WINSLADE
Winesflot (xi cent.); Wineslode (xiii cent.);
Wynesflode, Wynesolde, Swynesflode (xiv cent.);
Wynsslod (xv cent.); Winsfolde, Wyndessled, Wyndslade (xvi cent.).
The parish of Winslade lies 3 miles south-east from
Basingstoke and covers an area of 712 acres, (fn. 1) generally
rising from north to south and reaching a height of
557 ft. above the ordnance datum in the south-east.
The village is prettily situated in the south-western
extremity of the parish at the foot of a wooded hill on
the main road from Basingstoke to Alton.
Hackwood Park extends into this parish, which
altogether contains 89 acres of woods and plantations. (fn. 2)
Kempshott, covering an area of 555 acres, was formerly
a separate parish with a church of its own, but was
united to Winslade in 1393. (fn. 3) It continued to form
part of Winslade until 1876, when under the provisions of the Divided Parishes Act (fn. 4) it was added to the
parish of Dummer.
The soil is clay with a subsoil of chalk. The chief
crops are wheat, oats, barley and turnips.
Manors
The manor of WINSLADE was held
by Walter of Hugh de Port in 1086. (fn. 5)
The overlordship continued with the
descendants of Hugh de Port (fn. 6) for many centuries, the
Marquess of Winchester being returned as the overlord as late as 1555. (fn. 7) In 1275 Winslade was held of
John de St. John for half a knight's fee by Alan de
Hagheman, (fn. 8) who purchased the manor of Eversley a
year later. (fn. 9) In 1331 John de Knolle, who was the
owner in 1316, (fn. 10) granted the reversion of the manor
after his death to John de Tichborne. (fn. 11) The latter,
apparently as lord of the manor, presented a rector
during the episcopacy of Adam Orlton (1333–45). (fn. 12)
Nevertheless Nicholas de Hagheman, a descendant of
Alan de Hagheman, (fn. 13) was stated to be holding 1 hide
of land in Winslade, formerly belonging to John de
Knolle, in 1346, (fn. 14) while a rector was instituted at his
presentation by William Edendon, Bishop of Winchester (fn. 15) (1346–66). However, Roger de Tichborne
son of John de Tichborne was recognized as lord of
the manor in 1349, (fn. 16) and from this date Winslade
continued in the Tichborne family for over two
centuries. John de Tichborne great-great-grandson
of Roger (fn. 17) died seised of the manor in 1498, leaving
as his heir his son William. (fn. 18) William died without
issue soon afterwards, and Winslade then passed to his
brother Nicholas, who was succeeded by his son of the
same name. (fn. 19) The latter died in 1555 and was followed
by his son Francis, (fn. 20) who as lord of Kempshott and
Winslade was fined 4d. for non-attendance at the
Basingstoke hundred court in 1560. (fn. 21) Two years later
he sold Winslade to his overlord, William Marquess
of Winchester, (fn. 22) with whose descendants it has continued ever since, (fn. 23) Lord Bolton being at the present
day lord of the manor and the chief landowner in the
parish.
