CHALTON
Ceptune (xi cent.); Chalghton and Chaulghton
(xii cent.); Chaulton, Chauton, Chaueton, and
Chawton (xiii cent.); Schalston, Charlton, Chalkton,
and Chalughton (xiv cent.); Challeton (xv cent.).
Chalton is a small parish with an area of 1,749
acres, (fn. 1) shut in on nearly every side by lofty downs.
Consequently the roads to the village are extremely
rough, and it is probably owing to this that the parish
seems so desolate and remote. The population in
1881 was 208, while in 1901 it was only 202, and
from the general appearance it seems likely that it
will probably decrease still more. Sir Frederick
Madden, in his Hampshire Collections, especially
mentions Chalton as being one of the least productive
parishes of the county. The village is most easily
approached by a little road called Chalton Lane,
which runs off south-east from the main road from
Petersfield to Portsmouth, and rapidly descends
the northern slopes of Chalton Down. The village
itself is situated on the western slopes of a down and
is seen in the distance nestling among trees with the
church tower showing above. Old Farm stands at
the outskirts of the village, and from it the road
ascends steeply to a little green where it is met by roads
from Ditcham and Rowland's Castle. It is round this
little green that the village mostly lies. Here stands
the old hostelry 'The Red Lion,' a picturesque halftimbered and thatched building, parts of which are
said to be at least 500 years old. Opposite to it is the
old grey church with its square ivy-covered tower, and
next to the church is the rectory, which is a mediaeval
building to which an eighteenth-century front has
been added. A window, altered to a doorway in the
sixteenth century, is to be seen on the ground floor.
The schools are situated along South Lane, as the road
is called which leads south to Finchdean and Rowland's
Castle. Much of the timber used in the building of
the cottages in the village is old oak ship timber,
sometimes showing the form of the bows of a ship,
acquired no doubt from wrecks on the south coast or
brought from Portsmouth. There is a fine view at
the back of the church from the Ditcham road, which
looks out on the south towards the heights of Chalton
Downs, on the north to the widely-stretching Ditcham
Woods, and on the west towards Windmill Hill, while
the road which joins the main Portsmouth road
appears as a perpendicular white streak.
The Red Lion Inn, Chalton
Chalton windmill, which stands on the summit of
Windmill Hill, and has now fallen into decay, is
mentioned as early as 1289, when it was worth 40s.
per annum, (fn. 2) and is included in subsequent extents of
the manor. Only a few place-names survive in
Chalton. Netherley Farm Buildings, west of South
Lane, mark the site of copyhold land called 'Netheley,' parcel of the manor of Chalton in the
seventeenth century. (fn. 3) A certain William Trigge died
in 1563 seised of a messuage called St. Andrew's
Chapel in Chalton, (fn. 4) but there does not seem to be
any trace of it now. The name John Wodecroft
occurs in a dispute on the bishop's register in 1397.
He probably lived at Woodcroft, which is at the present
time a hamlet of Chalton at the
foot of the Down near the railway on the way to Ditcham.
Windmill Down, the Peak and
Chalton Down were inclosed by
authority of an Act of 1812.
The soil is light, the sub-soil
chalk. The chief crops are
wheat, barley, and oats.
Idsworth is a parochial chapelry on the borders of Sussex, in
the midst of beautiful country,
steep wooded hills alternating
with rich park-land, where game
of every description abounds. In
shape it is long and narrow,
being about five miles in length
and not more than a mile broad
at its widest point. Rowland's Castle, situated
in the south, is the most populous part, and is
rapidly growing, no doubt owing to the existence
of its railway station, opened in 1859, on the Portsmouth branch of the London and South Western
Railway. In the centre of the village is a wide
green, around the north side of which are grouped
various cottages, inns, and shops, constituting the
older part of the village. On the west side is the
Congregational chapel, originally erected in 1881.
Along the south side runs a very tall old brick wall
inclosing the grounds of Deerleap, the residence of
Admiral George William Douglass O'Callaghan, C.B.,
J.P. In these grounds, between the house and the
factory of the Rowland's Castle Brick and Tile Company, (fn. 5) there are the remains of a ruin covered with
ivy, said to be all that is left of what was once 'Rowland's Castle.' There are but few references to this
castle in documents preserved in the British Museum
and the Record Office. It appears from Harleian
MS. 6602 that the abbot and convent of Titchfield and
their men of Wellsworth, in the time of Edward II,
had common of pasture in the Forest of Bere, from a
place called Meslyngforth, even to 'Rolokescastel.' (fn. 6)
Another mention of it is in 1528, in which year John
Byrcom was pardoned for having received certain
cattle from John Yong, who on 10 September, 1523,
broke into a place called 'Rowelands Castle at Warbelyngton,' and carried off the said cattle. (fn. 7) But
neither of these entries throws any light on the history
of the castle, which remains very obscure.
On the east side of the road going up the hill from
the green to Havant is Stanstead College, which was
built and endowed by Mr. Charles Dixon of Stanstead
Park ('late a merchant of London'), as a house for
six decayed merchants of the cities of London, Liverpool and Bristol. There is no Anglican church in
Rowland's Castle itself, but the little church of
St. John on Redhill, in the parish of Havant, is not
much more than a mile from the green. The Castle
Inn in the village has been kept for about two
centuries by the Outen family. There were formerly
two fairs held in Rowland's Castle—one for horned
cattle on 12 May, and the other for horned cattle
and hogs on 12 November—but they had become
obsolete before the middle of the nineteenth century.
