Parishes: Wonston

WONSTON

The parish of Wonston covers an area of 5,493 acres, of which 8 are covered by water. The greater part of the land is included in the northern slope of the high ridge of downland which rises north-west of Winchester and slopes down towards the north to the tributary of the Test as it runs a generally northwestern course through the centre of Wonston parish. The parish boundaries from east to west narrow near the river, and here is the village of Wonston, west of which is the closely dependent, but now larger and more important, village of Sutton Scotney. North of Sutton Scotney are Cranborne and Norton Farms, the centres of the original manors of Cranborne and Norton, the lands of which, making up the rest of the parish, stretch away in a long narrow piece of land of about two miles of open field and downland to a dark clump of woodland which covers the north-east corner of the parish and joins the south-eastern edge of the Freefolk Woods as they run west and form the northern boundary of Wonston. Two roads from Winchester lead to Wonston; one the road which runs north-west from the city through the Worthies and Stoke Charity and approaches Wonston village from the east; the other, the main Roman road to Andover, which runs north-west from the city and, skirting Flower Town east of Littleton, sends off a branch road north over the north-eastern part of Wortley Down, through Sutton Scotney village, and thence east towards Wonston. The latter road after climbing Wortley Down rises on Cow Down and thence descends sharply between a clump of fine trees standing on the west side of the road and two or three detached houses lately built on the opposite side, running along through open country over which the buildings and plough-lands of South Wonston Farm lie to the east. Continuing over hilly country for about a mile and a half north, the road rises to a house which standing to the west at the top of the hill is the first sign of Sutton Scotney village, and from here the road curves east sharply downhill past outlying thatched cottages and farm buildings into the village. Here it branches west to Stockbridge, north to Whitchurch, and east past the railway station (fn. 1) over the railway bridge to Wonston village. The branch running north to Whitchurch becomes the chief village street, standing east of which at the corner of the road leading to Wonston is the Victoria Diamond Jubilee Institute with its clock tower. Beyond this on the same side of the road is the small wooden chapel of ease for Wonston church. But the chief features of the village, apart from its numerous picturesque thatched cottages, its small provision shops and post office, are the two old inns which stand on the west side of the road in the centre of the village, the 'White Swan' with its stuffed bird representing its sign in a dusty glass case over the north entrance, and the yellow-painted 'Coach and Horses,' which stands close by on the north side of the small courtyard-like space which separates the two.

The manor-house of Sutton Scotney, lately dismantled and rebuilt, stands to the west of the village.

Leaving Sutton Scotney at the south end of the village and turning east to Wonston, the road leads between thick hedges and field and plough-land, slightly uphill to the outbuildings of Wonston Farm on the north of the road. From here, past a steep rough lane leading south, the road rises between several thatched cottages and farm buildings to the 'Wonston Arms' standing north of the road, west of which a lane runs north downhill across the river towards Norton Farm, sending off a branch to the east a few yards north of the village and river, known as Hunton Lane. Past the 'Wonston Arms' the road continues again for several yards between thatched cottages and farmbuildings, with one or two larger houses, towards the east end of the village, where, as the road curves to the south, high thick hedges and tall spreading trees, following the curve of the road, run for several yards along its north side and shut in the beautiful old rectory and the church, which stands immediately east of the house.

The old rectory to the west of the church, now known as 'The Old House,' occupied by Lady Laura Ridding, is a very interesting mediaeval building of two stories, the oldest parts of which are of late fourteenth-century date. It stands north and south, with a central hall, formerly open to the roof, but now in two stories, with screens at the south end and a porch over the east doorway; on the south is a block projecting east and west, and containing the old buttery and pantry with the kitchen passage between them. To the south again are modern buildings on the site of the old kitchen, which here, as in many instances, has entirely disappeared, and may have been of wood. At the north or upper end of the hall is a north cross wing, containing the drawing-room, &c., and projecting northward from its western half is a contemporary building which had an outer stair at its north-east angle. A range of modern date runs along the west side of the house, and in this is the principal entrance.

Very few of the old features are left, but there are several single-light windows in the north block, three on the ground floor and two on the first floor, which are of mediaeval date, and the upper and lower doorways to the staircase which formerly adjoined the north-east angle of the north rooms yet remain. There is some good panelling in the hall screens, but otherwise nearly everything has given way to eighteenth or nineteenth-century work, the old windows being replaced by square-headed sash windows. A bay window has been added to the drawing-room in modern times, and the east porch is modern. The roof over the hall is not the original one of open timber, but seems to date from after the insertion of an upper floor in the hall. The building projecting northward from the main north wing is an unusual feature, and is known as the priest's room; it seems to have consisted of a living room with a chamber over, but there is no real evidence in favour of its current name. The original main stair perhaps occupied the same position at the west end of the north wing as the present stair, but the many alterations which the house has undergone must make the arrangements of its upper floor conjectural only.

