WEST TISTED
Ticcestede (x cent.); Tistede (xi cent.); Westystude, Ticestede, Westistede, and West Stisted (xiii
cent.).
West Tisted is a small triangular-shaped parish
with an area of 2,356 acres lying on high ground
between 500 and 600 ft. above the sea level, and
comprises 944 acres of arable land, 935 acres of permanent grass, and 167 acres of wood and plantation. (fn. 1)
The parish is but thinly populated, and the village,
which lies in the centre of it, seems almost deserted.
It is approached by four rough narrow roads or lanes
between high banks of ferns and hedge growth. The
schools are situated to the east of the road from
Privett village, while the smithy stands at the junction of this road with that from Privett station on
the Meon Valley Branch of the London and SouthWestern Railway, which lies about a mile off to the
east. A steep road leads thence, through the pinetrees with which the whole parish is studded, to the
church, vicarage, and manor house, standing close together a little way back from the road. The vicarage
lies to the south-east of the church, and hard by is a
field where stands the oak in which, according to
tradition, Sir Benjamin Tichborne hid himself after
the battle of Cheriton. (fn. 2) North of the church on a
moated site is the picturesque manor house of red
brick and stone formerly belonging to the Tichbornes,
but now a farm-house. It dates from c. 1600, and
has a central hall with a large fireplace and a fine
panelled room on the ground floor of the east wing
with a tall chimney-piece of very good style. From
the top of the hill wide views can be obtained of
Privett and the neighbouring country. In the northeast of the parish is the wild expanse of West Tisted
Common, north of which is the steep road lined with
pine-trees leading to Ropley and Alresford.
The soil is clay and chalk, the subsoil chalk.
The chief crops are wheat, barley, turnips, and oats.
The population in 1901 was 239.
The following place-names are found in the 13th
century: 'Trendelcrofte and Rykemannesdone.' (fn. 3)
MANOR
WEST TISTED.
King Edmund
granted. 7 hides in TISTED to his
faithful thegn Ethelgeard in 941, and
confirmed this grant two years later. The boundaries
are given in detail, and seem to prove that the land
thus granted to Ethelgeard was situated in the parish
of West Tisted. (fn. 4) At the time of the Domesday
Survey West Tisted belonged to the bishopric of
Winchester, and was held by Ranulf of the bishop. (fn. 5)
The manor was held of the bishop of Winchester
until the beginning of the thirteenth century, when
Richard de Ilchester, bishop of Winchester, who had
two illegitimate sons, Herbert le Poor, bishop of
Salisbury 1194–1217, and Richard le Poor, bishop
of Salisbury 1217–28 and bishop of Durham
1228–37, granted it to Herbert, treating it as
though it was his personal property. (fn. 6) On Herbert's
death it passed to his brother and heir Richard, who
succeeded him as bishop of Salisbury. Peter des
Roches, bishop of Winchester, however, realized that
unless measures were taken West Tisted would be
irretrievably lost to the bishopric, and accordingly
he took proceedings against Richard, and between
1217 and 1228 recovered seisin of it. (fn. 7) The manor
was held directly of the bishopric until the beginning
of the fourteenth century. (fn. 8) In 1323, however, an
inquisition was held on the petition of Femmota the
widow of Robert de Tisted, (fn. 9) who complained that
whereas her former husband had held the manor of
West Tisted of John de St. John, the guardian of the
bishopric of Winchester, (fn. 10) asserting that the manor
was held of the bishopric by knight's service, had
taken it into the king's hands by reason of the
minority of the heir. By the inquisition it was
ascertained that Robert de Tisted had held the manor
of John de St. John, who held it of the bishopric by
knight's service, (fn. 11) and the keepers of the bishopric
were consequently ordered to intermeddle no further
with the manor, but to restore the issues thereof. (fn. 12)
After Edmund de St. John's death, without issue, in
1347, (fn. 13) the overlordship passed to his sister Isabel,
the wife of Luke Poynings, and remained in the
family of Poynings until Sir Thomas Poynings'
death in 1428, when it was assigned to Alice the
wife of Sir Thomas Kyngeston, one of his three
granddaughters and heirs. The manor was held
successively of their son Thomas Kyngeston and of
his kinsman and heir John Kyngeston, as of the
manor of Warnford. (fn. 14) John's brother and sister both
died without issue, (fn. 15) and accordingly the manor of