Four good roads run in different directions from
Rowland's Castle—one south-west to Havant, the
second, along which several modern houses are being
built, north-west uphill to Blendworth, the third
south-east to Westbourne, and the fourth north-east
to Dean Lane End. From Links Lane some of
the finest views can be obtained of the surrounding country. Blendworth Common and the Holt
lie to the west, on the east is Stanstead Forest,
and on the south Havant Thicket and Emsworth
Common.
The little village of Finchdean is almost in the
centre of Idsworth, near the railway line, in the midst
of very beautiful country. In the centre of the
village is a small triangular green, near which are the
smithy, the George Inn, and a small Congregational
chapel. The manufacture of agricultural machines is
carried on in Finchdean, and there is also a brass and
iron foundry there. To the north is Idsworth House,
the property of Lieut-Colonel Sir Henry ClarkeJervoise, bart., and at present the residence of Mr. John
Bradley Firth. It stands in a fine park of 150 acres,
commanding wide views over the surrounding country
and the Isle of Wight. In the extreme north of
Old Idsworth Park, a little to the east of the road
from Dean Lane End to Compton, is the ancient
church of Idsworth.
The soil varies, but consists principally of chalk.
The subsoil is chalk. The chief crops are wheat,
barley, and oats. The population in 1901 was 420,
including Rowland's Castle. Idsworth contains 882
acres of arable land, 809 acres of permanent grass,
and 291½ acres of woods and plantations. (fn. 8) Open
fields and common lands in Idsworth were inclosed
by authority of an Act of 1812.
MANORS
The manor of CHALTON, which
comprised the parishes of Blendworth,
Catherington, Clanfield, and Chalton,
a portion of the parish of Hambledon, and perhaps
the parish of Idsworth, formed part of the possessions of Earl Godwin, and on his death in 1053
passed to his son Harold. It was seized in 1066
by William the Conqueror, who granted it to
William Fitz-Osbern, whom he created earl of Hereford and lord of the Isle of Wight. At the time of
the Domesday Survey Roger de Montgomery, earl of
Shrewsbury, was holding the manor of the gift of
William Fitz-Osbern. (fn. 9) On his death in 1094,
Chalton, with his other English estates and dignities, passed to his second son Hugh, called 'Goch'
(the red), (fn. 10) who being shot in the eye in the invasion of
the Isle of Anglesey by Magnus, king of Norway, died
unmarried (fn. 11) 27 July, 1098. On his death his estates
passed to his elder brother, Robert de Belesme, earl of
Shrewsbury and Arundel, who, in return for a payment of £3,000, was confirmed in his brother's
earldoms in 1098 by William Rufus. He, however,
fortified his castles in England against Henry I, and
was accordingly expelled from the country, and
deprived of all his honours and estates in 1102. (fn. 12) In
this way Chalton fell into the hands of the king, who
granted it, as parcel of the honour of Leicester, in
1107, to Robert de Beaumont, as a reward for establishing the English rule in Normandy. (fn. 13) The manor
remained in the possession of the Beaumonts, earls of
Leicester, till 1204, (fn. 14) when Robert de Beaumont,
fourth earl of Leicester, died without issue, leaving a
widow Lauretta, the daughter of William de Braose. (fn. 15)
In 1214 King John ordered the sheriff of Hampshire to cause Lauretta, countess of Leicester, to have
at her manor of Chalton as much in ploughs and
stock as Henry Fitz-Count (fn. 16) received in the same
manor when it was committed to him by the
command of the king. (fn. 17) Lauretta probably held the
manor for some time after her husband's death. (fn. 18)
In 1207 Simon de Montfort,
the younger son of Simon
count of Evreux by Amice the
sister and co-heir of Robert de
Beaumont earl of Leicester,
was confirmed by King John
in his titles of earl of Leicester
and steward of England, but
later in the same year he was
deprived of all his English
possessions. However, eight
years later he was restored,
Randolph de Blondeville, earl
of Chester, being made custos
of the fief of the earldom of Leicester. (fn. 19) Randolph seems to have been looked upon as the
lord of Chalton till 1232, when the earl's youngest
son, the famous Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester,
was confirmed in all the land held by his father in
England. (fn. 20) Thus in 1224 Henry III gave Randolph,
earl of Chester, permission to hold at Chalton, until
his coming of age, a market every Thursday and a
yearly fair on the eve and feast of St. Michael, unless
such market and fair were to the damage of neighbouring markets and fairs. (fn. 21) Again in 1229 the king
informed the verderers of his forest of Portchester
that he had given orders to Robert de Waleton, the
steward of the earl of Chester, to allow them to
enter the wood of his lordship of Chalton which was
in the forest, as they had been accustomed to do
before the perambulation of the forest was made. (fn. 22)
In 1246 Simon de Montfort granted the manor to
Hereward Marsh and Rainetta his wife, to hold to
them of himself and his heirs during the life of
Rainetta, with immediate reversion to Simon if
Rainetta died before her husband. (fn. 23) This evidently
happened, as the earl was seised of the manor in
1265, when he was defeated and slain at Evesham.
