Parishes: South Warnborough

SOUTH WARNBOROUGH

Wergeborne (Domesday), Waregeburnae Widonis (xii cent.); Suthwarneburne (xiii-xiv cent.); Sutwarneburn, Southwargheborgh alias Southwargheburn (xiii cent.); Warneburn or Warnborne (xiv cent.); Warborne, Suthwarborne, Suthwermborowe or Southwarmbourne (xvii cent.); Southwanborow Southwarmeborne (xvii cent.); South Warmborough (xviii cent.).

South Warnborough is a long narrow parish covering 2,654 acres of undulating country which rises to its greatest height as the road from Upton Grey enters the parish from the north-west. The village, the only populated part of the parish, lies towards the north where the main road from Odiham to Alton running south-east meets the road from Upton Grey. South of the village the whole parish is one long stretch of open field and meadow land, the only woodland being a few copses running along the western border.

After entering the parish the road from Upton Grey runs south-east for nearly half a mile, and then curving slightly east between two or three outlying cottages and farm buildings descends sharply between high banks, on either side of which houses and thatched and tiled cottages are grouped, into the centre of the village, where are the railed-in village pond, an elm tree surrounded by a wooden seat, and the smithy. A plain low house, on the left hand as the road descends, in front of which are quaintly-clipped yew trees, representing a cock and hen, is the village police station, south of which are the modern schools, dated 1880. Opposite the schools are two groups of the most picturesque cottages in the village, with deep overhanging thatch, standing behind a long low brick wall. The big elm tree stands in the centre where the main road from Odiham to Alton crosses that from Upton Grey as it leads south-east circuitously to Long Sutton. At the north-west corner formed by the junction of the roads is the village pond, and opposite, at the south-west corner, is the low tiled smithy. Two or three thatched cottages fill up the north-east corner and continue up the north side of the road running uphill towards Long Sutton, while round the south corner, and some yards up the opposite side of this road, runs the high brick wall of the garden of South Warnborough House. A few yards up the village to the north, on the east side of the Odiham to Alton road, is the Plough Inn, a new red-brick building which replaces the old and less pretentious inn bearing the sign in former days. Opposite the inn a high brick garden wall, behind which rises a high yew hedge, shuts in the grounds of the rectory, a square red-brick house. As the Odiham to Alton road goes south along the village, a house standing close to the smithy serves as the post office, south of which are two or three cottages and houses.

On the opposite side a row of fine horse-chestnut trees edges the footpath running along before South Warnborough House, the residence of Sir Arthur James Walmesley, which stands in its fine grounds back from the road. South-west of the house is the church, approached over a small triangular green, round which a gravel path leads up to the lychgate, and thence through an avenue of horse-chestnut trees to the north door. Behind the church begin the trees of Warnborough Park, those near the church seeming to be specially chosen out by a large band of rooks who resort there every year.

South Warnborough Park stretches about a quarter of a mile in every direction, its western boundary being formed by the Odiham to Alton road as, leaving the village, it continues its south-easterly course through the parish. The soil of the parish is chalk with a subsoil of chalk and clay, and good crops are produced on the 1,934 acres of arable land. Only 376 acres are given up to permanent grass, while only 158¾ acres are woodland. Of the latter Venny or Fenny Oaken Copse and Swenchetts, now Swanshott Copse, date back their names at least to the seven teenth century.