The manor of KEMPSHOTT (Campessete, xi cent.;
Campeshet, Kempeschete, xiii cent.; Kembeshete,
xiv cent.; Kempshote, xv cent.), which had belonged
to Aldret in the reign of Edward the Confessor,
formed part of the possessions of Hugh de Port in
1086, being held of him by Walter. (fn. 24) The overlordship continued with the Ports and their successors (fn. 25)
for a considerable period, Kempshott occurring in
lists of the St. John knights' fees as late as 1349. (fn. 26)
In 1498 the overlord was returned as Sir John
Paulet, lord of Basing, (fn. 27) the descendant and one of the
representatives of Isabel sister and eventually sole heir
of Edmund de St. John, but later, viz. in 1555,
Kempshott was said to be held of the heirs of Peter
Coudray as of their manor of Herriard. (fn. 28) This
latter statement can be explained by the fact that
Kempshott like Herriard was held of the St. Johns
by Reginald Fitz Peter in the middle of the
13th century, (fn. 29) and by Matthew Fitz Herbert in the
reign of Edward III. (fn. 30)
In 1256 it was returned that Hugh de Sifrewast
had withdrawn his suit from the hundred court
of Basingstoke for his land of Kempshott, (fn. 31) and it is
probable that at this time he was demesne lord of the
manor, holding it from Reginald Fitz Peter for half
a knight's fee. Kempshott seems to have continued
with the Sifrewasts for a considerable time, ultimately
passing early in the 14th century to the family of
Tichborne by the marriage of Margaret daughter
and heir of Roger de Sifrewast with John de
Tichborne. (fn. 32) It formed part of the Hampshire
possessions of the Tichbornes (q.v. supra) until 1578,
when it was sold by Benjamin Tichborne, halfbrother and eventually heir of Francis Tichborne, (fn. 33)
who alienated Kempshott to
Henry Pincke, a Hampshire yeoman, who had been
living in the parish as early as
1571. (fn. 34) He died in 1611
and the manor then passed in
accordance with a settlement
of 1590 to his widow Elizabeth for life with remainder
to Robert his eldest son by
her in fee-tail. (fn. 35) Robert
Pincke, D.D., who became
warden of New College,
Oxford, in 1617, was greatly
esteemed by James I for his
skill in argument. Charles I
owed him a debt of gratitude for his loyal conduct during
the Civil War in raising the University Militia and
exhorting the backward citizens of Oxford to take up
arms for their sovereign. Falling into the hands of
the Roundheads, for a short time he suffered imprisonment for his devotion to his sovereign, but on
5 January 1643 was ordered to be released on bail.
He died on 2 November 1647 and was buried in
New College Chapel between the pulpit and the
screen. (fn. 36) He never resided at Kempshott, but
allowed his younger brother Walter to occupy the
house, (fn. 37) and by will left the manor to Walter's eldest
son Henry Pincke of North Waltham (co. Hants). (fn. 38)
Henry Pincke died in 1672 and was buried at
Winslade. (fn. 39) He was succeeded by his son Thomas
Pincke, Mayor of Winchester 1689–90, who died
in 1708, leaving as his heir his son the Rev. Henry
Pincke, vicar of South Damerham (fn. 40) (co. Wilts).
The latter resided at South Damerham until his
death in 1723, when the manor passed to his son
Henry, who died unmarried in 1770. (fn. 41) By will
Henry left the estate to his niece Dorothy wife
of John Lee of Woolley Firs, White Waltham (co.
Berks.), and only child of his sister Dorothy by
Thomas Hasker of Bramley (co. Hants) and afterwards of Arborfield (co. Berks.). (fn. 42) Philip Dehany of
Farleigh Wallop (co. Hants) purchased Kempshott
from Mr. and Mrs. Lee soon afterwards, (fn. 43) and pulled
down the old manor-house, building a large brick
mansion in its stead. (fn. 44) In 1787 he sold the estate
to James Morley, an East India merchant, (fn. 45) whose
wife died there the same year and was buried in
Winchester Cathedral. (fn. 46) The
next year Mr. Morley parted
with the manor, selling it to
J. C. Crook, of Stratton, in
whose tenancy the Prince
Regent made use of Kempshott as a hunting-box and in
1795 kept his honeymoon
there. (fn. 47) In 1832 Edward
Walter Blunt purchased the
estate and quite transformed
the appearance of the house
by alterations of an Italian
character. From Mr. Blunt
Kempshott was purchased by
the late Sir Nelson Rycroft,
bart., (fn. 48) and is now the property of his son Sir Richard Nelson Rycroft, bart.
It is at present occupied by Mr. Henry Gourlay,
J.P.
Sifrewast. Azure two gimel bars and a chief or.
Tickborne. Vair a chief or.
Pincke. Argent a pale indented gules and a border azure with eight crosses formy fitchy or thereon.