Hence Chalton escheated to Henry III, who gave it
to his youngest son Edmund Plantagenet, (fn. 24) created
earl of Leicester and steward of England 26 October, 1265, and earl of Lancaster 30 June, 1267. (fn. 25)
Edmund in his turn gave the manor to Hamon
le Strange (fn. 26) before 1272, in which year Hamon
obtained a grant of free warren in Chalton. (fn. 27)
Montfort. Gules a lion argent with a forked tail.
The manor was held of the earls of Lancaster
and Leicester from the time of Edmund's grant
to Hamon until in 1350 (fn. 28) it became part of the
duchy of Lancaster, (fn. 29) when Henry Plantagenet
earl of Lancaster and Leicester was created duke of
Lancaster, (fn. 30) and was merged in the crown (fn. 31) when
Henry Plantagenet, duke of Lancaster, ascended the
throne as Henry V. (fn. 32) Hamon
le Strange, while in the Holy
Land, granted the manor to
his brother Robert, who held
a court there, and remained
in possession till Hamon's
death, when he was ejected
by the sheriff of Hampshire, (fn. 33)
Edmund the king's brother
being appointed at will to
the custody of the manor. (fn. 34)
An inquisition was held early
in 1275 to discover what
right Robert had to the manor, (fn. 35) and in July of
the same year the sheriff of Hampshire was ordered
to cause Robert to have such seisin of the manor as
he had before it was taken into the king's hands. (fn. 36)
Robert was not seised of Chalton long, for in
September, 1276, the king ordered the sheriff to
cause Eleanor widow of Robert to have £30 yearly
of land in the manor of Chalton, until dower should
be assigned to her. (fn. 37) Robert's heir was still a minor
in 1281, for in that year John de Aese, vicomte de
Tartase, obtained a grant of the manor of Chalton,
extended at £40, (fn. 38) to hold during the minority of
Robert's heir. (fn. 39) John son of Robert died seised of
the manor in 1289, his heir being his brother Fulk, (fn. 40)
to whom Edward I in 1294 granted licence, since he
was going on the king's service to Gascony, to sell,
cut down, and carry away timber to the value of
£40 out of his wood of Chalton, which was within
the metes of the forest of Portchester, in those places
where it would be to the least damage of the forest. (fn. 41)
Fulk served his king well in Gascony, and obtained
as a reward quittance from a debt of £24 which his
uncle Hamon had owed at the time of his death for
'many defaults of the time when he was sheriff.' (fn. 42)
He died seised of the manor in 1324, leaving a son
and heir John. (fn. 43) While John was lord of the manor
of Chalton, Richard de Hangleton, who was lord of
the neighbouring manor of Catherington, encroached
upon Chalton manor, and disseised him of 300 acres
of wood in Chalton and two pieces of land in
Catherington. By an indenture dated at Winchester
on the Wednesday after the feast of St. James the
Apostle, 1334, it was agreed that Richard should
surrender the said wood and lands to John for ever,
and should only claim reasonable 'housbote' and
'heybote' for the tenement which he inherited in
Catherington, to be taken in the part of the wood
called 'Estrenche' by view of John's bailiffs, together
with common for his beasts in the said wood. (fn. 44) John
held the manor until his death in 1349, (fn. 45) when it
passed to his son and heir Fulk, aged nineteen, (fn. 46) who
died the same year, leaving as his heir his brother
John, aged seventeen. (fn. 47) The latter died before
1361, for in that year Ankarette wife of John le
Strange died seised of the manor, held in dower,
leaving a son and heir, John, aged seven, (fn. 48) whose
wardship was granted to Richard earl of Arundel. (fn. 49)
John died on 3 August, 1375, before he reached
the age of twenty-one years, (fn. 50) and left the
manor in dower to Isabel his wife, with reversion to his only daughter Elizabeth. The latter
became the wife of Thomas Mowbray, earl of
Nottingham, but died without issue in 1383. Isabel,
who had married William Ufford, earl of Suffolk,
as her second husband, died seised of the manor
29 September, 1416, when it passed to Sir Gilbert
Talbot, son and heir of Ankarette, sister of John le
Strange. (fn. 51) But shortly before Isabel's death Sir Gilbert
had granted the reversion of the manor to trustees, (fn. 52)
and died 17 November, 1418. (fn. 53) On 4 May, 1426,
the executors of Sir Gilbert granted the manor to
Sir John Montgomery of Faulkbourne (co. Essex) and
Elizabeth his wife, (fn. 54) and on 12 October, 1448, the
manor was settled upon Sir John and Elizabeth and
their issue. (fn. 55) Nine months later Sir John died seised
of the manor, his heir being his son John, aged twentythree. (fn. 56) This John must have died before 1465, for
