STEEP
La Stuppe, La Stiepe, and Stupe xiv cent.; Steepe
xvii cent.
The parish of Steep formerly included a strip of
land called Ambersham in the county of Sussex situated near Midhurst and Petworth, but under the
Acts 2 and 3 Will. IV, cap. 64, and 7 and 8 Vic. cap.
61, Ambersham was detached from Steep and became
part of Sussex. (fn. 1) For ecclesiastical purposes it was
divided into two portions, North Ambersham and
South Ambersham, the former being annexed to
Fernhurst and the latter to Easebourne. South
Ambersham contains 1,497 acres of land and 7 acres
of land covered by water, while North Ambersham has
1,169 acres. The parish of Steep contains over 700
inhabitants, and occupies the rising ground north-east
of Petersfield, its western boundary running along the
brow of the high table-land and including within it
the steep wooded eastern slopes of Stoner Hill and
Wheatham Hill. The parish is watered by a small
stream which rises not far from Ashford Lodge and
flows thence east to Steep Marsh, and a second stream
rising at the foot of Wheatham Hill follows the north
and east boundaries of the parish, joining the first
stream close to the village of Sheet. Two main roads
run through the parish, that from Petersfield to Farnham on the east and the Petersfield and Ropley road
on the south-west, the latter winding up the steep
slopes of Stoner Hill with a skilfully engineered
gradient through beautiful hanging beechwoods. It
was laid out by private enterprise early in the last
century in the expectation of a grant of the tolls on
it, but this being refused by the government the
promoters lost heavily by their undertaking. There
is no regular village, the houses being scattered here
and there over the parish, but the principal group
lies along the road from Sheet, which crosses the main
Petersfield and Ropley road on the lower slopes of
Stoner Hill. Here are several shops and some modern
villas which are increasing in number, owing no doubt
to the close proximity of Petersfield. All Saints'
church stands on the south side of this road about
half a mile east of its junction with the main road, on
a site from which the ground falls steeply to the south
and east, the vicarage lying below it on the east, while
on the north are the voluntary schools built in
1875, (fn. 2) and the almshouses erected and endowed by
Mr. William Eames in 1882. On the eastern boundary
of the churchyard is an old red-brick house with a
picturesque chimney-stack, dating in part from the
latter half of the sixteenth century, and the churchyard
contains two very fine yew-trees, that on the south of
the church being specially notable, even in a district
where nearly every parish can show a large tree of the
kind, confidently claiming for it the conventional
thousand years of growth. There are several good
modern houses standing in their own grounds in the
parish, the most important being Ashford Lodge on
low ground near Stoner Hill, the property of Miss
Hawker; Stonerwood, a large brick house in about
the centre of the parish to the west of the Ropley
road, built about thirty years ago by the Rev. J.
Tasswell and sold at his death ten years ago to Mr. J.
Waller; Coldhayes in the north of the parish, a large
handsome stone house built about twenty-five years
ago by the late Rev. George Horsley-Palmer, a
brother of the late Lord Selborne, the architect being
the late Mr. Waterhouse, R.A., and at present occupied by Mrs. Horsley-Palmer; Collyers, a large brick
house built about twenty years since by the late
Colonel Ughtred Shuttleworth, and now owned by
his widow and occupied by Major Adam Bogle;
Dunnanie, a modern stucco house owned by Mrs.
Shuttleworth; Island, a large brick house built four
years ago and owned and occupied by Mrs. Falconer;
Bedales, a large school built six years ago at a cost of
about £60,000, with accommodation for 160 boys
and girls; Little Stodham, a stucco house belonging
to Mr. Money-Coutts, and occupied by Colonel Sir
St. Vincent Hardwick, bart.; and Stoner House,
built by the late Mr. Keeley Halswelle, a well-known
artist, and now occupied by his widow. Bowyers
Common lies in the east, and is intersected by the
main road from Petersfield to Liss. Ashford, Forcombe
or Foxcombe, and Aldersnapp were formerly tithings
of East Meon, the two former being in the north-east
of the parish, (fn. 3) while the latter is now represented by
Aldersnapp Farm in the south. There was a watermill a little to the south of Ashford Lodge, representing one of those formerly belonging to the manor of
East Meon, and held of it by rent of 3s. It has
been pulled down, however, during the past winter
(1906), and the water-power is now used only to work
a turbine and supply water to Coldhayes. Sheet
Upper Mill is partly in Steep parish and partly in
the parish of Sheet. The various fulling-mills in
Steep, of which mention is made in connexion with
the industries of Petersfield, have long ago fallen into
decay. (fn. 4)
The soil is marl, clay, and sandy loam, the subsoil
gravel and sand. The chief crops are wheat, barley,
and oats, and a few hops are also grown. The area
is 2,658 acres, including 443¾ acres of arable land,
1,222¼ acres of permanent grass, and 233½ acres of
wood and plantations. (fn. 5) Steep Stroud, Steep Marsh,
and Bowyer's Common were inclosed in 1866.
