Parishes: Newton Valence

NEWTON VALENCE

Newenton, Niwenton, Nyweton (xii and xiii cent.)

The parish of Newton Valence, covering about 2,258 acres, lies to the south-east of Selborne. From Selborne the village can be reached by a hilly road leading from Gracious Street round Selborne Hill. Where the road branches at The Nap to left and right the uphill road to the left leads into the village, while the road to the right leads down to the main Alton road and to the Pelham estate, which with the 147 acres of the parish included in the Rotherfield estate covers the whole of that end of the parish. As the road branches upwards to the village the modern school (fn. 1) stands well back from the road on the left. Fronting on the street are several picturesque cottages, from the backs of which, over a foreground of field and meadow, can be seen Colemore and Priors Dean, while away in the distance on the left stretch the Sussex Downs. Further along the street broadens out, and in the left-hand corner is a pond almost hidden by overhanging trees. Beyond this is a gate opening up the path which leads both to the church of St. Mary and the manor house, for the manor house stands on the right almost behind the church. Beyond this gate on a green bank the village stocks were originally fixed between two ash trees in front of the back wall of the manor house farm stables, and remained there and in use within the memory of one of the oldest inhabitants of the village. Only one ash tree remains of the four that originally grew on this bank, and this is not one of those on which the stocks were fixed. Filling up the right-hand corner is the big pond, which is one of the most beautiful features of the village, with its wide circle of clear water, nearly dried up in summer, and its background of sturdy rushes. The vicarage stands on high ground where Selborne Common meets the border line of Newton Valence. Between the common and the house stands a splendid avenue of Scotch firs planted down among vegetation of very different character. In the old-world garden is another avenue of exceptionally tall yew trees. There are also traces of two fishponds, now filled up, and a sundial, the pedestal of which is supposed to be formed of a pillar of old London Bridge. On a window on the east side of the house is the date 1755, but the back of the house is much older, as is shown by the beams in some of the rooms and traces of an old archway in one. There is a fine oak staircase probably dating from the seventeenth century. Pelham, the residence of Miss Lempriere, at the other end of the parish, is a picturesque house of the Tudor style, built in 1782, when Admiral Thomas Dumaresq, who commanded the Repulse under Rodney in the 'Battle of the Saints,' bought the land called Pelham, or Pilgrim's Place, with his prize money and built the house. It is surrounded by an outer circle of well-wooded country—Mary Land Copse, Newton Common on the west, Kitcombe Wood on the north, Ina Wood Copse on the east, and Plash Wood in East Tisted parish on the south. In the grounds stands a beautiful tulip tree, one of the largest in England. Kitcombe House, which is part of the Pelham estate, lies to the north, while Headmoor, (fn. 2) including Potter's Land, Brewers and Hill Land, lies north-west beyond Newton Common. Close by Newton Wood Farm, south of the common, is a field in which was a messuage with two barns and two granaries and a wind grist or corn mill, called 'Cowdries Colpyn' in 1798, (fn. 3) now known as Golpyn. Windmill Field is west of Golpyn, and it was there probably in a big hollow still left in the ground (fn. 4) that the windmill stood. Close by is a copse called 'The Devil's Pleasure,' and a field called 'Dripping Pan Field.'

Noar Hill Farm, Hammond's Farm, and Lower House Farm are in Noar Manor. Noar Hill rises to a height of nearly 700 ft., and is almost surrounded by two thickly-wooded Hangers—Noar Hill Hanger and High Wood Hanger. Some of the most beautiful views in the whole district can be obtained from Noar Hill, especially towards the south-east. Empshott with its quaint church spire stretches in front; further away to the right is Hawkley, and to the left Greatham. Beyond Greatham to the left are Long-moor and Bordon Camps, and in the obscure distance over the group of intervening hills are Hindhead and Black Down.

Although there are no rivers in Newton Valence, Noar Hill is the watershed between the Rother, which after becoming part of the Avon flows into the English Channel, and the Oakhanger Stream, which becomes a branch of the Wey and flows into the Thames and on to the North Sea. The springs of the Rother are south of Noar Hill in the lower chalk, while the Oakhanger Stream has its source in the north at the outcrop of the upper greensand from beneath the chalk.

