HARTLEY WINTNEY
Herclega, Hurtlegh, Hertele, Hertleye Wynteneye
(xiii cent.); Hurtleye Winteney or Wytteneye (xiv
cent.); Herteley Witney (xvi cent.).
Hartley Wintney is a large parish with an area of
2,449 acres of land and 3 acres of land covered with
water, situated 2 miles north from Winchfield. The
country is rather low, averaging 200 ft. above the
Ordnance datum; one bench mark, however, by St.
Mary's Church, records 2871 ft. Towards the west
there are some copses, but the general aspect is that of
open land. In the immediate vicinity of Hazeley
Heath, which is partly within Hartley Wintney,
gravel-pits are found. The village of Hartley Row
lies on the main road from Bagshot to Basingstoke,
and is entered by crossing Hartford Bridge and passing the golf links. After leaving the village this road
leads on past Hartley Grange to Phoenix Green, and
through Bear's Green to Odiham, whence it continues
its course to Basingstoke. Branching off from the
main road at the village is Church Lane, which
passes the schools and the modern church of St. John
on the west, and having proceeded due south for
some distance beyond St. Mary's Church, winds to
the far east of the parish, where Wintney Farm is
situated on a spot once the site of the priory. West
Green and Dipley Green are in the west of the
parish, and are pleasantly situated on the road to
Mattingley.
The soil is a light loam, the subsoil sand. According to the Agricultural Statistics of 1905 there are
683½ acres of arable land, 747¼ acres of permanent
grass, and 69 acres of woods and plantations in the
parish. The chief crops are corn and roots.
The following names occur in records of Hartley
Wintney:—Abrahams, Godfreyes, and Beales (fn. 1) (xvi
cent.); Great Tillingham's, Somer's, Batt's, Haiward's (fn. 2) (xvii cent.).
Manor
At the time of the Domesday Survey
HARTLEY WINTNEY was probably included in the great royal manor of Odiham, and it is not mentioned by name until the 12th
century, when a priory was founded here. Geoffrey
Fitz Peter, whose name appears in an obituary of the
priory as fundator ecclesiae nostrae, (fn. 3) had a sister
Juliana, who married Stephen Bendeng of Winchfield,
and to her he gave one-third of the vill of Hartley
Wintney in free marriage, (fn. 4) so that for some time there
were two distinct holdings in this parish—one of the
nuns and the other of the Bendengs. Gradually by
benefactions of or purchase from the latter family the
priory of Hartley Wintney extended its holding, (fn. 5) until
in 1258 the Bendengs finally quitclaimed to the nuns
in the person of Alda, late the wife of Stephen
Bendeng, grandson of Juliana sister of Geoffrey Fitz
Peter. (fn. 6) The right of the priory to the manor was
undisputed until the Dissolution, and the only records
left are chiefly concerned with grants and licences to
the nuns. Amongst others, permission was given to
the prioress in 1228 to hold a fair each year for three
days—i.e. on the eve, the day, and the morrow of the
feast of St. Mary Magdalen. (fn. 7) Again, in 1340, the
nuns were exempted from the subsidy of the ninths
owing to their poverty; (fn. 8) and in 1388 they obtained
leave from the king to receive land in the parish from
Thomas Foster of Cholderton for lights in the priory
church. (fn. 9)
In 1538 Henry VIII made a grant in tail male to
Richard Hill, serjeant of the king's cellar, and
Elizabeth his wife of 'the dissolved priory of Wintney,
Hants; the church, steeple, and churchyard of the
same; the manor of Hartley Wintney; and the
rectory and advowson of Hartley Wintney, Hants;
and all the lands in Hartley Wintney and in Winchester, Hants, belonging to the said manor and
rectory—of the annual value of £26 14s. 9d. at a
rent of 53s. 6d.' (fn. 10) After the death of Richard Hill,
who left a son Henry Hill and other children, his
widow Elizabeth married Sir John Mason, (fn. 11) and the
manor was settled on them by fine in 1560. (fn. 12) In
1571 Elizabeth Mason, once more a widow, exchanged the manor and advowson with Anthony
Weekes alias Mason for his interest and term of
