SOUTH WARNBOROUGH
Wergeborne (Domesday), Waregeburnae Widonis
(xii cent.); Suthwarneburne (xiii-xiv cent.); Sutwarneburn, Southwargheborgh alias Southwargheburn
(xiii cent.); Warneburn or Warnborne (xiv cent.);
Warborne, Suthwarborne, Suthwermborowe or Southwarmbourne (xvii cent.); Southwanborow Southwarmeborne (xvii cent.); South Warmborough (xviii cent.).
South Warnborough is a long narrow parish covering 2,654 acres of undulating country which rises to
its greatest height as the road from Upton Grey enters
the parish from the north-west. The village, the
only populated part of the parish, lies towards the
north where the main road from Odiham to Alton
running south-east meets the road from Upton Grey.
South of the village the whole parish is one long stretch
of open field and meadow land, the only woodland
being a few copses running along the western border.
After entering the parish the road from Upton Grey
runs south-east for nearly half a mile, and then curving
slightly east between two or three outlying cottages and
farm buildings descends sharply between high banks, on
either side of which houses and thatched and tiled cottages are grouped, into the centre of the village, where
are the railed-in village pond, an elm tree surrounded
by a wooden seat, and the smithy. A plain low
house, on the left hand as the road descends, in front
of which are quaintly-clipped yew trees, representing
a cock and hen, is the village police station, south of
which are the modern schools, dated 1880. Opposite
the schools are two groups of the most picturesque
cottages in the village, with deep overhanging thatch,
standing behind a long low brick wall. The big elm
tree stands in the centre where the main road from
Odiham to Alton crosses that from Upton Grey as it
leads south-east circuitously to Long Sutton. At the
north-west corner formed by the junction of the roads
is the village pond, and opposite, at the south-west
corner, is the low tiled smithy. Two or three
thatched cottages fill up the north-east corner and
continue up the north side of the road running uphill
towards Long Sutton, while round the south corner,
and some yards up the opposite side of this road, runs
the high brick wall of the garden of South Warnborough House. A few yards up the village to the
north, on the east side of the Odiham to Alton road,
is the Plough Inn, a new red-brick building which
replaces the old and less pretentious inn bearing the
sign in former days. Opposite the inn a high brick
garden wall, behind which rises a high yew hedge,
shuts in the grounds of the rectory, a square red-brick
house. As the Odiham to Alton road goes south
along the village, a house standing close to the smithy
serves as the post office, south of which are two or
three cottages and houses.
On the opposite side a row of fine horse-chestnut trees
edges the footpath running along before South Warnborough House, the residence of Sir Arthur James
Walmesley, which stands in its fine grounds back from
the road. South-west of the house is the church,
approached over a small triangular green, round which
a gravel path leads up to the lychgate, and thence
through an avenue of horse-chestnut trees to the north
door. Behind the church begin the trees of Warnborough Park, those near the church seeming to be
specially chosen out by a large band of rooks who
resort there every year.
South Warnborough Park stretches about a quarter
of a mile in every direction, its western boundary
being formed by the Odiham to Alton road as, leaving the village, it continues its south-easterly course
through the parish. The soil of the parish is chalk
with a subsoil of chalk and clay, and good crops are
produced on the 1,934 acres of arable land. Only
376 acres are given up to permanent grass, while only
158¾ acres are woodland. Of the latter Venny or
Fenny Oaken Copse and Swenchetts, now Swanshott
Copse, date back their names at least to the seven
teenth century.
