ALTON HUNDRED 



FROYLE 



river in ' Le Commen Meade.' 62 He also enjoyed 

 free warren within the manor. 53 Mention is 

 made in 1539 of a rent called ' Oxfoldgable,' 

 payable by the customary tenants at Michaelmas. 51 

 In 1641 the customs of the manor, on various 

 points including grazing, are set out, as is the rent 

 payable by the various tenants in lieu of services 

 formerly performed. 55 



The church, which is dedicated in 

 CHURCH honour of the Assumption of the 

 Blessed Virgin Mary, is prettily 

 situated near the hall, and consists of a chancel, 

 nave with north porch, gallery staircase and south 

 vestry, and a square western tower. The nave 

 and tower were rebuilt in brick in lyzz. 



The chancel, which is of early fourteenth 

 century date, is of three bays. The east end 

 contains a fine five-light window, with delicate 

 reticulated tracery, retaining the whole of its 

 original glazing. This is chiefly armorial, the 

 arms being : (i) in the uppermost row, sable a Km 

 passant and three cnsslets silver, with an inscription 

 round ; 58 in the second row (ii.) Warenne, 

 and (iii.) England ; in the third row (iv.) 

 England with a silver label of five points, (v.) 

 France, and (vi.) England ; and in the fourth 

 row, (vii.) England with an azure label of five 

 points, (viii.) St. Edward the Confessor (only four 

 martlets), (ix.) Bohun and (x.) England. Shields 

 (vi.) and (v.) are apparently for Edward I. 

 and Margaret of France, (vii.) for Edward of 

 Carnarvon, as Prince of Wales, and (iv.) perhaps 

 for Thomas de Brotherton the king's elder son by 

 Queen Margaret. Shields (ix.) and (x.) are 

 probably those of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of 

 Hereford and Essex, and his wife Elizabeth 

 daughter of Edward I. and Eleanor of Castile, 

 whom he married in 1302. Shield (ii.) may be 

 that of John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, who 

 married, in 1 306, the king's grand-daughter Joan, 

 daughter of Henry, Count de Bar. The date of 

 the glass can hardly be later than 1307. 



The side windows contain some good modern 

 glass ; they have two trefoiled lights with a circle, 

 and in one case a trefoil, in the head, containing 

 the original glazing, but the easternmost window 

 on the south was apparently enlarged in the 

 fifteenth century and has now a modern head. 

 Beside it is a small piscina of the same date with 

 cinquefoiled arch, and groove for a shelf, but the 

 basin is at present only l 1 inches above the floor. 

 In the opposite wall is a pointed locker, and west 

 of it, beneath the first window, a broad and low 

 segmental tomb recess, within which is a modern 

 slab. Beyond the window is a small doorway with 

 semicircular rear arch, and there is a like doorway 

 opposite, but now blocked. 



The roof, which seems to be original, is of high 

 pitch and heavy construction, with tie-beams and 



king-posts. The chancel arch is carried by semi- 

 circular responds of the fourteenth century. The 

 nave is a broad room with flat ceiling and western 

 gallery, and upper and lower ranges of plain window 

 openings, but those on the north side have been 

 ' Gothicized.' In several of them are placed some 

 good pieces of early fourteenth century painted 

 glass. There is a north doorway, covered by a 

 modern porch, alongside of which is the gallery 

 staircase ; and a south doorway, leading into a 

 small brick porch used as a vestry. 



Of the fittings, both the altar and altar rail are 

 old and of late seventeenth century work. The 

 font is described on a metal plate attached to it as 

 an ' ancient' one ' restored ' by the Rev. W. R. A. 

 Cooper, 1864. It is however too small in size for 

 an old font, and its surface is entirely modern. 

 The pews and other fittings are of no antiquity. 

 There are some good ledger stones in the floor to 

 members of the Draper 67 family, and within the 

 altar rails a brass to John Leigh, ob. I575, 58 and 

 his wife Margaret. On the walls are a number of 

 hatchments, and over the chancel arch the royal 

 arms, etc. of George III. 



Externally the chancel is of chalk rubble with a 

 tiled roof, but the nave is covered with slate. By 

 the south wall of the tower lies an old coffin lid of 

 unusual thickness, now much mutilated ; it is 

 carved throughout with an engrailed cross. 



Froyle church is mentioned in Domesday as 

 belonging to St. Mary's Abbey at Winchester. 59 

 In I 330 the Crown granted to the abbess licence to 

 appropriate it, 60 and the appropriation was carried 

 out with ' apostolic authority ' by the then Bishop 

 of Winchester. His successor however and his 

 provincial 'opposed themselves' to the appropria- 

 tion, the latter scquestring the income of the 

 benefice. 61 In 1 346 the pope directed the appro- 

 priation to be carried out. 62 Yearly payments to 

 the vicar, always described as made by ' the grace ' 

 of the abbess, occur in the account rolls of the 

 manor already mentioned. 63 At the time of the 

 suppression of the abbey an annual payment of 

 6s. 8</. was made to the Bishop of Winchester out 

 of the issues of the rectory : this payment is 

 described as being for allowance of the appro- 

 priation. 84 



The rectory and advowson of the vicarage were 

 granted to William Jephson with the chief manor 

 in 1541 at an annual rent of34r., 65 but the limita- 

 tions in regard to them were not precisely similar 

 to those in regard to the manor, which were to 

 William Jephson, Mary his wife and their heirs 

 and assigns for ever ; those in regard to the rectory 

 and advowson were to William Jephson and his 

 heirs and assigns for ever. 



As has been shown 66 the descent of the advowson 

 was the same as that of the manor ; but with 

 regard to the rectory and great tithes it was 



62 Add. MS. 27,949. 



63 Pat. 33 Hen. VIII. pt. I, m. 8 



" Mins. Accts. 30-31 Hen. VIII. 

 No. 139, m. 65. 



55 Add. Chart. 17,559. '7.57*- 



II 



68 This piece it reversed, and probably 

 later than the rest of the glass. 



67 See p. 502. 58 Ibid. 503. 



69 V.C.H. Hants, i. 47 oa. 



60 Pat. 4 Edw. III. pt. i. m. 39. 



61 Cal. to Papal Petitions, i. pp. 56, 



122. 



505 



82 Ibid. 



83 See p. 504. 



01 Mins. Accts. 30-31 Hen. VIII. 

 No. 1.39, m - ^S* etc. 

 65 See p. 502. 

 88 See above. 



6 4 



