EASTON
Eston, Estune (xii cent.); Istune (xiv cent.).
The parish of Easton lies to the north-east of Winchester, and covers 2,172 acres of undulating country
falling in the north to the valley of the Itchen, which
flows through the low country in the north of the
parish and forms the boundary between Easton and
Martyr Worthy. Of the whole area 19 acres are
water, 1,976½ are arable land, 671¼ are permanent
grass, and 94 woodland and plantation. (fn. 1) The
south-west of the parish consists wholly of farmland
and open fields; Larkwhistle Farm and Pitt Barn
are in the south-east, but the village itself lies
in the north of the parish where the land falls
away to the Itchen valley. The hilly road from
Winchester approaching from the south between low
quickset hedges commands a wide view to the north
over the Itchen valley to King's Worthy and Abbot's
Worthy, Worthy Park standing up in fine relief
against a dark background of woodland. After a last
steady rise uphill the road descends into the village and
curving to the east becomes the main village
street. Here at the
entrance to the village
a road turns north towards the river, between a group of low,
old-fashioned cottages,
and the obtrusive newly
built inn 'The Cricketer's Arms.' From this
a narrow branch road
turns uphill to the west,
leading past the manor
farm, which is on high
ground to the south,
to the church, which
stands on the lower side
of the road as the
ground sweeps down to
the river. West of the
church is the small school, built in 1840, and still
further west is the rectory. Beyond this the road
becomes a rough path across the fields. The main
village street turns east past a line of thatched cottages which stand on the south side of the road
behind a low brick lichen-covered wall, and again
past other thatched and timbered cottages until it
turns sharply down hill to the left to the quaint
Chestnut Horse Inn with its tiled lichen-covered roof
and hanging sign. From here until the end of the
village is reached the road turns east again, leading
past groups of thatched deep-roofed cottages, with
here and there more modern buildings, between
which, on the left, glimpses can be caught of the
water meadows traversed by the Itchen, and of
Martyr Worthy church and village, which lie on the
slope of the hill rising from the opposite side of the
valley.
The soil is chalk and loam; the subsoil chalk.
The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, and turnips.
MANORS
The earliest recorded mention of
EASTON seems to be in 871 when
Alfred bishop of Winchester granted
8 hides of land at Easton on the River Itchen to
Cuthred the Dux and his wife Wulfrith for three
lives. (fn. 2) Thus from early times Easton was in the
hands of the bishops of Winchester, and the right of
the bishopric to it seems to have been confirmed by a
grant made by King Edgar to his kinsman Brihthelm
bishop of Winchester in 961 of 7½ mansae at Easton
on the River Itchen. (fn. 3)
At the time of the Domesday Survey the bishop
held Easton in demesne as he had done in the time
of Edward the Confessor from him. Turstin held
52 acres of the demesne which had been held before
by Aelfeth; Geoffrey held 3 hides of this manor
which Brictric had held from the bishop in parage
in King Edward's reign; and Alwin held 1 hide and
1 virgate which he had held in the time of King
Edward. (fn. 4)
The Chestnut Horse Inn, Easton
It appears from a bull of Innocent III that Easton
was granted and confirmed to the prior and monks
of St. Swithun's, Winchester, in 1205, (fn. 5) who held it of
the bishop by the service of one-third of a knight's
fee, (fn. 6) and by a charter of 1284, confirmed in the following year by Edward I, John bishop of Winchester gave up for himself and his successors all rights in
the manor, saving his rights of overlordship, to the
prior and convent, (fn. 7) who had already acquired land
in Easton by grant of James Hansard in 1243. (fn. 8)
Easton manor was included among the temporalities
belonging to St. Swithun's in 1291, and was assessed
at £38 12s. 4¾d. (fn. 9) Licence was granted to the prior
and convent by Edward II to acquire further land
and rent to the value of £50, and in 1330 and in part
satisfaction of this right 6 acres of land in Easton
was granted to them by John de Madhurst. (fn. 10) It remained in the hands of the prior and convent until
the time of the Dissolution, (fn. 11) and was granted in 1541
to Sir William Sidney; (fn. 12) from him it passed to his
son Henry, who held it in
1564. (fn. 13) Sir Henry was succeeded by his son, the famous
Sir Philip Sidney, who married Frances daughter of Sir
Francis Walsingham; and their
only daughter, Elizabeth, married Roger earl of Rutland. (fn. 14)
In 1600 Robert earl of Essex
and his wife Frances (Sir
Philip Sidney's widow) and
Roger earl of Rutland and
his wife Elizabeth made a
settlement of the manor of Easton, (fn. 15) which they
conveyed five years later to Thomas Antrobus. (fn. 16)
Sidney. Or a pheon azure.
Thomas Antrobus died seised of the manor in 1612,
which passed under a settlement to his son Thomas,
and Elizabeth the son's wife. (fn. 17) This second Thomas
sold the manor to William Rolfe before his death in
1624, leaving to his daughters Elizabeth and Mabel
tenements in tail male, with remainder to Thomas
Antrobus of Clifford's Inn. (fn. 18) William Rolfe still held
Easton manor in 1640, and conveyed it in that year to
Hugh Windham and Edward Abbott. (fn. 19) At a survey of
the manor taken in 1647 it was valued at £5 2s. 3d.
per annum, there being no timber or woods. (fn. 20)
At the sale of the bishops' lands in 1649 Easton
manor was sold to Adoniram Byfeild for £352 15s. (fn. 21)
At the Restoration, however, the manor was restored
to Edward Abbott, who conveyed it in 1673 to
Richard Coleman. (fn. 22) Between 1673 and 1741 the
manor seems to have been divided among five coheiresses; for in the latter year Edward Hooker and
his wife, James Battin and his wife Hannah, Anne,
Mary, and Dulcebella Hooker conveyed it to John
Morgan, evidently for a settlement; (fn. 23) and in 1745 (fn. 24)
and 1751 (fn. 25) James Battin and Hannah made conveyances of a fourth part in right of Hannah.
