EXBURY
Ekeresbur (xiii cent.); Eukeresbury (xiv cent.).
Exbury parish is a low tract of fertile wooded land
in the valley of the Beaulieu River, whose estuary
curves round the parish, bounding it west and south,
where it meets the Solent. Down the eastern
boundary runs the Dark Water, a narrow stream with
steep high banks which are covered with trees,
heather, and bracken. Of the 2,593 acres of which
this parish consists there are 829 of arable land, 683
of permanent grass, and 365 of woods and plantations. (fn. 1)
The soil is loam, and the chief crops are wheat and
barley. The occupations of the inhabitants of this
secluded corner of the country are purely agricultural,
and there are less than 300 persons in the whole
parish. The only main road enters the parish on the
north-west, and runs down to the south coast, and the
nearest station is Beaulieu Road in the New Forest,
nine miles from Exbury village. The other means of
communication are sandy lanes or tracks across the
fields, while the steep valley of the Dark Water is a
great obstacle to access from the east.
The little village of Exbury stands amid thick trees
on the left of the main road from Dibden or Beaulieu.
The church on the east, and Exbury manor house on
the west, are on the main road, the rest of the village
straggling for a little way down a broad lane which
turns eastward. Following the road to the coast,
Lower Exbury Farm stands high up on the banks of
the Beaulieu River, overlooking it as it curves eastward to meet the Solent. Here can be seen the site
of the chapel of St. Katherine, the remaining stones of
which are now used for pig-styes. This chapel was
served by the Cistercians from Beaulieu Abbey, the
tradition being that the monks used to cross the river
from St. Leonard's, on stepping-stones. The chapel
was not pulled down until 1827, when the present
chapel at Exbury was built.
Turning westward along the coast we come to
Lepe, which now consists of a few cottages and a
coast-guard station, though Wise wrote of it in 1866
as 'a fishing village.' Possibly he was referring to the
oyster trade, large heaps of oysters being formerly
stacked here to purify. Lepe House, once an old inn,
has been beautified and enlarged till it is quite unrecognizable. It is now occupied by Mr. H. W.
Forster, M.P., lord of the manor of Exbury and
Lepe. Both Lepe House and Inchmerry House (the
residence of the Dowager Countess De La Warr)
command beautiful views facing the Isle of Wight.
All this coast district is very liable to floods.
MANORS
There is no record of holders of land
in EXBURY previous to the thirteenth
century, when there are various traces of
the family of Foliot (Faflet, Fallet, or Follet). In
1244 Richard Foliot, a minor, was holding land in
Exbury in chief of the crown, (fn. 2) and at the end of the
century Walter Foliot held two carucates there by
knight's service. (fn. 3) On the death of Robert Foliot his
lands were divided between his two daughters and coheirs: Maud, who was possessed of one messuage and
one carucate in Exbury and Lepe, which she conveyed in 1304 to Andrew de Grymstead (fn. 4) ; and Mabel,
who apparently married Robert le Gras. (fn. 5) The
Grymstead moiety was held by Andrew de Grymstead
in 1316. (fn. 6) Andrew died in 1324, (fn. 7) and in 1336 his
son John settled it upon Eleanor his wife for life. (fn. 8)
Eleanor survived her husband many years, holding
her moiety of the manor as part of the inheritance of
Reginald Perot, who, in default of male issue of the
Grymstead line, had become heir to the property. (fn. 9)
On the death of Eleanor, in 1363, a dispute arose.
