BIGHTON
Bykingtune and Bicincgtun (x cent.), Bighetone
(xi cent.), Byketon (xiii cent.), Biketon (xiv cent.),
Bicketon (xvi cent.).
Bighton is a parish with an area of 2,095 acres,
situated 2 miles north-east by east from New Alresford Station, on the London and South-Western
Railway. The village is almost in the centre of the
parish, and is reached from New Alresford by a road
which runs east from the main Alresford and Basing-stoke Road, between Old Alresford House on the
north and Old Alresford Pond on the south. The
village is set partly on the northern slope of a valley
opening westward towards Alresford and partly along
the road running down the middle of the valley.
The church and manor house are at the highest point
to the north, with the rectory immediately south of
the church. From the church the road makes a steep
descent, and turns sharply to the east towards the
schools, the general shop, and the smithy, and then
again southward with a second descent to the road in
the valley. At the bottom of the hill stands the inn,
with three horse-shoes nailed up as a sign, and there
are many quaint thatched cottages on either side
of the road. Higher up the valley, near to High
Dell Farm, a substantial-looking building, the road
forks north-east and south-east. To the north-east a
shady lane runs to Bighton Wood House, the residence
of Col. Heathcote, which is situated on the outskirts
of Bighton Wood, in the north of the parish. The
house was built in 1844, at a cost of £10,000, by the
Rev. John Thomas Maine, and is surrounded by 280
acres of copse and woodland. The road to the south-east leads to Medsted. Woodlark Farm, which is
situated south of the village, is mentioned as early as
1545. (fn. 1) The earliest mention of Breach Farm, the
occasional residence of the duke of Buckingham, which
lies a little to the east of Bighton Wood House, seems
to be in 1734. (fn. 2)
The manor house, which has an early eighteenth-century south front with very good moulded brick
details, is now occupied by the bailiff of Col.
Hanning-Lee. In 1770 Haydell Farm is mentioned,
which is represented by the modern High Dell Farm. (fn. 3)
In the low-lying ground in the south of the parish
near Drayton Farm, a stream rises which feeds Old
Alresford Pond, and there are also numerous springs
which afford an abundant supply of pure water.
Woods and plantations in the parish cover an area
of 295 acres. (fn. 4) The following are found as names of
copses in a patent roll of 1545:—'Rosselwayes Coppe,
Wike Coppies, Chorlewode Coppe, Rede Coppe,
Pikedfelde Coppe, Wilkyns Coppe, Lordesdowne
Coppe, and Jelyan Grove.' (fn. 5) 'Golberfield or Goblenfield Coppice or Goldberryfield Coppice or Groveryfield Coppice, Devil Acres Coppice, Spoyle Coppice,
Gores Coppice, and Barnes Coppice' are found in a
recovery-roll of 1734. (fn. 6)
The soil is for the most part a harsh flinty loam (fn. 7)
resting on chalk, from which many flints are collected
for the repair of the roads in this and the neighbouring parishes. Following the direction of the little
brook which takes its rise in the parish the land is
intermixed with gravel and is of a better quality.
The chief crops grown in the neighbourhood are
wheat, oats, barley, and turnips. Truffles are found
in the beech woods, and in the autumn the wages of
the labourers are considerably augmented from this
source.
Arable land covers an area of 1,186 acres in the
parish and permanent grass 572 acres. (fn. 8)
MANORS OF BIGHTON
As is shown under Bishop's
Sutton, it seems probable that a
large part of the manor and parish
of Bighton, if not the whole of it,
was included in a grant of land said to have been
made by Ine to Winchester Cathedral in 701. (fn. 9) In
959 King Edwy granted 10 mansae in the parish of
Bighton to Hyde Abbey (the monastery of St. Peter
by Winchester, as it was then called), and shortly
after this gift the monks, with the consent of the
king, granted this land to a certain minister of the
king, called Ælfric, for life, in return for a gift of
60 marks of gold. (fn. 10)
At the time of the Domesday Survey the manor
of Bighton was held by Hyde Abbey, and was
assessed at 7 hides. The monks, however, did not
keep the whole of the manor in their own hands.
