WARNFORD
Upwarneford (xi cent.); Warnesford (xiv cent.);
Wanford (xvii cent.).
The parish of Warnford, covering about 3,178
acres, lies south of Kilmeston and Hinton Ampner,
north-east of Exton, and west of West Meon, and falls
naturally into two parts: the comparatively low-lying
land bordering the River Meon on the south and east
through which runs the main road from West Meon
to Droxford, and the down-country on either side,
Wheely Down and Beacon Hill reaching the heights
of 500 ft. and 659 ft. respectively. A road to Winchester branches off from the main road at the south
end of the village, climbing up from about 250 ft.
above the sea-level to about 550 ft. by Wind Farm in
the extreme western angle of the parish. From here
a fine view opens out of the low-lying parishes to the
north—Beauworth, Kilmeston, Hinton Ampner, and
Cheriton.
Ruined Building in Warnford Park
The village of Warnford lies in the east of the
parish, mainly along the road leading from West
Meon to Droxford, which follows the line of the
River Meon, crossing it close to the gates of Warnford Park. A little way up the stream from the bridge
is the site of the mill, with a large mill-pool above it,
and the inn and the small group of houses which form
the village stand close by, mostly on the north side of
the road. On the south the river runs through
Warnford Park, the house and church on the east
bank being quite hidden from the road by the trees
with which not only the park, but the whole neighbourhood of the village, abounds. The rectory, a
large white house standing on high ground well back
from the road, lies a little to the south of the village.
Warnford House at the present day is of little architectural interest. The west wing is probably of some
antiquity, and the site has been occupied for a considerable time, as the older house whose ruins stand
in the park to the east of the church was already a
ruin in the time of James I, as witnessed by Norden's
map of Hampshire of 1610. The park, through which
the river runs, is very well timbered. There is an
amusing account of it in the World (afterwards the
Morning Post) of 29 September, 1789, when
Henry, twelfth Lord
Clanricarde, lived here,
mentioning the buildings
in the gardens — 'the
Gothic building, with the
bath under it of Lady
Mary; the Hermitage
(always a miserable bauble),
the wax figure in it with
the apology for the Church
of England in its hand,
are bad works the late lord
had to answer for.' After
giving some advice to the
then lord as to necessary
improvements in the matter of landscape gardening, including the spreading of some gravel, 'cost
what it will, or at least
some sand,' the account
continues: 'The water
is the best feature of the
place, very well coloured,
half a mile long, 30 ft. wide. There are twelve
acres of mowing, the kitchen garden is bad, the
greenhouse and hothouse are small and new, and they
will not be old who live by them, if there is not care,
for the situation seems to want what makes men agueproof.'
The church is in the park, surrounded and hidden
by trees, a little south of the house, and to the east of
it are the ruins of the old house of the St. Johns, now
commonly called King John's House. In seventeenth
and eighteenth-century documents it is called merely
The Old House, as distinct from the present mansion,
which is usually styled The Place House or Belmont. (fn. 1)
It is a building of quite exceptional interest, being
part of a substantial house of c. 1230, and consists of
a hall 52 ft. long by 48 ft. wide, divided by columns
into a central span 25 ft. wide, and north and south
aisles. At the east end are no remains of adjoining
buildings, but at the west is a block originally of two
stories, of the same width as the hall, and 18 ft. long.
It seems to have been divided into two rooms on the
ground floor, entered by separate doors from the hall,
and has four narrow windows remaining in the west
wall of its north room, and one in the south wall of
the south room. At the first-floor level in the northeast angle of the north room are traces of a doorway
opening to a staircase or perhaps a gallery at the west
of the hall, and the hall itself seems to have had the
normal arrangement of a screened passage at its western
or lower end, entered by doors on north and south, of
which the latter still remains, and the former is shown
on eighteenth-century plans. The columns of the
hall were circular, on octagonal bases, with foliate
capitals, and were no less than 25 ft. high, one in the
north range still standing entire. They probably
carried the roof-beams and no arches of masonry,
though the account from the World above-quoted
speaks of 'four fine columns and four arches,' and in
the east and west walls the small half-round responds
still exist. Old plans show two windows in each
side of the hall, but no trace remains of them now.