The parish lies entirely on chalk formation (fn. 5) with a subsoil of clay and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, oats, and barley, and hence the village population consists almost entirely of agriculturists. Of the whole parish 1,015¾ acres are arable land, 495½ are pasture, and 264½ are woods and plantations. (fn. 6)

An Inclosure Act for the parish of Newton Valence was passed in May, 1848. (fn. 7)

MANORS

In the time of Edward the Confessor Bricteric held the manor of NEWTON VALENCE of the king, but at the time of the Domesday Survey it was held by Turstin son of Rolf. (fn. 8) The fief of Turstin was granted to the Ballons, from whom it passed through the Newmarches to Ralph Russell of Kingston Russell as co-heir. (fn. 9) Ralph Russell was holding in 1275, (fn. 10) but after this date the rights of overlordship seem to have lapsed.

In 1249 the manor was held by Robert de Pont de l'Arche, and was then of the annual value of £53 5s. 10¾d., including the dower which belonged to Constance widow of Robert. The demesne was worth £17 13s. 4d. yearly, the freemen paid £4 9s. 10¾d. and 1 lb. of pepper, while their services were worth 2s. 2d. The villeins paid £8 5s. 3d. in rent, their services were worth £8 11s. 11½d., their tallage 53s. 4d., and for pannage they paid 23s. 4d. The issues of the meadow were worth 40s., while the pasture of the whole meadow was worth 50s. The perquisites of the manor amounted to 36s. 8d., and the issues of the garden of the manor to £4. (fn. 11) In the same year the manor of Newton Valence, among the other lands which had belonged to Robert de Pont de l'Arche, saving the dower of Constance, was granted by the king to William de Valence and his heirs 'to hold until the king restore them to the right heirs,' with a promise that if the restoration were made William and his heirs should not be disseised without an equivalent exchange. (fn. 12) In 1252 the king inspected and confirmed a charter given by William de Pont de l'Arche, brother and heir of the late Robert, by which he surrendered all his right in the inheritance of his brother to William de Valence. (fn. 13) In 1251 the king granted to William de Valence that his wood of Newton, of which he had made a park 'enclosed with ditch and hedge, within the metes of the king's forest of "Suthamptonsire,"' should be quit for ever of view of foresters, verderers, &c. (fn. 14) But in the next year an inquiry was made as to the encroachments made on the king in Hampshire by William de Valence. His bailiffs had withdrawn the suit due every three weeks from Newton manor to the hundred of Selborne and had refused ingress into the said manor to the foresters of the bailiwick of Woolmer and other bailiffs of the said county. (fn. 15) The same charge was brought against him in the hundred roll of 1275, where he is also said to have a gallows, assize of bread and ale, and all other liberties, and to hold view of frankpledge in Newton, though by what warrant is not known. (fn. 16) In 1280, in answer to a writ of quo warranto, William de Valence pleaded that Henry III granted that his men and tenants of Newton should be quit of suit at the shire and hundred court, and that no sheriff or bailiff should enter the manor of Newton for view of frankpledge. (fn. 17) In 1316 Aymer de Valence son of William seems to have held Newton in chief, since no overlord is mentioned, (fn. 18) and in 1324 the manor is said to have been held 'by the earl of Pembroke of the king in whose hands it now is on the death of the earl.' (fn. 19) On his death in 1323 Aymer de Valence left no issue, and his estates (fn. 20) were divided between the only two of his sisters, Isabel and Elizabeth, who had left any surviving heirs. (fn. 21) The manor of Newton fell to the son of his second sister Isabel, who had married John de Hastings, second Baron Abergavenny, and had herself died in 1305. (fn. 22) Her son John de Hastings died in 1324 before he could enter into his possessions, and the manor passed into the king's hands as guardian of the young Laurence de Hastings, son and heir of John. (fn. 23) An enrolment of the purparty of Laurence, made in 1325, states the value of the manor of Newton Valence at £24 1s. 1d. (fn. 24) The custody of the manor during the minority of Lawrence son and heir of John de Hastings was granted in 1331 to the bishop of Worcester. In 1339, when Laurence was of age, (fn. 25) he entered into the title and estates of his great-uncle, (fn. 26) and in the same year procured licence to enfeoff Thomas West of the manor of Newton, said to be held in chief with the knights' fees, advowsons of churches, liberties, warrens, and all other appurtenances. (fn. 27) From 1339 to the middle of the sixteenth century the manor of Newton Valence, like those of Oakhanger and Hawkley, passed through the West family from father to son (fn. 28) until, in the reign of Henry VIII, the long chain of descent was broken. Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, conveyed the manor by fine in 1550 to Nicholas Dering, who had married Elizabeth daughter of his half-sister Dorothy. (fn. 29) Nicholas Dering died seised of the manor in 1557, leaving a son and heir Thomas Dering, (fn. 30) who within the next year evidently conveyed the manor of Newton to John Pescod, who died seised of it in 1558. (fn. 31) Thomas Pescod, who had succeeded his father Richard the son of John in 1571, granted the manor to his brother John Pescod of Roxwell, (fn. 32) who inherited at his brother's death in 1582. (fn. 33) In 1586 John Pescod leased the manor to Henry Campion, (fn. 34) and in 1590, on the death of John Pescod, Nicholas Pescod his brother and heir granted the reversion in fee to Campion, Thomas West, the eldest son of Leonard West, half-brother of Thomas Lord De La Warr, (fn. 35) who evidently had some residuary right in the manor, giving his consent. (fn. 36) Henry Campion conveyed the manor by fine in 1605 to Abraham Campion, (fn. 37) who in 1611 died seised of it, leaving a son and heir Henry. (fn. 38) In 1622 Henry Campion settled the manor on himself and his wife, the daughter of Thomas Edney. An indenture of 1653 shows that Henry's son Richard was then holding the manor, and was still holding it in 1698, when he and his grandson Richard (fn. 39) alienated it by fine and recovery to Dr. John Nicholas, warden of Winchester College. (fn. 40) On the marriage of Edward, son of Dr. John Nicholas, to 'Madame Anne Rachell Newsham' in 1711, the reversion of the manor was settled on him and his wife and their heirs male. (fn. 41) Their son William married Harriet, the daughter of Henry Boyle of Edgcott (Bucks.), in 1742, and settled the manor on himself and his wife in the same year. (fn. 42) Harriet died before her husband, leaving one son, Robert Boyle Nicholas, and two daughters, Harriet who died unmarried before her father, and Charlotte who afterwards married Dr. Joseph Warton in 1773. (fn. 43) William Nicholas died about 1762 or 1763, leaving the whole manor vested in his son Robert, with a legacy of £2,000 to Charlotte when she should come of age in 1764. (fn. 44) Robert Boyle Nicholas held the manor until his death in 1780. He was Captain of H.M.S. Thunderer, of 74 guns, 'in which he was, with the rest of his crew, unfortunately lost in a hurricane off the island of Hispania' (fn. 45) in the October of that year. By his will, dated 1776, he bequeathed the manor to his sister Charlotte, wife of Dr. Joseph Warton, with reversion to 'her second and third sons and every other son in tail male taking the surname of Nicholas.' In failure of such to her daughters and their heirs male, failing such to their daughters, and failing such to William Nicholas his eldest brother and his right heirs. (fn. 46) Harriet Warton, the only child and daughter of Charlotte, married Robert Newton Lee, and on her mother's death in 1809 inherited the manor. In the meantime, ever since the end of the seventeenth century, the various owners of the manor seem to have unscrupulously bargained away parcels of the demesne lands. (fn. 47) They seem to have seldom been resident at Newton Valence, and so manorial right gradually lapsed and became meaningless. Thus in 1826, after the Newton estate had been sold to Sir John Cope, Robert Newton Lee, in a letter to William Dumaresq of Pelham, stated that a Mr. Beaufoy had been in treaty for it, but 'declined the purchase when no copy of court rolls could be found or any other documents which had tended to prove it a manor by suit or service.' Hence it had not been sold to Sir John Cope as a manor. (fn. 48)