The new rectory, built within the last few years by the present rector, the Rev. R. F. Biggwither, stands on high ground over the meadows to the north-west of the church and north of Hunton Lane.

At the north end of Sutton Scotney village a road branches east, crosses the river near a house called Egypt, the residence of Dr. Charles Wickham, and continuing in a north-easterly direction for about three-quarters of a mile, reaches the one or two outbuildings and cottages which with Cranborne Farm and Cranborne Cottage, the residence of Miss Childers and Miss Carta Sturge, compose the whole of Cranborne. Cranborne Cottage, representing the union of two or perhaps three small cottages, stands on the west side of the road in a long peaceful garden which stretches away north-west to the adjoining fields of Norton Farm. Cranborne Farm stands a few yards higher up the road on the opposite side. The old house, round which run the traces of a moat, is in all probability on the site of the original manor-house of Cranborne, though it is now only an ordinary farmhouse. Norton Farm, the original manor-house of Norton manor, lies north-west of Cranborne and is reached by a narrow road leading north-west from Wonston, and another leading east from the main road from Sutton Scotney to Whitchurch. It is a picturesque red-brick and flint building, mainly of early eighteenth-century date, with brick pilasters at the angles, having moulded capitals and the unusual feature of a band of yellow and blue Dutch tiles set in the necking of the capitals. The roof is red tiled and hipped, and has wide projecting eaves which add much to the dignity of the building. The entrance is from the north, the gardens lying on the west and south, and the stables and offices on the east. There is a central hall with a good eighteenth-century staircase at the south end, the hall itself being panelled with early seventeenth-century panelling formerly in one of the upper rooms. This goes to show that part of the interior is of older date than the exterior would suggest. The present owner of the house, Mr. George Hampton, has fitted it up in excellent taste, and the gardens, with a large pond on the west, are very prettily laid out.

The soil of the whole parish is loam with a subsoil of chalk, and the chief crops grown on the 3,964¾ acres of arable land are wheat, barley, oats, and turnips. Although the parish is generally speaking well wooded, there is very little woodland, only 148½ acres, and that mostly in the north-east corner, while 1,003½ acres are given up to pasture land. (fn. 2)

MANORS

Like the other manors in Buddlesgate Hundred that belonged from the first to the church at Winchester, and passed at the Dissolution to the dean and chapter, the manor of WONSTON has little history. The actual grant of the manor to the church does not appear, but according to Domesday it always belonged to the minster (in monasterio), was held by the bishop at the time of the Survey, and was assessed at 7 hides. (fn. 3) In 1205, and again in 1243, it was confirmed to the prior and convent by the pope, (fn. 4) and right of free warren in their demesne lands was granted them by Edward III. (fn. 5) In 1334–5, and again in 1337, the profits of the farm of the manor were entered on the Receiver's Roll at £10 and £6 respectively. (fn. 6) By 1539, the year of the suppression of the monastery, the farm had reached the value of £13. (fn. 7) In 1541 the manor was granted to the dean and chapter of Winchester, who at the present day hold the manor, and have one farm in the parish.

At the time of the Domesday Survey there were two manors of SUTTON, one assessed at 2½ hides, held by Odo of Winchester, the other assessed at the same, held by Robert son of Gerold. Earl Godwin had held both, probably as one five-hide manor, in the time of Edward the Confessor, and of him Alward and Tovi had held. The extents of the manors as given in the Survey are identical. (fn. 8) The half that was held by Robert son of Gerold passed to the Scotney family in the thirteenth century. The first mention of them in connexion with the manor is in 1235–6, when Robert son of Alan surrendered five virgates of land in Sutton to Walter de Scotney, (fn. 9) a member of the Sussex and Lincolnshire family of Scotney. (fn. 10) Walter was the son of Peter and Mabel de Scotney, (fn. 11) and grandson of another Walter, (fn. 12) and both his father and grandfather had been important men in Sussex, and benefactors to the priory of Hastings. (fn. 13) During the reign of Henry III Walter himself held 14½ knights' fees of the manor of Hastings, (fn. 14) and the lands which he held in Sutton were held as belonging to the manor of Crowhurst as of the manor of Hastings. (fn. 15) However, Walter de Scotney is best known to fame not as the holder of large fees, but as the perpetrator of an attempt to poison Richard earl of Gloucester and William de Clare, by the instigation, it is said, of William de Valence. Richard earl of Gloucester escaped with a severe illness and the loss of his hair and nails, to be finally poisoned three years later by another tool of William de Valence. However, William de Clare died, and Walter de Scotney was consequently sentenced to death and hanged at Winchester on 23 May, 1259. (fn. 16) An inquisition taken on his death shows that his lands in Sutton, now termed 'half the manor of Sutton,' were then held by his mother Mabel as belonging to Crowhurst, to revert to the lord of Crowhurst after her death. (fn. 17)

