Parishes: Long Sutton

LONG SUTTON

Sudtune (xi cent.), Launge Sutton (xii cent.), Sheep Sutton (xviii cent.).

Long Sutton is a small village and parish lying south-east of Crondall, 6 miles south from Winchfield Station on the main line of the London and South Western Railway. The parish covers an area of 2,290 acres, including 1,540 acres of arable land, 469¾ acres of permanent grass, and 264½ acres of woods and plantations. (fn. 1) The part known as Long Sutton Manor extends to the north along the entire length of the parish, and it is presumed that the shape and extent of this division led to the distinctive appellation of Long Sutton. (fn. 2) The southern portion consists of Sutton Warblington to the west, and Well Manor to the east. The village lies north of Sutton Warblington, and is set along a narrow road running east and west, the principal building being Manor Farm, a fine farm-house of red brick, a little to the west of the church, with a large pond skirted by the road. East of the church is Parsonage Farm, another good red-brick gabled house of the 17th century, and opposite the church on the south side of the road is the modern school. In the churchyard are three fine yews, at the north, southwest, and south-east.

In Long Sutton the ground is higher than in the neighbouring parts of Crondall Hundred, rising around Well to over 520 ft. above the ordnance datum. Numerous old chalk pits exist throughout the parish, and a number of ancient copse inclosures are to be found. The soil is stiff clay and loam, the subsoil clay and chalk. The crops are corn in rotation and roots; hops are also cultivated.

Long Sutton House is the residence of Mr. John Arthur Keith Falconer, and Warblington Hall of Mrs. Falconer. Well Manor is occupied by Mr. John M. Bush.

In 1592 a dispute seems to have arisen with regard to the boundaries of Long Sutton Manor, held by the Dean and chapter of Winchester, and those of Odiham. In the document relating to this, mention occurs of a down called 'Prior's Downe,' containing about 70 acres, bounded by a ditch called 'White Diche,' thence to a certain Holme lately cut down, 'where the parishioners of Longsutton weare wonte to heare a gospell in there yearlye perambulation.' (fn. 3)

The following places in Long Sutton are mentioned in the Crondall Customary of 1567:—'Lymmer Feald,' 'Butter Croft,' 'Manven's Meade,' a meadow called 'Materfast,' seven crofts called 'Nutcrofts,' a messuage called 'Mablyns,' a wood called 'Le Sole,' 2 virgates of land called 'Widowe's Garden,'and a meadow called ' Dymperk.' (fn. 4) The following places are mentioned in Sutton Warblington:—'Le Haylie Close,' ' Le Mylle wey,' and fields called' Le Crowchfeald,' ' Ley Down,' 'Le Come Downe,' and ' Stephen's Wood.' (fn. 5)

In 1249, when a division was made between the lands of William de Syneguy, lord of the manor of Sutton Warblington, and Hugh de Wengham, lord of Well, it was arranged that' Whatsoever is towards the east from the wood of Henham to Great Knulle, and from Great Knulle to La Splette, and from La Splette to the assart of the parson of Crondall, and thus to La Heythorne, shall remain to Hugh and his heirs for ever. And whatsoever is by the same division towards the west shall remain to William and his heirs for ever.' (fn. 6) The wood of Henham is probably to be identified with Highnam Copse of the present day. In 979 King Ethelred granted 5 hides of land at Sutton to Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, for the use of the old minster, this grant being the first he made after his coronation. In this charter this land is stated to have been given to King Edgar, Ethelred's father, by Ethelbriht the steward, and to have been formerly subject to the lordship of Crondall. (fn. 7)

Manors

At the time of the Domesday Survey LONG SUTTON was a sub-manor of Crondall, assessed at 7 hides, held by Turstin. Justin and Lefsi had held the estate previously of the bishop in parage. It was then worth £7. (fn. 8) Long Sutton continued to be held by the Prior and convent of St. Swithun until the Dissolution, (fn. 9) and was granted by the king in free alms to the Dean and chapter of Winchester in 1541. (fn. 10) This grant was confirmed by James I in 1604, and from that period the history of the manor of Long Sutton is identical with that of Crondall (q.v.).