in the inquisition taken after his mother's death in that
year, it was stated that her heir was her son Sir Thomas
Montgomery, aged thirty and more. (fn. 57) This Thomas
was one of the most eminent men of his time,
standing high in the favour of Edward IV, Richard
III, and Henry VII. He made his will at Faulkbourne 28 July, 1489, (fn. 58) and died seised of the manor
of Chalton in 1494, his heir being his sister Alice,
the wife of Edmund Wiseman. (fn. 59) In 1496 Anne
Montgomery, widow, probably the widow of Thomas,
but possibly the widow of his brother John, released
all her interest in the manor to Sir Reginald
Bray, Sir John Norbury, and others for purposes of
settlement on her sister-in-law Alice. (fn. 60) In 1505
Edmund Wiseman and Alice his wife, and John
Fortescue and Philippa his wife, who was the granddaughter of Alice (fn. 61) by her first husband, Clement
Spice, granted the manor to George earl of Shrewsbury, (fn. 62) whose title was confirmed in 1506 when Sir
John Norbury and Joan his wife surrendered all their
right to the manor, (fn. 63) and again in 1524, when Sir
Edward Bray and Joan his wife renounced all their
claim to it. (fn. 64) In 1532 the earl sold the manor to
Margaret countess of Salisbury, (fn. 65) on whose attainder
and execution in 1539 the king granted it to William
Fitz-William, earl of Southampton, to hold for seventyone years at a rent of £75 0s. 4½d. (fn. 66) In 1542 the
manor was settled upon the earl in tail male with
contingent remainder to William, Lord Herbert, son
and heir apparent of Henry earl of Worcester, in
tail male. (fn. 67) The earl of Southampton died without
issue less than a year later, (fn. 68) and in accordance with
the settlement the manor reverted to William, Lord
Herbert, who succeeded to the peerage as earl of
Worcester 26 November, 1549. (fn. 69) He died seised of
the manor in 1588, his heir being his son Edward,
Lord Herbert, (fn. 70) who, shortly after succeeding to his
inheritance, engaged in fierce disputes with William,
Lord Sandys, the lord of the adjoining manor of
Catherington, concerning his right to the common
called the East Heath, which he declared to be parcel
of the manor of Chalton, and with Robert Paddon
and Arthur Swayne, lords of the neighbouring manor
of Hinton Daubnay, concerning their right to the
parcel of waste called Woodcrofts. (fn. 71) The earl died
seised of the manor in 1628, and was succeeded by
his second but eldest surviving son Henry, Lord
Herbert, aged forty and more. (fn. 72) Henry was a zealous
supporter of the royal cause, raising and supporting
two armies from 1642 to 1646, and being lieutenantgeneral of the forces in Monmouthshire. On 1 December, 1645, the Commons, in drawing up the peace
propositions to be offered to the king, resolved that
an estate of £2,500 a year should be conferred on
Cromwell, and that the king should be requested to
make him a baron. After the failure of the negotiations an ordinance of Parliament settled upon him
lands to the value named, taken chiefly from the
property of the marquis of Worcester, (fn. 73) and the
king was forced by letters patent to grant to his
'beloved Oliver Cromwell,'
his heirs and assigns, the
manor of Chalton, 'which
manor was lately the hereditament of Henry earl of
Worcester, Edward, Lord Herbert, and Sir John Somerset,
which earl, Edward and John,
are recusantes papistici. (fn. 74) Oliver
Cromwell was seised of the
manor till his death, when it
passed to his eldest son Richard. (fn. 75) After the Restoration
the manor was restored to Edward Somerset, marquis
of Worcester, son and heir of Henry Somerset, earl of
Worcester. He died seised of it in 1667, (fn. 76) and was
succeeded by his son and heir Henry Somerset, marquis of Worcester, who petitioned Charles II for a
grant of the reversions remaining in the crown of the
manor of Chalton, in order to enable him to raise
money to discharge the debts contracted by his
father, which much encumbered his estate. (fn. 77) This
petition was granted 26 December, 1667. (fn. 78) The
marquis was created duke of Beaufort in 1682, and
died seised of the manor in 1699. (fn. 79) Chalton continued
to be the property of the duke of Beaufort (fn. 80) until
about 1780, (fn. 81) when it was purchased by Jervoise
Clarke-Jervoise, who in 1789 bought up the neighbouring manor of Idsworth (q.v.). His son, the Rev.
Samuel Jervoise Clarke-Jervoise, was created a baronet
13 November, 1813. (fn. 82) Lieut.Colonel Sir Henry Clarke-Jervoise, bart., grandson of the
latter, is the present lord of the
manor.
Le Strange. Gules two lions passant argent.
Cromwell. Sable a lion argent.
Somerset, Duke of Beaufort. France quartered with England within a border gobony argent and azure.