By 1773 the whole manor had passed to James
Brydges, duke of Chandos, (fn. 26) and from this date Easton
follows the descent of Avington (q.v.).
At the time of the Domesday Survey there were
two mills in the parish of Easton worth 30s.; (fn. 27) but
there seems to be no trace of a mill at the present
day.
In 1301 a grant was made to the prior and convent of St. Swithun of free warren in their demesne
lands at Easton. (fn. 28) Hugh Rolfe held a free fishery
and view of frankpledge in Easton in 1640, and
conveyed his rights in that year to Hugh Windham
and Edward Abbott. (fn. 29)
CHURCH
The church of OUR LADY is a very
valuable example of a small parish church
of c. 1170, simple in plan, but of good
scale and detail, with a square vaulted chancel and
eastern apse, a nave 50 ft. by 20 ft., and a western
tower.
The apse has been too thoroughly 'restored' and
its windows widened, and the transverse arches at
east and west of the chancel, owing to insufficient
abutment, have spread, but otherwise the chancel is
in very good preservation. The transverse arches are
pointed, of two orders with keeled edge rolls and
chamfered labels, and spring from clustered responds
with foliate capitals of excellent design. The vault
is quadripartite, with moulded ribs, and the apse
vault has similar ribs springing from shafts between
its three windows. These have been spoilt by widening and are modernized, but are still of very good
effect, with banded shafts in the jambs, and round
arched heads with an outer order of large zigzag
ornament, and a banded roll on the inner. On the
south of the chancel is a similar window, entirely
modern, and on the north is the organ and a modern
vestry.
Easton Church: the Tower
The nave retains its two original north windows, narrow round-headed lights widely splayed inwards, with a
keeled roll at the inner wall face; at the sill level a
moulded string runs round the walls. The southern
windows have given place to square-headed fifteenthcentury windows of two cinquefoiled lights, and between them is the south doorway, with a richly
worked semicircular arch of three orders and treblybanded shafts with foliate capitals. The north doorway is blocked, and quite plain. On the east jamb of
the south doorway is a sunk cross, perhaps a consecration cross, which may have been inlaid in cement
or the like for effect.
The tower arch is pointed, of one square order
with a chamfered string at the springing, and has
above it a plain round-headed doorway which once
gave access to the space within the original roof. At
the south-east angle is a projecting stair, and the
tower is finished with a very picturesque shingled
spire; the whole of its external masonry has been
renewed, but the internal chalk quoining and masonry
is original.
The nave roof is a well-designed piece of work,
with arched braces to the collars and wind-braces to
the purlins, and the pulpit, on a modern stone base,
is of early seventeenth-century date, with arabesque
ornament. Close to it at the north-east of the nave
the upper and lower doors of the fifteenth-century
rood stair remain, the stair being in a projecting
turret. All other fittings of the church are modern,
including a tall oak chancel screen, and the font, at
the west of the nave, of twelfth-century design.
On the south wall of the chancel is a pretty monument, set up in 1595, to Agatha, wife of Bishop
Barlow of Chichester, and to two of her sons and five
daughters.
There are three bells, with pits for four. The
treble, a late fifteenth-century bell, has an interesting inscription, the whole of which the bellfounder was unfortunately unable to get on to the
bell, so that it runs thus, the words being set in
groups as shown: 'Jhu have mercy … uppon
the sowlis of T … homas Stooker & … of
Septēb … ye yere of or lord.' The date is thus
crowded out. The second bell, by Roger Landon,
is inscribed 'Ave Maria,' with the founder's marks of
a lion's head, groat, cross, and shield with R.L. The
tenor of 1614, by a founder R. B., bears 'In God is
my hope.'
The church plate is modern, consisting of a silver
chalice, paten, and alms dish of 1850, and a plated
flagon.
There are no registers of an earlier date than the
seventeenth century, the first book now preserved
containing the baptisms from 1692 to 1754, the
marriages from 1694 to 1759, and the burials from
1693 to 1812. The second book contains the
baptisms from 1754 to 1812, and the marriages for
the same period, there being no separate printed
marriage register from 1754 onwards, as is usually the
case. There is a book of churchwardens' accounts,
covering the period from 1655 to 1819, and after a
break of ten years they are continued to 1870.
ADVOWSON
At the time of the Domesday Survey there were two chapels at Easton
in the possession of the bishop (fn. 30)
The advowson of Easton was in the hands of the
bishop of Winchester until the year 1885. From
1885–8 the living was in the gift of the bishop of
Lichfield; (fn. 31) and since 1888 the Lord Chancellor has
held the right of presentation. (fn. 32)
Easton was assessed in 1291 at £10, (fn. 33) but by 1535
the value of the rectory had so much increased that
the assessment amounted to £26 13s 4d. (fn. 34)
The living is now a rectory, net income £344,
with residence and 4 acres of glebe in the gift of the
Lord Chancellor.
There is a small Primitive Methodist chapel in the
parish.
CHARITIES
There is a small piece of land in
this parish called 'the Church Halves,'
containing about an acre, but there
are no documents showing how the parish became possessed of it. The rent is applied for church purposes.