They may have been destroyed for the sake of their
wrought stone, and their places built up in rubble
when the hall was turned into a barn. In the south
aisle of the hall is a well, perhaps not ancient, as the
position is an unlikely one. (fn. 2)
Riversdown, a possession of St. Cross, is a hamlet
on the Downs, two miles north-west of the village.
Bere, about two miles north of the village, until about
thirty years ago was held by the Major family, who
succeeded the Lockes, who held it for several centuries.
At the present day it belongs to Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
The parish contains 1,545 acres of arable land,
1,407 acres of permanent grass, and 271 acres of
woods and plantations. (fn. 3) The soil is chiefly loam, the
sub-soil principally chalk. The chief crops are wheat,
barley, and oats. The land was formerly nearly all
arable, but the present proprietor has established
several dairies and cheese-making establishments.
Watercress is also cultivated extensively. The River
Meon affords good trout-fishing. The manufacture
of paper was carried on in the parish in the eighteenth
century. (fn. 4) The following place-names are found in
the sixteenth century:—'Hurst Down and Walys
lands,' both in Wheely; (fn. 5) 'Parson's Platt, Rook Grove, (fn. 6)
Sir William's Mead, Coulson's Meadow, Walsdown,
the Woollands, the Wynnells, and Wynnell's Coppice' (fn. 7)
are found in a deed of the eighteenth century. (fn. 8)
MANORS
Earl Brygwyn, with King Ethelred's
permission, granted WARNFORD or
UPWARNFORD with eight hides, which
he possessed by right of inheritance, to Hyde Abbey,
Winchester. (fn. 9) In the reign of Edward the Confessor
Alward and Ketel held Warnford, which was assessed
at eight hides, of Hyde Abbey. At the time of the
survey it was held of the same abbey by Hugh de
Port. (fn. 10) For the manors held by Hugh from the
abbey he owed it, according to the return of 1212,
the service of six knights. (fn. 11) At the time of the survey the same Hugh also held Warnford, which was
assessed at two hides less one virgate, Ulvric and
Olward having held it in parage of King Edward. (fn. 12)
Before the Conquest, therefore, there seem to have
been two manors of Warnford—one held by Hyde
Abbey and the other by King Edward. At the time
of the Domesday Survey Hugh de Port held them
both. Naturally, therefore, they soon coalesced and
came to be looked upon as one manor, the property of
the Port family and their descendants.
The manor of Warnford remained in the family of
Port until the thirteenth century, when William son
of Adam de Port and Mabel de Aureval, heiress
through her mother of Roger de St. John, took the
name of St. John. (fn. 13) It continued in the St. John
family until the year 1355, (fn. 14) when Edmund son and
heir of Hugh de St. John dying a minor, it fell to
the share of his sister Isabel, wife of Sir Luke de
Poynings. (fn. 15) On her death in 1393 the manor passed
to her son Sir Thomas de Poynings, (fn. 16) who died seised
of it in 1429, (fn. 17) when it was assigned to his granddaughter Alice, who married first John Orell, and
secondly Sir Thomas Kyngeston. (fn. 18) In 1439 the
manor was granted by Alice to Thomas Gloucestre
and Thomas Batell (possibly related to John Batell,
the husband of Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Alice)
for their lives, with remainder to her son Thomas,
then aged three and a half, in fee-tail, with contingent
remainder to her daughters Elizabeth, Eleanor, and
Margaret. (fn. 19) Thomas Batell died in 1457, Thomas
Gloucestre the co-lessee having pre-deceased him. (fn. 20)
The manor then reverted to Thomas Kyngeston, who
died seised in 1506, his heir being his kinsman John
Kyngeston, aged sixteen. (fn. 21) John died in 1514, and
was succeeded by his brother Nicholas, (fn. 22) on whose
death, without issue, two years later, the manor passed
to his sister Mary, the wife of Thomas Lisle, (fn. 23) whose
