warrants to them geven from the lords of the 
 Couueell to the Queen's maiestie tliat nowe is. As by tlie same 
 warrants ready to be shewed more playnly appeareth 
 
 peinte mense 
 
 not iiaid The ornaments there to John thomas iij' 
 
 Reeeived therefore a littell boxe of ," 
 Silver weiuge one ou/e 
 
 MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH. 
 Marble Tablet against the East wall of the Nave — 
 
 Elizabeth the wife of 
 
 Commander Cha' Thompson Royal Navy 
 
 who die<l Jan- 2nd 1<S40 aged 60 years 
 
 Also their ehildren 
 
 Thomas Hardy Died Jan> 30tli 1817 
 
 Aged 2 years 
 
 Sarah died April 1st 1817 aged 11 montlis 
 
 Charles Henry died at Sarum 
 
 Jau>' 24th 1823 aged 18 years 
 
 Elizabeth died Ft^l) 9th 1825 aged It! 
 
 Geuge Anson died .June 6th 1841 aged 20. 
 
 Commander Cha" Tliompson Royal Navy 
 
 died Fel) 12th 18.".9 aged 82 j-ears 
 
 Marble Tablet beneath the preceding — 
 
 In a vault beneath 
 
 are deposited the remains 
 
 of 
 
 Harriet Elmore 
 
 Daugliter of Ge()r<;'e Elmore 
 
 wlio de])arted this life April 22, 1819 
 
 aged 21 years 
 
 Also of Eliza aged 7 years 
 
 And of Alfred ngeil •' years
 
 196 
 
 On the floor at tlic West End— 
 
 Undfv tliis stone 
 
 lictli tlio Body of 
 
 Ab'"'" Legg-att 
 
 Citi/.on of London Distiller 
 
 wiio diod Oct 7. 171S 
 
 aged 34 years 
 
 Marble Tablet on West Wall of Transept— 
 
 Lonisa Thomi^son 
 
 Daughter of 
 
 George Nes])itt Thompson Esq''" 
 
 and Catherine Maria his wife 
 
 was born 18th Jan> 1795 and died 24 Oct. 1809 
 
 Beanteons, and gay, and innocent, and good, 
 Just on the brink of youth Louisa stood 
 
 The happiest hopes her early years supplied, 
 But ere fifteen matured her bloom she died. 
 
 On the floor at the West End— 
 
 ... he lieth tlie Body of 
 
 . . . shua Strother M.A. 
 
 vicar of Brinchley 
 
 in the County of Kent 
 
 died March ye 7tli 174;> 
 
 aged 71 years 
 . . auces his wife wlu) 
 . . . d August ye 19th 1754 
 aged 79 years 
 
 On the floor at the West End — 
 
 Here 
 
 lyeth the body of 
 
 Richard Appary wlio 
 
 died April 20, 17;U 
 
 aged 60 years 
 
 a faithful friend a father dear 
 
 a loving 
 
 (hidden by font) 
 
 On the same stone — 
 
 Here 
 
 lyeth the Body 
 
 of Blizabetli tlie 
 
 wife of Richard 
 
 Appary who died 
 
 (hidden by font)
 
 197 
 
 On a stone at the West End- 
 
 In memory of 
 Mr. Charles Bright 
 who died Aug. ye 5 
 
 aged 69 years 
 
 also of 
 
 Mr. Thomas Bright 
 
 who died October 
 
 aged 
 
 Hanuali Michener 
 
 who died July ye 9 
 
 aged 52 years. 
 
 THE CHURCH PLATE. 
 
 The Church Plate is of very solid and substantial character, 
 and is pronounced b}'- Lambert to be very good of its date. 
 Although a special gift it can hardly have been made with 
 reference to this particular parish ; for, even allowing for the 
 requirements of the Test Act, the chalice is far larger than 
 could ever have been needed, and for the more frequent cele- 
 brations of the present day it is uncomfortably capacious. 
 