Henry Chawner, a London goldsmith, bought the manor property about the end of the eighteenth century of the trustees of Robert Boyle Nicholas, (fn. 49) converted the old house into kitchen apartments, and added a villa in the 'Grecian style.' On his death in 1851 his son Edward Chawner came into the property and held it until his death in 1868, when it fell to his son, the present owner, Captain Edward Chawner of the 77th Regiment, who served in part of the Crimean campaign of 1854 and 1855.

NOAR.

Whether the manor of Oures, Owres, Noare, or Nowers, known as Noar in modern days, was in existence before the thirteenth century is uncertain. In 1275 it is first mentioned in a hundred roll and said to be held by the abbot of Hyde in chief and in free alms, though from what time his tenure dated was unknown. (fn. 50) It continued in the possession of Hyde Abbey to the sixteenth century. (fn. 51) At the time of the dissolution Oures, as parcel of the possessions of Hyde, passed into the king's hand and is entered in the Ministers' Accounts from 1539 to 1542. (fn. 52) The king, in the latter year, granted the manor to Nicholas Dering, (fn. 53) and in the next year gave licence to Dering to alienate the same to John Pescod to hold by service of relief to the king. (fn. 54) John Pescod died seised of the manor held in chief for the hundredth part of a knight's fee in 1558, leaving his son Richard as his heir. (fn. 55) Richard Pescod, who seems to have had great debts and small means, sold it to Richard Norton in 1560. (fn. 56) The latter died in 1592 seised of the manor of Oures which formed part of the jointure of his wife Katherine, (fn. 57) who was holding the manor in 1602. (fn. 58) By 1610 Richard Norton, the son of Katherine, was holding the manor, and made a settlement by fine in that year entailing it on his heirs male by his wife Anne. (fn. 59) From this time the manor followed the same descent as the manor of East Tisted (q.v.), passing from the Nortons to the Paulets and from the Paulets to the Scotts. However, not all the manor of Oures passed from the Paulets to the Scotts in 1808. 'The farm and lands called the Manor farm part of the manor of Noar alias Temple Noar alias Ower alias Temple Sothington (fn. 60) held by copy of court roll of the said manor according to the custom of the manor,' remained in the hands of the marquis of Winchester until purchased by James Winter Scott in 1860. (fn. 61)

The customs of the manor still hold good, and a court baron is held by the steward for the admission of a copyhold tenant. The fine on entry is paid accordingly, and the heriot is commuted by a fine of about 15s. (fn. 62) However, most of the copyholds are being enfranchised. A perambulation of the bounds of the parish made in 1735 and entered on the court rolls gives many interesting place-names that still survive. The perambulation starts from Hatch Gate near Gallows Hill or Gallers Hill, turns down Bottom Lane, then also called Westcroft Lane, passing by 'Fatting Leaze Land Gate' to Selborne; thence skirting round to the south to Hale Coppice, to Tile Croft, and into Goley or Goleigh Hill Lane, then east to Empshott Common Field round by Noar Hill Farm again into Galley Lane. (fn. 63)

CHURCH

The church of ST. MARY stands in the park in the south-east of the parish. A shady road branching to the left from the village street leads to the lych gate, which is the first sign of the church still hidden from view by the large yew tree on the left side of the path inside the churchyard. Under the tree a demarcation in the ground is all that remains to show the spot where once stood a tombstone to Colonel Phayre, one of Charles I's regicides. He is said to have lived at Cobden's farm-house at Empshott, but to have been buried at Newton Valence. Although many people remember the tombstone with the name clearly inscribed upon it, it has now curiously enough disappeared. Either it was accidentally removed during the restoration of the church in 1872, or a snowstorm caused it to fall and then it was carried away, but no one knows where or how. A pathway of old tombstones, with the inscriptions worn away and undecipherable, leads to the church porch. The church is a small building consisting of nave and chancel of equal width, and with no structural division, 19 ft. 2 in. wide by 48 ft. 6 in. long; a north chapel 9 ft. 4 in. by 16 ft. 9 in. at the west of the nave, a west tower, and a small vestry on the south of the chancel. Its plan, as first built c. 1220, was a simple rectangle, the present nave and chancel. The north chapel was added at the end of the same century, and the south vestry is modern. The tower is obscured with ivy and plastering, and its date not easy to determine, but it is probably an addition to the original plan. The material of the building is the local whitish limestone, used as ashlar for dressings and uncoursed rubble for the walling, and the roofs are tiled. The masonry details are plain but well designed.

