KILMESTON
Chenelmestune (x cent.); Chelmestune (xi cent.);
Culmiston Gymminges, Kilmeston Gymminges, Culmiston Plugnett, Kilmeston Plunkenet (xiii, xiv, xv
cent.); Culmeston, Kympston (xvi cent.).
The small parish of Kilmeston containing 1,670
acres of land lies on the chalk down country south-east
of Winchester, the land rising generally from north to
south from under 300 ft. near Hinton Ampner to over
500 ft. in the south-west near the high down country
in the north-west of Exton parish.
The long straggling village of Kilmeston lies almost
in the centre of the parish. As the road from Hinton
Ampner, leading south, rises towards Kilmeston village
a sudden turn to the west leads past the vicarage, which
stands on high ground south of the road, on to the
church of St. Andrew, which stands also on the south
of the road opposite the fine old manor-house. Past
the church the road branches north to College Farm,
and south to the scattered cottages, the smithy and the
school composing the rest of the village.
Dean House, the residence of Mr. Charles Naylor,
stands in good grounds to the east of the village.
Westwood, a large copse stretching for about half a
mile along the western boundary line of the parish,
together with a wood called Broomwood in the east,
comprises the greater part of the 81 acres of woodland
in the parish. The 553 acres of permanent grass are
mostly in the south and south-west of the parish,
where there are stretches of low downland known as
Kilmeston Downs. The 911½ acres of arable land lie
mostly in the north and north-east. The soil is clay
with a subsoil of chalk, producing the ordinary crops of
wheat, oats, and barley.
The manor-house is an interesting building, partly
of brick and partly of timber construction. It has a
central hall, and wings on the north and south, the
latter being of half timber, hung with tiles and containing the kitchens and offices. On the east side is a
court and terrace leading to the entrance to the hall,
but the principal entrance is at the north-west. On the
west side are two early seventeenth-century gables of
cut and moulded brickwork with an enriched cornice
and projecting pilasters of very good detail, and the
main building is probably of this date, though the
timber part may be earlier. The main block is of
two stories, the hall having had a flat ceiling with
rooms over it; the detail in this part of the building
belongs to the first half of the eighteenth century.
The hall ceiling has been taken down, throwing it
open to the upper floor, round which a gallery runs.
In the north wing is a good Jacobean angle chimneypiece, but this part of the house was remodelled early
in the nineteenth century to accommodate George IV,
then prince regent, who lived here for some time, and
is credited with having written with a diamond on
one of the lattice panes in the kitchen window a few
lines of verse, which have, however, the appearance of
being before his time.
MANORS
Land at KILMESTON was in the
possession of the cathedral church of
Winchester as early as the tenth century;
for in 961 King Edgar, under a licence from the
bishop of Winchester, to whom the land belonged,
granted 10 mansae at Kilmeston to the thegn Athulf
for three lives. On the death of the last survivor the
land was to return to the church of St. Peter at
Winchester. (fn. 1)
At the time of the Domesday Survey the 10 mansae
were divided equally and formed two manors of 5 hides
each, both belonging to the bishop, one being held
by Edred, apparently in right of his wife, and the
other by Godwin. (fn. 2) These manors became known as
Kilmeston Plunkenet and Kilmeston Gymming from
the names of the families who afterwards held them.
The manor of KILMESTON PLUNKENET,
sometimes called half the manor of Kilmeston, was
evidently granted by the bishop to the de la Beres;
and about 1230 Richard de la Bere enfeoffed Alan de
Plunkenet of the manor, (fn. 3) and he in 1295, together
with his wife Joan, granted it to Alan de Plunkenet,
junior, and his wife Sybil, to be held for the rent of a
rose, with reversion (in case of the failure of heirs to
the younger Alan) (fn. 4) to the heirs of Alan de Plunkenet,
senior.