West Tisted, for want of an heir, escheated to the
bishop. In an inquisition of 1555 it was stated
that the manor was held of Stephen bishop of Winchester as of his bishopric of Winchester by the service of one and a half knight's fees. (fn. 16)
With regard to the actual holders of the manor,
various members of the family of Limesi held lands
in West Tisted in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Towards the end of the twelfth century
Richard de Limesi died seised of one hide in West
Tisted, leaving a son and a heir Henry. (fn. 17) As he was
in debt to the king his lands were confiscated, but
they were released to Henry on his petition in 1203,
to hold from year to year as the farmer of the king,
until the debt was paid in full. (fn. 18) Some thirty years
later Roger de Limesi, who was also in debt to the
king, was slain, and in 1234 the sheriff was ordered
to deliver his chattels to any lawful man of the
county who would be responsible to the king for
part payment of the debts. (fn. 19) Roger's heir was a
certain Adam de Limesi, who seems to have taken no
steps in this direction, but alienated all his property
to the priories of Newark and Selborne, apparently
in order to shift the responsibility of payment from
his own shoulders to theirs. Thus in 1242 he
granted half a carucate in West Tisted (fn. 20) to the prior
of Newark in frankalmoign in return for two corrodies
in food and drink during his life: a canon's corrody
and a groom's corrody at Newark. (fn. 21) About the same
time he granted two messuages and lands in West
Tisted to the prior and canons of Selborne to hold
of him and his heirs by the annual payment of a
pound of cummin. (fn. 22) As Adam had foreseen, King
Henry III demanded the payment of Roger de
Limesi's debts from the priory of Newark, and an
arrangement was made that the prior should pay a
mark every year into the royal exchequer until the
debt of £276 14s. 3d. was paid in full. However,
the prior of Newark pleaded that the prior of Selborne also was holding property in West Tisted
which had belonged to Roger de Limesi and should
also help in the payment of his debts. The possessions of both the priors in West Tisted were valued
in 1266, and it was ascertained that those of the prior
of Newark were worth £4 a year, while those of the
prior of Selborne were only worth 8s. a year. It
was accordingly arranged that the latter should pay
1s. 2½d. every year to the prior of Newark towards
the payment of Roger de Limesi's debts. (fn. 23) It is
clear, therefore, that all the lands which belonged
to the Limesis in West Tisted were divided before
1250 between the priories of Selborne and Newark.
Hence there is no mention of the family of Limesi
in connexion with West Tisted after that date.
The Limesis, however, had held but a small portion
of the vill of West Tisted. The main part of it was
held by the Tisteds. Early in the twelfth century
Hugh de Tisted held three knights' fees, and he was
succeeded by his son Richard de Tisted, who was
holding one and a half knight's fees in 1166. (fn. 24) The
latter's son, Hugh de Tisted, was holding land in
West Tisted in 1203. (fn. 25) The Tisteds probably held
their property of the bishop of Winchester, and when
Herbert bishop of Salisbury became overlord of West
Tisted, he seems to have dispossessed them, and
granted their lands to a certain Ralph de Winesham. (fn. 26)
Shortly after confirming this grant, King John, knowing that Ralph's title was defective, confiscated his
lands in West Tisted, and did not release them to him
until he had paid 20 marks. (fn. 27) On the death of Ralph
de Winesham, West Tisted passed to a certain Roger
de Winesham. When, however, Peter des Roches
recovered the overlordship of West Tisted against
Richard, bishop of Salisbury, Joan le Hood, who was
most probably the daughter and heir of the Hugh de
Tisted who was holding West Tisted in 1203, pressed
her claim against Roger de Winesham. In 1235 an
assize of mort d'ancestor was summoned between
Roger de Winesham and Robert le Hood and Joan
his wife, and Roger was forced to give up West Tisted
to Robert and Joan and the heirs of Joan. (fn. 28) In 1238
Joan, who was by this time a widow, granted to the
prior and canons of Selborne in frankalmoign certain
lands in the vill of West Tisted called Trendelcrofte
and Rykemannesdone. (fn. 29) In 1240 she conveyed West
Tisted to Ralph de Camois, possibly for purposes of
settlement, and in return Ralph granted it to her to
hold for the term of her life of himself and his heirs
by the annual payment of a pair of gilt spurs or 6d. at