only son Francis died without issue. Mary died
seised of the manor in 1539, and on the death of her
husband, three years later, the property which she had
inherited from her brothers, and they in their turn
from Thomas Kyngeston, was divided among the
descendants of the two sisters of Mary's father, John
Kyngeston, who died in 1497, viz. (1) William Gorfen, son and heir of Margaret Gorfen sister of John;
(2) Margery, wife of John Cope and daughter of
Katherine Malory sister of John; and (3) Katherine
wife of Thomas Andrewes, and Margaret wife of
Thomas Boughton, daughters of Dorothy Malory
daughter of Katherine Malory. (fn. 24) By an indenture of
partition (24 June, 1543) the manor and the advowson of the church of Warnford were assigned to
William Gorfen as his share. (fn. 25) On his death, in 1547, (fn. 26)
his sister and heir Alice immediately took possession,
without any proof of age or livery of her inheritance,
but was pardoned and received licence to enter in
February, 1551. (fn. 27) In Michaelmas of the same year
the manor was settled on Alice
for life with remainder to
Chidiock Paulet (fn. 28) and his
issue. (fn. 29) In this way the manor
of Warnford came into the
family of the Paulets, who
were descended from Constance the elder sister of Alice
Kyngeston, and one of the
granddaughters and co-heirs of
Sir Thomas de Poynings, who
died in 1429. Alice Gorfen
must have died before 1562, for
in that year Chidiock, Lord
Paulet, obtained licence from Queen Elizabeth to
alienate his manor of Warnford to Peter Tichborne and
Thomas Pynder, (fn. 30) no doubt for purposes of settlement.
Chidiock died seised of the manor in 1574, (fn. 31) and
was succeeded by his son William, who in 1577
granted the manor and advowson of Warnford to
William Neale and Agnes his wife in return for
various annuities. (fn. 32) In spite of this arrangement,
however, William Paulet is still described as seised of
the manor at the time of his death in 1596. (fn. 33) William
Neale, who was one of the auditors to Queen Elizabeth, died seised of the manor in 1602, leaving a son
and heir Thomas, aged thirty-six, (fn. 34) who was afterwards knighted and was auditor to King James I. On
his death in 1620 Warnford passed to his son and
heir Thomas, (fn. 35) the author of a little treatise entitled
A Treatise of Direction how to Travell Safely and Profitably into Forraigne Countries, published in London in
1643. (fn. 36)
Paulet. Sable three swords in pile with golden hilts and pommels.
In 1678 Thomas sold the manor to Richard
Woollaston, from whom it was purchased a year later
by Sir Richard Stephens for £2,000 down and two
further payments of £3,500 and £5,500. Sir
Richard, however, failed to pay the purchase-money
at the times agreed upon, and the matter was referred
to Chancery, which decided against him. He then
appealed to the House of Lords, but his appeal was
dismissed, and by Act of Parliament passed in 1695
Hannah Woollaston, widow of John Woollaston the
son and heir of Richard Woollaston, and Jonathan
Woollaston were enabled to sell the manor for the
payment of debts and legacies according to the will of
Richard Woollaston. In pursuance of the Act they
sold to Edward Silvester, (fn. 37) who by will left the manor
to his grandson, George Freeman, the son of his only
daughter Elizabeth, who had married Ralph Freeman. (fn. 38)
George died without issue, and was succeeded by his
sister Elizabeth the wife of Sir Christopher Bouverie,
who was the second son of Sir Edward Bouverie. (fn. 39)
On the death of Sir Christopher, Warnford passed to his
son and heir Freeman Bouverie,
who died without issue in
1734, his heir being his brother
John, who also died childless in
1750 leaving two sisters and coheirs, Elizabeth Bouverie and
Anne wife of John Hervey. (fn. 40)
In 1754 the manor was settled
upon Elizabeth, her heirs and
assigns for ever. (fn. 41) At that
time Smith de Burgh, eleventh
earl of Clanricarde, held the
manor as a tenant. He seems