Among place-names occurring in the seventeenth
century are 'Kettle House, Tankerdells, The Moore,
Coleheye and Dundhill' in the tithing of Forcombe or
Foxcombe, and 'Stoner Hill, Coaks, Coaks Great
Wood and Ridge' in the tithing of Aldersnapp. (fn. 6)
MANORS
STEEP
STEEP is not mentioned in Domesday Book by name, and it is most
probably included in the entry under
'Menes,' as in after times most certainly it formed part
of the great episcopal manor of East Meon. (fn. 7)
AMBERSHAM
AMBERSHAM (Embresham x cent.; Ambrisham
xiv cent.; Ambresham xvi cent.).
The first mention of Ambersham is in 963, when
King Edgar granted land in Ambersham to the
church of St. Andrew the Apostle at Meon. (fn. 8) It is
not mentioned in Domesday, and the next mention
of it seems to be in the reign of Henry II, when
the king confirmed the agreement made between the
brothers Robert and Andrew Taillard with reference
to the land of Ambersham. (fn. 9) Andrew Taillard was to
hold half of the manor of the king in chief for the
service of 50s. a year. Robert was to hold the other
half with soc and sac, toll and team, &c., just as his
father Durant Taillard had held it in the reign of
Henry I. In return for this agreement Robert gave
Andrew 20 marks of silver. Shortly afterwards
Ambersham was included in the grant made by
Henry II of East Meon to the bishop of Winchester. (fn. 10)
From this time onwards the manor of Ambersham
was held of the bishopric, and its holders appear as
free suitors at the courts of the manor of East Meon. (fn. 11)
The manor of Ambersham seems to have remained
in the family of Taillard for about four hundred years,
although there is not much documentary evidence of
this, the only mention of a Taillard of Ambersham
between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries being
in 1327, when a certain Thomas son of Thomas
Taillard of Ambersham is mentioned as owing 100s.
to William la Zousche of Assheby. (fn. 12) In 1500 Nicholas
Taillard and Alice his wife by fine granted messuages,
lands, and rents in Ambersham to John Onley and
his heirs. (fn. 13) It was no doubt the manor of Ambersham
that was thus conveyed, since in 1537 Thomas Onley
and Clemence his wife were seised of the manor of
Ambersham, conveying it by fine in that year to
Lady Katherine Arundel, one of the daughters of
William, earl of Arundel, (fn. 14) who four years later
sold it to William Yonge of Petworth, clothier, and
Anthony his son. (fn. 15) The manor remained in the
Yonge family for over a century, at length passing to
Thomas Bonham of West Meon,
by his marriage with Alice,
sister of Anthony Yonge, from
whom it was purchased in
1700 by Anthony Capron, of
the parish of Easebourne (co.
Sussex). (fn. 16) Anthony Capron, a
descendant of the last-named,
sold it towards the end of the
eighteenth century to William
Stephen Poyntz. (fn. 17) On his death
it became vested in his three
daughters, by whom it was
sold in 1843 to George James,
sixth earl of Egmont, whose nephew, Charles
George Perceval, seventh earl of Egmont, is the
present lord of the manor.
Perceval. Or a chief indented gules with three crosses formy or therein.
MORE
MORE (Moore, xvii cent.) is a manor situated
partly in Lodsworth and Easebourne (co. Sussex),
and partly in Ambersham (co. Hants). Its descent
has been identical with that of Ambersham (q.v.).
ASHFORD
ASHFORD manor is a sub-manor dependent upon
the great episcopal manor of East Meon, (fn. 18) and was
held in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries by the Baker family. (fn. 19) In the beginning of
the nineteenth century the then holder, who is said to
have become bankrupt in making the Stoner Hill road,
sold the property to Mr. Wentworth, who in his turn
sold it to Lady Williams. Lady Williams married
Admiral Edward Hawker, and left Ashford to his
younger son, who was curate of Steep, and on the
parish being separated from East Meon became the
first vicar. It is now held by his grand-daughter,
Miss Hawker, who comes of age October, 1907. (fn. 20)
CHURCH
The church of ALL SAINTS,
STEEP, has a chancel 16 ft. by
13 ft., nave 50 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft., north
and south aisles 13 ft. and 5 ft. wide respectively,
with north and south porches, and a tower at the
west end of the north aisle. All measurements are
internal.