Easter. (fn. 30) In the following year Joan surrendered her
life-interest in West Tisted to Ralph in exchange for
the manor of Wotton (co. Surr.). (fn. 31) Ralph de Camois
died in 1259 seised of one and a half knight's fees in
West Tisted which he held of the bishop elect of
Winchester. (fn. 32) His heir was his son Ralph, aged forty
and more. This latter Ralph in 1261 claimed the
advowson of the church of West Tisted by virtue of
his lordship of the manor. (fn. 33) He was not, however,
seised of the manor at his death in 1276, (fn. 34) although
he must have had some interest in it, since four years
later John de Camois, son and heir of Sir Ralph de
Camois, granted to Richard de Crofton, in return for
his service, £10 annual rent paid by Geoffrey de la
Flode and Alice his wife from the manor of West
Tisted. (fn. 35) Geoffrey de la Flode is called 'lord of the
vill' in 1281, (fn. 36) and his wife Alice le Hood, who was
probably the daughter and heir of Robert le Hood
and Joan his wife, and on whom West Tisted had
probably been settled by the transactions of 1240 and
1241, is described as the 'lady of West Tisted' in
1284. (fn. 37) In the same year Richard de Crofton, who
was called the son and heir of Robert de Crofton, released to the prior and canons of Selborne all his right
in the advowson of the church of West Tisted, (fn. 38) and
at some date between 1284 and 1293 he succeeded
Alice le Hood in the lordship of West Tisted. (fn. 39) This
Richard was probably the son and heir of Alice by
her first husband Robert de Crofton, and the manor
descended to him as his right and inheritance after his
mother's death. (fn. 40) Shortly after succeeding to his inheritance he seems to have assumed the surname of
Tisted, as after 1293 there is no further mention of
Richard de Crofton, but a certain Richard de Tisted
was witness to charters in 1301, 1305, 1307, 1308,
and 1312. (fn. 41) Richard died about 1313, (fn. 42) and was
succeeded by Robert de Tisted, probably his son. (fn. 43)
Robert died before 1323, for in that year Femmota
de Tisted is described as his widow. (fn. 44) Robert's heir
was a minor in 1323, and apparently died before he
came of age, for the manor of West Tisted had been
divided before 1337 between Alice and Agatha, (fn. 45) who
were the daughters and coheirs of John le Hood
of West Tisted. (fn. 46) It is possible that this John le
Hood was the younger brother of Robert de Tisted, for
it seems to have been the rule for the heir to assume
the surname of Tisted on succeeding to his property.
Alice and Agatha, the daughters of John le Hood, and
probably the nieces of Robert de Tisted, married respectively Richard de Tichborne and his brother Walter
de Tichborne, the sons of
Sir John Tichborne, (fn. 47) who in
1337 were seised of the manor
in right of their wives. (fn. 48) In
1342 it was settled between
them that if Walter and Agatha
died without issue, the moiety
of the manor which they held
should revert on their deaths
to the right heirs of Agatha. (fn. 49)
Walter de Tichborne in 1345
acknowledged that he owed £100 to his elder
brother Roger de Tichborne of Tichborne. As
he had not paid the debt in 1346, Roger chose
to hold half of Walter's land as a free tenement
until he had recovered his £100. Walter's property at West Tisted was accordingly valued, and
half of it was delivered over to Roger. (fn. 50) Walter de
Tichborne and Agatha died without issue, evidently
before 1364, for in that year Alice, as Agatha's right
heir, was holding both moieties of the manor, and
was described as the 'lady of West Tisted.' (fn. 51) On her
death the manor descended to her son Richard Tisted, (fn. 52)
by whose son Richard it was held in 1428. (fn. 53) On his
death the manor descended to his son and heir William
Tisted. (fn. 54) William's son William Tisted died in 1511
seised of the manor of West Tisted, leaving a brother
and heir, Thomas Tisted, aged forty and more. (fn. 55)
Thomas died without issue, and on his death the
manor was divided among his four sisters and heirs,
Amy, Christian, Thomazin, and Iseult. (fn. 56) Before the
end of the reign of Henry VIII, Nicholas Tichborne (fn. 57)
had bought up the different parts into which the
manor had been divided from these sisters and their
descendants. (fn. 58) On Nicholas's death the manor passed
to his son and heir Nicholas Tichborne, who died
seised of it in 1555. (fn. 59) From that date the manor has
remained in the family of Tichborne, (fn. 60) the present
lord of the manor being Sir Henry Alfred Joseph
Doughty-Tichborne, bart.
