THE HUNDRED OF FAWLEY WITH THE LIBERTY OF ALRESFORD
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
|
|
|
|
OLD ALRESFORD |
KILMESTON |
TICHBORNE |
| AVINGTON |
MARTYR WORTHY WITH CHILLAND |
TWYFORD |
| BISHOPSTOKE |
WEST MEON |
| CHERITON WITH BEAU-WORTH |
MEDSTED |
WIELD |
| MORESTEAD |
WINNALL (fn. 1)
|
| CHILCOMB |
OVINGTON |
|
| EASTON |
OWSLEBURY WITH BAYBRIDGE |
THE LIBERTY OF ALRESFORD |
| EXTON |
| HINTON AMPNER |
PRIVETT |
|
At the time of the Domesday Survey the hundred of Fawley (Falelie,
Falley) included Alresford, Kilmeston, Twyford, Owslebury, Easton, Bishopstoke, Chilcomb (which included Winnall and Morestead), and Avington;
the amount of the land assessed was 89 hides, Alresford alone being rated at
42 hides. (fn. 2)
West Meon and Exton, afterwards in Fawley Hundred, were at this time
in Meonstoke Hundred; and Ovington, part of Wield, and Hinton Ampner
were part of Mainsbridge. The land in these five places was assessed at 38
hides. Privett, Tichborne, Cheriton, Martyr Worthy, and Medsted are not
mentioned in the Domesday Survey; but Privett was probably included in
West Meon, Medsted and the rest of Wield in Alresford, and Tichborne
possibly in Twyford.
By 1316 the hundred had practically assumed its modern proportions
except that Havant and Alverstoke were assessed as part of Fawley. (fn. 3) Havant
was still rated in Fawley in 1465, for in that year the tithing-man of Havant
paid a fine at the hundred court of Fawley to have release from suit of court
of four men until Michaelmas. (fn. 4) In an exactly similar way, Old Alresford,
Medsted, and Wield, which formed part of Alresford liberty (q.v.), still
continued to be assessed with Fawley, and sent tithing-men to the Fawley
hundred court. Consequently, therefore, when the bishop ceased to hold
his Alresford hundred courts, Old Alresford, Medsted, and Wield were again
reckoned in Fawley Hundred, and the term 'Alresford liberty' was taken
to comprise merely the borough of New Alresford, as in the population returns
for 1831.
In 1841 Headbourne Worthy parish was included in the hundred of
Fawley, (fn. 5) and still remains so. Medsted and Wield, on the other hand, had
become separated from Fawley and attached to Bishop's Sutton Hundred; (fn. 6)
Privett was included in East Meon, (fn. 7) and West Meon and Exton in Meonstoke
Hundred. (fn. 8)
In the reign of Edward III a tax of a fifteenth and a tenth levied on the
country produced £28 from the hundred of Fawley, (fn. 9) a similar tax levied in
1558 produced £28 8s. 1d., (fn. 10) and in 1623 the same amount. (fn. 11)
The hundred of Fawley was held by the prior and convent of
St. Swithun, and by a charter of 1284, confirmed in the following year
by King John, the bishop of Winchester gave up for himself and his successors
all claim to the hundred. (fn. 12) The bishop nevertheless seems sometimes to have
held the hundred court, (fn. 13) and after the Dissolution it evidently passed into
his possession.
INDEX MAP to the HUNDRED of FAWLEY and the LIBERTY of ALRESFORD