NATELY SCURES.
Nately Scures is a small parish covering an area of
521 acres, of which 37¼ acres are arable land, 151½
acres permanent grass and 5¼ acres woods and plantations. (fn. 1) It is intersected from west to east by the
main road from Basingstoke to London, which enters
the parish by the Red Lion Inn at a height of 218 ft.
above the ordnance datum, and climbs up to a height
of over 332 ft. in a little over half a mile. The
village is situated to the south of the main road in
the west of the parish about 2 miles west from Hook
station on the London and South Western Railway.
and 4 miles east from Basingstoke. The church of
St. Swithun is one of the smallest in Hampshire, and,
standing as it does in the vicinity of a large pond, the
old manor-house now used as a farm and the usual
farm buildings presents a very pleasing picture.
Waterend gate marks the site of the old turnpike,
while Priory Farm is reminiscent of the days when
the neighbouring priory of Andwell held lands in the
locality. Scures Hill, part of the Dorchester estate, has
been recently sold or let off for building purposes. (fn. 1a) Part
of the village of Hook, including its railway station,
is in the parish of Odiham and part in Newnham,
but nearly the whole of Hook Common is comprised
in this parish. On 8 December 1879 a detached
part of Nately Scures known as Holt was transferred
to Newnham. (fn. 2) The soil is stiff clay and the subsoil
clay. Wheat and beans are the chief crops grown.
Hodmills is a place-name occurring in this parish
early in the 18 th century. (fn. 3)
Manor
The manor of NATELY SCURES,
which had been held by Edwin of Edward
the Confessor, was assessed at 2½ hides
in 1086 when it formed part of the Hampshire
possessions of Hugh de Port, being held of him by
Anschill. (fn. 4) The overlordship continued with the
descendants of Hugh (fn. 5) for
many centuries, (fn. 6) the manor
being said to be held by
William Paulet Marquess of
Winchester as of his manor
of Basing as late as 1617. (fn. 7)
The exact date when the
family of Scures who held
the manor of the Ports and
their successors obtained the
demesne lordship is uncertain, but it is probable that
they did so at a very early
period. In the reign of Henry I Roger de Scures
witnessed a charter of Henry de Port to the abbey
of St. Vigor of Cerisy, (fn. 8) and he was probably at this
time lord of Nately Scures.
Scures. Azure a fret or.
Nately Scures almost certainly formed part of the
four knights' fees in Hampshire which Matthew de
Scures was holding of John de Port in 1166, (fn. 9) and his
descendant Roger de Scures, the son of James de
Scures, (fn. 10) was holding one knight's fee in Nately
Scures and Woodgarston of John de St. John in
1275. (fn. 11) Sir John Scures, kinsman of Roger, (fn. 12) as lord
of the manor presented a rector during the episcopacy
of John Stratford (fn. 13) (1323–33), and was stated to be
holding the fourth part of a fee in Woodgarston and
Nately Scures in 1346. (fn. 14) He died in 1353, and the
manor then passed to his son John, who held it until
his death in 1381. (fn. 15) His heir was his sister Sybil,
who married the same year John Uvedale of Titsey
(co. Surr.), sheriff of Hampshire 1388–99, (fn. 16) and
brought Nately Scures to a family with whom it remained for nearly three hundred years. Sir Thomas
Uvedale, the grandson of
John and Sybil (fn. 17) Uvedale,
presented to the church during the episcopate of Henry
Waynflete (1447–86), (fn. 18) and
was followed by his son Sir
William Uvedale, who died
in 1524. (fn. 19) Sir William
Uvedale, son and heir of the
latter, before his death in
1528 conveyed the estate to
trustees for the use of his wife Dorothy for life,
directing them only to allow a small annual income
to his eldest son Arthur, who was apparently of very
extravagant habits, and entrusting 'the reparation of
the several manor-places and the charges necessary
for the good order and rule of the manors, lands and
tenements' to his brother Thomas and his younger
son John during Arthur's life. (fn. 20) Arthur died between July 1537 and January 1538, (fn. 21) and was
followed by his son and heir William, (fn. 22) who dealt
with the manor by recovery in 1567, (fn. 23) and died
seised two years later, leaving as his heir his son
William, aged nine. (fn. 24) William, who was afterwards
knighted, died in 1616, and the manor and advowson of Nately Scures then passed to his eldest
son Sir William. (fn. 25) The latter died in 1652, but
it is probable that before his death he had alienated
this estate, settling it upon Frances his second daughter
by his first marriage. (fn. 26) This Frances married Sir
Edward Griffin of Braybrooke and Dingley (co.
Northants.), and is thus mentioned in her father's
will: 'I give and bequeath unto my loveing daughter
the Laday Frances Griffin the sum of twenty pounds.' (fn. 27)
Sir Edward Griffin was the owner of the manor in
1668. (fn. 28) Nately Scures next
passed into the possession of
Anthony Henley, (fn. 29) who died
in 1711. His first and second
sons Anthony and Bertie both
died without surviving issue,
and consequently all his estates
passed eventually to his third
son Robert, created Earl of
Northington in 1764. (fn. 30) The
earl died in 1772 and was
succeeded in the peerage and
estates by his only son Robert,
who died unmarried in 1786. (fn. 31)
The following year Jane
Dowager Countess of Northington, widow of the first earl,
and Lady Bridget Tollemache, Lady Jane Aston,
Mary Dowager Countess of Legonier, and Lady
Elizabeth Eden, the sisters and co-heirs of the
second earl, sold the manor to the Hon. Richard
Howard and Brook Watson, (fn. 32)
trustees for Guy Carleton
first Lord Dorchester. (fn. 33) The
latter died in 1808 and was
succeeded by his grandson
Arthur Henry Carleton
second Lord Dorchester, who
died unmarried in May 1826,
and was buried, like others of
his family, at Nately Scures. (fn. 34)
The manor then passed to
his cousin Guy Carleton
third Lord Dorchester, (fn. 35) whose
eldest daughter Henrietta
Anna, created Baroness Dorchester in 1899, (fn. 36) is the present owner.
