EAST TISTED
Ostede (xii cent.); Esttystede, Estistede, Thistede
(xiii and xiv cent.).
The parish of East Tisted, containing about 2,648
acres of land, lies immediately south-west of Newton
Valence. The main part of the village is a group of
half a dozen modernized cottages on the east of the
high road leading from Alton to Gosport. They lie
well back from the road with front gardens stretching
up to a low stone wall which runs along in front of
the group. They originally stood on the other side
of the road, within Rotherfield Park, but were removed by Mr. James Scott when he bought the
Rotherfield estate. One of the cottages does service
as the village post-office, and another as the village
inn. Near the church and vicarage, which are on the
east side of the road north of the village, a road
branches east to Home Farm past two blocks of almshouses built and endowed for the aged poor by Thomas
and Septimus Scott in 1879 and 1893. Beyond Home
Farm, where the road branches to the right to East
Tisted station and on to Monkey's Lodge Farm, a
small spring rises which supplies the meagre village
pond. On the north side of the road are two or
three old cottages and several modern ones which
have sprung into existence since the building of the
railway station, opened on Whit-Monday, 1903.
Rotherfield Park estate lies west of the village and
fills up the whole of that end of the parish. The
park itself covers about 300 acres, and in it on high
ground stands the manor house on the original site.
Surrounding the park, especially on the north and
west, is well-wooded country—Plash Wood on the
north and Dogford Wood and Winchester Wood on
the west—reaching away almost to the outer boundary
of the parish.
The soil is entirely chalk, except here and there in
the valleys where the subsoil is often gravel. Hence
the chief crops are ordinary cereals, but the fertility
of the ground is necessarily unfavourably affected by the
remarkable lack of water in the parish. With the exception of the spring that rises west of Home Farm
there is no river, not even a rivulet, to break the
monotony of alternation of field and woodland. There
are 745 acres of arable land in the parish, 767 of pasture, and 739 of woodland and plantations. (fn. 1)
MANOR
The first mention of the manor
of EAST TISTED does not come
until the early part of the thirteenth
century, when in 1206 King John ordered Geoffrey
FitzPeter to inquire whether certain lands in
'Dokefert,' (fn. 2) held by William Peche, belonged to the
demesne of Tisted which the king had granted to
Adam de Gurdon. (fn. 3) However, a hundred roll of a
later date states that half a knight's fee at Tisted and
Selborne, meaning the manor of East Tisted, which
was evidently comprised of lands in Tisted and
Selborne, was held of Adam de Gurdon by the grant
of King Richard to his father. (fn. 4) In 1218 (fn. 5) a writ
directed to the sheriff of Hampshire ordering him to
seize the lands of Adam de Gurdon in Tisted and
Selborne states that they were held by Adam of
William de St. John. (fn. 6) This is difficult to explain, as
in all other cases it is said to be held of the king in
chief by grand serjeanty. On the death of the second
Adam de Gurdon before 12 August, 1231, the manor
reverted to the crown during the minority of his heir,
and Henry III granted the whole to Ralph Marshall
to hold during the royal pleasure, rendering 'what
Ameria the wife of Adam had rendered while the
lands were in her hands,' and saving to Ameria the
corn which had been sown in the lands. (fn. 7) In 1233
the manor went as dower to Ameria until her eldest
son should be of age. (fn. 8) Adam, her son, the famous
supporter of Simon de Montfort, was of age and in
possession of the manor by 1254, and by an inquisition ad quod damnum taken in that year he was allowed
to hold his lands in Tisted and Selborne as half a
knight's fee instead of by grand serjeanty. (fn. 9) On the
hundred roll for 1275 Adam de Gurdon is said to
hold half a knight's fee in 'Ostede' and Selborne of
the king in chief and to have the right of free chase
of wolves and hares both within and without the forest
by charter of Henry III. (fn. 10) About 1305, (fn. 11) or earlier,
Adam de Gurdon died seised of the manor of Tisted,
leaving a daughter and heir Joan, who in 1308 settled
the whole on herself for life with reversion to James
de Norton and his heirs. (fn. 12) For licence to enter the
manor James de Norton paid a fine of 5 marks to
the crown during the next year. (fn. 13) In March, 1316,
the manor was in his hands, (fn. 14) and in the May of that
year he settled it upon himself and his second wife
Margaret and their heirs; failing such it was to revert
to Thomas the son of James by his first wife Elizabeth. (fn. 15)
James and Margaret had a son John (fn. 16) who died
before 1346, when the manor passed into the hands
of Edmund de Kendale, Margaret's second husband, (fn. 17)
in custody for John's son John, a minor, (fn. 18) who came
of age in 1360. (fn. 19) This John only held the manor
for ten years, dying abroad, probably on active service
in the French wars in 1370, and leaving a son and
heir John only three years old. (fn. 20) Before 1424 the
latter conveyed the manor to trustees, who settled it
in that year on his son John and Joan his wife and
their heirs. (fn. 21) Richard Norton the son and heir of
John and Joan died seised of East Tisted in 1503,
leaving a son and heir Richard, (fn. 22) who married
Elizabeth Rotherfield in 1495. He died in 1536,
leaving a son and heir John (fn. 23) who died before 1564,
in which year Anne his widow sought dower in East
Tisted against her son Richard. She stated that she
had been dispossessed by subtle practice between this
her son and his uncle, who 'when the said orator was
in great heaviness and sorrow for the death of her
late husband came to her and brought a deed of
release by which she should release unto the said
Richard all right of dower in the said lands . . .