The family of Sutton were at this time holding lands in the parish of the manor of Cranborne, (fn. 18) and it seems evident that on the death of Mabel de Scotney they gained possession of the whole moiety that had belonged to the Scotneys. Hence in 1316 Edmund (sometimes called Peter (fn. 19) ) de Sutton was holding the vill of Sutton jointly with Robert Harwedon (who was at that date holding the other manor), (fn. 20) and in 1324 Edmund and Alice his wife settled the reversion on Ralph de Monthermer and Isabel his wife, (fn. 21) who was daughter of Hugh le Despenser and widow of John Hastings of Abergavenny. (fn. 22) On the death of Alice de Sutton in 1330 (fn. 23) the escheator took the manor as 'a moiety of the manor of Sutton' into the hands of the king, but in 1331 he was ordered to intermeddle with it no further, (fn. 24) and it consequently passed to Isabel de Hastings, who had survived her husband. By an inquisition ad quod damnum taken in 1332 it was adjudged a damage to the king if Isabel should be allowed to grant this moiety of the manor to her son Thomas de Hastings, since if he reconveyed it to Isabel the king would lose possible wardship and marriage of the heir of Thomas if under age. (fn. 25) However, later in the same year the required licence was given; Thomas de Hastings was to be enfeoffed as tenant in chief to regrant the same to his mother for life. (fn. 26) Isabel died seised in 1335, and Sutton passed to Hugh de Hastings, brother of Thomas, who had predeceased his mother. (fn. 27) Eight years later, in 1343, Hugh de Hastings was given licence to grant his manor to Nicholas Devenish of Winchester, reserving to himself 2 acres of plough-land called Hentechele. (fn. 28) In 1346 Nicholas was holding the half-fee in Sutton which had belonged to Edmund de Sutton, (fn. 29) and two years later Margery widow of Hugh de Hastings claimed from him the third part of the manor of Sutton Scotney as dower from her late husband, with what result does not appear. (fn. 30) Nicholas died seised of the manor in 1350 leaving a son and heir Thomas, (fn. 31) to whom the escheator was ordered to deliver up the manor in 1351. (fn. 32) On the death of Thomas in 1373 the 'moiety of the manor' came into the king's hands by reason of the minority of his son and heir John. (fn. 33) John evidently died within the next few years and Thomas his younger brother became his father's heir. The latter also died while a minor in 1382, leaving a sister and heir Nichola. (fn. 34) It seems probable that Nichola was first married to Sir John Englefield of Warwickshire and afterwards to John Golafre of Blakesley (Northants). Certainly Sir John Englefield, who lived about the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV, married a certain Nichola, (fn. 35) and John Golafre married as his second wife a 'Lady Inglefield,' (fn. 36) while in 1404 John Golafre and Nichola his wife settled the manor of Sutton Scotney on themselves for their lifetime with reversion to William Englefield, who was the son of John Englefield and would seem to be Nichola's son. On the death of William Englefield the reversion was to go to the right heirs of John and Nichola. (fn. 37) John and Nichola do not seem to have had any children, therefore the manor probably went to distant kinsmen of Nichola—John Skilling of Lainston and Elizabeth wife of Richard Norton. (fn. 38) John Golafre was still holding the manor in 1428, (fn. 39) but by 1464 it had descended to Elizabeth wife of John Wynard, (fn. 40) most probably identical with Elizabeth the kinswoman and heir of John Skilling, who as widow of Thomas Wayte conveyed the manor to trustees in 1482. (fn. 41) They sold it the same year to the prior and convent of the Blessed Mary of Southwick, in whose possession it remained until the Dissolution. (fn. 42)