to have purchased it shortly
afterwards, for in 1765 it was
settled upon him for the term of his life, with remainder in tail-male to his eldest son Henry de Burgh,
Lord Dunkellin, with contingent remainder in tailmale successively to his second
son John Thomas and his
daughters Lady Hester Amelia
and Lady Margaret Augusta. (fn. 42)
Smith de Burgh, eleventh earl
of Clanricarde died in 1782
and was succeeded by his son
Henry, twelfth earl of Clanricarde, who died without issue
in 1795, his heir being his
brother John Thomas. (fn. 43) The
manor, however, was for some
time retained by Urania Anne,
widow of the twelfth earl, who
married Sir Joseph Sydney
Yorke in 1815, and it was not until 1826 that she released her life interest (fn. 44) to Ulick John, fourteenth earl of
Clanricarde, (fn. 45) son and heir of John Thomas, thirteenth
earl of Clanricarde, who sold it some time afterwards to
Mr. W. Abbott. From the latter it passed by purchase
to Mr. Edward Rose Tunno, (fn. 46) who died seised of the
manor in 1863, his heir being his kinsman Mr. Charles
Sartoris, who sold it two years later to Mr. Henry
Woods, for many years member of Parliament for
Wigan. On his death the
manor passed to his son and
heir Colonel William Woods,
J.P., the present lord.
Bouverie. Party fessewise or and argent an eagle sable with two heads bearing on his breast a scutcheon gules with a bend vair.
De Burgh, Earl of Clanricarde. Or a cross gules with a lion sable in the quarter.
Woods of Warnford. Argent a cheveron nebuly gules with drops argent between three martlets sable.
WHEELY
WHEELY (Weleg, xii
cent.; Weoleghe and Weleye,
xiv cent.; Wulhaye, Wylhay,
Welleigh and Wellehigh, xvi
cent.). The land of Warnford called Wheely was
granted to the prior and
convent of Montacute (co.
Somers.) early in the twelfth
century by Henry de Port
when lord of the manor of
Warnford, (fn. 47) and seems to have developed into a small
manor by the fourteenth century. (fn. 48) In the reign of
Henry VIII the prior and convent were seised of
£2 4s. rents from certain lands in Wheely by
Warnford. (fn. 49) Some time after the dissolution of
the priory in 1545, Henry VIII granted a messuage and lands in Wheely to William Gorfen,
lord of the manor of Warnford. (fn. 50) Since then
Wheely has formed part of the manor of Warnford. (fn. 51) It is at the present day represented by
Wheely Down and Wheely Farm.
CHANTRY LANDS
Early in the thirteenth
century William de St. John,
when lord of the manor of
Warnford, granted a virgate of land with a messuage
and other appurtenances which Owen held of him in
the vill of Warnford to the prior and convent of
Boxgrove (co. Suss.) in free alms. (fn. 52) A few years
later, the prior and convent, in return for two marks
of silver, granted the land to William son of Theobald
de Warnford to be held by the rent of a mark of
silver, a further condition being that he and his heirs
should whenever necessary find suitable lodging for
the prior and his men, together with sufficient litter
and forage. (fn. 53) In the reign of Henry VIII the prior
and convent were seised of 13s. 4d. rents from a
tenement and a virgate of land in Warnford called
Chantry Lands. (fn. 54) Some time after the dissolution of
the priory, viz., in 1545, Henry VIII granted them
to William Gorfen, lord of the manor of Warnford, (fn. 55)
since when they have descended with the manor of
Warnford.
There were three mills in the parish at the time of
the Domesday Survey. (fn. 56) In the reign of Edward VI
two water-mills are mentioned in connexion with the
manor, (fn. 57) whereas only one is included in the extent
of the manor made on the death of Thomas Kyngeston
in 1506. (fn. 58)
In 1752 a water-mill and a paper-mill belonged to the manor, (fn. 59) and they were still standing in 1826. (fn. 60) A group of cottages called Paper
Mills possibly marks the site of the paper-mill,
while the other was worked by the large mill-pool
mentioned in the description.