years in Elvetham, the neighbouring manor. (fn. 13) By a
deed of 1590 the latter granted Hartley Wintney
Manor to his son John Mason, (fn. 14) who sold to Edward,
eleventh Lord Zouche, some
years later. (fn. 15) Lord Zouche
died in 1625, leaving as his
co-heirs a daughter Mary, wife
of William Connard, and a
grandson, Zouche Tate, son
of his other daughter Elizabeth. (fn. 16) From these heirs his
cousin Sir Edward Zouche
acquired the manor in 1627,
and dying in 1634 was succeeded by his son James. (fn. 17)
The Zouches continued to hold
till 1708, (fn. 18) when Sophia wife of
John Bayes and granddaughter of James Zouche became
heir-general of the family. (fn. 19) She and her husband
dealt with the manor of Hartley Wintney by fine in
1718 and again in 1723. (fn. 20) On the death of the last
representative of the Zouche family the manor was
thrown into Chancery, out of which it was purchased
about 1745 by Paulet St. John. (fn. 21) It now belongs to his
descendant, Sir Henry Paulet St. John-Mildmay, bart.
Zouche, Lord Zouche of Harringworth. Gules bezanty and a quarter ermine.
A fair is now held on 4 December, and is well
attended.
Henry VIII in 1542 granted to Sir William Paulet,
Lord St. John, certain messuages and lands called
Woodpitts, Beles, Abrahams, Godfreyes, Gallways, (fn. 22)
which Edward, Earl of Hertford, lord of Elvetham,
had held of the Prioress and convent of Wintney,
and which he had sold to the Crown as ' the manors
of Wintney and Hartley-Wintney' in 1541 . (fn. 23) These
were now to be held of the king in chief by knight
service.
Sir William Paulet sold them to William Wood
in 1566, (fn. 24) and the latter granted them to John and
Thomas Woods in 1578. From them Clement
Daubney acquired the same in 1592, and he sold in
1602 to Robert Waller. (fn. 25) The latter dying in 1611
devised all his lands to his nephew John Waller, who,
however, predeceased him, and was succeeded by his
son Henry. (fn. 26)
Church
The present parish church of ST.
JOHN THE EVANGELIST was built
in 1870, and consists of an apsidal
chancel, north and south transepts, with a north porch,
nave, and north and south aisles with porches. There
are also a vestry, an organ chamber, and a north-west
bell-turret containing one modern bell.
The walls are of brick with stone dressings, and
the roofs are slated. All the internal fittings are
modern.
The old parish church is now used as a mortuary
chapel. It consists of a chancel 17 ft. 9 in. by 15 ft.,
nave 50 ft. 10 in. by 20 ft., with north and south
transepts 17 ft. 5 in. by 12 ft., and a west tower 12 ft.
square.
The chancel and nave have some 14th and 15th-century details, and the walls themselves are probably
earlier; they are built of flint with a good deal of
puddingstone and red brick. The transepts are 19th-century additions in red brick, and the tower of flint
is still more recent. The east window of the chancel
is modern with a poor imitation of 15th-century
tracery without cusping, and the north window has
two trefoiled lights under a square head, and seems to
be in part old.
The easternmost of the two south windows is a
14th-century trefoiled lancet, and the other is a
single light with chamfered jambs and four-centred
uncusped head, set low in the wall. Below the sill
of the first south window is a pillar piscina of late
12th-century date, with a plain foliate capital set
under an arched recess. There are corbels at the
north-east and south-east angles of the chancel, which
carried a beam running across behind the altar. The
chancel arch is plastered, and obviously modern, but
the stopped south-west angle of its south jamb looks
like 13th-century work, and the thickness of the wall
is 3 ft. 6 in. South of the south jamb is a shallow
trefoiled ogee-headed recess for the image over the
former south nave altar.
The transepts each have two windows in their gable
walls, one over the other, like the east window of the
chancel, the upper ones being to light galleries. The
arches opening to the transepts are of plastered brick
and four-centred.