The manor remained in the hands of the king until 1540, in which year he granted it as part of her jointure to Anne of Cleves on his marriage with her. (fn. 43) A year later he granted it for life to Catherine Howard, in whose hands it remained until her execution. (fn. 44) The king next granted it to his servant John Leigh, (fn. 45) who sold it in 1544 to John Fisher of Overton (fn. 46) (co. Hants). From the latter it passed by purchase in 1545 to John Twyne of Norton, being settled on him and his heirs by his first wife Christine. (fn. 47) John by will dated 23 April, 1554, left the manor of Sutton Scotney to his son Richard, who was under age at the time of his father's death a month later. (fn. 48) The manor was accordingly in the wardship of the crown for some time, but Richard had succeeded to his inheritance by 1566, in which year he engaged in a dispute with Thomas Kewen and Joan his wife concerning their right to a messuage and lands called Hawkins, Mannyngfords, Byrdes, and Barkelettes, parcel of the customary lands of the manor of Sutton Scotney. (fn. 49) He died seised of the manor of Sutton Scotney in 1597, leaving a son and heir John aged twenty-two. (fn. 50) Licence to the latter to enter into possession of the manor of Sutton Scotney was enrolled in the patent roll of 1602, (fn. 51) but within two years he died and the manor descended to his son and heir John, (fn. 52) who alienated it in 1606 to Thomas Warburton. (fn. 53) Nine years later Thomas Warburton and Anne his wife sold the manor to Robert Harward, (fn. 54) who was still holding in 1622, (fn. 55) and apparently also in 1639. (fn. 56) The subsequent history of the manor is difficult to trace owing to the many changes of ownership during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A certain William Smith dealt with the manor by recovery in 1740, (fn. 57) and his descendants seem to have retained it for a considerable period, Thomas Assheton Smith being lord of the manor in 1799, (fn. 58) but it is not known when they parted with it. They seem however to have been succeeded in the lordship by Richard Meyler, who was killed by a fall from his horse. Benjamin Heywood Bright was lord of the manor in 1841, and on his death Sutton Scotney passed to Henry Bright, who was in possession in 1852. (fn. 59) Edward Burtenshaw Sugden first Lord St. Leonards, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, purchased Sutton Scotney in 1868, (fn. 60) and on his death seven years later it descended to his second son the Hon. and Rev. Frank Sugden, on whose death in 1886 it passed to his nephew Edward Burtenshaw Sugden second Lord St. Leonards. (fn. 61) The latter sold the manor to Mr. Percy Tarbutt.

Evidently the overlordship of the half of Sutton that belonged to Odo of Winchester at the time of the Domesday Survey passed like Norton Valery (q.v.) to the family of St. Valery, (fn. 62) and from them to Richard earl of Cornwall (fn. 63) and so to the crown Like Norton Valery also the actual possession of the manor passed to the college of St. Elizabeth near Winchester in 1313, (fn. 64) was granted with Norton in 1544 to Thomas Wriothesley (fn. 65) and was sold by him the same year to John Twyne, together with Norton. (fn. 66) John Twyne by his will dated 23 April, 1554, left the hamlet of Sutton Scotney, formerly belonging to the house of St. Elizabeth, to his son Nicholas in fee-tail. (fn. 67) There is no inquisition on the death of Nicholas, and it is probable that on his death the hamlet reverted to John Twyne son and heir of his brother Richard, and became merged in the other manor of Sutton Scotney, the original portion of Richard. (fn. 68)

The manor of NORTON or NORTON ST. VALERY was held by Odo of Winchester at the time of the Domesday Survey. Fulchi had held it in the time of King Edward and could betake himself whither he would. Then it was assessed at five hides, but by the time of the Survey at only two hides one virgate. (fn. 69) Possibly on the death of Odo the manor was granted to Roger de Ivrey and became part of the barony of Ivrey. (fn. 70) Hence when this barony was granted to Guy de St. Valery by Henry I, Norton passed into the St. Valery family, and when the honour escheated to the crown in the reign of Henry III the overlordship of the manor remained with the honour, passing to Richard earl of Cornwall by grant of Henry III, and after him to his son Edmund, and on his death in 1300 to the king as his cousin and heir. (fn. 71)

The family of St. Valery were in actual possession of the manor in the early part of the thirteenth century. Thus in 1214 John granted Thomas de St. Valery full seisin of the manor which had belonged to Henry his brother. (fn. 72)