The chancel has a triplet of lancets in the east wall, and two lancets in the north and south walls. A roll string runs at the level of the sills inside, and stops on the south side over the head of the priest's doorway, west of the second lancet on this side. On the north it continues westward, ending under the first window of the nave. All windows in the north and south walls have flat sills inside, with chamfered rear arches, and on the outside all have a chamfer and a reveal for a frame. The priest's doorway has a segmental inner arch, and pointed outer arch of two chamfered orders; it now opens to a vestry, but was at first external, and two sundials are cut on its east jamb. The nave has on the north side one original lancet, the rest of the north wall being occupied by the arch leading to the north chapel; while on the south side are three lancet windows with a doorway to the west of them, but of these only the first lancet from the east is ancient, the other two, with the doorway, being entirely modern. The west wall of the nave was rebuilt in 1812. The north chapel, 9 ft. 4 in. by 16 ft. 9 in. long, contains nothing ancient beyond a piscina in its east wall, of late thirteenth-century date, with engaged shafts and moulded capitals and arch, and a stone shelf in the recess over the drain. There are lancet windows in the east and west walls, and in the north wall a two-light window with a quatrefoil over, all of which are modern. The arch to the nave is of two chamfered orders, and though apparently modern springs at the east from a moulded half-octagonal corbel of the end of the thirteenth century, and at the west from a respond and moulded half capital of similar but not identical detail, which is either retooled or modern.

The west tower, 10 ft. 10 in. by 11 ft. 9 in., opens to the nave by a continuous arch of two chamfered orders, probably of fifteenth-century date. On the ground stage is a blocked west doorway, which has an outer arch with the fifteenth-century double ogee moulding, and in the north and south walls are small lancets. A few feet above them are other small lancets, narrower than those below, and at this level are similar windows in the east and west walls. These four windows point to the former existence of a floor or gallery in the tower about halfway between the present first floor and the ground level. At a higher level in the west wall is another lancet lighting the present floor, and in the belfry stage are four plain arched openings without mouldings or tracery, filled with wooden luffers. These, with a plain parapet at the top of the tower, are built with brick dressings, and date (fn. 64) from a reconstruction in 1812, when a 'cupola' of wood on the tower was taken down. Externally the tower is plastered with cement, and the lower part overgrown with ivy, and the date of this part is difficult to determine, the stonework of the small lancets being for the most part either modern or retooled.

All the woodwork of the roofs is modern, that of the chancel being of different design from that of the nave, and divided from it by an arched truss, resting on stone corbels with short shafts. The wood fittings are also modern. In the south wall of the chancel is a pretty trefoiled piscina with moulded arch and label, and a stone shelf. It is contemporary with the chancel, but its drain, in the form of a shaft with leaf capital, half buried in the wall, looks like an older pillar piscina of c. 1200 re-used. In 1812 a screen between nave and chancel was taken down. It was evidently in the nature of a framed partition, as its destroyers were in doubt whether it could be taken away without weakening the roof.

The font is modern, but in the churchyard, west of the south doorway, is an ancient circular bowl with lead lining, which may be of the thirteenth century; and outside the blocked west doorway of the tower is a dilapidated panelled shaft and bowl, the latter set upside down on the shaft, belonging to a second superseded font, not older than the end of the eighteenth century.

There is no ancient glass or wall painting. On the north wall of the chancel is a small brass plate in memory of Francis, son of Robert Johnson, who died in 1616 aged 2½ years. There are five bells, the treble being of the fourteenth century, and specially interesting from having an English inscription, as the use of English on bells was very rare at the time. It reads, 'Hal Mari ful of gras,' in Gothic capitals, with a round stop between each word on which is the figure of a cock. On the waist are the founder's initials, W. K. The second has 'Henri Knight made mee 1620,' and the third 'Let your hope be in the Lord, 1623, E. K.' The initials are those of Ellis Knight the founder. The fourth bell was cast by Taylor of Loughborough in 1871, and the tenor recast by John Warner & Sons of London, 1880.

The church plate consists of a chalice, paten, and alms-dish of plain silver, hall marked and dated 1725, and inscribed 'The gift of James Glyd gentleman, of the parish of Newton.'

The first book of the parish registers begins in 1538, and contains a rather irregular transcript of births, weddings, and burials to 1667. Then comes a transcript of the births, weddings, and burials between 1543 and 1548. Following this is a continuation of the registers from 1667 to 1740; then another transcript from 1627 to 1670, and from 1686 to 1695. The second book of burials and baptisms dates from 1740 to 1811, and that of weddings from 1754 to 1812. The Hawkley parish register of births, weddings, and burials entered in one book from 1640 to 1797 is also kept with those of Newton Valence, since the two parishes were originally united, and the vicar of Newton and his curate between them served the two churches.