MANOR

The manor of SOUTH WARNBOROUGH belonged to the crown, (fn. 1) and was held of the king by Hugh son of Baldric at the time of the Domesday Survey. It passed to his daughter on her marriage with Guy de Craon, (fn. 2) whose son, grandson, and great-grandson, Alan, Maurice, and Guy de Craon held the manor in succession. (fn. 3) Petronilla, daughter and heiress of the last-named Guy, was first married to William de Longchamp, (fn. 4) secondly to Henry de Mara, and thirdly to Oliver de Vaux, (fn. 5) and held the manor jointly with her respective husbands until her death in 1280. Henry de Longchamp, her son by her first marriage, became her heir, (fn. 6) and did homage for his manor about 1261. (fn. 7) During his lifetime he alienated South Warnborough to Philip Basset and Ela his wife (fn. 8) for the sum of £200, which was to redeem certain of his lands, (fn. 9) the alienation being for the term of Henry's life. (fn. 10)

Alice the only child and heir of Henry de Longchamp, a minor at her father's death, (fn. 11) married Roger de Pedwardyn, (fn. 12) and settled the manor on herself and her husband and their heirs male. (fn. 13) Roger Ped wardyn leased his manor for a while to Richard Berton, 'parson of the place.' (fn. 14) His son Sir Roger, and after him Sir Walter, and then Sir Robert Pedwardyn held the manor in succession, (fn. 15) but the heir and grandson (fn. 16) of the last-named alienated it, nine years after coming into possession in the reign of Henry VI, to Robert White and Margaret his wife. (fn. 17) For some years the Whites held the manor. (fn. 18) Henry VIII, by a grant about 1543, increased their estate by giving them certain lands that Crowland Monastery had once held in South Warnborough. (fn. 19) In the reign of Elizabeth licence was granted to Sir Thomas White to enfeoff Chidiock Paulet of the manor for the purpose of resettlement on Sir Thomas and his numerous sons. (fn. 20) A grandson of this Sir Thomas in 1636 sold the manor (certain lands excepted) for the sum of £11,631 2s. to Richard Bishop, of London. (fn. 21) The Bishops only held the manor until the reign of Anne, as William Bishop then sold it (certain lands again excepted) for £14,800 to Robert Graham of the parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden. (fn. 22) The only daughter or adopted daughter of Robert Graham was Barbara Anne Graham, who was his sole heiress. (fn. 23) She married Captain Thomas Harrison Wayne of the 10th Regiment of Foot, and the marriage, which was a runaway one, took place at Farnham, Surrey, where the regiment was quartered at the time. (fn. 24)

They had no children and Captain Thomas Harrison Wayne bequeathed South Warnborough manor to Mr. Richardson Harrison, believed to be his cousin, as trustee and guardian to his (Mr. R. Harrison's) second son, Thomas Moore Harrison, with the stipulation that his son should take the name and arms of Wayne, but failing male issue the property was entailed on the elder brother, the Rev. William Moore Harrison, and his eldest son. Mr. Thomas Moore Wayne married Miss Fanny Bowyer in 1817, and they had daughters only, and therefore after the death of Thomas Moore Wayne in 1868, Mr. Thomas Harrison Wayne succeeded, his father the Rev. W. M. Harrison having died in the previous October. (fn. 25)

He married Emma Tucker Messiter, and died in 1879. His widow is the present lady of the manor, and as the entail is now ended, her eldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth Harrison married to Mr. John Scales Bakewell, is her heir. (fn. 26)