while they swore to her that there was nothing in it
but a note or remembrancer of such lands as her late
husband held and nothing that would do her harm.'
Trusting to them she signed the deed and her son
seized the lands. (fn. 24) He died in 1592 while his mother
Anne was still living, but the manor of East Tisted
was settled on Katherine his wife. (fn. 25) Their son
Richard, who was knighted in 1610, (fn. 26) succeeded to
the manor on the death of his mother before that
date, and held it until his death in 1612. (fn. 27) The
manor then passed to his son Richard, who was
several times sheriff of Hampshire, and who was
created baronet in 1622. (fn. 28) The Norton family were
staunch royalists and suffered heavily for their adherence to Charles. In July, 1644, Sir Richard was
committed 'for maintaining the proceedings against
the Parliament and for doing many disservices.' He
was imprisoned in Lord Petre's
house, (fn. 29) but was by order of
the Committee for Prisoners discharged in August, 1644, on
giving sufficient security. His
estates were valued at £15,000
a year, and on admission to
compound he was fined at
£1,000. (fn. 30) This was reduced
to £500 in March, 1645. He
paid the fine, but died before
August of that year, leaving his
estate heavily charged, as his
sons complained when they compounded for their own
and their father's delinquency on his death. They
stated that they had been in the king's army in Winchester garrison, and five days after its surrender had
taken an oath administered by the county committee.
They were now heavily burdened with their father's
debts and the necessity of paying their mother's jointure, while Sir Richard the elder son had no other
estate, and John the younger only a lease of £15 a
year, now sequestered. In April, 1647, all proceedings against them were stayed, since they had paid
£100, the sum to which their fine had been reduced
in consideration of their poverty and their father's
fine. (fn. 31)
Norton. Vert a lion or.
The estate was not taken out until May, 1661,
when, since Sir Richard had died in 1652 without male
issue, it descended in tail male to his brother John as
third baronet. In 1666 Sir John Norton settled the
manor of East Tisted on himself and Dame Dorothy
his wife and their heirs. (fn. 32) Sir John died in 1686
aged sixty-seven, and was buried in East Tisted church
under an elaborate monument erected 'by the piety of
his wife, Lady Dorothy.' (fn. 33) She, whom 'God blessed
with a prosperous life and an easy death,' (fn. 34) survived
him until 1703, but as they had no issue the manor
of East Tisted seems to have passed before this to
Elizabeth, the daughter of the late Sir Richard, as
heiress of her uncle. Elizabeth had married Francis
Paulet of Amport in August, 1674, (fn. 35) and on his death in
1695 or 1696 (fn. 36) their son Norton Paulet succeeded to
the estate. The will of the latter is dated 1729, and by
it Norton Paulet, his eldest son, was made sole heir
and executor, and charged to pay his father's debts of
£13,000. (fn. 37) Thus in 1756 he mortgaged the manors
of East Tisted and Rotherfield to John Taylor, fellow
of Winchester College, (fn. 38) but recovered the same before
his death in 1758. (fn. 39) By his will Thomas Norton
Paulet was made his sole heir after the death of his
wife, Mrs. Anne Paulet, and was to have an annuity
of £200 during the life of Anne. (fn. 40) Anne died about
1765, but before Thomas could enter into possession
he had to prove his title against William Paulet, his
father's eldest surviving brother, who denied the
legitimacy of Thomas (fn. 41) and disputed the will. The
depositions of the witnesses for the defendant were
taken in 1766 at the 'White Swan,' New Alresford,
and among the witnesses was the rector of East Tisted,
who stated nothing more definitely than that the late
Norton Paulet was the reputed father of the defendant. (fn. 42)
The case evidently was decided in favour of Thomas,
who was in possession in 1767, (fn. 43) but who sold the
manor of East Tisted in 1787 to George Powlett or
Paulet, the youngest but only surviving brother of
Norton Paulet. (fn. 44) George Paulet as heir of Harry
Paulet, his third cousin once removed, became twelfth
marquis of Winchester in 1794, and on his death in
1800 the manor passed to his son Charles Ingolds by
Paulet, (fn. 45) who sold it with Rotherfield and Noar in
October, 1808, to James Scott. (fn. 46)
On the death of the latter in
1835 the estate passed to his
son James Winter Scott, who
died in 1873. Archibald Edward Scott, fourth but only
surviving son of James Winter
Scott, holds the estate at the
present day.
