POPHAM
Popeham (xi cent.).
The small parish of Popham, containing only
1,440 acres, lies north of Micheldever and East
Stratton on high ground, which rises to nearly 600 ft.
above the ordnance datum in the west of the
parish.
The main road from Winchester to London passing
west of the grounds of Stratton Park rises steadily as
it enters Popham parish between thick hedges and
wide stretching meadow and arable land, past the
vicarage and schools, (fn. 1) which lie east of the road halfway up the hill, onwards to the simple grey stone
church at the top of the hill. The several farms,
farm buildings, and few outlying cottages which compose the main part of the village, lie just over the
brow of the hill, immediately north and east of the
church. Here to the west of the road is West Farm,
a rambling old house with a front garden full of close
clipped yew hedges of all shapes and sizes. To the
east is the Manor Farm, through the yards of which
runs the old Roman road (fn. 2) from Winchester to Silchester, which leaving the modern road as it curves
slightly to the west near the vicarage runs directly
north to meet the modern road again by the Wheatsheaf Inn at the cross roads near North Waltham.
The soil of the whole parish is clay and chalk, the
subsoil chalk. Hence the ordinary crops, wheat, oats,
and turnips, are grown on the 975½ acres of arable
land, and the population is mostly engaged in agriculture; 223½ acres are given up to permanent grass.
Of the 184 acres of woodland the chief copses are
those in the north and Hellier's Copse in the east,
near Dummer.
There is no inclosure award.
MANOR
POPHAM, which was granted with
Micheldever to the New Minster, (fn. 3) was
held of the abbey before the Conquest by
a freeman who was nevertheless unable to 'withdraw
himself.' (fn. 4) It was among the lands held of the abbey
by Hugh de Port in 1086. In the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries the St. Johns, heirs of the de
Ports, succeeded as tenants under Hyde, but before
the fifteenth century their rights had lapsed, while the
actual tenants of the manor held it directly of the
abbey. One of these tenants was Thurstan, clerk
to William de Pont de l'Arche, evidently the same
Thurstan who was sheriff of Hampshire in 1155.
He obtained confirmation from the Empress Maud
of all his land of Popham which he had held at
the death of Henry I, and all his holdings within
and without Winchester as he had had them on
the day when Maud was received into the city, i.e.
in 1141, during her triumphal progress after the
capture of Stephen. (fn. 5) Henry II confirmed his
mother's charter to Thurstan, and in 1157 granted
him the privilege of keeping hounds to hunt hares
and wolves. (fn. 6) During the next century the Braiboeufs
of Cranborne and Robert de Pont de l'Arche and his
successor, Sir Thomas West, knt., (fn. 7) were tenants
intermediate between the St. Johns and the actual
holder, (fn. 8) who was Gilbert de Popham, a successor
of Thurstan the clerk. (fn. 9) Gilbert de Popham did
homage for the lands of his mother Agnes in 1225
and died 4 November, 1251, leaving a son and heir
Robert, aged twenty-five, (fn. 10) who witnessed a charter to
Hyde Abbey in 1277–8. (fn. 11) Robert was succeeded by
John de Popham, probably his son, who was holding
the manor in 1284, and did suit of court for one
half of it to William de Braiboeuf at Cranborne. (fn. 12)
He received a grant of free warren in Popham in
1305. (fn. 13) In 1309 he brought a suit against Hugh le
Frankelyn for usurping common of pasture in Popham. (fn. 14) He was still living in 1316, (fn. 15) and in the
previous year his holding in
the parish was assessed at four
hides, (fn. 16) but it seems likely
that he died about this date,
for in 1317 William de la
Beere conveyed a messuage,
four carucates of land, 200
acres of pasture, twenty acres
of wood, and 100s. rent in
Popham to Robert de Popham
and his wife Alice, (fn. 17) and in
1346 Robert de Popham was
said to hold there half a knight's
fee which had belonged to John
de Popham. (fn. 18) In 1360 Henry, brother and heir of
Laurence de Popham, and probably son of Robert de
Popham, did homage to the abbot of Hyde for four