Ralph Perot was a minor, and as tenant-in-chief of
the crown the custody of his lands was assumed by the
king, who committed it to Robert de Beverley. (fn. 10)
John de Bettesthorne, however, claimed that the
reversion of this moiety of the manor had been sold
to him before the death of John de Grymstead. (fn. 11)
This had undoubtedly been the case, and John de
Bettesthorne made good his claim. (fn. 12)
With respect to the other moiety of the manor,
viz. that which passed to
Mabel le Gras, there is an
interesting record extant of a
covenant between Robert le
Gras and his freemen of Exbury in the time of Edward I. (fn. 13)
It was then agreed that 'Estwode and Wynesle' should be
inclosed; that the men might
have common of pasture for
their animals all the year
round, with litter for these
animals in the whole demesne
of Exbury outside the inclosures; and that any of Robert's men convicted in
his courts should be assessed by their peers and not
otherwise. Six marks were payable to Robert for
damages, and, in the event of any infraction of the
agreement, £60 should be paid to the queen. This
second moiety of the manor was held by Mabel le
Gras in 1316, (fn. 14) after which
it passed through various
hands (fn. 15) until finally purchased
by John de Bettesthorne in
1381. (fn. 16) The descent of the
two holdings is henceforward
the same.
Bettesthorne. Argent a saltire gules with five
stars or thereon.
Berkeley. Gules a cheveron between ten crosses
formy argent with the difference of a border argent.
On the death of John de
Bettesthorne in 1399 his inheritance passed to his daughter Elizabeth and her husband
Sir John de Berkeley, knt. (fn. 17) It
remained in the hands of the
Berkeley family throughout the
greater part of the fifteenth
century. (fn. 18) In 1484 the entire estates of Sir William
Berkeley were handed over by the king to John
Hoton, esquire of the body, 'for his good service
against the rebels. (fn. 19) This grant was apparently
only temporary, for in 1489 a dispute was in
process between the relatives of the late Sir William
Berkeley over his lands. (fn. 20) The manor was recovered
by Sir William's sister Katherine and her husband
John Brewerton, (fn. 21) and thence descended to the
Comptons of Compton Wyniates, Warwickshire, (fn. 22) who
held it for the next two hundred years. (fn. 23) In 1718
Henry Compton and his wife Eleanor conveyed the
manor to William Mitford, (fn. 24) whence it descended to
his grandson William Mitford the historian of
Greece. (fn. 25) On the latter's death, in 1827, his grandson Henry Reveley Mitford succeeded to the property. (fn. 26) He sold it, in the early eighties, to Major
John Forster, whose son, Mr. Henry William Forster,
is the present lord of the manor.
It is possible that the moiety which fell to Mabel
le Gras in the fourteenth century became a separate
manor of LEPE (Lupe, Hupe, Lehupe, Lope, Leope,
xiv cent.; Leepe, xv cent.; Leape, xvii. cent.), and
that the two manors were kept separate even after
they had passed into the same hands. It seems,
however, more probable that the division in the
fourteenth century was one
of land only, and that only
one court was held, the
manor being frequently called
the 'manor of Exbury and
Lepe.'
Compton. Sable a leopard or between three
helms argent.
CHURCH
The church, of
no known dedication, consecrated in
1827, is a rectangular building of yellow brick, with three
round-headed windows on the
north and two on the south,
the middle of the south wall
having been formerly occupied by a 'three-decker'
pulpit. It has a west gallery and bell-turret, and a
flat plaster ceiling, and is entered from the west. Its
builder was William Mitford the historian, and to
the east of the church is the family vault of the
Mitfords.
The font is of Purbeck marble, c. 1200, with a
shallow square bowl with chamfered angles, and probably cut down. It stands on a circular shaft, and
probably had formerly four angle columns.
In the bell-turret is a small bell, uninscribed.
The plate consists of a communion cup of rather
unusual type, c. 1600, with a band of ornament on
the lip, a curved base to the bowl, and a trumpetshaped stem; a paten of 1902, its ornament copied
from the cup; and a plated flagon and almsdish.
The register dates from 1756.
ADVOWSON
Exbury was a chapelry of Fawley
until 1863. The earliest mention of
the chapel is in 1291, when 'Master
Nicholas de Audeby' held the church of Fawley with
the chapel of Exbury. (fn. 27) The next reference is in
1494. (fn. 28) In 1863 Exbury was separated from Fawley, the curate-in charge becoming rector, while the
living remained in the gift of the bishop of the diocese.
In 1840 there was an agreement for the commutation
of tithes, in which document Exbury is distinctly
spoken of as a parish. (fn. 29) There are no dissenting
chapels in this parish.