They only retained 3 hides, the other 4 hides being
divided equally between Fulchered and Borghill.
What the abbey held was worth £8, while the
tenants' holding in the manor was only worth £4. (fn. 11)
The manor continued to be held by the abbey or
by tenants of the abbey until the dissolution. (fn. 12)
In 1256 Guy de Heydene granted a carucate of
land in Bighton, which he probably held of the
abbey, to Roger, abbot of Hyde, and his successors
for ever. In return for this grant the abbot promised
that he and his successors thenceforth would find a
certain secular chaplain to celebrate divine service in
the church of the abbey at the altar of St. Grimbald,
and would pay this chaplain 5 marks a year. In
addition the abbot and his successors were to pay
an annuity of £10 to Guy, and on Guy's death an
annuity of £6 to his brother Thomas. After the
deaths of Guy and Thomas the annuities were to
cease, but the convent was to receive yearly from the
abbot and his successors 20s. for pittance on Guy's
obit. (fn. 13) In 1329 the abbot and convent obtained a
grant of free warren in their demesne lands of Bighton. (fn. 14) An inquisition was held in 1388 to ascertain
what manors, lands, and tenements had been assigned
as the portion of the abbot of Hyde, and what belonged to the convent as its portion. The manor of
Bighton was returned as one of those which had
belonged to the convent from time immemorial. (fn. 15)
In the same year the king by letters patent granted
to the abbot and convent and their successors that
the premises assigned for the maintenance of the
convent, distinct from the abbot's portion as a prebend, should on voidances of the abbey be exempt
from seizure. (fn. 16) The manor of Bighton was assessed
at £14 16s. 1d. in 1291. (fn. 17) It was worth almost
twice as much in the reign of Henry VIII. (fn. 18) After
the dissolution of the abbey the king granted it to a
Venetian, Dr. Augustine de Augustinis, physician to
the king, Cardinal Wolsey, and Cardinal Campeggio,
to hold for the term of his life, (fn. 19) but in July, 1545,
Augustine received a grant of the reversion for a rent of
£2 18s. 5½d. (fn. 20) Three months later Augustine and
Agnes his wife by fine granted the manor to Thomas
Wriothesley and his heirs. (fn. 21)
On the death of Thomas,
Bighton was one of the manors
assigned to his widow Jane as
dower. In 1581 Henry earl
of Southampton died seised of
the reversion of the manor
of Bighton, which Jane was
holding for the term of her
life. (fn. 22) His heir was his son
Henry, aged eight, who seventeen years later sold the manor
to John Wither of Manydown
(co. Hants). (fn. 23) The property
was then settled for life upon the wife of John Wither's
eldest son William as a marriage-portion. (fn. 24) Three
years after her death in 1632 William Wither and
his eldest son Paul sold the
manor to Robert Eyre, Giles
Eyre, and William Eyre. (fn. 25)
William Eyre was still lord of
the manor in 1665, for he
then presented to the living
which went with the manor. (fn. 26)
Wriothesley. Azure a cross or between four falcons close argent.
Wither. Argent a cheveron gules between three crescents sable.
The descent of the manor
has not been discovered from
this date (fn. 27) till 1692, when Sir
Robert Worsley, bart., purchased it from John Pathurst, (fn. 28)
and presented to the living
in 1701. (fn. 29) In 1726 Edward
Stawell, George Pitt, and Sir John Cope, bart.,
bought the manor from Sir Robert Worsley and
Frances his wife, (fn. 30) and they presented to the living in
1732. (fn. 31) They were probably trustees for Frederick
Tilney of Tilney Hall in the parish of Rotherwick.
Frederick's heir was his daughter Anne, who married
William, Lord Craven. On the death of Anne in 1730, (fn. 32)
her only daughter having predeceased her, the manor
passed to Dorothy wife of Richard Child, Viscount
Castlemaine, only daughter and heir of John Glynne
and Dorothy his wife, the niece of Frederick Tilney.