parts of a knight's fee in Popham. (fn. 19) This Henry was
also sheriff of Hampshire, and in 1378, and again in
1401, obtained a royal confirmation of his predecessors'
charters from the Empress Maud and from Henry II. (fn. 20)
He died in December, 1417, leaving a son and heir
Stephen, aged twenty-five, (fn. 21) who nevertheless did not
formally enter into possession of his father's lands till
January, 1422–3. (fn. 22) He had been knighted before
his death in 1445, and had enfeoffed Sir John Lisle
and others of his lands in trust for his four daughters. (fn. 23)
The trustees conveyed Popham in 1464 to one of
these daughters, Elizabeth, then wife of John Barantyne. (fn. 24) Their son John Barantyne succeeded to the
manor, which was valued at ten marks at his death in
1485. (fn. 25) He left an infant son William, who was
knighted before 1529, when Elizabeth wife of Robert
Drury quitclaimed all her rights in the manor to
him. (fn. 26) In 1552 Francis Barantyne of Haseley, in
Oxfordshire, eldest son of Sir William Barantyne, (fn. 27)
sold the manor to Peter Temple, Thomas Lee, and
Thomas Wattys, (fn. 28) who conveyed it in the following
year to Hugh Hunt of Kingsclere, (fn. 29) in whose family
it remained for nearly two centuries. James Hunt,
probably son or grandson of Hugh, died at Popham in 1605, and his son John inherited the manor (fn. 30)
and was succeeded by a son James in 1625. (fn. 31)
Another James Hunt was in possession in 1693. (fn. 32)
In 1715 James, son and heir of James Hunt, conveyed the manor to John Bowen in order to bar the
entail, (fn. 33) and in 1739 it was apparently purchased
outright by Matthew Bowen, (fn. 34) from whom it
descended in moieties to two co-heiresses, Anne
Bowen and Louisa wife of Thomas Threlkeld. The
latter was in possession of her moiety in 1756, (fn. 35) while
the former seems to have conveyed her moiety to
John fourth duke of Bedford, or his widow,
Gertrude, (fn. 36) who in 1791 joined with Louisa Threlkeld, then a widow, and William Threlkeld her heir,
in a settlement of the whole manor. (fn. 37) It is said to
have been purchased by Alexander first Baron Ashburton, and is now in the possession of the present
Lord Ashburton.
Popham. Argent a chief gules with two harts' heads or therein.
CHURCH
The church of ST. KATHARINE
was built by Lord Ashburton in 1875–8
on a new site, and contains no relic of
the old church, which stood at the back of the manor
farm, except a few glazed floor tiles in the vestry.
The font is modern, its predecessor having been sent
to North Waltham church.
In the bell turret is a single small bell.
The plate is a modern set, of chalice, paten, and
flagon, given in 1878 by Lord Ashburton.
The register for 1628–1795 is preserved, but there
is a gap between 1734 and 1774.
ADVOWSON
The parish of Popham was
originally served by a chantry chapel
attached to Micheldever and endowed with certain lands. By Bishop Woodlock's
ordination of Micheldever vicarage in 1308 it was
arranged that the nouse and lands assigned of old to
the chantry chapel of Popham should form part of the
vicar's portion. (fn. 38) The vicar failed to perform the
requisite number of services, so that Henry Popham
and other inhabitants of 'the hamlet of Popham
within the parish of Micheldever' impleaded the
vicar before the commissary as to the provision of a
chaplain to hold service daily and to perform sacraments except burial, and to dwell continually in a
house at Popham ordained of old for that purpose.
The vicar acknowledged the obligation and promised
to fulfil it. (fn. 39) It was not till 1847 that this distant
chapelry was separated from the mother church and
annexed to Woodmancott. (fn. 40)
CHARITIES
In 1845 William Waldron Harding
by will, proved in the P.C.C., left
£500 consols to the minister and
churchwardens upon trust to apply the annual
dividends for the relief of the poor. The sum of stock
was reduced by the payment of legacy duty, and in
1867 the stock was raised to £500 consols by the
gift of Mr. Jesse Vidler. The stock is held by the
official trustees; the dividends, amounting to £12 10s.
a year, were in 1905 applied in the distribution of
10 tons 17 cwt. of coals to nineteen labourers.