The easternmost window in the north wall of the
nave is a single trefoiled ogee-headed light, the jambs
of which only are old. The second window is a
lancet with brick jambs and head.
The first south window of the nave is similar to
the east chancel window, and to the west of it is a
window of two trefoiled lights like those in the tower,
and contemporary with them. The west angles of
the nave have been rebuilt with clunch rubble.
Between the two windows is the sill of a single light,
rather high in the wall.
The west doorway of the nave is old and has
chamfered jambs and a two-centred arch, perhaps late
13th-century work. The tower wall butts up against
it, and is pierced with a plastered archway.
The west doorway of the tower has moulded jambs
and a two-centred arch, with a few old stones re-used.
The tower is of three stages, with an embattled
parapet and angle pinnacles. The bottom stage has
a lancet window in the north and south walls; in the
middle stage is a two-light window in the north,
west, and south faces, and the top stage has a two-light
window, with tracery in each face.
The roofs are tiled, and inside there are plastered
ceilings, now very dilapidated.
The only old furniture besides the 18th-century
altar rails is a table, now in the north transept. It
has turned legs, and a movable top with an inlaid
inscription in a rectangular border b 1. 1636. g h.
There is an old oak chest in the west gallery of the
nave. A broken modern font of 13th-century style
stands under the chancel arch. Over the arch are the
Lord's Prayer, Commandments, and Creed, and a
moulded beam, which looks like early 16th-century
work.
The tower contains three bells, the treble being
dated 1721. The second is inscribed ' Henri Knight
made this bell ano 1612.' The tenor has the words
love god 1642.
The plate consists of a silver chalice, paten, and
flagon of 1629, 1828, and 1870 respectively; and a
plated credence plate dated 1859.
There are three books of registers, the first, containing baptisms and burials from 1658 to 1812 and
marriages from 1658 to 1754.. All entries from 1658
to 1723 are copied from older books, which have been
lost. The second book contains marriages from 1754
to 1796; and the third the same from 1792 to 1812.
Advowson
The church was apparently included in the original endowment
of the priory of Hartley Wintney.
It was appropriated to the priory, and the prioress and
nuns presented the vicars till the Dissolution. (fn. 27)
Richard Hill in 1538 acquired the rectory and
advowson of the vicarage with the manor, (fn. 28) and since
then the lords of the manor have continued to present to the vicarage. (fn. 29) The benefice, which is at
present in the gift of Sir Henry Paulet St. JohnMildmay, bart., is valued at £170 a year. There is
a residence with 5½ acres of glebe attached.
Charities
The charity of Robert Ray,
founded by deed dated 24 March
1674, was formerly endowed with a
moiety of the New Inn public-house, with its appurtenances, and certain quit-rents. The trust property
was sold in 1904 for £1,900, invested with the official
trustees, and a sum of £936 0s. 2d. War Stock,
£16 13s. 4d. India 3 per cent. stock, was appropriated as the share of this parish, together with
£11 0s. 5d. consols, as a repair and improvement
fund. The moiety of the Ray charity has since the
War Stock ceased (5 April 1910) been invested in
£1,152 17s. 8d. consols. About £26 a year is
applied in the distribution of clothing. See under
Odiham parish.
Charity of Robert Corham, founded by will, proved
in the P.C.C. 1596, for the poor of this parish and
Heckfield (Holdshot Hundred), consisted of an
annuity of 20s. The one-third share for this parish
was redeemed in 1904 by the transfer to the official
trustees of £13 6s. 8d. consols. The annual dividend of 6s. 8d. is distributed among seven of the
poorest people.
The Church of England school, founded by
Augustus Hill Bradshaw, by deed of 18 September
1839, was formerly endowed with 5½ acres of land,
which in 1897 was sold under sanction of the Charity
Commissioners for yearly rents-charge amounting to
£51 5s. The deed contains a proviso for cesser in
certain circumstances in favour of the County
Hospital at Winchester.