MANOR
The manor of SOUTH WARNBOROUGH belonged to the crown, (fn. 1) and
was held of the king by Hugh son of Baldric
at the time of the Domesday Survey. It passed to his
daughter on her marriage with Guy de Craon, (fn. 2) whose
son, grandson, and great-grandson, Alan, Maurice, and
Guy de Craon held the manor in succession. (fn. 3) Petronilla, daughter and heiress of the last-named Guy,
was first married to William de Longchamp, (fn. 4) secondly
to Henry de Mara, and thirdly to Oliver de Vaux, (fn. 5)
and held the manor jointly with her respective husbands until her death in 1280. Henry de Longchamp, her son by her first marriage, became her heir, (fn. 6)
and did homage for his manor about 1261. (fn. 7) During
his lifetime he alienated South Warnborough to
Philip Basset and Ela his wife (fn. 8) for the sum of £200,
which was to redeem certain of his lands, (fn. 9) the alienation being for the term of Henry's life. (fn. 10)
Alice the only child and heir of Henry de Longchamp, a minor at her father's death, (fn. 11) married Roger
de Pedwardyn, (fn. 12) and settled the manor on herself and
her husband and their heirs male. (fn. 13) Roger Ped
wardyn leased his manor for a while to Richard Berton,
'parson of the place.' (fn. 14) His son Sir Roger, and after
him Sir Walter, and then Sir Robert Pedwardyn held
the manor in succession, (fn. 15) but the heir and grandson (fn. 16)
of the last-named alienated it, nine years after coming
into possession in the reign of
Henry VI, to Robert White
and Margaret his wife. (fn. 17) For
some years the Whites held
the manor. (fn. 18) Henry VIII, by
a grant about 1543, increased
their estate by giving them
certain lands that Crowland
Monastery had once held in
South Warnborough. (fn. 19) In the
reign of Elizabeth licence was
granted to Sir Thomas White
to enfeoff Chidiock Paulet of
the manor for the purpose of
resettlement on Sir Thomas
and his numerous sons. (fn. 20) A
grandson of this Sir Thomas in 1636 sold the manor
(certain lands excepted) for the sum of £11,631 2s. to
Richard Bishop, of London. (fn. 21) The Bishops only held
the manor until the reign of Anne, as William Bishop
then sold it (certain lands again excepted) for £14,800
to Robert Graham of the parish of St. Paul, Covent
Garden. (fn. 22) The only daughter or adopted daughter
of Robert Graham was Barbara Anne Graham, who
was his sole heiress. (fn. 23) She married Captain Thomas
Harrison Wayne of the 10th Regiment of Foot, and
the marriage, which was a runaway one, took place at
Farnham, Surrey, where the regiment was quartered
at the time. (fn. 24)
White of South Warnborough. Argent a cheveron gules between three popinjays vert within a border azure bezanty.
They had no children and Captain Thomas
Harrison Wayne bequeathed South Warnborough
manor to Mr. Richardson Harrison, believed to be
his cousin, as trustee and guardian to his (Mr. R.
Harrison's) second son, Thomas Moore Harrison,
with the stipulation that his son should take the name
and arms of Wayne, but failing male issue the property was entailed on the elder brother, the Rev.
William Moore Harrison, and his eldest son. Mr.
Thomas Moore Wayne married Miss Fanny Bowyer in
1817, and they had daughters
only, and therefore after the
death of Thomas Moore Wayne
in 1868, Mr. Thomas Harrison
Wayne succeeded, his father
the Rev. W. M. Harrison
having died in the previous
October. (fn. 25)
Graham. Sable a cheveron argent between three scallops or with a rose gules on the cheveron.
He married Emma Tucker
Messiter, and died in 1879.
His widow is the present lady
of the manor, and as the
entail is now ended, her eldest
daughter, Mary Elizabeth Harrison married to
Mr. John Scales Bakewell, is her heir. (fn. 26)
CHURCH
The church of ST. ANDREW has
a chancel 26 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 3 in., nave
46 ft. by 22 ft. with modern south aisle
and north porch, and wooden bell-turret at the west.
The walls are of flint rubble, all except the west wall
of the nave and the new south aisle being covered
with rough-cast externally, and the roofs are red-tiled.