The eastern bays of the south arcade of the nave,
c. 1180, are the earliest pieces of detail in the building, but it seems probable that the oldest masonry on
the site belongs to a church of the Colemore and Ropley type, and probably of the first half of the twelfth
century, with aisleless nave and chancel, and a small
transept chapel at the east of the nave on the north;
perhaps also on the south. There may also have
been a north-west tower, probably of wood, with a
masonry base as at present, before the addition of the
north aisle. This church was enlarged about 1180
by the addition of a narrow south aisle, and some
twenty years later the north aisle was added, its
width being determined by the projection of the north
transept chapel, whose west wall, together with the
east wall of the north-west tower, was taken down
at the time and the area thrown into the aisle. The
different wall-thicknesses in the arcade and aisles
suggest that the wall for the length of the first three
bays of the arcade was taken down and rebuilt of a
less thickness when the aisle was added, the thicker
wall being retained at the east and west. The rebuilding of the chancel, probably of a slightly greater
width than the old chancel, followed in the first
quarter of the thirteenth century, and no further
structural additions took place. There is nothing to
show at what time the wooden upper stages of the
tower were made. The church has undergone
'restoration' in 1839, £370 being spent, and in 1875
at a cost of £2,377. A plan of the building, as it
was before 1839, is in the library of the Society of
Antiquaries, and shows the west bay of the south
arcade blocked with a thick wall, and the east bay of
the south aisle destroyed, a wall being built close to
the east bay of the arcade. There is also no chancel
arch. The destruction of the eastern bay of the aisle
suggests that there may have been a transept chapel
here which had fallen into decay and been pulled
down.
The chancel has a modern triplet of lancets on the
east, a single modern lancet on the north, and two
widely splayed lancets on the south, which are ancient
though patched with new stone in places. The chancel
arch, of thirteenth-century style, dates from 1875,
and is said to replace a plain round-headed arch,
which, if the plan already referred to can be trusted,
was not older than 1839.
The nave has arcades of four bays, the north arcade
having semicircular arches of two orders with edge
chamfers, and circular columns with circular moulded
capitals and bases. The third column, at the point
where the wall thickens, is of larger diameter than
those to the east of it, and the west respond has a
plainer capital, with a square-edged abacus chamfered
below, the other abaci in this arcade having a roll and
hollow in place of the chamfer. The variation may
be merely the result of repair, but the respond is thus
given an earlier character, and may have belonged to
an arch opening to the north-west tower from the
original aisleless nave. The two east bays of the south
arcade have semicircular arches of one chamfered
order, and circular columns with scalloped capitals
and abaci chamfered above and below. The arch in
the third bay is of two orders with quarter-round
mouldings, and it is evident from the claw-tooling of
the inner order that it has been added in the thirteenth
century to an arch of a single order like those to the
east, but worked at the date of the addition with a
moulding corresponding with the new order. The
west bay is imitated from this, and with the west
respond is modern. The north aisle is lighted on the
east by a fourteenth-century window of two trefoiled
lights, and has in its north wall three lancets of thirteenth-century style, of which only the eastern one
and the west jamb of the next are ancient. The north
door comes between the second and third windows,
and has a pointed arch of two chamfered orders and a
round-headed rear arch; it is probably thirteenthcentury work, and over it is built a modern wooden
porch. The west window of the aisle is modern, of
two trefoiled lights. All windows in the south aisle
are modern, but the south door is of thirteenth-century date with two moulded orders and a label with
human heads for dripstones, which seem to be secondhand. The west window of the nave is of two
trefoiled lights and fourteenth-century date, and over
it is a modern round window, cinquefoiled.
All Saints' Church, Steep, from the West
The bell tower has a lower stage of masonry, but
above the roof is of timber, hung with weather-tiles
in the lower part, and finished with a shingled spire.
Externally the church is entirely plastered, except
over the brown sandstone quoins, and its roofs are
red-tiled.
The chancel has an old timber roof with arched
braces, and the nave roof is in the main old, with
new tie beams. The north aisle also has an old
roof; probably all are of the fifteenth century, but in
the aisle the plates, ties, and king posts are new.
There are no old wood fittings in the church, the
altar rails of seventeenth-century date having been lost
in 1875; the north door, however, is of the fifteenth
century, with applied tracery on its outer face.
The font at the west of the nave has a tapering
round bowl, becoming hexagonal, with six projecting
trefoiled arches on its sides, the capitals of which are
shown in profile only. It stands on six modern
dwarf columns and a central shaft, and is of early
fourteenth-century date.
There are five bells, all of 1745, by Robert Catlin.