 The chalice and paten are both of silver, of the New Stan- 
 dard (lloz. lOdwts). 
 
 The paten measures 5| inches in diameter, and stands 
 2 inches high. It is marked with the maker's initials, h.o., 
 a mark not given by Mr. Chaffers, Britannia and the lion's 
 head erased, (the standard marks), and the date letter, which 
 appears to be the Court-hand Q. and would therefore indicate 
 the year 1711-12; weight 6oz, 
 
 The chalice is 14^ inches high, the diameter of the top is 
 4j^g inches, while the foot is exactly 4 inches in diameter. 
 
 The marks are C B with a bird above and C l>elow, a 
 mark given in Mr. Chaffers"' book under the date 1712, 
 Britannia and the lion's head erased (the standard marks), 
 and the date letter, the Court-hand S, for the year 171;-5-14 ; 
 weight 18oz. 
 
 The following inscription is engraved in script on the 
 bowl : — 
 
 " The gift of Mr. Edward Grace 1714. 
 
 Vestry." 
 
 The date letter on the chalice corresponds with this record, 
 but it would seem as if the paten was not made at the same 
 time or bv the same maker.
 
 198 
 
 There is also an alms-dish 8^ inches in diameter, engraved 
 with the sacred monogram in the centre, surrounded by this 
 inscription : — 
 
 " Preseuted to the Parish of Peutou Mewsey by Caroline, widow of 
 the late Tliomas Willis, December 25, 1835." 
 
 The date letter 11 shows that the plate was made in 1828 ; 
 weight 13oz. 
 
 Although, therefore, the Church plate at Penton Mewsey 
 is tine and interesting, it is not so old as that of several 
 neighbouring churches. 
 
 There is a large electro -plated flagon. 
 
 Some of the Grace family, by whom the chalice was pre- 
 sented, resided at Foxcotte, and one died at Highclere in 
 1722 ; their names occur in the register from 1710 to 1742, 
 but there is no mention of Mr. Edward Grace. 
 
 THE REGISTERS. 
 
 The earliest register is a small book of parchment of 
 very irregular sized leaves, but averaging about 9in. by 
 7in. It has been torn out of its covers. On the first page is 
 
 written : — 
 
 . . . . of Richard Noyes 
 Re.g'ister of Penton Mewsey 
 
 The ink has in many places nearly faded out, and here and 
 there some one has attempted to revive the writing with but 
 very indifferent success. 
 
 There are eleven folios. The book is not in good condi- 
 tion, and in places it is illegible. It extends from 1642, 18 
 Charles I. to 1677, 29 Charles II. The last page being occu- 
 pied with a list of Briefs. 
 
 As is usual the Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials are 
 intermixed in the register. 
 
 Some names familiar up to the present in the parish are 
 found. 
 
 In the year 1662 is an entry of the burial of Richard 
 Russell, of Exeter College, Oxford, son of Richard Russell, 
 Rector of Penton, and in the same year an entry records that 
 Thomas Colepepper, Lord of the Manor, was buried in the 
 Chancel. 
 
 . Several entries of " Burial in Woolen" occur, as for 
 instance : —
 
 199 
 
 1678 Richard Russell Reeior of Peutou waslnxriod in woolen according 
 to y'^ said Act. 
 
 Dec. 27 May v*" danpflitcv of Thomas Muuday was buried in Wooler.. 
 
 1678 September 11th Richard Russell Rector of Penton was Buried 
 was not pi;t in wrapt or Avound up iu any shirt shift sheet or shroud 
 But what was made of sheeps wool only in conformity and 
 according to the Act of Parliament in that case made and pro- 
 vided ik,nd also notice was g-iven to the minister of ye same 
 within eight daies after the said interrmeut accoi'ding to the said 
 Act. 
 
 It will be noticed the register of the burial of the Rev. 
 Richard Russell is in duplicate, some folios having been in- 
 serted into the second volume of the register. 
 