At the east end of the south aisle an early twelfth-century
volute capital and shaft are built into the new wall,
and it is probable that the nave walls belong to a
building of this date, of which one window at the
south-west is still to be seen. The north doorway of
the nave dates from c. 1160, and the chancel seems
to have been rebuilt in the first half of the thirteenth
century, retaining the width and perhaps some of
the walling of its twelfth-century predecessor. In its
east wall are three lancets under an inclosing arch,
much patched with modern stone, but having remains
of painted decoration, a zigzag pattern on the rear
arch, and masonry patterns on the jambs. A single
lancet remains at the east end of the south wall, with
a foliate pattern on the head, and west of it is a
modern south doorway and a modern arch to the
east end of the south aisle, which overlaps the
chancel. On the north is a square-headed window
of three cinquefoiled lights, c. 1530, which has early
fourteenth-century shafts reset in its inner jambs;
below its sill on the outer face of the wall are three
quatrefoiled panels inclosing shields with a cross, a
rose, and a saltire respectively. Near the north-west
angle of the chancel is another thirteenth-century
lancet. There is no chancel arch, its place being
taken by a fifteenth-century rood-loft, retaining the
floor of its gallery, at the level of the plate of the roof,
and the coved canopies beneath it on the west side;
into the front beam, on which a modern embattled
cresting has been set, two posts were formerly
mortised on each side of the central opening, making
wing screens for the nave altars. A good modern
screen has been inserted on the line of the old screen
under the back beam of the loft. The chancel roof
is old, with trussed rafters. The nave has three
north windows, c. 1320, each of a single ogee light
trefoiled, the eastern of the three being wider than
the others and having its sill carried down as a recess
in connexion with the north nave altar. The north
doorway, between the second and third windows, has
a semicircular arch of two orders, the outer continuous,
with an alternating zigzag ornament, and the inner
having a moulded edge roll and a chamfered string
at the springing. Over the doorway is a modern
wooden porch. The west end of the nave is taken
up by the posts of the wooden belfry, the lower parts
of which have been cut off and replaced by stone
piers; the braces and framing are a very good
specimen of mediaeval carpentry, and the turret is
probably of late fourteenth-century date. The west
window of the nave is of three cinquefoiled lights
under a square head, and dates from the fifteenth
century.
Of the north wall of the old nave only a short
length at the west remains, containing a single roundheaded light without any ornamental detail; its
probable date has been noted above. The nave
roof, like that of the chancel, is old, with trussed
rafters, a simple form used throughout the Middle
Ages and later; its date in this instance can only be
guessed at.
The font, at the west of the nave, has a modern
bowl of marble, on an old base of uncertain date.
The south aisle is entirely modern, but its west
window seems to be old work re-used, of three
trefoiled lights with net tracery, c. 1320.
The church is rich in monuments and heraldry.
Under the north-east window of the chancel is a
large altar tomb with panelled sides on the south and
west, evidently not in its original position. The
panels are quatrefoiled, two of those on the south side
containing foliage, and the other three shields, one of
which is blank. Another bears the arms of White
differenced with a crescent, impaling on a cheveron
between three shackle-bolts three choughs in an engrailed border charged with roundels, and the third
has the latter coat, which is no doubt that of Fenrother. At the west end of the tomb are the arms
of White. The top slab is of Purbeck marble, very
roughly worked and too wide for the tomb; it looks
as if it might be an altar slab set upside down. At
the head of the tomb on the east wall is a panel with
the brass figure of Robert, son of John White, kneeling, with the Trinity on a brass plate above him, and
to the left a hand among clouds pointing to a scroll
inscribed 'Sancta Trinitas unus deus miserere nobis.'
An inscription gives the date of his death as 4th of
Henry VIII, recording that he was quondam dominus
istius ville.
On either side of the east window are image
brackets, that on the north quite plain, and now
carrying a helm with the White crest, the other with
an embattled cresting and a band of foliage, with
the White arms as on Robert White's tomb; it is
probably of the date of the tomb, and on it is set
a later sixteenth-century scutcheon with the same
arms.
Against the wall between the two north windows
of the chancel is a large tomb of late Gothic type,
with a wide and shallow recess under a four-centred
arch with Tudor cresting above it. On this cornice
are three octagonal pedestals carrying small figures
with shields which are now blank. In the recess
are the kneeling figures of Sir Thomas White, 1566,
and his wife Agnes, 1570, on either side of a prayer
desk, with fourteen sons and six daughters behind
them; the children who died before their parents
hold skulls in their hands. Below are three cusped
panels inclosing shields with heraldry painted on
them, and now much defaced. The eastern shield
has a cheveron and three birds, the central shield
White impaling a coat which is now unrecognizable,
while the third coat is quite destroyed by the fumes
of a hideous iron stove which stands in front of the
tomb. Above the figures are three panels with an
inscription.