IDSWORTH
IDSWORTH is not mentioned in Domesday Book, and
at the time of the Survey
was probably included in the
manor of Chalton, then held
by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury. (fn. 83) It is probable that it
was separated from Chalton
when, on the rebellion of
Robert de Belesme, third earl
of Shrewsbury, in 1102, his
lands were forfeited to the crown. (fn. 84) Then, when
Henry I granted Chalton, as part of the honour of
Leicester, to Robert de Beaumont, that part of
Chalton which was afterwards known as Idsworth
was evidently detached from
the main manor, and was
afterwards held by a certain
Norman, William de Ferrers,
directly of the king. (fn. 85) In
1204, King John ordered the
sheriff of Hampshire to deliver
up to Henry Hoese the land
of Idsworth which had belonged to William de Ferrers,
together with the stock of
that land and seed to sow
it. The corn, however, he
was to retain to the king's
use. (fn. 86) Henry held the manor for about eighteen years of the gift of King John. (fn. 87) In 1222,
however, King Henry III granted it to one of his
crossbowmen, Brito by name, to support him in the
royal service, and Henry Hoese was ordered to
surrender it to him. (fn. 88) This he did not do immediately, whereupon the sheriff of Hampshire was
ordered to force Henry to give up the manor to Brito
with all the profits therefrom since the king's grant to
Brito. (fn. 89) Brito held it till 1226, when the king
ordered the sheriff to cause Reynold de Bernevall to
have full seisin of the land of Idsworth, saving,
however, to Brito all his chattels found in that land. (fn. 90)
Brito died less than a year afterwards, and the sheriff
was commanded to give up to his widow Edelina all
the corn, which he had caused to be sown in Idsworth,
in order to support her and her sons. (fn. 91) The manor
was next granted to the king's messenger William
Blome, who held it for nearly thirty years. (fn. 92) On his
death the king granted the reversion of the manor,
valued at £16 a year, after the death of William's
widow Alda, to his yeoman Herman de Budbergh, as
a reward for his services. In the grant it was specially
stipulated that Herman and his heirs should not
alienate the land to any but the king without his
special consent. (fn. 93) Herman, some time afterwards,
granted the manor to Queen Eleanor, who, in her
turn, with the consent of her husband, granted it in
free alms to Tarrant Nunnery (co. Dors.), (fn. 94) a house
to which she was so great a benefactress that it was
sometimes styled in records 'Locus benedictus reginae'
or 'Locus reginae super Tarent.' (fn. 95) Her gift was
confirmed by Henry III in 1271, (fn. 96) and by Edward I
in 1280. (fn. 97) In 1281 Iseult the abbess of Tarrant
granted the manor of Idsworth to Henry de Bonynges
and Isabel his wife to hold of the abbess and her
successors for the rent of a penny at Christmas and by
suit at the hundred court of Wollesthorn every three
weeks. (fn. 98) From this time the abbess and her successors
were overlords of the manor of Idsworth, (fn. 99) and as
late as 1606 the manor was said to be held of Sir
John Portman as of the site of his abbey of Tarrant. (fn. 100)
Jervoise. Sable a cheveron between three eagles close argent.
From Henry de Bonynges and Isabel his wife the
manor passed to John Romyn, who was holding it in
1316, (fn. 101) and remained in the family of Romyn until
1419, (fn. 102) when John Romyn died without issue, his
heir being his distant kinsman Thomas de Wintershull, (fn. 103) lord of the manor of Wintershull in Bramley
(co. Surr.). (fn. 104) He died without issue in October,
1420, leaving two sisters and co-heirs, Joan the wife
of William Catton, and Agnes
the wife of William Basset, (fn. 105)
who, in 1431, released all right
in the manor to Nicholas
Banester and Isabel his wife, (fn. 106)
the widow of the John Romyn
who died in 1419. (fn. 107) The
manor remained in the family
of Banester for over two centuries, (fn. 108) passing at length into
the family of Dormer by the
marriage of Mary daughter of
Edward Banester with Robert
Dormer, third son of Sir
Robert Dormer first Lord
Dormer of Wyng. (fn. 109) Their grandson, Charles, fifth
Lord Dormer of Wyng, was seised of it in 1723, (fn. 110)
and it was held successively by the Rev. Charles
Dormer, sixth Lord Dormer, who died in 1761,
John, seventh Lord Dormer, who died in 1785,
and Charles, eighth Lord Dormer. (fn. 111) The last
named sold the manor in 1789 to Jervoise ClarkeJervoise, (fn. 112) whose great-grandson, Lieut.-Colonel Sir
Henry Clarke-Jervoise, bart., (fn. 113) is the present lord of
the manor.
Dormer of Wyng. Azure ten billets or and a chief or with three martlets azure therein.
At a short distance south-west of Idsworth church
is the site of the old Idsworth House, but nothing
remains of the building except some garden walls.
WELLSWORTH (Walesworthe, Welesworth, xiii
cent.; Waleswith, xv cent.; Wallysworth, xvi cent.).
In the reign of Henry II the manor was held by
William de Say, and on his death passed to his
daughter and co-heir Maud wife of William de
Bocland, who was holding it by right of inheritance
towards the end of the twelfth century. (fn. 114) On her
death without issue it passed to her heir Geoffrey
Fitz-Piers, the husband of her sister Beatrice, (fn. 115)
who was created earl of Essex for his service to
King John on the day of his coronation. On
Geoffrey's death in 1213 the manor passed to his
son and heir Geoffrey, who assumed the name of
Mandeville. (fn. 116) He did not hold it long, however, for
he was slain in a tournament in London, 23 February,
1216, and his estates passed to his brother William de
Mandeville, earl of Essex, who gave it within a few
years to Sir Geoffrey de Lucy for saving his life in
a tournament at Lincoln. (fn. 117) Geoffrey de Lucy in his
turn sold it to Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, (fn. 118) who soon afterwards granted it in free alms to
the abbey of Titchfield which he had founded in
1233. (fn. 119) Henry III confirmed Wellsworth to Titchfield, and granted in addition that the abbot and the
canons should have thol and theam, infangenthef and
utfangenthef, and many other privileges in Wellsworth,
and also that the lands of Wellsworth, which were
within the bounds of the royal forest, should be for
ever quit from waste, regard, view of foresters, etc. (fn. 120)
In 1280 the abbot of Titchfield being summoned to
show by what warrant he claimed to have pillory and
the assize of bread and beer in Wellsworth, produced
the charter of Henry III and the case was dismissed. (fn. 121)
Again he produced the charter in the same year when
he was summoned to show why he should not permit
his villeins of Wellsworth to make suit at the king's
hundred-court of Portsdown, (fn. 122) and the case was
decided in his favour. In 1294 Edward I by charter
granted to the abbot and convent free warren in
Wellsworth, (fn. 123) and this grant was confirmed by Henry
VI in 1424. (fn. 124) In the reign of Edward II, William
de Cleydon, the deputy of Lord Hugh le Despenser,
the justiciar of the forest 'citra Trentam' ordered the
warden of the forest of Bere to allow the abbot and
convent of Titchfield and their men of Wellsworth to
have common of pasture in the said forest for all their
animals except goats from a place called 'Meslyngforth' even to 'Rolokescastel,' according to charters
of the kings of England. (fn. 125) The abbot and convent of
Titchfield held Wellsworth until the dissolution, (fn. 126)
when it was granted by the king to Thomas Wriothesley, earl of Southampton. (fn. 127) The manor remained
the property of the earls of Southampton (fn. 128) until
about the middle of the seventeenth century, when it
was bought up by Richard Norton, (fn. 129) after which it
followed the descent of the manor of Southwick, (fn. 130)
in the hundred of Portsdown (q. v.).
