ST. MARY EXTRA
The ancient parish of St. Mary Extra, together
with that of Sholing, was in 1903 formed into the
civil parish of Itchen. (fn. 1) At the time of the last
Ordnance Survey St. Mary Extra comprised 2,177
acres, and Sholing 597 acres. The parish is bounded
on the west by the estuary of the Itchen and the
upper reaches of Southampton Water, and runs some
two miles inland, the levels sloping gently from a
height of about 130 ft. on its eastern boundary to the
tidal waters on the west. The coast district is
practically an outlying portion of Southampton, which
threatens to encroach still further in this direction.
This, together with the circumstance that much of
the inland county is of a barren character, makes it
not surprising that the proportion of agricultural land
to the whole is very small: there are only 322 acres
of arable land, 433 of permanent grass, and 70 of
woods and plantations. (fn. 2) The soil is sandy, and what
crops there are consist of wheat, oats, and barley.
The London and South Western Railway passes
through the parish from north-west to south-east,
and the road which leads to Southampton by
way of the Itchen Ferry follows the same general
direction as the railway, traversing Weston and
Sholing Commons. Both these commons were
included in the Inclosure Act of 1814 for South
Stoneham and St. Mary Extra. (fn. 3) Weston Common is a piece of waste land surrounded by
groups of red-brick houses, one of which, known as
Newtown (i.e. New Netley) is close to the railway.
Another little group, in a hollow of the common, is
called Botany Bay. Behind Botany Bay is Sholing.
Continuing westward along the Southampton road,
Itchen lies on the north, and Woolston on the south.
The continuation of the road is the double ferry
known as the 'Floating Bridge' (opened 1836) which
connects these places with Southampton, of which
they are practically suburbs. In the seventeenth,
eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries, Itchen was
a little fishing village, and up to the end of the
eighteenth century the fishermen kept the festival of
St. Peter by carrying an image of the saint in
procession through the village. The inhabitants are
said to have been always very peculiar, and chary in
their dealings with natives of other parts of the
country. They used to be notorious smugglers, but
have so far changed with the times as to be now
famous as yachtsmen. The modern growth of Woolston dates from the opening of the Portsmouth road
in 1834, and from the establishment of a ship-building
yard in 1876. The tanning trade once carried on
here is now extinct. 'The Paddock,' the residence
of Lady Longmore, occupies the site of the former
'Wcolston House,' which, originally a farm-house,
was enlarged and beautified in the eighteenth century and pulled down in the early part of the
nineteenth. The chief historical interest connected
with Itchen is the building of Jesus Chapel on
Ridgway Heath in the seventeenth century. The
enterprise was a private one, the result of the efforts
of Captain Richard Smith of Pear Tree, governor of
Calshot Castle, who urged the necessity of a church
nearer than that of St. Mary, Southampton, from
which the inhabitants of St. Mary Extra were separated
by 'the great river Itchen, where the passage is very
broad and often dangerous.' Licence to build a
chapel was granted on 23 February, 1617, and the
chapel was consecrated 17 September, 1620, by
Lancelot Andrewes, bishop of Winchester, the form
of service then used being that which has formed the
basis of all consecration services since used in the
Church of England. (fn. 4)
The heath called Ridgway Heath at the time of
the consecration included the present 'Pear Tree
Green.' The pear tree which later gave its name
to the Green was already planted, though at what
date is unknown. It is still standing, and in 1850
Mrs. Preston Hulton of Barnfield caused a young
pear to be planted by its side, that the name might
be perpetuated.
Turning southward down a wooded lane which
runs at right angles to the Portsmouth road, and
passing Mayfield, the residence of Lord Radstock, on
the right hand, the little village of Weston is reached, the
spot being remarkably rural
and secluded considering its
vicinity. Before reaching the
village the road passes under
two arches, both built by
Mr. William Chamberlayne
early in the last century, one
of them in commemoration
of the battle of Waterloo.
In 1810 Mr. Chamberlayne
also erected an obelisk as
a memorial to Charles James Fox. On Mr. Chamberlayne's death in 1829, that portion of the
Weston Grove estate on which the obelisk stood
was included in the land which passed to Mr.
Wright, of Oak Bank, Itchen, who built Mayfield upon it in 1856. Mr. Wright's son, a captain
in the 4th Dragoon Guards, buried two favourite
horses near the obelisk and had their names engraved
upon it. Lord Radstock, however, who purchased
Mayfield in 1883, has had these removed. The
present Weston Grove estate extends from Mayfield
to the coast, and is the residence of Mr. T. W.