 The singular sumptuary law for the dead was devised by 
 the Parliament of 1666, "l8 and 19 Charles II. :—" It was 
 professedly passed for the encouragement of the woolen 
 manufacture, and prevention of the exportation of moneys for 
 the buying and importing of linen and it enacted that after 
 March 25, 1667, no person should be ' buried' in any shirt, 
 shift, or sheete other than should be made of wool onely." 
 The provisions of the Act were so strict that even the quilting 
 round the inside of the coffin and the ligature round the feet 
 of the corpse were required to be of woolen. 
 
 The statute was generally disobeyed and the penalty could 
 seldom be enforced, because an information could only be 
 laid by those who were most interested iu concealing the 
 offence. To remedy this a more stringent Act was passed in 
 1678, 30 Charles II. c. 3 which obliged the clergy to make an 
 entry within eight days after the burial certifying that the 
 requirements of the law had been complied with. The 
 statutes were finally repealed in 1814. 
 
 Parish Registers in England practicall}' owe their origin 
 to the injunction issued by Cromwell, The Vicar General, 
 Sep. 29, 1538. 
 
 It is much to be deplored that none exist at the Church 
 of Penton Mewsey for so long a period, but as happily among 
 the comparatively few places of which the transcripts are 
 preserved at Winchester our parish happens to be one we may 
 possibly some day be able to supply some of the deficiency. 
 
 The Registrar, Richard Noyes, whose name occurs on the 
 first page occupied the official position in the parish which 
 had been created by an enactment of Parliament in 1653, 
 which provided that the inhabitants and householders of each 
 parish shall make choice of some honest and able person 
 such as shall be sworn and approved by one Justice of the
 
 200 
 
 peace to have the keepiug of the said hook. By this act 
 marriages were not to be performed by the minister but by 
 the Justices of the Peace. After 1656 it became a common 
 practice for marriages to be celebrated by the minister and 
 the Mayor of the town jointly. 
 
 There are no entries of marriages by a magistrate in Penton 
 register, but there is one which shews a decided antipathy to 
 the "civil" taking the place of the " religious." 
 
 lt>.57 Sep'- 28 John Tabor Reef of fEaccomb and 
 
 Bridget Russell daughter to Richard Russell 
 Rector of this place were married by a lawful minister 
 ye banns being thrice jmblished 
 
 The words in italics are in a different hand and written 
 with blacker ink. 
 
 1697 Jaiiuy 21 a poor disbanded soldier Buryed according a late 
 act of parhnn' for Inirying in woolen 
 
 BRIEFS. 
 
 The last page of the lirst volume of the Kegister is 
 occupied by a list of l)riefs. 
 
 These were letters patent issued by the Sovereign directing 
 the collection of alms for special objects named in them. 
 They were granted for building and repairing churches, and 
 for many benevolent purposes such as compensation for losses 
 by fire. 
 
 An act of Parliament was passed to regulate them in 
 1705. It will be remembered that the Rubric in the Prayer 
 Book directs that after the Nicene Creed (if occasion be) 
 Briefs citations and excommunications are to be read. The 
 following are those recorded at Penton : — 
 
 Collected towards the relief of those that suffered by fii-e at Melton 
 Abbey in dorset 2' 3'' at Penton Mewsey Fel) 3. 1660. ' 
 
 Collected towards the relief of those that suffered by fire at Ilniister 
 ill Somerset the sum of 4' at Penton Mewsey March y= 17"' 1660. 
 
 Collected towards the relief of the town of Southwould als Southbay 
 in the county of Suffolk the sum of tliree shillings and fower pence at 
 Penton Mewsey June the 20"' 1661. 
 
 Collected at Penton Mewsey June the 23"^'' 1661 towards those that 
 suffered by fire in Fleet Street in ye psh of S' Dunstan in London the 
 sum of three shillings lialfpeny farthing. 
 