The Romyns also had a tenement in WELLSWORTH, which followed the descent of the manor
of Idsworth, passing with it to the Banesters. It was
probably in origin the two messuages, 18 acres of
land and 1 acre of wood in Chalton, granted to
Henry Romyn and Joan his wife by Richard Baldwin
of Wellsworth and Agnes his wife in 1345. (fn. 131) Henry
Romyn died in 1349 seised of the following tenements in Wellsworth:—A messuage, 105 acres of
land worth 26s. 3d. per annum, a dovecote worth
6s. 8d. per annum, and 17s. 5d. rents of free tenants
and others—held of John Romyn by money-rent and
suit of court. (fn. 132) His son and heir was Edmund, aged
six, who probably died while under age, when the
tenement reverted to John Romyn the overlord. It
seems only to be called a manor in one document—
the inquisition taken after the death of Edward
Banester in 1606—when it is described as situated
in the vill of Idsworth, and of the annual value
of 10s. (fn. 133) It has continued to form part of the
Idsworth estates, and is at the present day represented by the farm of Little Wellsworth.
CHURCHES
The church of ST. MICHAEL,
CHALTON, has a chancel 32 ft. long
by 18 ft. 3 in. wide, a nave 46 ft. by
21 ft. 8 in., with a north porch, a south transept
12 ft. 8 in. north to south by 12 ft. 2 in., and a west
tower.
The chancel is the oldest part of the building, a
fine and well-proportioned piece of mid-thirteenthcentury work, with an east window unfortunately
reset in a very clumsy manner at an early Victorian
'restoration.' It has four main lights uncusped, with
two quatrefoils over them, and a cinquefoil in the
head. In the north wall are three tall lancets, the
first two set near each other, with a greater space
between the second and third or western lancet, the
sill of which is lower than those of the others. On
the south side are three lancets similarly placed, with a
blocked priest's door (fn. 134) between the second and third.
The latter is only visible on the outer face of the
wall, being blocked, and is much shorter than the
others, having below it a wide low side window of
two lights with shouldered heads, which seems to be
part of the original work. It has lost its central
mullion and, like the window over, is blocked, its
iron grate remaining in the blocking, and the hooks
for the shutters being still in position. At the southeast of the chancel is a double piscina with trefoiled
arches, and under the east window in the north wall
a locker. There is no chancel arch. In the nave
the earliest feature is a two-light window in the south
wall with a trefoiled circle in the head, of late
thirteenth-century date; but with this exception everything appears to belong to the first quarter of the
fourteenth century. The east window in the north
wall is of this date, with two trefoiled lights and a
quatrefoil in the head, and on either side of the plain
north doorway is a tall trefoiled single light. In the
south wall, west of the opening to the transept, is the
two-light thirteenth-century window already noted,
and west of it is a plain south doorway and a trefoiled
light like that on the north. The transept, whose
north arch is completely blocked by the organ, is of
about the same date as the fourteenth-century work
in the nave, and has a square-headed east window of
two trefoiled lights, and a south window, also of two
trefoiled lights, with a quatrefoil in the head. The
nave roof preserves some old timbers, but the tiebeams are cased with modern boarding, and the
chancel roof is modern. The north porch has been
much repaired, but its main timbers are of fifteenthcentury work. The tower, which is entered from
the church by a plain chamfered doorway, has a plain
blocked west doorway, and standing near the western
boundary of the churchyard whence the ground falls
rapidly, shows signs of failure, its upper stages being
patched with brick and bound with iron tie-rods.
The belfry windows have therefore lost their original
detail, and the whole is very plain, but is of much the
same date as the nave.
The font stands at the west end of the nave, and
is octagonal, with quatrefoiled panels on the bowl
inclosing alternately blank shields or paterae carved
with heads or foliage. Its date is c. 1400, and it
closely resembles the font at Idsworth a few miles
away. Both fonts have also been broken at the base
of the bowl, by tradition in the civil wars.