The plate consists of a Communion cup and cover
paten of 1568; a chalice, flagon, and paten of 1876;
a seventeenth-century pewter dish, inscribed 'the
church bason of the parish of Steep,' and three
pewter plates and a flagon; also a plated paten.
The first book of the registers, copied in 1644
from an older book now lost, begins in 1610, the
second running from 1633 to 1673. There are no
baptisms from 1637 to 1651. The third book goes
from 1695 to 1774 (baptisms), 1754 (marriages), and
1780 (burials); while the fourth contains baptisms
1780–1802, and burials to 1812, and the fifth baptisms 1803–12. The sixth and seventh are
marriage books, 1754–1812. There are churchwardens' accounts from 1707 to 1735.
ADVOWSON
Steep vicarage was from very early
times annexed to the vicarage of
East Meon. The advowson has consequently followed that of East Meon (q.v.). The
living is at the present day a vicarage, net yearly value
£170, with residence (erected in 1882), in the gift
of the Lord Chancellor.
In 1678 there was a dispute as to the tithes belonging to the rectory of Steep, which Robert Mills and
John Restall then held on lease from Dorothy Sessions,
who held of the bishop of Winchester. The depositions of many of the inhabitants of the parish of
Steep were taken, and the general opinion was that
the tithes of wheat, barley, vetches, oats, rye, pease,
field-beans, wool, lambs, apples, and pears (fn. 21) belonged
to the proprietor or owner of the rectory of Steep,
and not to the vicar of the parish church of East
Meon, even though the parish church of Steep was a
member of the vicarage of East Meon. It was also
ascertained that owners and occupiers of land in the
tithings of Langrish and Froxfield in the parish of
East Meon paid tithes of apples and pears to the proprietors, tenants, or farmers of the rectories of Langrish and Froxfield, and not to the vicar of the parish
church of East Meon, and that this was done in the
whole hundred of East Meon, where parsonages were
distinct from vicarages. (fn. 22)
Three years later occurred a dispute between
Richard Downes, the vicar of East Meon and Steep,
and John Clements, the lord of the manor of Rothercombe, as to whether the vicar of East Meon and
Steep ought to have the tithes of 'all coppice, woodrise, or tytheable wood' cut down within the parishes
of East Meon and Steep. The parishioners, on oath,
with one accord, asserted that the tithes of copsewood were as due as any other tithes to the vicar of
East Meon. It seemed to be the general opinion,
however, that the parishioners had the right to compound for their tithes of copse-wood, since, although
the former vicar had received tithe-wood in kind
from several persons of the parish of East Meon, he
had usually compounded with his parishioners for the
vicarage tithes in which the tithes of copse-wood were
included. (fn. 23)
In former times there was a great tithe-barn of two
bays immediately adjoining the west end of Steep
churchyard, but it was sold (presumably after the
Commutation Act), and was included in Mr. Wentworth's sale of Ashford in 1842. The field adjoining the tithe-barn is known as Parson's field, but
there seems to be no trace of the date at which it was
alienated. A little house to the east of the churchyard is marked on some old maps as 'the old vicarage.'
If so, it was alienated 150 years ago and made into
cottages, and has recently been reconverted into one
house. It was probably occupied by the parish
priest, the vicar being vicar of East Meon. The
present vicarage was built twenty-seven years ago
on land bought for that purpose at a cost of about
£2,300. (fn. 24)
The Primitive Methodists have two chapels in
Steep.
CHARITIES
In 1843 the bishop of Winchester,
as lord of the manor, by statutory
grant (duly enrolled) granted to the
minister, churchwardens, and overseers of the chapelry
of Steep, 10 roods, part of the common, as a site for a
national school. On the inclosure in 1866 3 acres of
land on the common were awarded to the trustees for
the benefit of the school, of which 2 r. 10 p. was in
1872 exchanged for 1 a. 2 r. 12 p. of land adjoining the recreation ground. A new school has been
erected upon the land acquired by exchange, and the
remainder of the allotment was sold in 1875, and
one-half of the proceeds applied towards the cost of
erecting the new schools, and the remaining half in
the purchase of £210 16s. 1d. consols with the official
trustees.
In 1872 the Rev. Henry Hawker by deed granted
a piece of land to trustees to be used as a site for
almshouses for poor people of the parish, or otherwise
for the benefit of its inhabitants, or the inhabitants of
any other parish at their discretion, and William
Eames by his will, proved in 1879, bequeathed his
residuary estate for the erection and endowment of
the almshouses. In the result of proceedings in the
High Court £1,000 was expended in the erection of
the almshouses, and a sum of £2,321 4s. consols
was transferred to the official trustees of charitable
funds. (fn. 25)