FARLEIGH WALLOP
Ferleye (Domesday); Farley, Farlega (xiii cent.);
Farlegh (xiv cent.); Farlegh Mortymer, Farle
Mortymere, Farley Mortimer (xiv cent.; xv cent.;
xvi cent.); Farley Wallop (xvii cent.).
The small parish of Farleigh Wallop contains 1,725
acres of hill country which reaches its greatest height,
of over 680 ft. above the ordnance datum, in the
centre of the parish, where the main road which
climbs up north from the Candovers meets the branch
road which cuts across from the north-west of the
parish and runs east by the lodge and grounds of
Farleigh Park to the village. From here, after rising
again by Broadmere, the ground gradually falls away
towards the north of the parish, reaching only a
height of about 400 ft. as the main road leaves
Farleigh and enters Cliddesden.
Farleigh House, the residence of Mrs. Routh,
with its wide stretching grounds and park, occupies most of the south-west corner of the parish.
The house itself lies immediately south of the village,
the out-buildings and stables becoming part of the
village, and the high garden wall running along the
south side of the village street. The village itself,
lying on high ground, consists only of a few farmhouses and buildings with one good thatched house,
and one or two cottages which stand lower than the
road as the ground slopes away on the north side.
At the east end of the village, near Park Farm, which,
with its thatched out-buildings and farm-yard, in
which is a gigantic horse-chestnut tree, stands on the
left, a narrow lane known as Pigeon House Lane
leads sharply downhill to the north. From here over
the meadows to the north can be seen the church of
St. Andrew, lying away at the top of a rising field,
about a quarter of a mile from the village. It is served
by the rector of the neighbouring church of Cliddesden.
The soil of the parish is clay with a subsoil of
chalk, on which the ordinary green crops and wheat,
barley, and oats are grown on the 708½ acres of arable
land. There are 286 acres of permanent grass in
the parish and 270 acres of woodland. The latter is
almost wholly in the south of the parish, where in
the south-east the Great Wood stretches south of
Farleigh Park; and in the south-west Inwood Copse
sweeps away to the west of the main road, covering
the track of country that lies between the main road
and that leading from the parish of Dummer.
MANOR
The overlordship of FARLEIGH
WALLOP was held at the Conquest by
the king, (fn. 1) and in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries by the prior of St. Mary of Southwick; (fn. 2)
after the Dissolution it appears to have been held of
the crown as of the hundred of Basingstoke. (fn. 3)
In the time of the Saxon king Edward, Ulvera or
Wulfgifu held Farleigh, (fn. 4) her successor after the Conquest being Siric, the chamberlain, who held of the
king. (fn. 5) Farleigh was subsequently held by a family
who took their surname from the place. Henry de
Farley, in the reign of Edward I, is found alienating
his manor of Farleigh to Robert (fn. 6) de Mortimer and
Joyce (fn. 7) his wife, at whose death it passed to his son,
Hugh de Mortimer of Richard's Castle, son of this
Robert (or Roger as he is sometimes called). (fn. 8) He
died without male heir in 1304, leaving Joan and
Margaret, daughters and co-heiresses. In 1316 Roger
de Mortimer of Richard's Castle held the vill of Farleigh (fn. 9) and in 1328 made settlement of the manor on
William de la Zouche, of Assheby. (fn. 10) Robert son of
William de la Zouche was lord of the manor in 1346, (fn. 11)
and was still in possession in 1371. (fn. 12) Early in the
next century, however, the manor of Farleigh
Mortimer must have been alienated by the Zouches,
since it was held in 1428 and in 1431 by John
Wyntreshulle of Surrey. (fn. 13) The Wyntreshulles did
not long hold Farleigh, as in 1486 John Wallop died
seised of the manor of Farley Mortimer. (fn. 14)
His son and heir, Richard Wallop, who was sheriff
of Hampshire in 1502, succeeded him, surviving him
seventeen years. (fn. 15) Sir John Wallop owned Farleigh
Mortimer in the reign of Edward VI. (fn. 16) Farleigh
Wallop was favoured by a visit
from Queen Elizabeth, who
visited the first Sir Henry
Wallop there in the September
of 1591. (fn. 17) He had been
knighted by Elizabeth in 1569,
and she had no servant more
honest. After years of service
in Ireland, after the loss of
his second son, shot by Irish
rebels, and when he himself
was old and ill, he prayed
to be relieved of his task,
but died the day before his successor arrived.
Sir Henry's views on free trade are of interest, for
being at one time commissioner for restraining the
transport of grain from Surrey, he disagreed with his
fellow commissioners in declaring that markets should
be free for all men, as 'yt ys most reasonable that one
contrye shoulde helpe an other with soche comodytes as
they are able to spare.' During his descendant's lifetime
in 1667 the manor house of Farleigh Wallop was destroyed by fire and the family muniments perished. (fn. 18)
His son Sir Henry Wallop was granted free warren in
the manor then known as Farleigh Wallop by James I. (fn. 19)
The favour of royalty, however, was withdrawn from
Sir Robert Wallop, who succeeded his father in 1642.