The most interesting monument in the church is
that of Richard Ball, rector, who died in 1632. It
is on the north wall of the chancel close to the east
end, and shows a figure kneeling at a desk in the
gown of a bachelor of divinity of Oxford, beneath a
level cornice carried by Corinthian columns. On the
underside of the cornice and in a frame above are the
arms of Ball; argent a lion sable, on a chief sable
three mullets argent. In the pavement at the southeast angle of the nave is part of a fifteenth-century
slab with incised black letter inscription. In the
south-east window of the chancel are a few fragments
of late mediaeval glass, worked in with other pieces of
eighteenth-century date, several other pieces of the
latter occurring elsewhere in the church and the
north porch, and in the cinquefoil in the head of
the east window of the chancel.
The plate consists of a communion cup and paten
of 1568, the cup having two bands of incised ornament, a circular saucer with embossed ornament of
1662, a cup of 1725, and a small paten of 1794.
There is also a modern plated flagon. The Elizabethan paten and the saucer are not used, but kept
for safety in a London bank. There are three bells—
the treble of 1674, with the name of John Fleet,
churchwarden, and the founder's initials W. E., the
second blank, and the tenor a mediaeval bell by
Roger Landon, inscribed Sancta Maria Ora Pro
Nobis, with Landon's lion's face, founder's shield,
groat, and cross.
The registers might serve as a model for many
parishes. All are carefully and strongly bound up,
with a transcript in the same cover, and an index of
contents. The first book runs from 1538 to 1653,
with a gap 1641–7, the second from 1684 to 1746,
and the third, dealing with burials in woollen, from
1678 to 1746. The entries for the years between the
first and second volumes, 1653–84, are in a separate
book. The fourth and fifth books contain baptisms
and burials from 1747 to 1807, and marriages to
1753, the sixth is the printed book of marriages
1754–1812, and a seventh has the baptisms and
burials to 1812.
The small church of ST. HUBERT, IDSWORTH, stands in the middle of a field, at some
distance from the nearest road, and separated from
it by the shallow grass-grown channel of a periodical
stream known as the Lavant.
It has a chancel 20 ft. 2 in. long and 16 ft. 2 in.
wide, and a nave 33 ft. 8 in. by 20 ft., with a wooden
bell-turret over the east end of the nave, and a west
porch of brick and flint. The north and west walls
of the nave are of twelfth-century date, and the
chancel, whose north wall is continuous with that of
the nave, is probably of the thirteenth century,
having been built round the twelfth-century chancel.
The width of the nave and chancel thus became
equal, and remained so till the nave was widened
southward in the sixteenth century, throwing the
west doorway and chancel arch out of centre with it.
A curious feature is the small twelfth-century arch,
only 21 in. wide, at the east end of the north wall of
the nave, and now blocked up. Its inner face is
hidden by the pulpit, which stands in the north-east
angle, and its original purpose can only be guessed at,
though it must have opened to some small building,
whether turret, porch, or chapel, set against the north
wall of the church. (See Hamble for a similar feature.)
The east window of the chancel has lost its tracery
and is filled with a wooden frame, but the jambs and
rear arch are old, and are covered with fourteenthcentury paintings, figures of St. Peter and St. Paul on
the jambs, and two angels on the soffit of the arch.
In the south wall is a square-headed door, of no great
age in its present shape, and on the outer face of the
north wall a window of two uncusped lights is to be
seen, anciently blocked, as on the inner face of the
wall where it should show is a large late thirteenthcentury wall painting in two tiers, the upper representing St. Hubert taming the Lycanthrope, a manheaded monster, and the lower the story of the death
of St. John the Baptist. On the lower parts of the
painting are a number of scratched inscriptions of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, among others the
name of St. Hubert and a Latin inscription of several
lines to our Lady. The chancel arch is pointed, of
one order with a chamfer on the edge. The have is
lighted from the north by two 'churchwarden' windows with wooden frames, and from the south by
two square-headed sixteenth-century windows, each
of two four-centred lights without cusps. In the west
wall, set centrally with the nave before its southward
enlargement, is a pointed doorway, probably of the
fourteenth century, and over it a small eighteenthcentury porch of flint and brick. Externally there
is little detail. The earliest walling on the north
side of the church is of regularly-set flintwork, the
sixteenth-century masonry on the south side being of
coarser rubble with sandstone quoins, on one of which
is an incised sun-dial. The roofs are red-tiled, and
the bell-turret has a short spire finished with a
copper ball. The church is ceiled on the underside
of the rafters, the tie-beams being cased with eighteenth-century boarding. There is a west gallery to
the nave, and the seating remains much as it was at
the end of the eighteenth century, with high boxpews at the east end of the nave, and narrow upright
benches of the most uncomfortable description towards
the west. Below the bell-turret the nave is ceiled at
the level of the tie-beams, access to the loft thus
formed being by a trap-door at the south end, but
whether this arrangement is as old as the widening of
the nave is not clear. (fn. 135) The pulpit is of early seventeenth-century date, with arched panels and scrolled
brackets to the book-board, but it has been repaired in
the eighteenth century, and the tester above seems to
be of this date, as well as other details. The font is
octagonal with quatrefoiled panels on the bowl, exactly
like that at Chalton, and doubtless of the same date.
In the turret is one bell, uninscribed.
ADVOWSONS
The advowson of the church of
CHALTON probably belonged to
the various lords of the manor of
Chalton until 1102, when Robert de Belesme earl of
Shrewsbury and Arundel was expelled from the
country and deprived of all his honours and estates.