Scott of Rotherfield. Party palewise indented argent and sable a saltire countercoloured.
It is thought that Old Place
Farm may have been the old
manor house of East Tisted,
where the Norton family lived
until Richard Norton wedded
the heiress of Rotherfield in
the end of the fifteenth century and went up to
Rotherfield.
In the basement on the north side of the house is a
row of stone-mullioned windows, circa 1600, the
masonry and detail being very good, and evidently
belonging to a house of some importance. At the
west end of the north wall are traces of a wall running
northwards, part of the old house, and near it is a
shed covering a well with a large wooden wheel for
drawing water. (fn. 47)
The house has been patched and altered at many
dates, and contains nothing of interest beyond the
windows described. On a chimney stack on the south
side is the date 1742.
ROTHERFIELD
ROTHERFIELD (Rutherfield, Retheresfeld, xiii
cent.). The history of the manor begins in the
twelfth century when it was held by Adam de Rotherfield, who rendered account for the same on the Pipe
Roll for 1166. (fn. 48) In the thirteenth century Adam de
Rotherfield, son or grandson of the above, leased the
manor for five years to E., archdeacon of Lewes, and
the king confirmed the grant in 1226. (fn. 49) In 1234
Isabel de Rotherfield, widow of Adam, was given
seisin of her dower in the lands of her late husband in
Rotherfield, if they had been seized by the king with
the lands of Adam her son, who had forfeited the
manor of Rotherfield among his other possessions for
felony. (fn. 50)
The king granted the manor to Roger de Wyavill
for life 'for his support in the king's service,' but in
1257 the said Roger in the king's presence restored all
the land for the use of Robert Walerond, to whom the
king had formerly granted the reversion of the same. (fn. 51)
In 1266 Robert Walerond leased the same to his
nephew Alan Plugenet, (fn. 52) and before his death alienated
it to William de Lyndhurst,
who died seised of the same,
leaving a son and heir William,
a minor, called William de
Rotherfield, because he was
born there. (fn. 53) In 1274 Maud,
late wife of Robert Walerond,
demanded a third in dower
from Rotherfield, against William de Rotherfield, (fn. 54) but a
memorandum was made to the
effect that she was not dowered
from Rotherfield. (fn. 55) William
de Rotherfield's son and heir
John entered without homage done and died seised,
leaving a son and heir John, a minor, who died in
1369 leaving a son and heir John who was sixteen in
1371. (fn. 56) The king granted out the manor to William
de Lyndhurst during the minority of the latter John,
and in 1373 in an inquisition made concerning Rotherfield it was stated that a rent of 36s. had always been
paid from it to the lord of East Tisted. (fn. 57) In 1379
John de Rotherfield entered into possession, (fn. 58) but as
there is no inquisition on his death there is nothing to
show how long he held the manor. William 'Rytherfield,' presumably his son, died in possession of
Rotherfield in 1489, and on the inquisition then taken
it was said to be held of Edward Lord de Duddeley, as of
his manor of Alton Westbrook, (fn. 59) not, as before, in
chief. William's heir Elizabeth married Richard
Norton of East Tisted in 1495, and from that time
the manor was vested in the same descent as that of
East Tisted (q.v.). Thus in 1564 Anne Norton
pleaded that her husband John Norton had left her
the manor of Rotherfield as part of her dower. Within
the manor was 'a great wood (fn. 60) adjoining the park pale
of Rotherfield on the west side of the park containing
threescore and seven acres or thereabouts . . . which
hath been used time out of mind of man at the age
of sixteen years growth to be lopped and sold.' Anne
had therefore sent workmen to lop the trees, but her
son Richard had hindered them and brought them
before the King's Bench.' (fn. 61)
Rotherfield. Azure a fesse wavy between three crescents or.