CHURCH
The church of WARNFORD, of
unknown dedication, has a nave and
chancel of equal width and without any
structural division, 72 ft. long by 28 ft. wide, with
south porch, and west tower 17 ft. 3 in. square, all
measurements being internal. The tower walls being
a little less than 4 ft. thick, its external dimensions
are about 25 ft. each way.
On the east face of the tower are the marks of
abutment of a narrower nave, about 22 ft. wide over
all, with an internal span of 17 ft. Part of the
weather moulding of its roof still exists, and the
bonding of the quoins of its internal angles is to be
seen in the tower wall. The foundations of its north
and south walls have been traced in the course of
some recent repairs for about 40 ft. without finding
any sign of an east wall or a narrower chancel. Its
walls were 2 ft. 6 in. thick, and though there is no
absolute evidence to prove that it is older than the
tower, it is probable that the tower was added to it
about 1175–80.
Over the south doorway of the present nave,
and over the place of its now destroyed north
doorway, are inscriptions recording the rebuilding
of the church by Adam de Port, who held Warnford from 1171 to his death in 1213, (fn. 61) and it seems
that he must have built the tower soon after his
coming into possession and have rebuilt the nave in
the last years of his life. The tower was designed to
go with the narrow nave, its ashlar-faced masonry
extending up to its walls on north and south, and
they probably co-existed for some twenty-five years.
Then the present nave and chancel were built round
the old church, their west wall overlapping the tower
and being bonded to its eastern buttresses, and the
stone weather mould of the new roof was let into the
east wall of the tower and in part is still to be seen.
The walls of the nave have been heightened and the
pitch of the roof lowered at a comparatively modern
date, and the east wall of the tower has been partly
rebuilt in brickwork, destroying the upper parts of the
old weather moulds.
The church has a three-light east window with
pretty tracery of fourteenth-century style, set in a
wide, round arched recess, the jambs of which may be
of thirteenth-century date, and perhaps inclosed a
group of three lancets. In the north wall are five
lancets, three evenly spaced to light the chancel, and
the other two set more widely apart in the nave, the
blank space between them having once contained the
north doorway. West of the third window from the
east is a small doorway, probably once connected with
the rood-loft stair. In the south wall the same
arrangement of windows exists, with a priest's door
below the second lancet, and between the two in the
nave is the south doorway, which is pointed, of two
chamfered orders, with square abaci, and looks to be
c. 1190, but may be of the same date as the windows
in spite of its detail; or it may have been moved
from the wall of the older nave. Above it is the
inscription on a stone panel:—
+ FRATRES ORATE PRECE VESTRA SANCTIFICATE
TEMPLI FACTORES SENIORES AC JUNIORES
WLFRIT FUNDAVIT BONUS ADAM ME RENOVAVIT.
Above the inscription is a circular sun-dial on a square
stone, with leaves carved at the corners, like that at
Corhampton, and probably also of Saxon date. It is
now covered by the south porch, which seems to be
of the thirteenth century, with a plain pointed outer
arch and stone benches, and has two incised sun-dials
on its east quoins.
On the north of the nave, over the position
of the destroyed north doorway, is a second inscription:—
+ADAM DE PORTU BENEDICAT SOLIS AB ORTU
GENS CRUCE SIGNATA PER QUEM SUM SIC
RENOVATA
The tower is of two stages, with a plain brick
parapet and broad ashlar-faced clasping buttresses
at the angles. It has a plain inserted fourteenth-century west door, with a blocked recess near it
on the outside, probably for a holy-water stoup.
The ground stage is lighted by three round-headed
windows, that in the west wall being more elaborately treated, with pairs of nook-shafts having
foliate capitals.
The upper or belfry stage, reached by wooden
ladders in the south-west angle, is lighted by narrow
round-headed lights with, at a higher level, pairs of
large circular openings surrounded by chamfered labels.