As has been shown above, Henry I granted the
manor as parcel of the honour of Leicester to Robert
de Beaumont, but retained the advowson, which
remained with the crown until the reign of Henry II,
who granted it to the 'abbey which Robert earl of
Leicester had made and founded at Eiton' (Nuneaton,
co. Warw.). (fn. 136) From this time the prioress, prior, and
convent of Nuneaton were patrons of the church, (fn. 137)
and received from it an annual pension of 9 marks. (fn. 138)
After the dissolution the advowson remained the property of the crown (fn. 139) until 1613, when, on the death
of Thomas Nevill, Edward earl of Worcester presented Richard Ball, alleging that the advowson had
been included in the grant of the manor made by
Henry VIII in 1542 to William earl of Southampton
in tail male with contingent remainder to William,
Lord Herbert, (fn. 140) who succeeded to the peerage as earl
of Worcester in 1549. The king presented William
Todd the same year, and on the bishop's refusal to
admit him brought a quare impedit against the bishop,
the earl, and Richard Ball for preventing him from
presenting to the church. The following year, however, he unaccountably stayed all proceedings, and by
letters patent confirmed the estate which Richard had
in the church. (fn. 141) The title of the earl was confirmed
in 1618, when James I granted the advowson to him
and his heirs and pardoned 'all intrusions, invasions,
and ingresses of, in, or on it, made heretofore by him or
William, Lord Herbert, without legal right or title.' (fn. 142)
On the death of Richard Ball in 1632, Godfrey Price
was presented by Charles Jones and William Morgan,
to whom the earl had granted the next voidance of
the church by a deed dated 1626. (fn. 143) Charles I, however, presented William Todd, and while the case was
proceeding between him and the earl the living was
served by two curates appointed by the bishop, whose
wages were paid by the sequestrators out of the corn
from the glebe-land. (fn. 144) Ultimately Dr. George Gillingham, the king's chaplain, made a private arrangement with Godfrey Price, and recovered the king's
right to the rectory from 'the hands of a powerful
adversary,' for which service he was promised the
nomination of his successor. (fn. 145) In 1645 the advowson
was granted to Oliver Cromwell, (fn. 146) who deprived
Dr. Gillingham of the rectory and presented John
Audley in his stead. Dr. Gillingham was persecuted
from place to place and took shelter for some time at
Southampton, but was at last driven thence likewise.
However, he outlived his troubles, and at the Restoration was reappointed; 'John Audley, intruder,
being turned out.' (fn. 147) On his resignation in 1668
Charles II presented Dr. Gillingham's son-in-law.
Dr. Barker, in answer to his petition. (fn. 148) In the same
year Henry marquis of Worcester petitioned for a regrant of the advowson, (fn. 149) but did not obtain it until
1670, in which year the king settled it on him and
his heirs for ever after the death or removal of
Dr. Barker. (fn. 150) The advowson then followed the
descent of the manor until early in the nineteenth
century, (fn. 151) when Jervoise Clarke-Jervoise sold it to
King's College, Cambridge. The latter sold it
towards the end of the last century, and it is at
present in the gift of Mrs. Pearson Strange.
IDSWORTH was originally a chapelry dependent
on the mother-church of Chalton. Hence a dispute
concerning the advowson arose in 1275 between
Henry de Bonynges, lord of the manor of Idsworth,
who claimed it as an appurtenance of Idsworth manor,
and the prioress of Nuneaton, who made good her
right as patron of Chalton church, and therefore of
the appendant chapel. (fn. 152) The rectors of Chalton were
bound from very early times to find a chaplain at the
chapel of St. Peter Idsworth (fn. 153) to say mass on Sundays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, and on double feasts
throughout the year, and to administer the sacraments
and other rites (except the burial of the dead) for the
inhabitants of the hamlets of Idsworth and Dene
(Horndean, or perhaps Finchdean). (fn. 154) Sir William
Haughe, rector of the church of Chalton, discontinued
this practice in 1394, and accordingly proceedings
were taken against him in the Court of Arches by
Richard Romyn, lord of Idsworth manor, and the
rest of the inhabitants of the two villages before
Thomas Stowe and Adam Uske, who decided that
the rector was liable by custom to find a chaplain to
minister in Idsworth Chapel. This sentence was
published by the bishop of Winchester on 1 May,
1398, and confirmed by the prior and chapter of
Winchester on 3 June following. (fn. 155)
In early times there was a chapel in Wellsworth.
It is included in a list of churches and chapels in
Hampshire made while Wykeham was bishop, was
then not assessed proper exilitatem, but was burdened
with a pension of 8s. 9½d. to Southwick Priory. (fn. 156)
CHARITIES
Stanstead College, which was
founded by Mr. Charles Dixon, of
Stanstead Park (Suss.), by deed 1852,
for the support and benefit of decayed merchants of
London, Liverpool, or Bristol, being members of the
Church of England, is situated in this parish. The
college is regulated by schemes of the Charity Commissioners, dated 24 December, 1875, and 8 May,
1877. The official trustees hold the trust funds,
which consist of £2,098 18s. 1d. bank stock, £9,000
colonial securities, and £4,000 Indian railway securities, producing an annual income of £588 16s. 10d.