Chamberlayne. The house was built in 1801. The
small village of Weston itself consists of a few
thatched cottages and some newer-looking houses
nearer the coast. The moss-covered building, now
a Sunday School, was used for divine service between
1855 and 1865, when the present church was
consecrated. Both buildings were the gift of the
Rev. P. Hulton. 'The Cliff' overlooking Southampton Water was built by the Rev. G. W. Minns
in 1882, there being then no vicarage attached to
the benefice. On the coast is a curious old hut,
entirely roofed with matted seaweed and said to
be of considerable antiquity. (fn. 5) Altogether Weston
justifies the remark of William Cobbett: 'To them
that delight in water scenes this is the prettiest place
that ever I saw in my life.'
Waldegrave, Lord Radstock. Party argent and
gules with the difference of a crescent sable.
MANORS
A considerable portion of the land in
the north of St. Mary Extra parish lies
within the manor of Bitterne, (fn. 6) but the
remainder constitutes the manor of WOOLSTON
(Olvestune, xi cent.; Wolveston, xiii cent.). One hide
of land in Woolston, held by Tovi of Edward the
Confessor, was held at the time of the Survey by
Rainald the son of Croch from the king, its value
having depreciated from 10s. to 5s. (fn. 7) Two centuries
later Hugh de Chikenhull was seised of half a
carucate of land here, which on his death in 1257
descended to his son Alan. (fn. 8) It was still held of the
king in chief by the serjeanty of maintaining one
footman with bow and arrow in the king's army
in Wales, for forty days annually.
From Alan the Woolston estate descended to his
son Hugh, (fn. 9) and on the death of the latter in 1317
passed to John de Chikenhull, (fn. 10) who settled the
manor of Woolston upon a certain John Seyntcler
and Henry de Wayte for life, with an ultimate remainder to Isabella de Inkpenn, sister of Henry. (fn. 11)
The manor passed into the possession of Isabella
prior to 1350, when she died, leaving as heir her son
John, who died in 1362. (fn. 12) Robert his son succeeded
to the estate in 1375 on the death of his brother
John without issue, (fn. 13) and on his marriage in 1389,
settled Woolston upon his wife Margery. (fn. 14)
The settlement was made without the king's licence,
and on the second marriage of Margery with John
Benet, after the death of Robert Inkpenn in 1406, (fn. 15)
controversy arose concerning the validity of the deed.
She was eventually allowed to hold the manor till
her death, (fn. 16) when it reverted to her son Richard
Inkpenn, who conveyed the
estate in 1424 to his daughter
Alice, wife of Ralph Chamberlayne, and her issue. (fn. 17)
Chamberlayne. Gules a cheveron engrailed or
between three scallops argent.
The history of the manor
during the next two hundred
years remains in obscurity.
Sir George Rivers, who held
Woolston in 1631, conveyed
the estate to Nathaniel Mill, (fn. 18)
and nine years later Joseph
Debertine and his wife Alice,
possibly heiress to Nathaniel
Mill, sold it to Henry Pitt. (fn. 19)
In 1701 Thomas Macham
and John Gilbert held the manorial rights, (fn. 20) but
whether by inheritance or purchase is not clear, and
quitclaimed to Nicholas Winkworth. (fn. 21) In 1766
Woolston manor, together with the adjoining manors
of Netley and Hound, (fn. 22) was held by Thomas Dummer,
and has descended with them from that date to the
present day, (fn. 23) the present lord of the manor being
Mr. Tankerville Chamberlayne, whose residence,
Weston Grove, is within Woolston manor.
One of the ancient rights attached to this manor
was that of the ferry over the Itchen waters, to
Southampton, (fn. 24) where the old 'Floating Bridge' now
stands.
A mill is mentioned in an extent of Woolston
manor in 1317, but no further reference to it is found
after this date. (fn. 25) It is probably identical with Weston
Mill, which Mr. Taylor obtained from Thomas Lee
Dummer, lord of Woolston manor, about 1762,
for the establishment of his machinery for making
ships' blocks. The water at the mill often proving
deficient, the works were moved to Wood Mill, on
the Itchen, and Weston Mill was abandoned. (fn. 26)
Pear Tree House was built in the opening years
of the seventeenth century by Mr. Mylles of Bitterne
manor, and remained in the hands of that family
throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
passing by marriage to the family of Waring in 1792.
In 1871 Miss Margaret Waring bequeathed the
estate to Mr. George Atherley, a banker in the town,
whose son sold it to Mr. Cruickshank.
CHURCHES
JESUS CHAPEL
JESUS CHAPEL as first built was a
little building '20½ ft. broad by 50½ ft.
long, fitted with a wooden chancel
screen, a Holy Table, a font, a pulpit, seats on the
floor and gallery, and a bell.' In Captain Smith's
will of 1630 it is called 'Jesus Chappell at Ridway.'