Thomas and Agnes dye unto God and Saye: we hope to see
the goodnesse of God in the lande of lyfe: they had issue
fourteen sons and six daughters this sayde Sir Thomas Whyte
Knight departed thys present lyfe the seconde of November and
in the yeare of our Lorde God 1566. Dame Agnes yelded
unto God of the workes of hys handes the 4th daye of January
in the yeare of our Lorde God 1570. Lorde Jhesu take our
soules unto thy mercye. Sur Thomas departed in London and
my Lady in Canytebery the dayes and yeares above wryten.
God save the Queen.
Above this monument is a small kneeling figure of
Elizabeth Paulet, daughter of Sir Thomas White,
and another monument with figures of Richard, son
of Sir Thomas White, with his wife Ellen, ob. 1597,
and her daughter Anne (Philpott).
On the south wall of the chancel is a late sixteenthcentury monument, undated, with kneeling figures of
two brothers, of the White family, but not otherwise
identified. Each is in an arched panel, with a blackletter inscription at the back, under a cornice carried
on Corinthian columns; over one figure are the
White arms, and over the other the same impaling a
cheveron engrailed and three lions' heads.
In the south aisle are a number of panels of heraldic
glass of various dates. In the south-east window
is a panel dated 1599, with White impaling a quartered coat, (1) Argent a fesse gules, and a cheveron
gules in the chief, (2) Argent a crescent in a border
invecked sable, (3) Blank, but should contain party or
and gules, a fesse between three leopards' heads
counter-coloured, (4) Argent a fesse between three
hawks' hoods gules, which is the quartered shield of
Kirton of Thorpe Mandeville in Northants. In the
same window are three shields encircled by garters, of
the first half of the sixteenth century. The first is
quarterly: (1) Quarterly 1 and 4, azure a cross or
between four falcons close argent, Wriothesley, 2,
argent a pale indented gules in a border azure bezanty,
Lensell, 3, argent fretty gules with a border engrailed
sable and a quarter gules and therein a lion passant
or, Dunstervile; (2) Argent a cheveron between three
crows sable, with the difference of a crescent, Croton;
(3) Or a lion parted fessewise sable and gules, Luftoft;
(4) Sable a cheveron or between three crosslets fitchy
argent, Peckham. This is the quartered shield of
Thomas Wriothesley, K.G., first earl of Southampton.
The second shield has a blank coat impaling azure
three hour-glasses or, with below His quoque finem, and
the third has the royal arms with a crown over the
garter. In the east window are two shields, the one
of England with a label of three points, in a wreath
ensigned with a royal crown; on the wreath are the
three feathers of Wales twice, and the rose once.
This is presumably for Henry VIII as Prince of Wales.
The second shield, which is in a frame of the same
design and date as that first described in the southeast window, is quarterly of 8 and differenced with
a crescent: (1) Argent three cheverons gules and a
label azure; (2) Barry argent and gules a lion or
crowned gules; (3) Argent two bars sable, a chief
argent three scutcheons sable; (4) Or a pheon azure;
(5) Blank; (6) Quarterly or and gules an escarbuncle
sable; (7) Azure a cheveron between three molets or;
(8) Argent three lions gules. This is a Barrington
shield.
There are three bells, the treble by Ellis and
Henry Knight, 1674, and the second and tenor, of
1603, by John Wallis of Salisbury, the former inscribed
'Feare God,' and the latter with nothing but the
initials A. W.; on the shoulder of the second bell is
cut A. C. 1713.
The plate consists of a silver cup and paten of
1689, and a plated flagon, paten, and almsdish.
The first book of the registers contains all entries
from 1538 to 1728, and is the parchment copy
made in 1598. The second has the burials in
woollen 1678–1793, the third the marriages 1732–
1754, the fourth the baptisms and burials 1728–1813,
and the fifth is the marriage register 1755–1811.
There is also a sheet with marriages for 1812.
ADVOWSON
'Upon the High Altar of St.