Rotherfield Park
CHURCH
The church of ST. JAMES has a
chancel with north and south chapels, a
nave with aisles, and a west tower, and
was entirely rebuilt in 1846, with the exception of
the lower part of the tower. The chancel arch of two
chamfered orders appears to be old work re-used, and
the south doorway of the tower is in part of the first
half of the fourteenth century. The chief interest of
the church at the present day centres in the monuments of the Norton family.
At the east end of the south aisle is the canopied
altar-tomb of Richard, ob. 1556, and Elizabeth Norton,
erected before the death of either, about 1530. The
canopy is formed by a four-centred arch with a
panelled soffit, under a cornice on which are three
shields bearing respectively (1) the Norton coat, (2)
the same impaling Rotherfield, and (3) Rotherfield.
In the spandrels of the arch are shields with RN and
EN. On the upright back of the tomb beneath the
canopy are brasses representing the Resurrection of
Christ, with Richard Norton and eight sons kneeling
on the right hand, and Elizabeth and ten daughters
on the left. Over both groups are scrolls, one illegible, the other, on the left, having JHU [christe] FILI DEI
MISERERE MEI. The base of the tomb is panelled and
bears three shields with the same coats as those on the
cornice, but set in early Renaissance ornament. An
inscription in black letter is painted on the cornice
and base of the tomb, as follows:—
Richardus Norton armiger et Elizabeth uxor ejus filia et heres
Willī Retherfield ac cõsanguinea et una heredū Willī dawty . . .
de f . . . ele qui quidem Ricūs obiit . . . die . . . Anno dni
M CCCCC . . . et dicta Elizabeth obiit . . . die . . . Anno
dni M CCCCC . . . Qiū a[nimabus] [pro]piciet' de' Amen.
Above the tomb is a panel with the Norton coat
under a round arch with Renaissance detail, rather
later in style than that on the tomb itself.
In front of the tomb lies an early fourteenth-century
coffin lid, having a cross with a sunk quatrefoiled head
in which is the bust of a woman holding a heart in
her hands, and at the foot is a trefoiled arch beneath
which appear the feet of the figure resting on a dog.
Against the north wall of the north aisle is a tall
monument of the second half of the sixteenth century
to John Norton, who died before 1564, and his
wife Anne (Puttenham), with a pediment carried by
two Ionic columns, resting on a panelled base. Beneath the pediment are two small figures of an armed
man and a lady kneeling on either side of a prayer
desk, with a strapwork panel behind them. On the
base of the tomb are three shields in wreaths and
strapwork borders, the first bearing the Norton coat,
impaling Puttenham. The second has Norton impaling Rotherfield, and the third the Norton coat. The
third shield also occurs in the pediment, with helm
and mantling and the crest of a Saracen's head, and
again above the pediment, held by a small figure.
At the east end of the north aisle is the recumbent
armed effigy, in white marble, of Sir John Norton,
1686, resting on a white marble base with a large
gadrooned cornice and a long inscription. Behind
the effigy is a black marble frame, and above it a
cornice on which is a shield with crest and supporters,
bearing the Norton arms impaling March.
Two small brass plates are fixed in the north wall
of the tower in memory of two vicars, Richard
Burdon, 1615, and Thomas Emes, 1663, the date on
the latter being given in a chronogram:
DeCeMbrIs 29to soLe non orto pIe eXpIrabat.
In the tower is a panel with the Royal Arms, dated
1706. The woodwork in the church is modern, but
in the vestry is a seventeenth-century communion
table. On the pulpit are figures of the evangelists,
the work of a local carver and of modern date, but
curiously like seventeenth-century work.
There are three bells, the treble by Ellis Knight,
inscribed: 'Let your hope be in the Lord. E. K.
1623'; the second, 'Prayse ye the Lorde 1590,' and
the tenor, 'Honnor the King, 1635.'
The plate consists of a silver cup, paten, and almsdish of 1702, the cup being inscribed D. N, and the
paten and alms-dish L N, for Lady Dorothy Norton,
widow of Sir John Norton, and Lucie, daughter of
Sir Richard Norton; a chalice, paten, and flagon of
1898, and a pewter flagon dated 1702 and inscribed
'Ye parish of East Tisted in ye County of Southampton.'