Tichborne. Vair a cheif or.
MERRYFIELD
MERRYFIELD (Mirefeld xiii cent.; Merifeld
xvi cent.) was, as has been shown above, in origin
half a carucate of land in West Tisted granted by
Adam de Limesi in 1242 to the prior of Newark in
frankalmoign. Shortly after this grant the prior
and convent of Merton granted licence to the
prior and convent of Newark to build a chapel
in their territory of Merryfield, which was within
the parish of Sutton and Ropley, and to hold
service there as long as it was not to the prejudice of
the mother church. (fn. 61) Merryfield continued the property of the prior and convent until the dissolution,
the following entry being made in the Ministers'
Accounts for 1545, under the heading of 'the lands
and possessions of Newark':—Manor of 'Merifeld'
with all lands and tenements in West Tisted and
Ropley, and £9 from the rents both of free and
customary tenants there. (fn. 62) Henry VIII granted the
manor by letters patent in 1532 to John Wingfield, (fn. 63)
who held it but for a short time, the king three years
later granting it to Henry Tichborne, lord of the
manor of West Tisted. (fn. 64) From this time it has remained in the family of Tichborne, (fn. 65) Merryfield Farm,
situated in the north of the parish on the borders of
Ropley, being still the property of Sir Henry Alfred
Joseph Doughty-Tichborne, bart.
CHURCH
The church of ST. MARY MAGDALENE, WEST TISTED, is a small
building with modern chancel and north
vestry, and an aisleless nave with south porch and
west bell-turret. The interior measurements of the
original nave were 41 ft. by 15 ft., but it has been
lengthened 10 ft. eastwards at the building of the
chancel, and there is no structural division between
the two. It probably dates from the early years of
the twelfth century, the blocked north doorway and
part of a small window west of the south doorway
being of this time, the window being only 5 in. wide.
The north doorway has a plain round outer arch
with a hollow-chamfered string at the springing, and
the walls are 3 ft. thick, of flint rubble with sandstone
ashlar dressings. The western angles have been rebuilt, and the south wall leans outward; its original
masonry being much patched, and a large buttress
added at the south-east angle. The main entrance
to the church is by the south door, which has a plain
pointed arch of one order with a continuous chamfer,
and is covered by a mean brick porch built by Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1750. In the north wall is
a single window, a trefoiled fourteenth-century light
close to the line of the former east wall of the nave,
and opposite to it in the south wall is a trefoiled
piscina of about the same date, with a stone shelf,
marking the site of the south nave altar. Close to
the piscina is a square-headed fifteenth-century window
of three cinquefoiled lights, and the western part of
the nave is lighted only by an early fourteenth-century
window in the west wall, of two trefoiled lights with
a quatrefoil over. The bell-turret is carried on four
wooden posts, rising from the floor of the church at
the west end of the nave, set close to the walls; they
formerly carried a west gallery which is now taken
down, the only access to the turret being by a trap
door in the ceiling. The chancel is a poor specimen
of modern fifteenth-century Gothic with a three-light
east window and two two-light windows in the south
wall. At its north-west angle is a door leading to a
small modern vestry.
The timbers of the nave roof and bell-turret are
old, but all other fittings are modern except the
seventeenth-century altar table with its baluster legs,
and the font, which stands in front of the blocked
north door, and is perfectly plain with a round bowl
on a roughly worked stem of uncertain date though
ancient. In the face of the east jamb of the south
doorway is a recess for holy water, the position being
somewhat unusual.