By 1231 Thomas had been succeeded by Henry de St. Valery, probably his son, who in that year engaged in a dispute with the abbess of Bertocurt or Bertancourt (Somme, France) concerning customs in Sutton and Norton. (fn. 73) In the beginning of the fourteenth century Richard de St. Valery alienated the manor to Walter de Langton, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, who received pardon for acquiring the manor from Richard in 1307. (fn. 74) Three years later the king had evidently seized the manor from the hands of the bishop and granted it for life to Robert Fitz Pain, one of the stewards of the royal household, with a special condition that if the king should resume the manor Robert should receive compensation. (fn. 75) In September, 1312, the manor of Kingsbury with other property in Somerset was granted to Robert, since the king had restored the manor of Norton to the bishop. (fn. 76) Shortly afterwards the bishop conveyed the manor to trustees, Robert de Harewedon and William de Staunford, (fn. 77) who in February, 1313, received licence to alienate the same to the provost and chaplains of the chapel of St. Elizabeth near Winchester. (fn. 78) Two months later the provost and chaplains were pardoned the service of a sore sparrow-hawk for the manor of Norton St. Valery, (fn. 79) and in May the king confirmed it to them in free alms quit of every service. (fn. 80) The manor remained with the college until the Dissolution, (fn. 81) when it fell into the hands of the king, who granted it in 1544 to Sir Thomas Wriothesley Lord Wriothesley to hold of him and his successors by rent of £2 13s. 4d. (fn. 82) In the same year Wriothesley obtained licence to alienate the manor to John Twyne, yeoman, and his sons William and Nicholas. (fn. 83) John Twyne, by will dated 23 April, 1554, left the manor to his son William Twyne the elder in fee-tail, and died shortly afterwards. (fn. 84) On the death of William in 1559 (fn. 85) the manor passed to his son and heir Thomas, (fn. 86) who held the manor until 1566, when he died leaving a widow Barbara and two infant daughters named Margery and Anne. (fn. 87) Barbara married William St. John of Farley Chamberlayne, 'a man of great countenaunce and credyt,' as her second husband, (fn. 88) and in 1582 the two daughters Margery and Anne with their respective husbands William Skilling and William Fisher gave up their moieties of the manor to William and Barbara. (fn. 89) John Twyne, who died in 1554, had by will left to his widow Agnes two quarters of wheat and two quarters of malt yearly during her widowhood, and the depasturing and feeding of two kine with grass and fodder upon the lands of his manor of Norton while she remained unmarried. (fn. 90) She remained a widow for seven years, at the end of that time marrying John Kent of Catherington, blacksmith, but no payment was ever made to her, and in 1591 her husband 'having nothinge ells to relive himself withall being utterly waste and consumed by means of his marriage with the foresaid Agnes,' sued William St. John and Barbara his wife for £200 which had been awarded to Agnes in lieu of the annual payments by Sir William Kingsmill and Sir Oliver Wallop just before the death of William Twyne, (fn. 91) but most probably without success.

In 1609 William St. John died during his wife's lifetime, leaving the reversion of the manor after the death of Barbara, according to a settlement of the year 1600, to his son and heir Henry and Ursula his wife, daughter of Hugh Stewkley, (fn. 92) to whom Payne Fisher, probably son and heir of William Fisher and Anne his wife, quitclaimed a moiety of the manor in 1619. (fn. 93) Henry died seised of the manor in 1621 leaving a son and heir John (fn. 94) aged seven, who five years later, in conjunction with Sir Thomas Stewkley his maternal uncle and most probably his guardian, conveyed it to Dr. Nicholas Love, (fn. 95) head master of Winchester College in 1601, warden 1613, canon of Winchester 1610, and chaplain to James I. On his death in 1630 the manor passed to his son and heir Nicholas, (fn. 96) who early in 1644 obtained from the Parliament a grant of the office of one of the six clerks in Hampshire, and is said to have made £20,000 out of the post. (fn. 97) He is best remembered, however, as one of the judges of Charles I, being present in Westminster Hall when sentence was delivered. On his own showing he advised that 'conference might bee had before any further proceeding,' and consequently refused to sign the death-warrant, whereupon he 'was violently opposed By Oliver Cromwell, Ireton and others, and clamorously reviled as an obstructer of that black designe.' (fn. 98) At the Restoration Love escaped to the Continent, and he was absolutely excepted in the Act of Indemnity, December, 1660. In October of the some year Edward Penruddock, who had paid £10,000 for the place of clerk in Chancery, and had only held it three years, having been ousted by Nicholas Love in 1644, petitioned for a lease of Norton Farm in the parish of Wonston, (fn. 99) while at the same time Dr. Joseph Rhodes, chaplain to the king, who had been sequestered for loyalty and conformity for many years, and whose brother Richard Rhodes had spent £3,000 or £4,000, his whole fortune, in the royal cause, prayed for a free grant of Norton Farm near Winchester, late the estate of Nicholas Love. (fn. 100)

Norton Farm is now the property of Mr. G. Hampton of London.