CHURCH

The church of ST. ANDREW has a chancel 26 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 3 in., nave 46 ft. by 22 ft. with modern south aisle and north porch, and wooden bell-turret at the west. The walls are of flint rubble, all except the west wall of the nave and the new south aisle being covered with rough-cast externally, and the roofs are red-tiled. At the east end of the south aisle an early twelfth-century volute capital and shaft are built into the new wall, and it is probable that the nave walls belong to a building of this date, of which one window at the south-west is still to be seen. The north doorway of the nave dates from c. 1160, and the chancel seems to have been rebuilt in the first half of the thirteenth century, retaining the width and perhaps some of the walling of its twelfth-century predecessor. In its east wall are three lancets under an inclosing arch, much patched with modern stone, but having remains of painted decoration, a zigzag pattern on the rear arch, and masonry patterns on the jambs. A single lancet remains at the east end of the south wall, with a foliate pattern on the head, and west of it is a modern south doorway and a modern arch to the east end of the south aisle, which overlaps the chancel. On the north is a square-headed window of three cinquefoiled lights, c. 1530, which has early fourteenth-century shafts reset in its inner jambs; below its sill on the outer face of the wall are three quatrefoiled panels inclosing shields with a cross, a rose, and a saltire respectively. Near the north-west angle of the chancel is another thirteenth-century lancet. There is no chancel arch, its place being taken by a fifteenth-century rood-loft, retaining the floor of its gallery, at the level of the plate of the roof, and the coved canopies beneath it on the west side; into the front beam, on which a modern embattled cresting has been set, two posts were formerly mortised on each side of the central opening, making wing screens for the nave altars. A good modern screen has been inserted on the line of the old screen under the back beam of the loft. The chancel roof is old, with trussed rafters. The nave has three north windows, c. 1320, each of a single ogee light trefoiled, the eastern of the three being wider than the others and having its sill carried down as a recess in connexion with the north nave altar. The north doorway, between the second and third windows, has a semicircular arch of two orders, the outer continuous, with an alternating zigzag ornament, and the inner having a moulded edge roll and a chamfered string at the springing. Over the doorway is a modern wooden porch. The west end of the nave is taken up by the posts of the wooden belfry, the lower parts of which have been cut off and replaced by stone piers; the braces and framing are a very good specimen of mediaeval carpentry, and the turret is probably of late fourteenth-century date. The west window of the nave is of three cinquefoiled lights under a square head, and dates from the fifteenth century.

Of the north wall of the old nave only a short length at the west remains, containing a single roundheaded light without any ornamental detail; its probable date has been noted above. The nave roof, like that of the chancel, is old, with trussed rafters, a simple form used throughout the Middle Ages and later; its date in this instance can only be guessed at.

The font, at the west of the nave, has a modern bowl of marble, on an old base of uncertain date. The south aisle is entirely modern, but its west window seems to be old work re-used, of three trefoiled lights with net tracery, c. 1320.

The church is rich in monuments and heraldry. Under the north-east window of the chancel is a large altar tomb with panelled sides on the south and west, evidently not in its original position. The panels are quatrefoiled, two of those on the south side containing foliage, and the other three shields, one of which is blank. Another bears the arms of White differenced with a crescent, impaling on a cheveron between three shackle-bolts three choughs in an engrailed border charged with roundels, and the third has the latter coat, which is no doubt that of Fenrother. At the west end of the tomb are the arms of White. The top slab is of Purbeck marble, very roughly worked and too wide for the tomb; it looks as if it might be an altar slab set upside down. At the head of the tomb on the east wall is a panel with the brass figure of Robert, son of John White, kneeling, with the Trinity on a brass plate above him, and to the left a hand among clouds pointing to a scroll inscribed 'Sancta Trinitas unus deus miserere nobis.' An inscription gives the date of his death as 4th of Henry VIII, recording that he was quondam dominus istius ville.

On either side of the east window are image brackets, that on the north quite plain, and now carrying a helm with the White crest, the other with an embattled cresting and a band of foliage, with the White arms as on Robert White's tomb; it is probably of the date of the tomb, and on it is set a later sixteenth-century scutcheon with the same arms.

Against the wall between the two north windows of the chancel is a large tomb of late Gothic type, with a wide and shallow recess under a four-centred arch with Tudor cresting above it. On this cornice are three octagonal pedestals carrying small figures with shields which are now blank. In the recess are the kneeling figures of Sir Thomas White, 1566, and his wife Agnes, 1570, on either side of a prayer desk, with fourteen sons and six daughters behind them; the children who died before their parents hold skulls in their hands. Below are three cusped panels inclosing shields with heraldry painted on them, and now much defaced. The eastern shield has a cheveron and three birds, the central shield White impaling a coat which is now unrecognizable, while the third coat is quite destroyed by the fumes of a hideous iron stove which stands in front of the tomb. Above the figures are three panels with an inscription.