The manor of SUTTON WARBLINGTON is represented by the land in Long Sutton which William de St. Martin inherited in 1224. William was succeeded by his son Hugh de St. Martin, who died without issue in 1243. (fn. 11) Thereupon his lands escheated to the king, who granted them in 1248 to William de Syneguy. (fn. 12) In 1284 William de Syneguy, probably a son of the last-named, was holding one fee in Long Sutton, (fn. 13) but by 1316 (fn. 14) it had passed to Elizabeth widow of Geoffrey de Wengham, who was most probably his daughter and heir. In 1335 Thomas de Warblington was in possession of lands in Long Sutton formerly belonging to Joan de Wengham. (fn. 15) It was from him that the manor derived its name, although his tenure cannot have been long, for in the following year he granted all his lands and tenements in Long Sutton to Nicholas de Hanyton. (fn. 16) By 1346 Sutton Warblington was held by the Prior of St. Swithun, Winchester, (fn. 17) and its subsequent descent seems to have been identical with that of Long Sutton (fn. 18) (q.v.), the Ecclesiastical Commissioners being the present lords of the manor. Mr. John A. K. Falconer, who purchased Long Sutton House and Warblington Hall in 1899, now owns about 950 acres of land in the parish, of which 397½ acres are enfranchised copyhold of the manor of Sutton Warblington. (fn. 19) It appears that very little land of the manor now remains unenfranchised. On the Warblington estate there still exists a very old house called 'The Court,' where it is believed the courts of the manor were held. (fn. 20)

The manor of WELL (La Welle, Welles, xiii cent.) is represented by the 2 hides of land in Long Sutton which Richer the Archdeacon of Winchester held of the manor of Long Sutton at the beginning of the 12th century. After his death the estate was seized by the monks of Waverley, but Henry II, c. 1163, ordered Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester, to do full justice to the Prior and convent of St. Swithun, who were then laying claim to the property. The manor (fn. 21) was held in 1243 by Hugh de Wengham, (fn. 22) and had most probably been inherited by him from his father, Hugh de Wengham, who was dealing with land in the parish as early as 1228. (fn. 23) In 1249 a division was made and the boundaries set out between the lands of William de Syneguy, the owner of the neighbouring manor of Sutton Warblington, and those of Hugh de Wengham, (fn. 24) and in the following year Hugh guaranteed that his estates in Well and Steventon should on his death descend to his son Geoffrey, promising to provide for him, his wife Egelina, and his children in the meantime. (fn. 25) Geoffrey's daughter and heir Alice married Richard de Byflete, (fn. 26) and thus brought the manor into the possession of a family who held it for nearly two centuries.

Alice Byflete evidently survived her husband, for she is mentioned as holding lands in Well in 1335. (fn. 27) She was succeeded by her son, Thomas Byflete, who held one knight's fee in Well formerly belonging to the Archdeacon of Winchester in 1346, (fn. 28) and who left a son Thomas to succeed him. (fn. 29) The latter, dying in 1408, was followed by his son Thomas, (fn. 30) who died without issue. His heir was his brother Robert, who died in the reign of Richard III, and was succeeded by his son Thomas. (fn. 31) Thomas died seised of the manor in 1500 and was succeeded by his brother and heir John Byflete. (fn. 32) It is uncertain at what date Well passed out of the Byflete family, but in 1669 (fn. 33) it was held by George Vernon, who in that year conveyed it by fine to Thomas Vernon. (fn. 34) In 1787 it was dealt with by fine between William Wootton and William Kay, and George Newland and Jane his wife. (fn. 35)

Two years later the manor seems to have become divided, for in 1789 Richard Potenger is mentioned as holding a moiety. (fn. 36) From this date no reliable records have been found of the manor until about 1885, when it was acquired through purchase by Mr. Charles James Maxwell Lefroy, who sold it in 1904 to Mr. W. N. Butler of Crondall. (fn. 37)

Church

The church of ALL SAINTS consists of a chancel 22 ft. 9 in. by 20 ft. 5 in.; a nave of the same width and 48 ft. 5 in. long; a south chapel 27 ft. 5 in. by 13 ft. 5 in.; a south porch, and a wooden bell-turret set about midway over the nave. The nave and chancel, in one range without any structural division, the chancel arch being entirely modern, are of early 13th-century date, and the south chapel was added towards the end of the same century. The bell-turret is doubtless mediaeval, but difficult to date, and the south porch is modern. The chancel is coated with rough-cast outside over the quoins and window dressings, which are of hard chalk, and the nave is similarly covered with plaster; the roofs are red tiled and the turret boarded, with a short leaded spirelet. The interior of the church is very well proportioned and spacious, and would be made more effective if the mean flimsy chancel arch were removed and a screen substituted.