The earliest parish register is a parchment book
beginning with the baptisms from 1561 to 1623. On
the first page dated 1538 is an account of the proclamation by which the keeping of parish registers was
made law. The next section gives the marriages
between 1538 and 1594, and then from 1604 to 1654.
After this come the baptisms between 1624 and 1679,
then the marriages from 1657 to 1678. These are
followed by the first entry of burials from 1670 to 1679,
with one or two marriages in 1678 and 1680. Then
the book ends with another entry of burials between
1562 and 1669. The second register, a parchment,
leather-bound book, gives the baptisms and marriages;
the baptisms from 1680 to 1812, and the marriages
from 1688 to 1758. Inside the cover is a notice of
inductions to the rectory between 1680 and 1767.
The third is a register of briefs and burials between
1683 and 1812. The fourth register is a paper book
giving the marriages between 1761 and 1811.
The overseers of the poor accounts start in 1742.
They call up the most graphic picture possible of the
life of the parish in the years following. A sparrow
club evidently existed quite early, since in the first year
of the accounts there is an entry of 7s. 9d. paid for
thirty-one dozen sparrows, and like entries follow in
every year. For forty years or more a certain William
Chitty, who seems to have been the village idiot, was
clothed, and fed, and shaved. In one year (1763)
they gave him 'skins for the pockets of his coat' besides his ordinary clothes, and in another year (1771)
made him a 'hop surplice.' He died in 1781, for
there comes an entry 'Paid Mr. Wilmott for 3 gals of
beer when Chitty was bored and shaving Chitty 5s. o.'
In 1763, in spite of the triumph of Lord Bute's
peace policy in the preceding year, is an entry 'Paid
for Hirein a substitute in the Militia £4 14. 6,' and
again in 1765 'Paid for substitute for Warren and
expences £2. 13. 5.' The first idea of an organized
system of housing the poor comes in 1771 with the
entry 'Spent at Vestry about a poor house 1s. 6d.' In
the next year is the 'Account of Arthur Kelsey and
Thomas Eames, disbursments for Tisted poor house
1772.' The house was built for about £69, £10
was given by Winchester College, £15 by Magdalen
College, Oxford, the timber by Thomas Norton
Paulet, lord of the manor, £10 10s. was advanced
out of the year's accounts, and Widow Eames lent
£33 on note of hand. In 1780 the house had to be
mended and thatched. These are but a few typical
entries, but they serve perhaps to show something of
the parish life in the eighteenth century.
ADVOWSON
The advowson of the church was
always held by the lords of the manor
of Rotherfield (fn. 62) (q.v.), passing from
the Rotherfield family to the Norton in 1495, and
from the Nortons to the Paulets in 1687. From the
Paulets it passed to the Scotts, (fn. 63) and is held at the
present day by Archibald E. Scott, the lord of the
manor. (fn. 64)
On the confiscation of Adam de Rotherfield's lands
for felony about 1234, when the advowson of East
Tisted was granted in reversion to Robert Walerond, (fn. 65)
the latter evidently leased the same to the abbot of
Hyde, since in 1263 the abbot had dealings concerning the advowson with Adam de Plugenet, (fn. 66) nephew
of Robert, to whom Robert himself leased the advowson in 1266. (fn. 67) It was afterwards alienated to William
de Lyndhurst, (fn. 68) and from that time was appendant to
the manor of Rotherfield. John son of John de
Rotherfield, while a minor, presented one Ralph
Rande to the church, (fn. 69) and a presentation made by
his son, John de Rotherfield, is recorded in 1387. (fn. 70)
CHARITIES
(i) The Rev. Philip Valois, rector,
who died in 1760, gave to the incumbents of East Tisted and five other
parishes £300 secured on the tolls of the turnpike
between Basingstoke and Winchester, the annual interest to be paid to a master and a mistress for teaching children of this parish, the boys to read and
write, and the girls to read, write, and sew. The
legacy is represented by £376 15s. 8d. consols held
by the official trustees of charitable funds. (fn. 71)
(ii) The Rev. John Williams, rector, who died in
1822, gave £400 consols to the incumbents of East
Tisted, Newton Valence, Colemore, Faringdon, and
Chawton, in trust for the benefit of the charity school
of East Tisted, subject to the condition that, in default
of a regular school, the benefit might be claimed successively by each of the four other parishes. This
trust fund consists of £354 12s. 9d. consols also held
by the official trustees. (fn. 72)
The incomes of these charities are expended in the
general maintenance of the national school.