There is also a diary of Richard Yalden, vicar of Newton Valence from 1761 to 1785. It is styled 'A journal of weather and other occurrences from February 10, 1775.' This book is a diverting mixture of parish accounts and private accounts, public events and personal experiences, vestry meetings and dinner parties.

ADVOWSON

The church existed at the time of the Domesday Survey, and was held by Turstin son of Rolf who held the manor. (fn. 65) It then passed with the manor to Robert de Pont de l'Arche, and was granted by him to William de Valence. (fn. 66) In 1324 it was stated to be in the king's hands 'by reason of the lands late belonging to Aymer de Valence tenant in chief being in his hands.' (fn. 67) With the conveyance by Laurence de Hastings of the manor of Newton (q.v.) to Thomas West, the church as appendant to the manor went to him also, but in 1364 the king granted licence to William de Edington to obtain the church from Thomas West, and to grant the same to the newly-founded monastery of Edington. (fn. 68) Hence the church was appropriated to that house with reservation of a portion for one perpetual vicar and of an annual rent of 5s. to the bishop, to the prior and chapter of the cathedral church of Winchester, and 12d. to the archdeacon. (fn. 69) The monastery held the church until the dissolution. (fn. 70) In 1535 the king leased the advowson of the church of Newton Valence with the chapel annexed (fn. 71) 'to Henry Goldsmith for the term of 30 years,' (fn. 72) but the perquisites and tithes under the title of the 'rectory and church of Newton,' or 'the rectory and church within Newton Valence,' were held by the crown until 1544, when the king sold them to Edward Elkington and Humphrey Metcalf. (fn. 73) However, at the expiration of the lease of the advowson to Henry Goldsmith the rectory and advowson were evidently granted to the owner of the manor, since in 1578 Thomas Pescod was holding both, and granted the whole to his brother John, (fn. 74) whose heir Nicholas in 1588 granted the advowson to Henry Campion, to whom the manor passed at the same time, (fn. 75) and the rectorial tithes to William Wright of Kingsey (Oxon). (fn. 76) In 1602 the queen leased the rectory with the full complement of tithes and premises to John Duffield for a term of twenty-one years, with a special clause that John Duffield was to keep the chancel of Newton Valence church in repair, with all the houses and buildings adjoining. (fn. 77) In 1604, however, the rectorial tithes were confirmed again to William Wright, and later in the same year the advowson also was granted to him. Henry Fleetwood sold the advowson and rectory to Sir William Bowyer, who sold the same in 1614 to his second son Robert, who regranted the same to his mother, Lady Mary Bowyer, afterwards Lady Mary Ley, under indenture to be revoked if the said Robert returned safely from foreign parts. (fn. 78) Lady Mary Ley died seised in 1620, and the rectory and advowson evidently passed back to her son Robert, who was holding the same in 1624, and was forced in that year to make good his claim against Henry Fleetwood, from whom his father, Sir William, had bought the rectory. (fn. 79) In the depositions made on behalf of the defendant Sir William was said to have paid the plaintiff £700 for the same, and was liable for the repair of the chancel of the church of Newton, and the chapel of Hawkley, and the tithe barn of Hawkley. (fn. 80) From Sir William Bowyer the advowson seems to have passed to the Glyd family, one of whom, Michael Glyd, was vicar from 1628 to 1662, and his son Richard from 1662 to 1697. (fn. 81) James Glyd was patron from 1718 to 1761, (fn. 82) in which year he presented Richard Yalden to the vicarage. From 1785 to 1837 Edmund White was both patron and vicar. (fn. 83) In 1838 Edward Auriel was patron, (fn. 84) and presented his kinsman Edmund Auriel. (fn. 85) He sold it to Thomas Snow, who was vicar from 1842 to 1855. (fn. 86) From the Snow family the patronage passed by sale to the family of Mrs. A. N. C. Maclachlan, who is patron at the present day.

CHARITIES

(i) Henry Knight of Faringdon, by will dated 1858, left £200 lands (held by the official trustees of charitable funds) for bread and fuel for the poor of Newton Valence. (fn. 87)

(ii) Michael Glyd, vicar of Newton Valence, according to his memorial inscription in Newton Valence church, by will dated 1735 left £50 to purchase land, the income of which should be distributed at the discretion of the vicar on St. Thomas's Day to the poor of the parish not receiving alms. The gift money was, however, evidently lost or squandered, since nothing but the memorial inscription remains to mark its existence.