On his wife's succeeding to her inheritance Richard
Child assumed the name of Tilney, and in 1731 was
created Earl Tilney. The manor in 1734 was settled
upon the Hon. John Tilney, Lord Castlemaine, the son
and heir of Earl Tilney and Dorothy his wife, and his
heirs and assigns. (fn. 33) From him it passed into the
possession of Christopher Eyre, one of the prebendaries of Winchester Cathedral. (fn. 34) Christopher
died in 1743, and was succeeded by his eldest son
Philip Eyre, (fn. 35) who on his own petition presented
himself to the living of Bighton in 1767. (fn. 36) On his
death without issue the manor went to his brother
Joseph Eyre, who in 1770 settled it on himself and
his son and heir John and their heirs and assigns for
ever. (fn. 37) From the Eyres it passed by purchase into
the possession of James Brydges, duke of Chandos,
whose only daughter and heir Anne Eliza married
Richard, Earl Temple, in 1796. The latter being
seised of the manor in right of his wife, dealt with it
by fine in 1809, (fn. 38) and presented to the living in 1811,
and again in 1827 under the
title of duke of Buckingham. (fn. 39)
It was in the latter year that
the duchess built the schools
at a cost of £100. (fn. 40) On the
duke's death in 1839 the
manor passed to his son and
heir Richard Plantagenet, second duke of Buckingham and
Chandos, who sold it in 1841
to the Rev. John Thomas
Maine. (fn. 41) It remained in the
latter's possession for over thirty
years, (fn. 42) being sold on his death to Mr. Lee Lee of
Dillington Park, Ilminster, Somerset, whose descendant,
Col. Edward Hanning Hanning-Lee, is the present
lord.
Brydges, Duke of Chandos. Argent a cross sable with a leopard's head or thereon.
A portion of the parish of Bighton, equal in value
to the manor of Bighton held by the abbey of Hyde,
still formed part of the bishop of Winchester's lands
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and was
held of the bishopric by the family of Gervays. In
1263 William Gervays granted the third part of a
virgate of land to John de Bonehetone and Agnes his
wife, to hold to them and their heirs of William and
his heirs for the rent of a pound of cummin at
Michaelmas. (fn. 43) William's heir was another William
Gervays, who in 1332 obtained a grant of land in
Bishop's Sutton and Ropley from Robert le Botiller. (fn. 44)
On William's death his property in Bighton passed to
his son Roger, who was holding it in 1346. (fn. 45) Roger's
son Andrew in 1370 granted all his property in
Bighton to William Wykeham, bishop of Winchester,
for an annual payment of £20 for the term of his
life. (fn. 46) The bishop granted the land to his college at
Winchester, (fn. 47) and in 1428 it was stated that the
warden of New College, Winchester, held in Bighton
the fourth part of a fee in frankalmoign which Roger
Gervays formerly held. (fn. 48)
CHURCH
The church of ALL SAINTS,
BIGHTON, consists of a nave and
chancel without a structural division,
48 ft. long by 18 ft. wide, the chancel taking up
21 ft. of this length; north and south chapels and
aisles, north-east vestry, south porch, and west tower.
The exterior is uninteresting, all the windows except
the east window of the chancel and a small cinquefoiled light west of the porch being single lancets of
the plainest detail and modern appearance. The
walls are plastered and the roofs red-tiled, that of the
nave being carried without a break over the aisles.
The oldest feature in the churchappears to be the north
window of the chancel, a narrow round-headed light
with inclined jambs on the inner splay, its outer face
being hidden by the vestry roof. It may belong to
the first quarter of the twelfth century, and, if in its
original position, suggests a rebuilding and widening
of the chancel at this date, the thickness of the wall
in which it is set being 2 ft. 10 in. as against
2 ft. 5 in. in the nave. The dimensions of the
present nave may be those of an earlier nave, 18 ft.
by 27 ft., parts of whose walls may still exist above
the arcades. In the last years of the twelfth century
north and south aisles were added to this nave, with
chapels to the east, a little wider than the aisles, and
overlapping the chancel. The south chapel is 15 ft.
long from east to west, while that on the north is
only 7 ft., but the former may have been lengthened
eastward at a later time, perhaps c. 1300, when work
was evidently in progress here.