Above these openings the walls are rebuilt in red brick,
and the greater part of the east wall of the tower above
the tower arch has been thus treated. The tower
arch is pointed, of two square orders with a chamfered
string at the springing, and is at present blocked by a
wooden screen made up of seventeenth-century paneling and carved details.
The roofs of the church have lately been repaired
and covered with red tiles, and the fittings and paving
generally set in order. The double truss in the roofs
marks the old line of division between nave and
chancel, and the screen which now defines their
limits is an interesting piece of work dated 1634,
with carved upper and middle rails and a line of
turned balusters between them, the panels below the
middle rails being solid. On the east side of the
screens are two inclosed eighteenth-century pews, in
which older woodwork is used up, and on the west of
the screen is a large squire's pew, taking up the whole
of the north side, so that the pulpit, &c., are moved
to the south of the central gangway. Against the
north wall of the chancel are three fifteenth-century
misericorde seats, and the altar rails are eighteenth-century work, the balusters in them being modern.
On the north side of the chancel is a double stone
locker in the wall, now containing two funeral helms.
The benches in the nave are plain and solid, perhaps
of the end of the sixteenth century, and the south
door is seventeenth-century work.
On either side of the altar table are monuments
against the east wall, that to the north being to
William Neale, 1601, of marble and alabaster, with a
panelled base on which stand two Corinthian columns
supporting a pediment with the arms of his house. On
the south side is the large
monument of Sir Thomas
Neale, 1621, and his two
wives, their alabaster effigies
lying beneath a panelled
canopy with a broken pediment, on which are the arms
of Neale between alabaster
figures of Faith and Charity.
On the base are kneeling
figures of two sons and seven
daughters, four of the latter
holding skulls to show their
death in their parents' lifetime.
Neale of Warnford. Argent a fesse between two crescents in the chief and a hunting horn in the foot all gules.
In the nave floor west of
the chancel screen are two coffin lids, one of the
thirteenth and one of the fourteenth century; the
former having been moved here from the north of
the nave in 1905.
The font at the west of the nave is a very interesting late twelfth-century example, in Purbeck marble,
with a square bowl, with more elaborate carvings than
usual in this type of font, but unfortunately in very
bad condition. It stands on a central and four angleshafts of marble, and has on the east face of the bowl
an Agnus Dei between two beasts, on the north three
birds displayed, on the south two large beasts facing
each other, and on the west a defaced carving between
two birds.
There are six bells, the treble and second of 1635,
by John Dauton of Salisbury, with the Neale arms on
the treble, the other four being by John Wallis, the
third made in 1599 and inscribed
THO GULLE QUI O[BII]T 4[o] MAII;
the fourth of 1598, the fifth of 1600, and the tenor
of 1603.
The plate consists of a chalice and cover paten
of 1685, a chalice and paten of 1843, and a pewter
flagon.
The first book of the registers contains baptisms,
1541–1771, marriages, 1604–1764, and burials,
1617–1771. The second has baptisms 1783–1812,
marriages 1735–1800, and burials 1782–1812, the
baptisms and burials 1771–1783 being lost. The
third book has marriages 1800–12.
ADVOWSON
There was a church in Warnford at
the time of the Domesday Survey. (fn. 62)
In 1292 the church was worth
£21 6s. 8d. a year, (fn. 63) while in the reign of Henry VIII
its annual value was £21 9s. 3½d. (fn. 64) The advowson
of the church followed the descent of the manor (q.v.)
with few exceptions (fn. 65) until about 1850, when it was
purchased by the Rev. John Wynne, the father of the
present patron, the Rev. John Wynne, M.A., rector
of Warnford.
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel in the
parish. The schools were built in 1877 for eighty
children.
CHARITIES
In 1617 John Knight by his will
charged his lands in Alton Eastbrook,
called Amery Farm, with an annual
payment of £2 for the poor of this parish. The sum
of £2 (less land tax) is paid by Mr. G. Gathorne
Wood of Shalden manor, the owner of the property
charged, and is distributed among three or four poor
people in money.