 Collected towards those wlio suffered by fii-e at Huford. 
 
 Collected towards a fire at Hungerford . . . one penny.
 
 201 
 
 The Chi'rchwardens' Book 
 
 Begins Sept. 0, 1838, at one end ; Easter, 1805, at the 
 
 other. 
 
 1818 Mai-cli 27 Paid Wiltshire for 21 mouls 
 
 April 3 Do. Walter for 6 sparrows ... 
 4 Do. Wilkius for 68 mouls 
 10 Do. Cliilvers for 2 iiiouls 
 
 17 Do. Cradweet for stong-li 
 Do. Chivei's for 2 mouls 
 
 18 Do. Wiltshire for 58 mouls ... 
 May 2 Do. Wiltsliire for 36 mouls ... 
 
 8 Do. Chivers for 6 sparrows ... 
 
 9 Do. Grio'ory for hed^"ehog' 
 9 Bread and wiiie for Sacrament 
 
 15 Paid Wiltsliire for 24 mouls 
 
 26 Do. Dudmaii tor 2 doz. sjjai'rows 
 
 Do. Clark for 2 do. do 
 28 Do. Butt for 1 do. and half 
 
 Do. Cinnetts for 5 do. 
 May 28 Do. for 2 doz. of old sparrows 
 
 Do. for 1 doz. of youuff 
 30 Do. for 7 mouls 
 
 Do. Clievers for 4 doz. sparroM's 
 
 Do. Brown for 3 old sparrows 
 Juno 1 Paid Visitation fees and other expenses at 
 Andover 
 J819 For spi-ows and wants 
 
 Paid for wants and stot.s 
 
 P" for adder 
 
 George Brown vi])er 
 
 Charles Wayte 1 adder 
 
 Henry Houps 1 weazle 
 
 Alex' Walters 1 pole cat 
 
 Collected by rate 1/- in the Pound 
 
 Do. hy rate at 3d. in the Pound lin part 
 
 Collected liy Rate at 1/- in the Pound 
 March 25 Subsci'iption for repairino' the Church 
 
 In hand 
 
 Borrowed of Miss Grace Thompson 
 
 By two old windows 
 
 1820 
 
 
 1839 
 
 July 11 
 
 1842 
 
 
 
 Oct. 6 
 
 1843 
 
 Deer. 30 
 
 1842 
 
 
 1843 
 
 March 23 
 
 1845 
 
 
 14 
 9 
 
 G 
 6 
 1 
 1 
 
 .) 
 .) 
 
 1 
 •) 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 52 
 92 
 10 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 17 
 
 I) 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 Is 16 March 25 Disbursements ... 
 
 Due to Pari.sh 
 1849 Jan. IS Gibbs repairino- 1 lie Turret ... 
 Herl)ert Do. window.s 
 .Tune 17 Rev. Mr. Dodson for Flagon (Parish i 
 1852 April 22 Hou]is Takiiiij- down and replacint,^ the 
 
 Chui-cli Bell (to be repaired) 
 18.54 Spacknian Vase for the font 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 4 
 
 G 
 6 
 
 (i 
 4 
 6 
 II 
 o 
 
 9 
 
 i; 
 
 
 
 t; 
 ;» 
 
 
 2 6 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 t; 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 
 9 
 
 H 
 ■) 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 181 13 7 
 179 6 11,'. 
 
 6 
 
 lo 
 
 7i 
 
 6 
 
 II 
 6
 
 202 
 
 1863 Tlein-y Stnvgess for luiilding- Fuel House 
 
 iiiiti repairs ... . . ... 4 9 6 
 
 ]8Gfi Paid Ricliard Reaves for keeping order at 
 
 Churoh ... ... ... 5 
 
 ] 877 Minute of meeting for faculty to pull down 
 
 the old church 
 1881' Statement of Facts as to Powucy Bequest 
 
 181t) Nov. 21 Tlio' Houps cleaning watei-eour.se round 
 
 the church ... ... ... 10 
 
 1843 Xew pewing the church 
 
 Resolved that an application he made to 
 the Chancellor of the diocese for his 
 ])ermissiou to sell the cracked Bell and 
 tlie proceeds of the sale to be used 
 towards the restoration of the original 
 Bell Turret which contains two suffi- 
 cient Bells. 
 