The chancel has an east window of three lights
with modern tracery, but the rear arch and jambs,
the latter with engaged angle shafts, date from
c. 1300. Near the south-east angle of the church is
a trefoiled piscina of the same date, with a projecting
bowl for the drain, and close to it on the west a
squint from the south chapel. The chapels open to
the chancel with plain pointed arches of one square
order, 6 ft. wide, with a chamfered string at the
springing, of the same date as the nave arcades. The
north chapel has an east window of two trefoiled
lights, c. 1300, now blocked by the modern vestry,
and in the east jamb of the arch opening to the
chancel is a pretty trefoiled piscina of the same date
as the window, with a shelf. The north window of
the chapel is a plain lancet of the type already noted,
with a semicircular rear arch. The south chapel
has a south window of this type and a larger lancet
at the east, on either side of which is a plain round
corbel for an image. At the west ends of both
chapels are thin walls carried by plain pointed arches,
approximately on the line of the original chancel
arch, which must have been destroyed at an early
date.
The nave has arcades of two bays with pointed
arches of a single square order, plain responds, and
round central pillars with square capitals and moulded
bases with angle spurs. The capital in the south
arcade is scalloped, while that on the north has
scrolled foliage, the date of the whole being about
1180–90. The aisles are lighted, very insufficiently,
by lancets of the type already noted, and the ground
stage of the tower, which is fitted with seats, is
equally ill-lighted, though it has lancet windows on
north, south, and west, as all are darkened with poor
modern glass, and the absence of a clearstory in the
nave is much felt. The south doorway has a pointed
arch plastered over and showing no detail, and the
south porch is plastered and of uncertain date. The
tower, which is of masonry in the lower stage only,
opens to the church with a modern pointed arch, and
has a groined plaster ceiling. Its upper stages are of
timber, the main beams being old, but covered with
modern weatherboarding, and the tower is capped by
a low slated roof. Of late years the church has been
fitted with a good painted and gilt chancel screen,
with a beam above it, and the roofs of nave and aisles
have been panelled and coloured with very good
effect.
The font, at the west end of the nave, is of a
common late twelfth-century type, of Purbeck marble
with a shallow square bowl having round-headed
arcades on each face, and carried on a round central
shaft. Four smaller angle shafts have disappeared,
though their marble bases remain. Near the font,
against the west respond of the south arcade, is set
as a pedestal to a money-box a very good pillar
piscina, with leaf-work on the bowl like that of the
capital in the north arcade, but combined with leaves
of normal thirteenth-century type. Its date is c. 1190.
In the tower are pits for three bells, but only one
bell now remains, of early sixteenth-century date,
with Roger Landon's lettering and stamps, the lion's
head, groat, and cross, but not his founder's mark.
The inscription, in black-letter capitals and smalls, is
blundered, reading: SANCTA ANN OAR, for SANCTA
ANNA ORA PRO NOBIS.
The plate comprises a large silver paten of 1696,
and a communion cup, paten, and flagon of 1757.
The first book of the registers contains baptisms and
burials from 1573 to 1805, and marriages 1573–1754; the second, baptisms and burials 1805–12,
and the third, marriages 1754–1812. In the first
book is a list of rectors from 1621.
ADVOWSON
There was a church in Bighton at
the time of the Domesday Survey. (fn. 49)
The advowson has throughout followed the descent of the manor (q.v.).
CHARITIES
In 1772 James, duke of Chandos,
gave a bond to the rector and parish
officers for £50 with interest at 5 per
per cent., which is supposed to include a sum of £15
set aside to produce 15s. a year derived from the gift
of John Pink in 1642. The fund is known as
'poor's money,' and with accumulations is now
represented by £93 5s. consols with the official
trustees. (fn. 50)