It has been enlarged and repaired again and again,
till nothing but part of the west end of its original
building remains. In 1821 it was repaired, the
south transept, west porch and gallery being built;
in 1847 a north aisle and vestry were added; in
1866 additions were made on the east side of the
south transept, and in 1882 a new chancel with a
south aisle was built. Of its old fittings only the
altar table remains, and the old pulpit has been used
up as wainscoting in the vestry. The old bell, which
is said to have come from Netley Abbey, but is
of much later date, is blank, and not now hung,
and in the western bell-cot is its successor, hung
in 1870.
The church stands in a crowded little churchyard,
its west end facing on to the open green where grew
the pear tree from which the district is named, and is
of more historical than architectural interest; it was
doubtless a very plain little building at the first, and
the successive enlargements, made as occasion served,
have not tended to produce unity of design.
The church plate consists of chalice, paten, and
two flagons, all dating from the seventeenth century.
The chalice and paten have no inscription, and the
former no hall-mark, but it seems probable that they
date from some time between the years 1620 and
1630. The offertory, amounting to £4 12s. 2d.,
which was collected on the day of the consecration
of the chapel (17 September, 1620), was ordered by
the bishop to be converted into a chalice, and this,
with its cover (i.e. paten) would almost certainly be
the 'church plate' to which Captain Richard Smith
refers in his will of 1630. The two flagons bear the
inscription 'The gift of Mrs. Katherine Palmer to
Jesus Chapel,' and her coat of arms. Mrs. Palmer
died before 1674, and the hall-mark on the flagons
is 1665–6. It should be added that in an old list
of benefactors, drawn up early in the eighteenth century, it is said that flagons, chalice, and paten were
all bequeathed by Mrs. Palmer to Jesus Chapel, but
this was probably an error made by the vicar who
drew up the list.
Its earliest registers are transcripts from South
Shoreham, having one entry of 1671, and then a
series from 1681 to 1699. The first complete book
runs from 1699 to 1708, and the second is a copy of
it continued to 1712, with scattered entries afterwards—one of 1713, three of 1717, several from
1723 to 1729, and four marriage entries between
1733 and 1741. The third book has entries 1733–
43, and the fourth 1743–1812, no marriages being
registered after the passing of the Act of 1753.
The church of the HOLY TRINITY, WESTON,
is a stone building in fourteenth-century style. The
register dates from 1866.
The church of ST. MARY, SHOLING, a building
of stone, in the thirteenth-century style, was erected
in 1866, and the register dates from the same year.
ADVOWSON
Jesus chapel, later known as Pear
Tree Church, from its site on Pear
Tree Green, has never been formally
separated from the mother church of St. Mary's,
Southampton. The living was a curacy in the
gift of the founder, Captain Richard Smith of
Pear Tree, governor of Calshot Castle. In 1685
the patronage was sold to Mrs. Mylles of Pear
Tree House, from whom it descended by marriage to
the family of Davies. In 1881 Mrs. Davies transferred the patronage to the rector of St. Mary's
Southampton, in return for an annual endowment of
the living out of the tithes of that church. In 1896
a scheme was sanctioned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the further endowment of Jesus Chapel
out of the revenues of St. Mary's, the result of the
arrangement being the transference of the patronage
to the bishop of Winchester, the diocesan, in whose
hands it still remains. The living is now a vicarage. (fn. 27)
Until 1855 Pear Tree Church was the only one
in that part of the parish of St. Mary's Southampton which lies on the left bank of the River Itchen.
In that year, as before mentioned, the Rev. P. Hulton
erected a building now used as a Sunday school at
Weston, to act as a chapel of ease to Pear Tree
Church. He supplemented this a few years later by
building a church, consecrated in 1865 as the church
of Holy Trinity, Weston. His son, who succeeded
him as vicar in 1870, accepted a grant for the augmentation of the living from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and this involved the transference of the
patronage of the benefice to the bishop of the
diocese. (fn. 28) The ecclesiastical parish was formed in
1866. (fn. 29)
Sholing was formed into a consolidated chapelry in
1867, out of the parishes of Hound and St. Mary
Extra. The living is a vicarage in the gift of the
bishop of Winchester.
There is a Congregational chapel, built in 1838, in
St. Mary Extra parish. At Sholing there is a mission
room, and chapels for the Primitive Methodists,
Baptists, and Plymouth Brethren.
CHARITIES
Charity of Nathaniel Mill. See
Southampton Municipal Charities.
The following payments are made
out of the dividends of a sum of £1,525 £2 10s.
per cent. annuities, held by the official trustees in
trust for this charity, namely, £1 14s. 4d. to the
minister of Jesus Chapel, 17s. 4d. for repair of same
chapel, £1 14s. 4d. for the poor of this parish, and
13s. 8d. for a coat or gown to a poor person.