ALTON HUNDRED 



KINGSLEY 



round-headed lights, and the belfry windows retain 

 their original rear arches, but have fifteenth cen- 

 tury tracery. 



Buttresses of the fifteenth century have been 

 added at the north-west, south-west and south-east 

 angles. A stone bench, into which a large circular 

 thirteenth century base is worked, runs along the 

 inner face of the north wall of the tower on the 

 ground level. 



The font is modern. 



The bells, which are three in number, are 

 reached by ladders. The treble is a fifteenth cen- 

 tury bell from the Wokingham foundry, inscribed 

 Ave Maria in black-letter smalls with Lombardic 

 capitals ; the second has in black-letter smalls, ' Our 

 hope is in the Lord, R. E. 1 600 ' (Richard 

 Eldridge) ; the tenor is by Richard Phelps (of 

 Whitechapel), 1728. 



The church plate consists of a silver chalice and 

 paten and a flagon and two offertory plates of 

 white metal. 



There is one volume of the parish registers pre- 

 vious to 1812, and it commences in the year 1691. 

 There are two volumes of overseers' and church- 

 wardens' books: i. 1672-1722, ii. 1780-1817. 



The parish contains a Presbyterian church erected 

 in 1864, and a Wesleyan chapel erected in 1867. 



The Free School in Holybourne was the bene- 

 faction of Mr. Thomas Andrews, who in 1719 left 

 100 per annum in fee farm rents for the erection 

 and endowment of a free school for all the children 

 in the parish of Holybourne, besides twelve from Al- 

 ton, five from Binstead and three from Froyle ; he also 

 left the White Swan public house in Coleman Street, 

 London, to provide an apprenticeship fund for some 

 of the scholars. In 1721 it was decided by the 

 trustees that 800 income should be accumulated 

 to purchase land and erect a schoolhouse, and this 

 was completed in 1730. There is a good house 

 for the master, and a girls' school was added in 

 1872. The school will accommodate 2 1 2 children, 

 but the present average attendance is 1 1 8. The 

 annual income amounts to about .300, of which 

 100 is expended in teaching agriculture. There 

 is also a technical education class, and 20 is paid 

 for apprenticing and 20 for clothing the scholars. 

 The management is under a body of eleven governors, 

 who possess records containing a detailed account 

 of the development of the school from the date of 

 its foundation. 



KINGSLEY 



Kyngesle (xiv. cent.); Kingesley (xv. cent.). 



The parish, which contains about 1, 800 acres, 

 lies in the valley of the river Slea or Slee (also 

 called Oxney Stream), a tributary of the southern 

 Wey ; the eastern part, which is narrow, lies be- 

 tween the forests of Alice Holt and Woolmer. The 

 village is situated on the northern side of the river, 

 and along a road which branches from the Farn- 

 ham and Portsmouth road near Sleaford Bridge, 

 and traverses the parish westward towards East 

 Worldham. The entire parish appears originally 

 to have been within the forest of Woolmer. 



The king had, from very early times, a park at 

 Kingsley ; the locality of this park is now called 

 Lode farm. There is an open meadow of 37 

 acres, divided by ditches into twenty-seven divi- 

 sions, which is called ' King's Meadow.' The 

 grass of this meadow is used by the tenants for 

 common feeding between 9 August and 31 

 December in each year, that is to say, it was 

 Lammas land. 



The occupation of the inhabitants is mainly 

 agriculture. The crops chiefly grown are wheat 

 and barley, but hops are also cultivated. The 

 parish contains a manufactory of agricultural im- 

 plements called the Park Ironworks. 



The following, amongst other place-names, 

 occur : Hommed and Oxeney or Oxene, thirteenth 

 century ; * Sandford, La Sandputte and North 

 Longmead, in 1305 ;* Okanger, then belonging to 

 Selborne Priory, in 1398-9 ; 3 Edwyns, Le Bough 



and Tylgale at the same date ; 4 Averayesmead in 

 1410 ; 5 Samfords, Stywards or Stewards, abut- 

 ting on the river ; Sekkyls, and a common called 

 Kingsley Heath, in 151 6, 6 Denes, Symes, Dol- 

 mans, Scots and Haremead in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. 7 



The bridge over the Slea was the subject of an 

 inquiry in 1356. The king having heard that 

 this bridge called the bridge of ' Slayford ' was 

 broken down, and that the passage of carriages was 

 much impeded, to the great damage of the people 

 in the neighbouring parts, commanded it to be 

 ascertained who were customarily bound to main- 

 tain it, and that an estimate of the cost should be 

 given. The jury found that the maintenance of 

 the bridge belonged to the men of the tithing of 

 Kingsley alone, and that from time immemorial 

 they had been wont to keep it in repair, and that 

 it might then be repaired for the sum of 261. 8</. 8 

 The manor of KINGSLET is not 

 MANORS mentioned in Domesday, and its his- 

 tory is obscure. In 1316 the ' vill ' 

 was in the hands of the queen as part of the 

 manor of Alton. 9 It is not mentioned in the 

 Feudal Aids of 1346, 1428 and 1431. In 1469 

 John White died seized of Kingsley, then first 

 called a manor, but of whom it was held the jurors 

 were ignorant. He left a son and heir Robert, 

 aged fourteen and more. 10 In 1561 Sir Thomas 

 White of South Warnborough and Agnes his wife 

 conveyed the manor presumably in trust to 



1 Add. Chart. 27,958, and Feet of F. 

 Hants, 8 & 12 Hen. III. 

 * Add. Chart. 27,957. 

 3 Ibid. 27,820. 



* Ibid. Ibid. 26,141. 

 6 Ibid. 27,971. 



^ Ibid. 27,89?, and Close, 28 Eliz. 

 p. 21 deed, Hold way and Knight. 



515 



8 Inq. p.m. 29 Edw. III. 2nd nos. 

 No. 49. 



8 Feud. Aids, ii. 314. 

 Inq. p.m. 9 idw. IV. No. 25. 