He took the side of the Parliament in the Civil War,
and sat in judgement upon Charles I. (fn. 20) He was one
of the few regicides who escaped the death sentence
only to undergo a worse ordeal. For his sentence of
perpetual imprisonment in the Tower involved also
the cruel degradation of being taken once a year to
and under the gallows, there to stand with ropes
about his neck. (fn. 21) He made sorrowful petitions to the
king, but never regained his liberty and died in
the Tower in 1667, aged 66. (fn. 22) He had married
the Lady Anne, a daughter of Henry Wriothesley,
earl of Southampton, and a sister of Thomas Wriothesley, the lord treasurer. (fn. 23) In 1661 Charles II granted
to Thomas, high treasurer of England and earl of
Southampton, the manor of Farleigh Wallop and other
property, all of which had been confiscated upon the
attainder of Sir Robert Wallop, and he conveyed the
same to the Lady Anne and her son and the family of
Robert Wallop. (fn. 24)
Wallop. Argent a bend wavy sable.
The son of Robert Wallop succeeeded to his father's
estates, (fn. 25) since which time the Wallop family have
held the manor, (fn. 26) the earl of Portsmouth being the
present owner.
FARLEIGH HOUSE
FARLEIGH HOUSE was burnt in 1667 and not
rebuilt till 1731 by Viscount Lymington. It is a
large rectangular building fronting to the north, in
flint and stone, the masonry being of excellent quality.
In the middle of the north front is a projecting
porch, over which is a large shield of many quarterings giving the alliances of the Wallops. There is a
central entrance hall from which the series of groundfloor rooms open, and in the middle of the south or
garden front, which commands a beautiful view, is a
stone-faced bay of two stories. This looks on to a
rectangular garden which with the sloping field to the
south covers the site of the old house, whose foundations still exist in part. It probably had a central courtyard, with a terraced garden to the south, and there are
traces of what looks like a round bastion at the southwest angle. To the west of the house is an eighteenth-century well-house with a large wheel, and to the
east a low range of offices into which two large early
seventeenth-century mullioned and transomed windows
are built; they are of very good workmanship and
doubtless formed part of the old house.
Farther to the east are the stables, a long two-story
range standing north and south, substantial flint-faced
buildings of eighteenth-century date, having the
Wallop arms on a cartouche over one door, and the
same quartering three bends wavy and a chief over
another.
The walled kitchen garden lies to the south-east,
and in its centre at the intersection of four paths is
the base of a cross which is perhaps of thirteenthcentury date, with part of an oblong shaft set
in it.
CHURCH
The church of ST. JOHN, FARLEIGH WALLOP, is a cruciform
building of flint and stone with a west
tower. It was entirely rebuilt in the middle of the
eighteenth century, in a very dull Gothic style, and
the west tower dates from 1873. The east window
of the chancel, and those in the north transept, are
of three lights with arched heads and tracery, all the
rest being square-headed, with three cinquefoiled
lights. The interior is absolutely uninteresting as far
as the fittings are concerned, the only woodwork of
any merit being the altar rails with their twisted
balusters of eighteenth-century date. There are a
large number of floor slabs to members of the Wallop
family, and two large mural monuments of eighteenthcentury date in the south transept. On the south
side of the chancel is an altar tomb of sixteenth-century date with quatrefoiled panels, in one of which is
the Wallop coat: on the tomb is a Purbeck marble
slab with indents of the brass figures of a man and
his wife, with what may have been a figure of the
Trinity over, and four shields at the angles. At the
west end of the nave is the indent of another late
brass on a broken slab, the remainder of which is in
the chancel floor within the altar rails.
The octagonal stone font is modern, and replaces
one of wood.
There are three bells by Mears and Stainbank,
1872.
For plate see Cliddesden.
The register was included with that of Cliddesden
until 1813.
ADVOWSON
The descent of the advowson of
Farleigh Wallop has always followed
that of the manor. There was a
church in the parish in the reign of Edward I (fn. 27) the
advowson of which in 1279 was granted with the
manor to Robert de Mortimer by Henry de Farley. (fn. 28)
This Robert and Joyce his wife brought suits against
Nicholas bishop of Winchester and Henry de 'Farley,' both of whom appear not to have recognized
their right of patronage. (fn. 29) In the fourteenth century
Roger de Mortimer (fn. 30) and Robert le Zouche (fn. 31) presented.
In the following century the patrons were William
Vachell (fn. 32) and John Wallop. (fn. 33) In the family of the
last-named patron the gift of the living has ever since
been vested. (fn. 34) The rectory is annexed to Cliddesden,
and the earl of Portsmouth, the direct descendant of
John Wallop, owns the right of presentation.
CHARITIES
In 1736 Thomas Fellowes by will
gave to the poor of Cliddesden £30.
In 1766 the Rev. Benjamin Woodroffe, the then rector of Cliddesden cum Woodroffe,
invested a sum of £131 8s. 9d. (including probably
the said sum of £30 and moneys given by an unknown
donor) in £150 Old South Sea Annuities—now represented by £164 14s. 8d. consols with the official
trustees, producing £4 2s. 4d. a year.
There is also a schoolhouse and a messuage in
Cliddesden, formerly used as a schoolhouse, let at £12
a year.
An annual sum of £10 a year is paid by the earl
of Portsmouth for educational purposes.
By a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, dated
25 April, 1899, the income is applicable in the proportion of three-fourths for Cliddesden and onefourth for Farleigh Wallop, and the educational part
made applicable in apprenticing, and in encouraging
attendance at the schools.