Lands in CRANBORNE (Cramburnan, x cent.; Gramborne, xi cent.; Cramburn, xv cent. et seq.) were granted by Edward the Elder to Hyde Abbey as part of the hundred and manor of Micheldever. The boundaries of Cranborne are given, and would seem to extend beyond the bounds of the later manor, although it is difficult to identify any of the boundaries except that they begin 'at the stream of Micheldever that runneth before the church field of Wonston' meaning the River Test. (fn. 101) At the time of the Domesday Survey Cranborne was held by Hugh de Port of the abbey of Hyde, whereas in the days of Edward the Confessor a freeman had held it of the abbey, and could not withdraw himself from the abbot's jurisdiction. (fn. 102) The St. Johns in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the Paulets in the fifteenth century, as the heirs of Hugh de Port, (fn. 103) held knights' fees in Cranborne of Hyde Abbey and the abbot of the king. (fn. 104)

The Brayboef family held of the St. Johns in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Hence in 1215 King John commanded the sheriff of Hants to give seisin to Elias the mayor of Winchester (Elije Majori Wint) of the land in Cranborne which had belonged by his gift to Henry de Brayboef. (fn. 105) In the reign of Henry III Robert de Brayboef, who was seemingly a son of Henry and a minor in 1215, held one fee in Cranborne 'de veteri feoffamento' of Robert de St. John, and he of the abbot of Hyde, and the abbot of the king in chief. (fn. 106) William de Brayboef, who was evidently the heir of Robert, died in 1284 seised of the manor held of John de St. John. (fn. 107)

On William's death Henry de Bray, escheator, was ordered to deliver 12s. 6d. in the manor of Cranborne, to be received from the villeins thereof, (fn. 108) to Joan de St. Martin, widow of William de Brayboef. This order was however cancelled, and instead she was assigned in dower the chief messuage of the manor extended at 6s. 8d. with a moiety of the manor extended at £6 14s. 11d. (fn. 109) The remainder went to Hugh de Brayboef, son and heir of William, (fn. 110) who became seised of the whole on Joan's death. According to the subsidy return for 1316 Hugh de Brayboef was holding Cranborne in that year, (fn. 111) while in 1329–30 he held a fee in Cranborne worth 100s. of John de St. John, (fn. 112) and in 1337 he was said to hold four knights' fees in Cranborne and other places valued at £40 yearly of William son of Roger de Melebury, who held of Hugh de St. John. (fn. 113) There is no inquisition on the death of Hugh, but his widow Joan (fn. 114) held the manor in 1346 (fn. 115) and 1349. (fn. 116)

It is doubtful whether William, son and heir of Hugh and Joan, (fn. 117) or Hugh, son and heir of William, (fn. 118) ever succeeded to the manor, for as early as 1367 Sir Hugh de Camois, who was no doubt holding the manor in right of his wife Joan, daughter and heir of Hugh, (fn. 119) obtained a grant of free warren in his demesne lands of Cranborne. (fn. 120) In 1380 Sir Hugh received confirmation in his favour of the charter of Edward III, (fn. 121) and two years later leased the manor 'from Michaelmas next to the morrow of Michaelmas next thereafter' to Sir John de Montagu, lord of Werk, and Sir John de Montagu his son. (fn. 122) He had died before 1395, for in that year his widow Joan dealt with the manor by fine (fn. 123) for purposes of settlement. Cranborne next passed to Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Hugh and Joan, who married first Sir John Hamely or Hamelyn of Wimborne St. Giles (fn. 124) (co. Dors.), and secondly Thomas Wake of Winterborne Stoke (fn. 125) (co. Wilts.). By her first husband, who died in 1398, she had a daughter and heir Egidia, (fn. 126) to whom the manor passed after her mother's death, which took place after 1431. (fn. 127) Egidia married first Robert Ashley, (fn. 128) and secondly Sir Thomas Thame of Hampshire, and died in 1476. (fn. 129) Before her death she had settled the manor upon a certain Robert Ashley, probably her son, and Isabel his wife. (fn. 130) Robert, however predeceased Egidia, and in 1477 his widow Isabel was holding Cranborne as a free tenement for the term of her life with reversion to Edmund Ashley, son and heir of Egidia, and his heirs. (fn. 131) In 1554 Henry Ashley, great-grandson of Edmund, sold the reversion of the manor after the deaths of John Nicholson of Cranborne and Alice his wife to John Twyne, yeoman, of Norton in the parish of Wonston. (fn. 132) Within the year John Twyne died, leaving the manor to his sons by his first wife Christine, William and Nicholas, 'to be held between them without any contention, strife or variance during the term of their lives' with reversion to John and William the younger, his sons by his second wife Agnes. (fn. 133) William the elder died in 1559, (fn. 134) and his brother Nicholas probably some time afterwards. There is no inquisition on his death, but it must have been before 1579, in which year John Twyne settled an annuity of £50 from the manor of Cranborne upon his natural son John. (fn. 135) Two years later William the younger sold his moiety of the manor to Sir Richard Norton, (fn. 136) who conveyed it in 1582 to John Twyne the owner of the other moiety. (fn. 137) The manor remained in this branch of the Twyne family until 1621, (fn. 138) when John Twyne and Anne his wife sold it to Robert Payne and William Payne. (fn. 139)