Before the death of Alan de Plunkenet, junior, his
sister and heir Joan de Bohun, who died s.p., appears
to have disposed of her claim
to the estate to Walter de
Woodlock, and although she
attempted subsequently to repudiate her grant the right of
Walter was established. (fn. 5)
Plunkenet. Ermine a bend engrailed gules.
Walter Woodlock was succeeded by his son Nicholas,
who held Kilmeston Plunkenet
in 1346, (fn. 6) and after his death
his widow Joan was seised in
fee tail of the manor. She
granted it to certain trustees
for their lives and died leaving an infant heir, her
grandson Thomas. (fn. 7) Sir Almaric de St. Amand claimed
the custody of the manor and the heir on behalf of
the feoffees, but was successfully sued by William, bishop
of Winchester. (fn. 8)
Woodlock. Sable a cheveron between three lions argent looking backwards.
From the Woodlocks the
manor evidently passed to
William Spershute or Sparsholt, who was holding it in
1428 and 1431, (fn. 9) but no record
of this transfer can be found.
After 1431 no mention of
the manor of Kilmeston Plunkenet has been found until
the early part of the sixteenth
century, by which time it had
been divided into two parts, one being in the hands
of the Skillings, and the other in the possession of
the Bengers.
Mary Skilling was the widow of Walter Skilling,
of Draycott, and daughter of John Ernelay of Marwell. (fn. 10) The Ernelays had a good deal of land in
Sparsholt near Romsey; it is therefore quite probable
that they were in some way connected with William
de Sparsholt or Spershute, who was holding Kilmeston
Plunkenet in 1431. There may have been a marriage
connexion, though no trace of one can be found, or
William de Sparsholt may have been a member of the
Ernelay family; in support of this theory is the fact
that both William de Sparsholt and John Ernelay
were called 'of Marwell.' The half of Kilmeston
Plunkenet manor held by the Skillings was granted to
Richard Badger by Mary Skilling in 1570, probably
as a settlement, (fn. 11) and in 1585 William, Mary's son,
was holding half the manor and made a settlement of
it in that year. (fn. 12) In 1605 William Skilling and his
wife Margery, Swithun Skilling his brother and his
wife Jane, and Edward Skilling sold half the manor of
Kilmeston Plunkenet to William Lacie. (fn. 13) From this
time onwards the descent of this half of Kilmeston
Plunkenet manor becomes the
same as that of the manor of
Kilmeston Gymming (q.v.).
John Benger died seised of the
other half of the manor of
Kilmeston Plunkenet in 1520,
leaving as his heir his grandson Richard, a boy of thirteen. (fn. 14) On the death of
Richard, in 1530, the manor
passed to his widow Katharine, (fn. 15) and subsequently to her
second husband, John White,
and his heirs. The other heirs
of Richard surrendered their
claim, (fn. 16) and from this time until 1660 the estate
followed the same descent as Southwick (q.v.).
Skilling. Argent two cheverons gules and a chief gules with three hezants therein.
Richard Norton was still holding the manor in
1660, evidently in conjunction with the Lacies, who
were also holding the other moiety of Kilmeston Plunkenet and the manor of Kilmeston Gymming, (fn. 17) and
from this time the two moieties of the manor are reunited and the whole follows the descent of Kilmeston Gymming (q.v.), with which it finally became
amalgamated.