 RECTor.R OF Prnton Mewsey. 
 
 It is a cherished hope that a hst of the Rectors, at any 
 rate, from a.d. 1282, may eventually he compiled. There is 
 80 much to he gleaned, not merely of the names, hut the 
 history from the Bishops' Registers that nothing less than 
 an exhaustive search of them will he satisfactory. 
 
 As an example of what may be found we may mention 
 that in the register of Bishop Woodlock, 1305, 33 Edward 
 I. to 1316, 9 Edward II, there is a record of "Leave of 
 Absence"' being granted to the Rector of Penton, and a writ 
 issuing against Richard the parson of Penton Mewsey at the 
 suit of the Abbot of Grestain. 
 
 In the time of Bishop Stratford, 1323 to 1333, we have 
 the Institution to the Church of Penton Mewsey on the 
 presentation of Henry de Hamhull, or again we shall pro- 
 bably get the name of the Rector when the present church 
 was built, and not impossibly something about the builder 
 from the Register of Bishop Edington, 134G, 20 Edward III. 
 to 1366, 40 Edward III., for the Rector was instituted then 
 on the presentation of John de Wynton and after by " the 
 Lord King" by reason that the lauds of John de Winton 
 deceased were in his hands. Or once more in the Bishopric 
 of Wykeham 1367 to 1404 an institution to the Rectorv on 
 account of an exchange with the parson of Everley in the 
 diocese of Salisbury on the presentation of Edmund de 
 Stonore and a Commission for the aforesaid exchange and 
 admission to the Church at Penton on the presentation of 
 the Lord King ])v reason that he held the custody of the
 
 203 
 
 lands and heir of Edmund Stunorc deceased. And also an 
 Institution on the presentation of lialpli de Stonore. 
 
 Date. 
 1 May 1634 
 
 19 Fel) 1635 
 
 23 Dw' 167S 
 
 S May 1679 
 17 Dec' 1706 
 •28 Mar 1732 
 
 26 April 1734 
 
 27 Sept' 1736 
 
 29 Oct 1762 
 9 July 1790 
 15 Juue 1832 
 
 1876 
 
 1881 
 
 1886 
 
 30 May 1890 Capt" Francis Suttou 
 
 Patkon. 
 Georyiiis Tarrant gen : hac vice p : 
 
 adrer: a Waltero Culpepper 
 
 Mil: ong Patron 
 ^AnnaHayvid : et Tliu.s Gulpepxjer 
 
 Mil: 
 
 Hulupli rev Norbourue Esq" Pollen 
 
 arm : 
 
 J Pollen Esq" 
 
 Edward Pollen Esq"^ 
 
 Sir Pliilip Meadows 
 Joshua Strother cl : 
 Joshua Strother cl : 
 Barbara St rotlier Spr . ... 
 Edward Fulham ... 
 John Constable ... 
 
 Rkctor. 
 
 Georg'e Tarranl 
 
 Ricliard Rni>.sell 
 
 Joseph RoAV 
 Henry Russell 
 ... John Border 
 ... Henry Jacob 
 ... James Smith 
 
 George Strother 
 ... George Woodward 
 ... Edward Fulham 
 ... Christoplier Dodsou 
 ... Thomas Hargraves 
 
 Meyrick Onslow Alisou 
 . . . Montague Pain 
 Robert Hawley Clutterbuck 
 
 Bennett Bi'othei-., Printcis, Journal Office, Salisburv.
 
 ^JG^. 
 
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