The history of this manor during the next century is obscure. Hugh Willoughby seems to have been lord in the reign of Charles II, and dealt with it by recovery in 1682. (fn. 140) By the middle of the next century it was held by Sir Martin Wright, justice of the court of King's Bench, who died in 1767, in which year Andrew Gother was dealing with the manor. (fn. 141) Sir Martin was succeeded by his son William Wright, who, dying without issue in 1814, devised his property to Lady Frances Elizabeth, daughter of the earl of Aylesbury and wife of Sir Henry Wilson, M.P. (fn. 142) The latter by will left all her property in Hampshire to Frances Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Christopher Wilson and wife of Colonel Sir Michael M'Creagh. (fn. 143) Their son Major Michael M'Creagh married Eva Helen Emma, granddaughter of Bache Thornhill of Stanton-in-Peak (co. Derb.), and obtained by royal licence in 1882 permission to take in addition the name and to quarter the arms of Thornhill on her succession to the Stanton-in-Peak estate by the death of her brother, Henry Francis Hurlock Thornhill. (fn. 144) He died in 1902 leaving a son and heir Michael Christopher M'Creagh-Thornhill, and his widow is at the present time lady of the manor of Cranborne.

The family of Sutton from an early date held lands in CRANBORNE and SUTTON of the manor of Cranborne by a rent of 6s. 8d., suit at Cranborne court and an animal as heriot. (fn. 145) In 1243 Adam de Sutton granted lands in Sutton to Andrew of Winchester, (fn. 146) and in 1247 Geoffrey son of Alexander and Olympia his wife settled a virgate of land in Sutton on Robert de Sutton. (fn. 147) By the beginning of the fourteenth century Robert had been succeeded by Richard de Sutton, senr., who in 1315 settled half a messuage and lands in Sutton Scotney and other places on Richard de Sutton, junr., (fn. 148) no doubt his son. Further settlements of lands in Sutton Scotney and Cranborne were made on Peter de Sutton and Alice his wife in 1330 and 1341. (fn. 149) Peter seems to have been succeeded in a great part of the premises by John de Sutton, who was seised in fee-tail of 3 messuages, lands, and 20s. rent in Sutton Scotney and other places. The property seems to have been entailed upon his son Thomas, but in spite of this on the death of John another son Alan succeeded, (fn. 150) who was seised of a close called 'Wythygers' and other lands in Cranborne held of the manor of Cranborne in 1442, and in that year sued William Godale, bailiff of Thomas Thame, who was at that time lord of the manor of Cranborne, for seizing six horses in lieu of rent. (fn. 151) On his deathbed Alan repented of his action in ousting Thomas, and delivered up the deeds showing that the estates were entailed on him to his wife Ellen, charging her solemnly to give them to his brother. However Ellen gave them instead to her daughter Alice, 'whom she loved better than Thomas,' and about 1460 she and her husband Robert Sherrard were summoned by Thomas for refusing to give them up. (fn. 152)

CHURCH

The church of the HOLY TRINITY consists of chancel, nave with north aisle and south porch, and west tower. The north aisle is a modern addition, but the plan of the chancel and the nave, without the aisle, appears to date from the early years of the thirteenth century.

The church was burnt in 1714, the nave being more damaged than the rest of the building, but several of the old features survived the fire, and the walls are in large measure ancient.

The chancel has a three-light east window of fifteenth-century design with modern tracery, and two lancets in the north and south walls, the heads of which are trefoiled internally, but uncusped on the outside; the cusping is probably a later addition.

At the eastern angles of the chancel are spreading plinths of thirteenth-century character, and the chancel arch is an interesting piece of thirteenth-century work, with a pointed arch of two rounded orders, and pretty foliate capitals, that of the south respond showing traces of Romansque feeling in its detail. The bases are modern. The nave has two windows on the south side, the eastern of which is of the fifteenth century, though much patched and renewed, with three cinquefoiled lights and tracery over. The other is a single cinquefoiled light with little if any old masonry. Between the windows is the south doorway, with a semicircular head of two orders of the rounded section which occurs in the chancel arch, and doubtless of the same date; it has a modern label. On the jambs are three incised sundials; the doorway now opens to a modern wooden porch.