The manor of KILMESTON GYMMING was
apparently granted at an early date by the bishop of
Winchester to the Gymming family, from whom it took
its name, for in 1282 Nicholas de Gymming died seised
of half the manor of Kilmeston leaving a son and heir
John, aged eighteen. (fn. 18) In 1307 a licence was granted
to Simon de Fareham and Robert de Harvedon, who
were evidently trustees for the Gymming estates, to
alienate the manor of Kilmeston Gymming in mortmain to Richard de Bourne, provost of the chapel of
St. Elizabeth at Winchester, (fn. 19) and the manor remained
in the hands of the provosts of this chapel until the
Dissolution, after which it was granted (in March,
1544) to Thomas Wriothesley, together with all customary services; (fn. 20) it was held by him until the following June, when he conveyed it to Anthony Cope, (fn. 21)
who received licence in 1579 to alienate the manor
to John Tichborne and his heirs. (fn. 22) A little later in
the same year John Tichborne conveyed the manor to
William Lacie, in whose family it remained for 160
years. (fn. 23) William Lacie died in 1595 seised of the
manor of Kilmeston Gymming charged with annuities
to Nicholas and Henry Tichborne. He left a son
William, who died in 1614. (fn. 24)
William Lacie son of the last William (fn. 25) was sequestered in 1645, (fn. 26) but he recovered his estates and
his family held the manor for nearly another century.
About the year 1677 it became united with Kilmeston
Plunkenet, and in 1739 Henry Lacie and his wife,
John Caryll, William Lacie, and George Lacie sold
the manor of Kilmeston Gymming or Plunkenet to
George Ridge. (fn. 27) The Ridges
apparently held the manor for
some time, and ultimately sold
it to Robert Westley Hall,
from whom in 1810 it was
bought for £19,152 8s. 5d. (fn. 28)
by Edmund Smith, £13,000
of the purchase money being
raised by a mortgage on the
estate to Richard and John
Sparkes and Sarah Shurlock. (fn. 29)
Long of the Holt. Sable a lion between four crosslets argent with two flaunches argent each charged with three crosslets sable.
Walter Long purchased the
whole manor from Edmund
Smith and the mortgagees in
1812, (fn. 30) and it has remained
in his family ever since;
Mr. Walter Long of The Holt, Beauworth, being
lord of the manor at the present day.
CHURCH
The church of ST. ANDREW is in
plan a simple rectangle with a modern
south aisle and north porch, and any
ancient features which it may possess are hidden by
plastering and ivy. There is no structural division
between nave and chancel. With the exception of the
east window of the chancel, which has modern threelight tracery of fourteenth-century style, all the windows in the church, two in the chancel and five in
the nave, are single lancets of decidedly modern appearance. The north door has a plain chamfered pointed
arch, covered with plaster, and impossible to date, and
the south arcade of the nave is of two bays in modern
brickwork, with a vestry at the west of the aisle. The
roof is tiled, and at the west is a wooden bell-turret with
a leaded spire, containing one bell dated 1772 without
further inscription.
The font is urn-shaped, of the eighteenth century,
and there are no old fittings in the church, except that
below the south window of the chancel is a piscina
and a square locker.
The plate includes an interesting and perhaps local
cup, with a trumpet-shaped bowl, on which is a band
of incised ornament, and a spreading conical foot. It
is without marks, and in spite of the incised band of
ornament is probably of the latter part of the seventeenth century. There is also a standing paten of
1700.
The first book of the registers, which contains a
memorandum that it was bought 1 June, 1671, at
Winchester, runs from 1661 to 1812, and there is also
an overseer's book of accounts beginning in 1691.
ADVOWSON
There was a chapel in Kilmeston
at the time of the Domesday Survey, (fn. 31)
which was annexed to the rectory of
Cheriton, and the advowson therefore followed the
descent of Cheriton (q.v.). By an order in council,
however, dated 4 February, 1879, the chapelries of
Kilmeston and Beauworth were separated from the
old rectory of Cheriton and formed into a distinct
parish for ecclesiastical purposes. The living is now
a vicarage in the gift of the crown.
CHARITIES
In 1706 Dame Mary Sadlier by her
will proved this date in P.C.C. bequeathed £100 to be laid out in land
or otherwise, profits to go towards teaching poor children to read and write. A moiety of the legacy was
lost through the insolvency of the holder, the remaining £50, with accumulations, was in 1803 invested in
£124 19s. 11d. consols, held by the official trustees.
The dividends are now applied in connexion with the
National School. (fn. 32)