Thomas and Agnes dye unto God and Saye: we hope to see the goodnesse of God in the lande of lyfe: they had issue fourteen sons and six daughters this sayde Sir Thomas Whyte Knight departed thys present lyfe the seconde of November and in the yeare of our Lorde God 1566. Dame Agnes yelded unto God of the workes of hys handes the 4th daye of January in the yeare of our Lorde God 1570. Lorde Jhesu take our soules unto thy mercye. Sur Thomas departed in London and my Lady in Canytebery the dayes and yeares above wryten. God save the Queen.

Above this monument is a small kneeling figure of Elizabeth Paulet, daughter of Sir Thomas White, and another monument with figures of Richard, son of Sir Thomas White, with his wife Ellen, ob. 1597, and her daughter Anne (Philpott).

On the south wall of the chancel is a late sixteenthcentury monument, undated, with kneeling figures of two brothers, of the White family, but not otherwise identified. Each is in an arched panel, with a blackletter inscription at the back, under a cornice carried on Corinthian columns; over one figure are the White arms, and over the other the same impaling a cheveron engrailed and three lions' heads.

In the south aisle are a number of panels of heraldic glass of various dates. In the south-east window is a panel dated 1599, with White impaling a quartered coat, (1) Argent a fesse gules, and a cheveron gules in the chief, (2) Argent a crescent in a border invecked sable, (3) Blank, but should contain party or and gules, a fesse between three leopards' heads counter-coloured, (4) Argent a fesse between three hawks' hoods gules, which is the quartered shield of Kirton of Thorpe Mandeville in Northants. In the same window are three shields encircled by garters, of the first half of the sixteenth century. The first is quarterly: (1) Quarterly 1 and 4, azure a cross or between four falcons close argent, Wriothesley, 2, argent a pale indented gules in a border azure bezanty, Lensell, 3, argent fretty gules with a border engrailed sable and a quarter gules and therein a lion passant or, Dunstervile; (2) Argent a cheveron between three crows sable, with the difference of a crescent, Croton; (3) Or a lion parted fessewise sable and gules, Luftoft; (4) Sable a cheveron or between three crosslets fitchy argent, Peckham. This is the quartered shield of Thomas Wriothesley, K.G., first earl of Southampton. The second shield has a blank coat impaling azure three hour-glasses or, with below His quoque finem, and the third has the royal arms with a crown over the garter. In the east window are two shields, the one of England with a label of three points, in a wreath ensigned with a royal crown; on the wreath are the three feathers of Wales twice, and the rose once. This is presumably for Henry VIII as Prince of Wales. The second shield, which is in a frame of the same design and date as that first described in the southeast window, is quarterly of 8 and differenced with a crescent: (1) Argent three cheverons gules and a label azure; (2) Barry argent and gules a lion or crowned gules; (3) Argent two bars sable, a chief argent three scutcheons sable; (4) Or a pheon azure; (5) Blank; (6) Quarterly or and gules an escarbuncle sable; (7) Azure a cheveron between three molets or; (8) Argent three lions gules. This is a Barrington shield.

There are three bells, the treble by Ellis and Henry Knight, 1674, and the second and tenor, of 1603, by John Wallis of Salisbury, the former inscribed 'Feare God,' and the latter with nothing but the initials A. W.; on the shoulder of the second bell is cut A. C. 1713.

The plate consists of a silver cup and paten of 1689, and a plated flagon, paten, and almsdish.

The first book of the registers contains all entries from 1538 to 1728, and is the parchment copy made in 1598. The second has the burials in woollen 1678–1793, the third the marriages 1732– 1754, the fourth the baptisms and burials 1728–1813, and the fifth is the marriage register 1755–1811. There is also a sheet with marriages for 1812.

