Parishes: Linkenholt

LINKENHOLT

Linchehore, Lynkeholt, Lyncoholt (xi cent.); Linkeholth (xii cent.); Lynkynholt, Lyncknolt, Nyncknoll (xvi cent.); Lycknoll (xvii cent.).

Linkenholt is a small parish containing 1,073 acres, and situated 9½ miles north of Andover. Berkshire lies to the north, while Wodensdyke forms part of its southern boundary. The little group of buildings comprising the village in the west is at a height of 660 ft. above the ordnance datum, and the greatest height in the parish, viz. 706 ft., is reached a short distance to the north. The schools were erected in 1871 and reopened in 1888. The population in 1901 was eighty-eight.

The parish contains 755 acres of arable land, 48 acres of permanent grass and 48 acres of woods and plantations. (fn. 1) The soil is good loam, the subsoil chalk. The chief crops are wheat, oats, sainfoin and turnips.

Among place-names mentioned in early records are Vaueham, Roucombesdene and Hydene (fn. 2) (xiii cent.) and Westwood (fn. 3) (xvi cent.).

Manor

LINKENHOLT, which in the time of Edward the Confessor had been held by Edric of the king, was granted by William I to his follower Ernulf de Hesding, who in his turn, with the consent of the king, granted it on Candlemas Day 1081 at Salisbury to the Abbot and convent of St. Peter, Gloucester. (fn. 4) This grant was confirmed by King Stephen in 1138, (fn. 5) by King Henry V in 1414, (fn. 6) by King Henry VI in 1430 (fn. 7) and by King Henry VIII in 1510. (fn. 8) Further grants of land in the neighbourhood were made to the abbot and convent by Henry de Bernevall, lord of Vernhams Dean, in the reign of Henry II and by his nephew and successor Roger de Bernevall. (fn. 9) The manor remained in the hands of the abbot and convent until the Dissolution, (fn. 10) when it became Crown property, and so continued until 1541, in which year Henry VIII granted it to the Dean and Chapter of the newly-erected cathedral of Gloucester. (fn. 11) Soon afterwards, however, the dean and chapter surrendered it with the manors of Littleton and Wallop (co. Hants) to Henry VIII, receiving in exchange Tullwell Court in the city of Gloucester and other property. (fn. 12) In June 154; Henry VIII granted Linkenholt to his favourite Thomas Lord Wriothesley, (fn. 13) who in July obtained licence to alienate it to Richard Reade. (fn. 14) The latter sold it almost immediately to John Cheyne, (fn. 15) who dealt with it by fine in 1553. (fn. 16) In 1585, by fine between Vincent Coventry and Thomas Cheyne on the one side, and John English (fn. 17) and Elizabeth his wife, Andrew Reade and William Handforte on the other, Thomas Cheyne granted the manor to Andrew Reade to hold for sixty years at a rent of £10 10s., with reversion to Edward Hungerford and John Gwyllyn. (fn. 18) In 1600 Andrew Reade settled Linkenholt upon his son Robert, who died seised in 1627, leaving a son and heir Andrew, (fn. 19) who, two years later, sold (fn. 20) it to Emanuel Badd for £2,000. (fn. 21) On the death of Emanuel in 1632 the manor passed to his son and heir Thomas, (fn. 22) who was created a baronet in 1642, (fn. 23) and remained seised of the manor until a few years before his death. (fn. 24) In 1680 Joseph Hoskins Styles was sent by his uncle, Robert Styles, a wealthy Amsterdam merchant, to buy land in England to the value of £12,000, to be settled on Joseph and his sisters, Mary wife of John Worgan, and Lydia wife of Giles Stampe. (fn. 25) Joseph Styles gave the money to trustees, who, on behalf of John and Mary Worgan, covenanted with Sir Thomas Badd for the purchase of the manor of Linkenholt. However, owing to some flaw in Sir Thomas Badd's title, they hesitated to complete the purchase until empowered to do so by Chancery decree of 1689. (fn. 26) The manor was then settled upon John and Mary Worgan, and remained with them and their descendants until the beginning of the 19th century. (fn. 27) The next owners were the Colsons of Swanage and Dorchester, who continued in possession until about 1886, when the bankers, Messrs. Williams of Dorchester, who had a mortgage upon the estate, which then belonged to Thomas Morton Colson, foreclosed and sold to Mr. Charles John Radclyffe of Hyde, Wareham (co. Dors.). (fn. 28) The latter sold Linkenholt in 1898 to Mr. Charles Julius Knowles, whose executors are now lords of the manor. (fn. 29)

In the 13th century there was a mill in the manor of the annual value of 20s., (fn. 30) but no trace of it now remains.

Church

The church of ST. PETER consists of a chancel 15 ft. 11 in. by 13 ft. 6 in., with a small vestry to the north, and nave 30 ft. by 15 ft. 2 in., with small porch.

The church was rebuilt in 1871; the only parts of the former structure which were retained are the south doorway, a small round-headed window and the bowl of the font; all date from the 12th century. The former building stood behind the manor-house in another part of the village.

The chancel is lighted by an east window of three lights, a south window of two lights and a single-light north window. In the north wall is a small recess, to the west of which is a doorway to the vestry, and in the south wall is an outer doorway; the chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from light detached shafts.

The nave has a small 12th-century round-headed window at the north-east, and a north-west window of two lights; on the south side are a three-light window and a trefoiled lancet. Between them is the entrance doorway, which dates from the 12th century; the jambs are chamfered and have grooved and hollow chamfered abaci; the head is round and of two orders, the outer having a line of billet ornament; the label is modern. In the west wall is a two-light window. Above the west end is a small painted wood turret supported on posts from the floor of the nave; it is crowned with an octagonal spire covered with oak shingles. In it hang two bells, one is inscribed 'Prayse God EA. I.C. 1642 R.T.,'while the second is blank.

The font has a tapering round bowl, the top edge carved with a cable moulding between bands of saw tooth and zigzag ornament. The stem is modern.

The plate consists of a silver chalice and paten of 1715 and 1693 respectively and a glass flagon with a plated mount.

The registers before 1812 are contained in three books. The first book contains baptisms from 1585, the marriages from 1579 (excepting a gap from 1662 to 1695) and burials from 1577, all to 1741; the second book has the entries mixed from 1741 to 1799, some of the leaves in this book are mutilated j the third continues all three from 1801 to 1812.

Advowson

There was no church in the parish at the time of the Domesday Survey, (fn. 31) nor is there any mention of one in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas (1291). The first proof of the existence of one is during the episcopacy of John Stratford, Bishop of Winchester (1323–33), when the Abbot and convent of Gloucester presented a rector to the church of Linkenholt. (fn. 32) The advowson of the rectory went with the manor until about 1870, (fn. 33) when it was sold to the Rev. G. A. Festing, in whose family it still remains, the present patron being Miss Marian L. Festing.

The church was not assessed in the 14th century propter exilitatem. (fn. 34) In the 16th century the rectory was valued at £7 6s. 8d. a year, (fn. 35) and at the present day its net yearly value is £136 (fn. 36) and residence.

There are apparently no endowed charities in the parish.