Uvedale. Argent a millrind cross gules.
Henley, Earl of Northington. Azure a lion argent with a crown or in a border argent with eight roundels gules thereon.
Carleton, Lord Dorchester. Ermine a bend sable with three pheons argent thereon.
There was a mill in the parish in 1086. (fn. 37) This,
so long as it was in existence, was probably worked by
the tributary of the Loddon, which forms part of the
western boundary of the parish. A free fishery is
mentioned as an appurtenance of the manor in a fine
of 1618. (fn. 38)
Church
The church of ST. SWITHUN consists
of an apse 16 ft. in diameter and a nave
30 ft. long. The history of the church is
of the simplest, the whole structure, practically as it
stands to-day, having been built in the third quarter of
the 12th century. A gallery appears to have been built
in 1591 and rebuilt together with the roof in 1786.
In modern times the whole church has been a good
deal patched and restored and a bell gable built over
the west wall, replacing, according to notes in the
registers, a bell tower, probably a wooden bell-cot on
the roof.
The apse is lit by three small round-headed windows
with external chamfers and rebates, and all are very
much restored. The internal splays and the rear
arches are for the most part of 12th-centnry date.
They are arranged one in the centre to the east and
one on each side a little east of the spring of the
apse. Beneath the window on the north is a small
square chamfered aumbry.
Plan of St. Swithun's Church, Nately Scures
The nave is
lit by two
windows on
the south
similar in
every respect
to those in
the apse.
There is a
third window
to the west,
originally
similar to the others, but now considerably lengthened
to give light both to the gallery and to the nave
under it. There are no windows on the north of
the nave. The only entrance is the north door. It
is of late 12th-century date and of two orders.
The outer is semicircular in form and enriched
with zigzag in two planes, the edge being worked
into a bead and reel pattern. The outer order rests
upon circular shafts with plain roll bases, plain
hollowed abaci and carved capitals. That to the
east is ornamented with a carving of a mermaid
holding a plait of her hair with her left hand.
The capital to the west is scalloped. The inner
order is square with a trefoiled head and roll
cusps and the abacus of the capitals is broken round
to form an abacus to both orders. The label is
chamfered and enriched with lozenge and hatched
ornament.
The bell gable above the west wall is a poor imitation of 12th-century work and has places for two
bells. Externally the church is built of flint rubble
with angle quoins and door and window dressings of
Binstead stone, with later restorations in the same
material and in freestone.
The roof is modern, of open collar construction
and covered with tiles. The gallery is all of late
18th-century date except the moulded beam
under the front of it, which is a relic of the earlier
gallery. Fastened to this is a small brass plate
inscribed:
'Willm bbedall founder heere
Henrye Barnes Parson
Builder Heere 1591
H B.'
The font is circular and of late date and a poor
imitation of 12th-century work. The seating, fittings,
pulpit, &c., are all modern.
There is only one monument of interest, a brass
inscription plate under the west window inscribed in
Roman capitals as follows:
Here lies John Palmer and Mary hit wife
Prisoners of hope to Eternal Life
Who deceased
Hee May the 15, 1661, aged 61
Mary make room
To thee I come
And my last home
To the day of doom
Then shall we wake rise live for ay
With Christ a never dying day
Shee October the 13, 1660, aged 50
I went before
To ope death's door
I could not stay
But now give way
Come then my dear we'll sleep in Blisse
And in the dust each other kisse
Twice sixteen year we livd together
In sunshine and in stormy weather
In wedlock bands husband and wife
In joy love peace void of all strife
And ten times changed our habitation
And here at last we fixed our station
Where after ten years spent we have
Obtained at length a quiet grave
Palmer eram ante obitum nemo fit palmifer at nunc
Palmifer in caelis qui modo palmer eram
Palmers on earth are pilgrims such was I
My pilgrimage is done and here I ly
The bell gable contains two bells.
The plate consists of a silver chalice of 1795, a
silver paten given in memory of Frances Louisa
Carlton in 1868, and a plated paten.
St. Swithun's Church, Nately Scures, from South-east
The first book of the registers contains baptisms
from 1666 to 1786, marriages from 1721 to 1754,
and burials from 1693 to 1786. The later burials
appear to have been lost, and baptisms between 1780
and 1812 are contained in a number of loose sheets,
while there is a printed banns book of marriages
containing entries between 1754 and 1812.
Advowson
The first mention of a parish
church is in 1291, in which year its
annual value was given as £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 39)
The advowson has throughout its history followed the
descent of the manor, the living at the present day
being a rectory of the net annual value of £140 with
9 acres of glebe and residence in the gift of Baroness
Dorchester. (fn. 40)
Charities
By will proved 6 December 1898
the Hon. Maria Louisa Carleton
bequeathed to the vicar and churchwardens a sum of £1,500 for the repair of a vault and
memorials, any residue of the income to be applied for
the benefit of the poor. The endowment is now
represented by a sum of £1,357 9s. 3d. consols with
the official trustees, producing an income of £33 18s. 8d.
annually.