ADVOWSON

'Upon the High Altar of St. Guthlac, Croyland,' did Alan de Craon, for himself and Muriel his wife, grant the church of South Warnborough to be subject to the church of St. James's, Freston, cell of St. Guthlac. (fn. 27) This was some time in the twelfth century, and the advowson remained with Crowland (fn. 28) until the Dissolution, when in 1544 it was granted to Thomas White, lord of the manor, (fn. 29) who was patron as late as 1562. (fn. 30)

Probably it was his next descendant who allowed the right to lapse, and King James I presented Richard Blundell to the living about 1618. (fn. 31) The Whites recovered the patronage, however, before 1633, (fn. 32) but Thomas White, through trustees, sold the advowson in 1636 to the college of St. John's, Oxford, with whom the patronage still remains. (fn. 33)

During the Pedwardyn ownership a pension of £4 was ordained to be paid to the prior and the church of Freston from the church of Warnborough. (fn. 34) The collection of the rent was a source of trouble to the priors, one rector, William de Whytyngtone, having to be sued for arrears amounting to £12, and another, Richard Gardner, for £50. (fn. 35) On another occasion Crowland had to sue the executors of the late rector, Richard de Barton, not for the pension this time, but for repairs needed both in the chancel and church buildings, the default amounting to £23 13s. 8d. (fn. 36) At the Dissolution the pension was granted to Thomas White, (fn. 37) and passed to his successors, Richard Bishop (fn. 38) and Robert Graham, (fn. 39) and is to-day paid to the lords of the manor. (fn. 40)

It is supposed to have been paid for an amount of land, part of the kitchen garden at the rectory, which was evidently in early times a common. (fn. 41)

A chantry chapel was established in St. Mary's church, South Warnborough, in 1268, by Henry de Longchamp, (fn. 42) who endowed it with lands in South Warnborough, among them 'three acres of the land of Broming.' If Henry de Longchamp and his heirs failed to provide a chaplain the bishops of Winchester were to present in their stead.

CHARITIES

It appears from a list of benefactors in the parish that Sir Thomas White, knt., who died in 1566, gave £100 to the sick and needy; that Stephen White, esq., gave £50 to the honest and industrious; and that Thomas Newland, esq., who died in 1768, gave £50 to the aged and infirm. These sums were represented by £200 stock. In 1831 Mary Ann Warren, by her will, bequeathed £100 stock income to be given away to fourteen of the most aged poor. This sum of stock and that belonging to Sir T. White's and other 'charities' are now represented by £327 14s. Birmingham Corporation 3 per cent. stock, producing £9 16s. 6d. a year, which was in 1905 applied in the payment of 5s. 5d. each to fourteen persons in respect of Miss Warren's charity and the balance in the distribution of coal to fifty-eight persons.

In 1808 the Rev. John Duncan, D.D., a former rector of the parish, gave £200 Old South Sea annuities towards the maintenance of a Sunday school and school of industry. The stock was converted into £253 16s. 2d. consols.

In or about 1841 a school was erected at the expense of the Rev. Thomas Alston Warren, the then rector, the site of which, together with two freehold cottages belonging to the said rector, were conveyed by a deed, dated 9 January, 1841, upon trust for the education of poor children. The cottages are let at £4 a year.

In 1843 Miss Elizabeth Warren gave £100 South Sea stock in augmentation of the endowment, which was converted into £126 18s. consols.

In 1849 the said Rev. Thomas Alston Warren gave a further endowment of £100 South Sea stock, which became £126 18s. consols.

The above-mentioned sums of consols were sold out, and proceeds re-invested in £508 17s. Birmingham Corporation 3 per cent. stock.

In 1898 a sum of £215 stock was sold out to defray the expense of effecting certain alterations to the buildings belonging to the National School, and the balance of the Corporation stock, amounting to £293 17s., was transferred to the official trustees.

By an order of the Charity Commissioners, dated 28 June, 1898, the said sum of £215 stock so sold was directed to be replaced within twenty-five years out of the income of the charities. The amount already replaced (1906) amounts to £378 6s. 3d. stock.

For 'Schools,' see V.C.H. Hants, ii, 405.