The chancel retains its original windows, tall narrow lancets widely splayed within, and externally chamfered and rebated for a wooden frame. There are two of these in the east wall, and above and between them a circular window of the same date. There is one lancet in the north wall, and another opposite to it in the south, and at the south-east is a piscina with a moulded ogee head of 14th-century date. The chancel arch is two-centred, and has plain moulded abaci at the spring; it is only 12 in. thick, and altogether out of keeping with the large and simple detail of the 13th-century work.

At the east end of the north wall of the nave is another of the original lancet lights, identical in every respect with those in the chancel, and west of it is a modern single trefoiled light of late 18th-century detail, and abreast of the bell-turret a window of c. 1340, of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in flowing tracery over. The sill of this window appears to have been raised, making the proportions rather too short. West of this the head of a blocked doorway, perhaps of 15th-century date, shows through the external plaster, but there are no signs of an opening inside the nave. At the south-east of the nave is the arch opening to the south chapel, which was no doubt the Lady chapel; it is two-centred and of two stop-chamfered orders, the responds having half-round shafts with roll-moulded bases and moulded bell capitals of slightly varied section. The south door of the nave is perhaps of 14th-century date, with a twocentred head, continuously moulded with two hollow chamfers. The west window is modern, and is a copy of the 14th-century window on the north side, except that the internal reveal has a heavy continuous roll, a few of the stones of which seem to be old.

The chapel has an east window of three chamfered and rebated lancets grouped in a chamfered external reveal, with a common internal splay and two-centred rear arch. At the south-east is a piscina of late 13th-century date, with a trefoiled head moulded with a heavy filleted bowtel. Above this is a 14th-century niche elaborately moulded and with an ogee trefoiled head. It has an undercut and finialled label. In the south wall are two single trefoiled lights of original late 13th-century date. Like the east lancets these windows are chamfered and rebated externally, and are late examples of the use of a wooden glazing frame. The south porch is a plain wood-and-plaster structure, and of no archaeological interest.

The chancel roof is ceiled in plaster divided by moulded ribs, which seem to be modern, and the nave has a flat plaster ceiling. The chapel roof is of low pitch and plastered.

The bell-turret is made of heavy timber framing of plain character, very massive and doubtless ancient; it may be 15th-century work. Four large posts stand on the nave floor against the walls, and above is an elaborate system of trussing to the principals.

The font is circular with a plain bowl cut down and scraped, and a heavy circular stem. It is perhaps of 12th-century date. The fittings are modern.

There are three bells. The treble is inscribed, 'hal mari ful of gras'; the Second, 'ibe leve in god the father'; the third, 'our fathar wich art in heven.' All the inscriptions are in Gothic capitals and all three bells bear the initials of William Knight, a Reading founder of c. 1520.

The plate consists of a chalice of 1570, a paten and flagon of 1869, and a pewter plate and flagon.

Book i of the registers contains baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1561 to 1655; book ii the same, 1655 to 1721; book iii, burials, 1680 to 1753; book iv, baptisms, 1721 to 1812, burials 1733 to 1812, and marriages, 1733 to 1788; book v, marriages, 1754 to 1812.

Advowson

A chapel probably existed at Long Sutton at an early date and was served from Crondall Church. The exact date at which a perpetual curate was appointed by the hospital of St. Cross, Winchester, is uncertain, but in 1828 the hospital leased the advowson for the lives of Francis Arnold of Hambledon, James Harris of Winchester, and Jane Cole of Odiham, widow. In 1875 these persons, together with the Master and brethren of St. Cross, made application that the advowson should be transferred to the Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 38) This application was approved, and the Bishops of Winchester have held the advowson since that date. The living is a vicarage of the net yearly value of £219.

Charities

There is a small Nonconformist chapel in the village. The yearly sum of £1 6s. 8d., formerly paid by the owners of certain houses in Alton for the poor of Long Sutton, has for long ceased to be paid for want of evidence to identify the premises liable thereto. (fn. 39)

In 1737 Stephen Terry, by deed dated 14 June (enrolled), charged a copyhold farm in Sutton Warblington with an annuity of £4 for the teaching of eight poor scholars to read, say their prayers and catechism, and for buying them Bibles and religious books.

The incumbent receives, under an order of the Charity Commissioners of 19 April 1887, one fourth part of a tithe rent-charge of £360—subject to variations—on lands in this parish.