The tower is of three stages with an embattled parapet and a stair at the south-east. It dates from the early part of the sixteenth century, and has twolight belfry windows of plain character, and a west window of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery, beneath which is a west doorway of two hollow-chamfered orders. A window in which a fifteenth-century cinquefoiled head is re-used has been in modern times inserted near the south-west angle of the ground stage, which is screened off from the nave and used as a vestry. The font is modern, as are all the fittings of the church; the nave roof is dated 1714, the year of the fire.

There are five bells, the third, fourth, and tenor by James Wells of Aldbourne, 1802, the other two being blank and probably by the same founder.

The plate is a fine set, silver-gilt, given by Thomas Newry, rector, in 1717, and bearing the London hallmark for 1716. It consists of chalice with cover paten, flagon, and almsdish. There is also a silvergilt bowl of 1815 for use at baptisms, given in 1816 by Honora wife of the Hon. Augustus George Legge, rector.

The first book of the registers contains all entries from 1570 to 1718, and a list of burials in woollen 1678–1717, together with a record of 595 births between 1683 and 1767, and the names of fourteen persons touched for the king's evil, 1684–1713. The second book contains all entries 1718–62, the third baptisms and burials 1763–1812, and the fourth is the printed marriage register 1754–1812.

Between 1655 and 1672 the registers are very imperfect, and there is a note of explanation that 'the registrar deputed for the purpose had not what was due to him for it.'

ADVOWSONS

There was a church in Wonston at the time of the Domesday Survey (fn. 153) the advowson of which belonged to the bishop of Winchester. (fn. 154) In 1333 John Stratford, bishop of Winchester, obtained licence to appropriate the church, then valued at £40, to the prior and convent of St. Swithun. Out of that sum £25 19s. 4d. was to be paid yearly to the hospital of St. Mary according to the prescription of Henry Woodlock, bishop of Winchester, and a perpetual vicar was to be appointed. (fn. 155) The appropriation, however, was never carried into effect, (fn. 156) probably owing to the fact that, immediately after the licence, Stratford was succeeded in the episcopacy by Adam Orlton. The living is at the present day in the gift of the bishop of Winchester and is a rectory, net income £580 with 20 acres of glebe and residence built from the proceeds of the sale of the old rectory house and glebe.

Dependent on the parish church of Wonston was the chapel of Sutton Scotney, (fn. 157) probably representing one of the two churches of Sutton Scotney mentioned in Domesday Book. (fn. 158) It was probably desecrated early in the seventeenth century, as in 1639 Robert Harward, who was at this time lord of the manor of Sutton Scotney, and Ambrose Beach were referred to the bishop of Winchester to inquire as to who was answerable for the profanation of the chapel and to report thereon to the Court of High Commission. (fn. 159)

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there was also a chapel in Cranborne. Thus in March, 1397–8, John Frere and John Kyngestone were licensed to confess penitents and administer the Eucharist in the hamlet of Cranborne at the impending season of Easter, saving the rights of the parish church of Wonston. (fn. 160) Again, in March, 1401–2, William of Wykeham granted licence to John Kyngestone, chaplain, to perform divine service in the chapel of Cranborne and to administer the sacraments to his servants and tenants, John Pyperwhyt and Joan his wife, during his good pleasure. (fn. 161)

CHARITIES

In 1710 Thomas Sayer by will gave £30 for the benefit of the poor.

In 1779 John Wickham by will gave £5 yearly towards educating poor children of the parish. In satisfaction of the legacy, a sum of £166 13s. 4d. Old South Sea annuities was purchased, subsequently augmented by investment of accumulations of income. By a scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 22 March, 1867, the two charities were merged, and the income applied towards the maintenance of the parochial school. The present endowment consists of £278 14s. 10d. consols with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds.

In 1863 the Hon. Honora Legge, widow, by will proved this date, left £100 consols (part of a sum of £400 consols directed to be transferred to the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds) the dividends to be applied by the officiating minister as a marriage portion for the daughter of a resident labourer under the age of twenty-five years, she and her husband to be members of the Church of England, or, failing a suitable person, to a deserving labourer having the most children dependent upon him, or to two of the oldest and poorest residents, widows in preference. See also parish of Hinton Ampner (hundred of Fawley) and parish of Bramdean (hundred of Bishop's Sutton).

In 1898 Mrs. Honora Augusta Cowper-Coles, by a codicil to her will proved this date, bequeathed £120 £2 10s. per cent. Bank Annuities to the officiating minister of Wonston, the income to be employed in providing warm winter clothing for respectable poor women of the parish.