Rycroft, baronet. Party bendwise or and gules three griffons' heads razed and counter coloured and a chief ermine with a fleur de lis between two roses gules.
Church
The church of ST. MARY THE
VIRGIN is a plain rectangular building,
the chancel and nave combined measuring
45 ft. by 19 ft. 8 in. At the west end is a small tower
with a vestry on the north side and a porch on the south.
Though the site is old, the church in its present
form dates from 1816, and is a plain and rather
unattractive building with a low-pitched slated roof,
plastered walls and a gabled yellow brick tower.
All the windows have wooden frames, the east one
having three cinquefoiled lights with perpendicular
tracery. The north and south windows have two
plain lights each under square heads. Above the
doorway from the tower to the nave is an old window
arch, partly blocked, through which the west window
of the tower is seen.
On the north side of the east window is a rudely
carved white marble wall tablet to William Pincke,
1694, second son of Henry Pincke of Kempshott.
There are other gravestones of the Pincke family.
In the east window are a few fragments of mediaeval
glass and six small white and gold quarries of Flemish
glass, with the Crucifixion, the serpent in the wilderness, St. John Baptist (dated 1520), the meeting of
Mary and Elizabeth, Susanna and the elders, and
the healing of Lazarus.
Above this window is an almost obliterated wall
painting of the Coronation of our Lady in an oval
waved border. It formed perhaps the central part of
a Doom. Near the pulpit is part of a 17th-century
altar rail, and over the chancel step a pretty piece of
early 18th-century scrolled wrought ironwork, gilt over.
The font is modern with a small octagonal panelled
bowl. The tower contains one bell by S K (Samuel
Knight), 1695.
The church possesses a silver chalice, paten and
alms dish, the chalice being engraved with the arms
of the Bolton family, the paten and alms dish with
the inscription 'The gift of the Right Honble. Lord
Bolton to the Parish Church of Winslade 1815.'
The first book of registers contains entries of
baptisms 1723 to 1812, marriages 1723 to 1754,
burials from the same date to 1810. The second
book contains marriages from 1755 to 1807, and the
third continues them up to 1812. There is also a
church rate book from 1775.
Advowsons
Winslade and Kempshott were
distinct parishes—each with a parish
church of its own (fn. 49) —until 1393, in
which year the patron of the two churches, John de
Tichborne, directed a petition to the Bishop of Winchester praying that by reason of their poverty the
parishes might be united. (fn. 50) Neither of the parish
churches was of itself sufficient, he said, for the
support of one rector or curate, the church of Kempshott was utterly destroyed, and under these circumstances he petitioned that the church of Winslade,
which was large enough for the parishioners of both
churches, might be maintained in future with the
rights of both churches and that the patronage might
continue in the hands of him and his successors. (fn. 51)
The official of the bishopric held an inquiry attended
by rectors of neighbouring churches and made the
following return:—that the annual value of Winslade
was six marks and of Kempshott one mark, that the
patron of both churches was John de Tichborne, that
the distance between the two churches was only 1½
miles, that there was no river between the parishes,
and that only three parishioners resided at Winslade
and none at Kempshott. The bishop accordingly
decreed the union of the churches on 26 August
1393. (fn. 52) The advowson has continued with the lords
of the manor, (fn. 53) the living at the present time being
a rectory of the net yearly value of £133 with 12
acres of glebe and residence in the gift of Lord Bolton.
Joseph Warton the critic, the elder brother of Thomas
Warton the historian of English poetry, was instituted
rector here in 1748. (fn. 54) Another distinguished rector
was John Wooll, afterwards head master of Rugby
School—from 1807 to 1828—who was instituted in
1796, but soon afterwards exchanged the living for
the rectory of Blackford (co. Somers. (fn. 55) ).
Charities
This parish participates in the
Duke of Bolton's charity, founded by
will of 9 April 1694 (see Basingstoke
Municipal Charities). The sum of £7 9s. annually
is distributed about Christmas in clothing to the
poor.