There are a few mural monuments of the Tichborne
family on the north wall of the nave, to Sir Benjamin
Tichborne, 1665, Margaret his wife, 1671, and
Margaret Tichborne, 1672, and a tablet to Richard
Lacy, 1690. The plate consists of a cup and cover
paten of 1568, with incised ornament round the top
and base of the bowl, the paten being plain, and a
second paten with a foot bearing the date-letter for
1723. There are two small bells in the bell-turret,
said to be uninscribed.
The first book of the registers contains the baptisms
from 1560 to 1747, the marriages from 1538 to 1740,
and the burials from 1538 to 1755, and the second
the remaining entries to 1812, but there are no
entries of marriages between 1740 and 1754.
ADVOWSON
There was a church in West
Tisted at the time of the Domesday
Survey, but it is not stated whether
the bishop held the advowson as well as the manor. (fn. 66)
In all probability he did, for Peter des Roches in
1237 confirmed the grant of the advowson (fn. 67) made by
Joan le Hood a year before to the prior and canons
of Selborne. (fn. 68) Ralph de Camois claimed the advowson
in virtue of his lordship of the manor of West Tisted,
and presented Master John de Brideport, clerk, to the
living. His claim was disputed by the prior and
canons of Selborne, and Constantine de Mildehale,
the official of Boniface archbishop of Canterbury in
the diocese of Winchester, during the vacancy of the
see, arbitrated between the disputants in 1261. (fn. 69)
His decree assigned the patronage absolutely to the
prior and canons as having been given to them by
Peter des Roches; but inasmuch as Selborne was endowed with goods issuing from the manor, and in
order that Ralph might be duly honoured by the
prior and canons, he ordained that Ralph and his heirs
should always have the right of presenting one fit
clerk to be admitted as a canon into the convent, who
should there celebrate for the souls of Ralph, his
ancestors and successors. Constantine also decreed
that the prior and convent should pay 100s. annually
to Master John de Brideport until they procured his
promotion to some better ecclesiastical benefice. In
1261 Ralph released all right in the advowson and
patronage of the church of West Tisted. (fn. 70) Four
years later the prior and convent of St. Swithun's,
Winchester, confirmed Peter des Roches' charter confirming Joan le Hood's grant of the advowson
to Selborne together with some lands, 'saving an
honest and sufficient maintenance to the vicar.' (fn. 71)
In 1282 John archbishop of Canterbury confirmed
the appropriation of the church to the prior and
canons in consequence of their request made to him
when at their house in the course of his metropolitical
visitation during the vacancy of the see of Winchester. (fn. 72)
In 1284 Geoffrey de la Flode and Alice his wife
and Richard de Crofton released all claim to the
advowson, (fn. 73) which remained in the possession of
Selborne Priory till 1484. In that year the priory
was dissolved, and the advowson of West Tisted was
among the possessions which were annexed to Magdalen College, Oxford, (fn. 74) the president and fellows
of which still hold the advowson. Magdalen College
often let out the rectory and tithes of West Tisted at
farm. It was the rule to give the preference to a
fellow of the college, and owing to this custom a
dispute arose in the reign of Henry VIII. (fn. 75)
Early in 1528 when the parsonage was unlet and in
the hands of Master Thomas Knollys, the president of
the college, Nicholas Tichborne, lord of the manor
of West Tisted, asked him for a ten years' lease of the
rectory and tithes. Thomas agreed to let them to
him for that time, and it was arranged that on
Lammas Day, 1528, either Nicholas or his messenger
should go to Oxford to get the lease under the
common seal of the president and scholars. Nicholas
sent his brother Roger Tichborne, but when he
arrived he found they were already let to Richard
Cressweller, a fellow of the college. Nicholas was
naturally annoyed when he heard the news, but
nevertheless he suffered Richard to occupy the rectory
for two years. On Michaelmas Day, 1531, however,
they met at West Tisted and had a violent quarrel,
and this quarrel culminated on 3 April, 1533, in a
fight between the two parties at West Tisted parsonage,
with what result, however, is unknown.