Guthlac, Croyland,' did Alan de
Craon, for himself and Muriel his
wife, grant the church of South Warnborough to be
subject to the church of St. James's, Freston, cell of
St. Guthlac. (fn. 27) This was some time in the twelfth
century, and the advowson remained with Crowland (fn. 28)
until the Dissolution, when in 1544 it was granted to
Thomas White, lord of the manor, (fn. 29) who was patron
as late as 1562. (fn. 30)
Probably it was his next descendant who allowed
the right to lapse, and King James I presented
Richard Blundell to the living about 1618. (fn. 31) The
Whites recovered the patronage, however, before
1633, (fn. 32) but Thomas White, through trustees, sold the
advowson in 1636 to the college of St. John's,
Oxford, with whom the patronage still remains. (fn. 33)
During the Pedwardyn ownership a pension of £4
was ordained to be paid to the prior and the church
of Freston from the church of Warnborough. (fn. 34)
The collection of the rent was a source of trouble
to the priors, one rector, William de Whytyngtone,
having to be sued for arrears amounting to £12, and
another, Richard Gardner, for £50. (fn. 35) On another
occasion Crowland had to sue the executors of the late
rector, Richard de Barton, not for the pension this
time, but for repairs needed both in the chancel
and church buildings, the default amounting to
£23 13s. 8d. (fn. 36) At the Dissolution the pension was
granted to Thomas White, (fn. 37) and passed to his
successors, Richard Bishop (fn. 38) and Robert Graham, (fn. 39) and
is to-day paid to the lords of the manor. (fn. 40)
It is supposed to have been paid for an amount of
land, part of the kitchen garden at the rectory,
which was evidently in early times a common. (fn. 41)
A chantry chapel was established in St. Mary's
church, South Warnborough, in 1268, by Henry
de Longchamp, (fn. 42) who endowed it with lands in
South Warnborough, among them 'three acres of the
land of Broming.' If Henry de Longchamp and
his heirs failed to provide a chaplain the bishops of
Winchester were to present in their stead.
CHARITIES
It appears from a list of benefactors
in the parish that Sir Thomas White,
knt., who died in 1566, gave £100 to
the sick and needy; that Stephen White, esq., gave
£50 to the honest and industrious; and that Thomas
Newland, esq., who died in 1768, gave £50 to the aged
and infirm. These sums were represented by £200
stock. In 1831 Mary Ann Warren, by her will,
bequeathed £100 stock income to be given away to
fourteen of the most aged poor. This sum of stock
and that belonging to Sir T. White's and other
'charities' are now represented by £327 14s.
Birmingham Corporation 3 per cent. stock, producing £9 16s. 6d. a year, which was in 1905
applied in the payment of 5s. 5d. each to fourteen
persons in respect of Miss Warren's charity and the
balance in the distribution of coal to fifty-eight
persons.
In 1808 the Rev. John Duncan, D.D., a former
rector of the parish, gave £200 Old South Sea
annuities towards the maintenance of a Sunday
school and school of industry. The stock was converted into £253 16s. 2d. consols.
In or about 1841 a school was erected at the expense of the Rev. Thomas Alston Warren, the then
rector, the site of which, together with two freehold
cottages belonging to the said rector, were conveyed
by a deed, dated 9 January, 1841, upon trust for the
education of poor children. The cottages are let at
£4 a year.
In 1843 Miss Elizabeth Warren gave £100 South
Sea stock in augmentation of the endowment, which
was converted into £126 18s. consols.
In 1849 the said Rev. Thomas Alston Warren
gave a further endowment of £100 South Sea stock,
which became £126 18s. consols.
The above-mentioned sums of consols were sold
out, and proceeds re-invested in £508 17s. Birmingham Corporation 3 per cent. stock.
In 1898 a sum of £215 stock was sold out to
defray the expense of effecting certain alterations
to the buildings belonging to the National School,
and the balance of the Corporation stock, amounting
to £293 17s., was transferred to the official trustees.
By an order of the Charity Commissioners, dated
28 June, 1898, the said sum of £215 stock so sold
was directed to be replaced within twenty-five years
out of the income of the charities. The amount
already replaced (1906) amounts to £378 6s. 3d. stock.
For 'Schools,' see V.C.H. Hants, ii, 405.